We’re official now…

Author   petebiddlecombePosted on Categories Announcement
Today’s paper contains a grand total of three four cryptic crosswords (if we count the umpteenth reprint of No. 1), and other cryptic xwd material.

The most significant is a two-page “how to solve it” spread from Tim Moorey in Times2 – complete with clues and answers in colour. Part of this article (not the sample puzzle or clue analysis) is on-line here. It includes the first appearance of our URL in the paper, and now a link to a PDF of the clue analysis.

The other material:
Article on Adrian Bell, the first Times setter.
Full 2009 Championship details.
First qualifying puzzle for the 2009 Crossword Championship. We’ll have a report for this on 3rd April, when the solution is printed.
Leader article – the usual stuff, complete with provost and egg canard.

8 comments on “We’re official now…”

  1. Fantastic to see this extensive coverage of the puzzle, and very pleasing indeed that there’s a link to this blog; just reward for your efforts Pete.

    Well, I say just reward. Just reward would be a printed link every day. If only. Damn 75p/minute call charges!

  2. If you click on the link at the start of the article you do get the graphic as a pdf file, and the sample puzzle is 24174 of March 16th.

    Harry Shipley

    1. Thanks – I’m pretty sure the link has been added since this morning.
  3. No intention of giving away anything from the qualifying puzzle, but I’m curious as to how my time stacks up against the regular competitors. What sort of time should one be able to finish a qualifier in, to entertain thoughts of actually turning up in Cheltenham and not getting humiliated?
    1. This depends so much on what would count as “humiliated”. If you’re trying for a really good position in the rankings, the first thing you need is a fair chance of completing the three puzzles in the prelim inside the 60-minute time limit. You could of course do this by taking a shade under 30 mins for one puzzle and 15 each for the others. If you can beat 20 for most puzzles that take me up to 8, you should have a fair chance of putting your hand up inside the 60 minutes. In case the prelim has a tough puzzle, you should also ponder how you get on with ones that take me say 12 minutes. If these take you 40 minutes rather than 30, that might be too long. (So far, recent prelims haven’t had “stinker” puzzles, just the odd tricky clue.)

      From memory, I doubt that more than two of the eight qualifiers for 2007 and 2008 took me more than eight minutes, though as the time didn’t matter for me, there was no pressure.

      Just remembered there are other timing estimates on my Championship page.

      Edited at 2009-03-26 10:23 pm (UTC)

    2. I’m currently trying to persuade a couple of friends to enter.  They’re not champion solvers, but I think they’d enjoy taking part.  I’ve suggested that they should be able to reliably solve the daily crossword within half an hour.  If you email me your time on the first qualifier, I’ll let you know how that stacks up against my time (as a newly regular competitor) and against theirs.
  4. Am I going mad or is there an error in the clue to TOP SECRET in the sample puzzle? The S of SECRET doesn’t seem to be indicated. I doubt whether this is the place to start explaining clues of the “wordplay in clues leads to the answer with one letter missing. These omissions in clue order …” variety!
    In addition, I don’t know if anyone has the latest anthology of Times puzzles but the sample puzzle there has the wrong grid. Or is this another subliminal attempt to ease folk into the Listener etc!
    1. Your sanity is not in question. The word “operation” was “operations” in the original clue, giving OPS in the answer. The colouring of the solution is wrong too – by analogy from answers 5 and 18, the OPS in TOPSECRET should be abbreviation purple rather than anagram blue.

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