Crossword News November 2023
The October Prize Puzzle was Strauss Work? by Chalicea. The
theme was the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco which was designed by Joseph
Strauss. Solvers were required to colour the bridge and its towers and ADD
SUSPENSION CABLE.
Here are some of the comments from solvers.
A wonderful puzzle! My bridge drawing skills are not really
up to those of Joseph Strauss, but hopefully the point comes across well…So
glad to hear that you have a strong pipeline of puzzles. I enjoy them greatly.
Ok, the Golden Gate Bridge lies between the Pacific Ocean
and San Francisco Bay. Having lived in the San Francisco Bay area most of my
life I found this really rather easy. The 26 cells to be shaded are the two
Towers: 18 down and starting from the third cell down in 12 down, then the
entire roadbed formed by the words, Golden Gate Bridge followed by the two
letters CA of the obviously correct state.
Chalicea, this puzzle was exceptional fun for me. Thank you
very much.
A masterclass in grid design. I loved it. Thanks to Chalicea
and The Crossword Centre.
There were 54 entries, of which 7 were marked incorrect. The
lucky winner picked from the electronic hat was Gail Volans from Burnham on
Sea, who will soon be receiving a prize book which has been donated by
Chambers.
There is a full solution at https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2023/11/solution-to-strauss-work-by-chalicea.html
You still have lots of time to email your entry to the
November puzzle, No Subtitles by Pandiculator. https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2023/10/crossword-centre-prize-puzzle-november.html
The December puzzle will be the fifteenth of the series of
Christmas treats from Eclogue. Seasons Greetings XV will be published before
the end of November as I will be away from my PC.
John Nicholson has prepared a Round Robin crossword for the
new year. He will be asking for volunteer clue writers next month.
***
In the Times Crossword Championship, the shock was that the favourite, Mark
Goodliffe, was knocked out in the semi-final. He had finished the semi-final
puzzles in 20 minutes but made one error. There were three contestants
remaining for the final, Matthew Marcus, Peter Steggle and David Webb. Peter
Steggle finished first but with an error and Marcus was the winner.
The final puzzle appears to have been what is known in the
business as “a stinker”. Whereas Goodliffe polished off the 2019 final puzzle
in under six minutes, Steggle took about 15 minutes over this year’s, and
Marcus finished in just under 20 minutes. “That is about as long as I can
imagine taking over a puzzle,” he said afterwards. “I’ll say that was at the
toughest end of Times crossword puzzles I’ve seen here.” The third-placed
finalist, David Webb, was still solving when the clock stopped after 30 minutes.
Robert Teuton was competing this year and he has written
this fascinating account. –
The welcome return of the Times Crossword Championship this
year took place on Saturday 21st October but was slightly marred by the
inclement weather on the day, causing flooding that affected many trains,
meaning that a fair few entrants were unable to make it to the venue in
time. Perhaps thankfully, the organisers
had scrapped the originally planned qualifier for 9:30 am so any potential
competitors just had to make the 11:30 am combined qualifier round.
So in the end 108 aspiring solvers were fighting it out for
the 60 places in the semi-final, taking on a set of three puzzles with just an
hour to complete them. Remarkably all 60
qualifiers managed to achieve an all correct record to make it through. Sadly there was just one other all correct
solver (Peter Allwright) who missed the cut.
Amongst the notable solvers who just missed out were Jason James (who
was the second to finish on time but made a single mistake) and Cracking the
Cryptic superstar Simon Anthony, who also made a single error. At this stage, Roger Crabtree was the fastest
solver closely followed by Mark Goodliffe, with Matthew Marcus in third place.
The semi-final was a nerve-tingling affair with a much more
challenging set of three puzzles! First
to finish was Mark Goodliffe, but he biffed in RIVALRY when the actual answer
was REVELRY! So the top finisher was
Peter Steggle. Second to finish was
Matthew Marcus followed by Roger Crabtree - but he had made an error! So the third person to make the final was
David Webb. Commiserations to Shane
Shabankareh who just missed out in fourth spot - John Henderson and Guy Haslam
finished before him but both made yet another single error!
So the three finalists sat in front of the assembled group
of disappointed solvers who had been eliminated. The puzzle assigned for this three-solver
shoot out was an absolute brute! The
audience sat in anticipation of the first person to hold their grid aloft. After 14 minutes and 25 seconds (a long time
for solvers of this standard!) Peter Steggle had finished. Unfortunately, as we were to discover, he was
unfamiliar with the capital of Mongolia and had written in ULAN BATER. We were than entertained by Matthew Marcus's
obvious frustrations as he attempted to thrash out the last few answers that
were eluding him! Eventually his hand
went up at 19 minutes and 22 seconds. Scrabble
Grand Master David Webb was also finding this fiendish puzzle tricky and had
failed to finish when the thirty-minute time limit had elapsed. As it happened, he had all but one of the
answers filled in.
So, as the only solver to have a completely correct grid
Matthew Marcus was crowned champion!
Peter Steggle was placed second, with one error, and David Webb third,
also with one error in a slower time.
Huge congratulations to Matthew Marcus - a worthy and
popular champion!
Many thanks to the Times for resuming the organisation of
the championship - roll on next year!
PS For the first time ever I got all three qualifier puzzles
correct and managed to finish 31st in the end - it would have been 20th if I
hadn't made a silly spelling error!
***
David Webb has explained how he tackled the final puzzle on his Dweebovision
channel.
https://youtu.be/JRE6zkkCx-A?si=yheOxYhw1b7l6hZ5
On Cracking the Cryptic Simon Anthony examined the final
puzzle in this video. https://youtu.be/8foFxVGCqHo?si=wkwrWDNKYICVgW7L
Matthew Marcus was a successful contestant in the US game
show, Jeopardy. If you want to add up his winnings and watch some video clips
this is a good start.
https://tvregular.com/matthew-marcus-jeopardy-contestant-statistics-bio/
***
I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to the York S & B meeting. I was only there on
the Saturday but I was assured that the Friday event (celebrating John
Henderson’s 60th birthday) was a huge success and included live
music.
I have never seen so many at this event. The Fox and Roman
was packed, with a shortage of chairs and an overflow room. I hadn’t been there
since 2019 and it was great to see so many friends. There was some interest in
my book, The Apex Letters, Also there with his latest book was Guardian setter,
Boatman with his book, Boatman the Second Fifty, and Frank Paul promoting his
book The Twelve Quizzes of Christmas,
which is now available in paperback.
John and Jane are organising the next Listener Crossword
Dinner, which will be held in the Lincoln Hotel, Eastgate, Lincoln on the 9th
March. Tickets for the dinner are £48 and I have already booked places for me
and Lois. Due to the pandemic and my health issues, I have not been to this
event since 2019. I am looking forward to it. If you would like to attend,
message Jane Teather to see if there any places left. You will be cordially
welcomed whether you are a setter or a solver.
***
This month, Will Shortz will have completed 30 years as editor of the New York
Times crossword. To celebrate there is a special article and an opportunity to
try (for free) thirty of the NYT puzzles, the November 21 crossword for all
thirty years.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/16/crosswords/will-shortz-30-anniversary.html
***
It is with sadness that I note the passing of Liz Geear, a regular attender of
crossword meetings. I met her a few times and remember a great evening with her
and John Henderson in a Cambridge pub.
Anyone wishing to express condolences can do so on Fifteen
Squared. https://www.fifteensquared.net/2023/11/09/rip-liz-geear/
**
Here is your annual reminder that the 3D Crossword Calendar is a fantastic way
to do a fun crossword every month and a way of giving to worthy charities. The
2024 calendar is now ready and you can either get the paper edition or a
virtual one. They make excellent Christmas presents, so why not buy a few. All
the details at this address.
https://3dcalendarpuzzles.co.uk/shop/
***
Collins have announced that their Word of the Year is AI. Also competing for
top spot were nepo baby, ultra-processed, canon event, ULEZ, semaglutide
(slimming drug), de-influencing, bazball and greedflation. Following Farage’s
problems with Coutts, we now have the word - debanking.
***
The date of the annual Magpie party has been announced as 26th
January. More details will follow next month.
***
Make a note of December 8th when Mark Goodliffe will be appearing on
Countdown.
***
A cultural centre in Stornoway has developed a Gaelic version of Scrabble. The
tiles reflect the Gaelic alphabet, which has only 18 letters and some of the
vowels have grave accents.
https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/highlands-islands/6240279/gaelic-scrabble-stornoway/
Best wishes
Derek
