crackingthecryptic posts
Posts: 611
Files: 219
Mark solves the beastly Club Monthly Cryptic
Hi everyone,Mark has recorded his solve of the June Club Monthly Special crossword from The Times. This is, as usual, an insanely difficult puzzle and it's nice to see Mark have to pause for thought :)Thanks for all your support.Simon & Markhttps://youtu.be/G3SBEEUIZRQ
Serkan Yurekli's Cross The Streams puzzle
Hi everyone,As promised in this evening's video, I've recorded my solve of Serkan's incredible Cross The Streams puzzle! You can find it by following the link below. Keep cracking,Simonhttps://youtu.be/yAar74iWj_U
June's Monthly Reward Video
Hi everyone,We hope you all enjoyed our Olympic Rings sudoku :)We've made this video that talks through the solve. Enjoy!As always, we'd like to say "thank you" for supporting the channel here. Simon & Markhttps://youtu.be/HybcxzEYUaI
A Mathematical Listener Crossword
Hi everyone,The Listener crossword series is considered to be the hardest in the world. It's been running since 1930 with weekly puzzles that are loved the world over. Four times a year instead of being a cryptic crossword that week's Listener puzzle is a mathematical crossword. Knowing our ...
Happy Birthday To Us + A Bonus Puzzle!
11 June marks three years since we released our first video on YouTube. Looking back at that video it is quite incredible where we've come. Chiel Beenhakker has constructed this delightful Aquarium puzzle to mark our 3rd birthday and we wanted to share it with you. (The puzzle can be played by c...
Bonus: Fillomino Solve
Hi everyone,As mentioned on the channel a couple of days ago, I've recorded my solve of the recent Fillomino puzzle that appeared on gmpuzzles.com on Saturday June 6th. The puzzle is by Elyot Grant and it is a beautiful construction.The video can be viewed here. (If you would like to play the pu...
How To Create A Sudoku Puzzle
We're very proud to be able to share this video with you. It features the world-class setter Christoph Seeliger explaining how to construct a Thermo Sudoku from scratch. We're very grateful to Christoph for making this video and letting us see the thought-processes of such a brilliant constr...
Matt Gaffney's Crossword Metas
Hi everyone,Here is a bonus video on Matt Gaffney's wonderful weekly crossword competition - which features some amazing metas at the end of each puzzle. Enjoy!https://youtu.be/B6rbPGzrQ8ASimon & MarkMatt's weekly competition can be found here:https://xwordcontest.com/@metabymatt
Patreon Reward Puzzle: June 2020
Hi everyone,It's the start of the month and that means our new reward puzzle. We're sad the Olympics won't be happening this summer so we have made an Olympics-themed sudoku for you!As usual, around the middle of the month, we'll publish a solution video for $3 (and above) Patrons so...
The Complete Works of Cracking The Cryptic
Hi everyone,As mentioned on yesterday's video, one of our viewers (thank you Chiel Beenhakker!) has created a spreadsheet which lists the whole back catalogue of Cracking The Cryptic videos. Here is the link:https://tinyurl.com/CTCCatalogueSimon & Mark
The Nightmare: Kurt's Solution
Hi everyone,A couple of weeks ago we published Kurt Hugo Schneider's incredible difficult (and beautiful) irregular 6x6 diagonal sudoku. That puzzle can be played at the link at the bottom of the post:As mentioned in tonight's video we have had very few correct solutions. Luckily Kurt has ma...
Proof that 6x6 Diagonal Sudokus Are Symmetric
Hi everyone,As mentioned in tonight's video, we are delighted to share with you a bonus video by Kurt Hugo Schneider in which he goes through the reason that all 6x6 Diagonal Sudokus are symmetric. Hold on to your hats because there is some VERY nice logic here.The video link is below. If you wa...
Solution to Joke van Veenendaal's Puzzle Hunt
Hi everyone,We're also publishing today the solution to Joke's lovely collection of puzzles published here on 20 April:https://www.patreon.com/posts/36199477Do try the puzzles if you've not yet had the chance!For those of you who'd like to see the solution - it's attached :)Simon...
Solution to Puzzle Hunt OVERDONE
Hi everyone,We really hope you enjoyed Nicolas Rasmussen's awesome puzzle (published on 10 April here if you haven't tried it yet):https://www.patreon.com/posts/35846524The attached document contains the solution.Best,Simon & Mark
Bonus: Thermo Sudoku by Ashish Kumar
Hi everyone,As mentioned in tonight's video, we are delighted to share with you a bonus puzzle from the brilliant constructor, Ashish Kumar.Fittingly, given the release this week of our Thermo Sudoku app, it's a thermo sudoku! Rules: Normal sudoku rules apply. Along thermometers, digits must...
New Junior Puzzle Hunt
Hi everyone,We have a great new junior puzzle hunt to share with you. It's been created by Scott Strosahl - who many of you will know makes very good puzzles for adults too :)It's always hard to guess the age range it will be appropriate for but perhaps 8 - 12. We hope kids (and the bigger k...
Kurt Hugo Schneider's Nightmare!
We're sure many of you attempted Kurt's 6x6 Irregular sudoku (to win the wallet) a couple of weeks ago. Kurt has been busy creating an even harder test! Do have a go but, be warned, this is an exceptionally hard (but ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL) puzzle. Rules:Fill each row/column/region with the di...
May's Monthly Reward Video
Here is our solution to video to May's Monthly reward puzzle!As always, thank you all so much for supporting the channel, we really do appreciate it.Simon & Markhttps://youtu.be/dgSkS9S70rM
The Times Monthly Cryptic - Mark attempts it!
You can watch Mark's monthly battle with The Times Monthly cryptic at this link. This IS worth watching :)Simon & Markhttps://youtu.be/ew92NYTBs9U
CTC puzzle by Prasanna Seshadri
Hi everyone,We're thrilled to be able to share this special sudoku designed by Prasanna Seshadri with you. This puzzle is very unusual in that it involves 14 different sudoku variants!!The sheer length of the ruleset makes it difficult to include them all on the right-hand side on the video scre...
Bonus: Anti-Knight Sudoku by Mike Halderman
Hi everyone,Here is a VERY nice Anti-Knight puzzle designed by one of our patrons Mike Halderman.https://cracking-the-cryptic.web.app/sudoku/jDrG7G2hpMRules: Normal sudoku rules apply. Cells separated by a knight's move (in chess) cannot contain the same digit.Mike's puzzles have appeared tw...
Our First Sudoku Puzzle Hunt
We are absolutely thrilled to bring this incredible Sudoku Puzzle Hunt to you.It has been created by Ben Needham and we can't recommend it highly enough. Read the instructions very carefully and enjoy :)The first correct solution we receive (which needs to include a brief description of how the ...
Patreon Reward Puzzles: May 2020
Hi everyone,Herewith our reward puzzle(s) for May. These three linked sudokus that should prove quite interesting/challenging!As always, a big thank you from both of us for your support - we really appreciate it. Simon & MarkPS Following feedback, we've slightly amended the instructions about th...
Kurt Hugo Schneider Solves His 6x6 Sudoku
Hi everyone,Kurt was kind enough to provide us with a video discussing how he envisaged the solution path to his brilliant 6x6 partial jigsaw sudoku. You can watch at the link below.As always, thanks for your support.Simon & Markhttps://youtu.be/4IoLJSgQKOQ
Mark's New Video Solving The Times crossword
Hi all,Here a link to Mark's latest solve of The Times cryptic crossword.Enjoy!Simonhttps://youtu.be/z6IIRNUOjnk
Bonus Puzzle by Ashish Kumar
We have another bonus for our patrons! Thanks to Ashish for creating this special "Cracking The Cryptic-themed" Thermo King Sudoku for us. https://cracking-the-cryptic.web.app/sudoku/d7jp3BMg2bRules: Normal sudoku rules apply. Along thermometers, numbers must increase from the bulb end. Equa...
Solution to April's Monthly Reward Puzzle
Hi everyone,Here is our reward video for April's puzzle.https://youtu.be/jSJr2RtdHzc Thanks for all your support - what a few days this has been for the channel :)Simon & Mark
Children's Puzzle Hunt
Hi everyone,Here is a new puzzle hunt for children also by Joke van Veenendaal. We estimate that children aged 7-10 might enjoy it (but we actually enjoyed it too and we're older than 10!). Each of the three puzzles has a single English word as its answer. Used together, they can be used with th...
New Adult Puzzle Hunt
Hi everyone,Here is a new puzzle hunt by Joke van Veenendaal. Each of the three puzzles has a single English word as its answer. Used together, they can be used with the what3words website to indicate a location, which is the answer to the hunt.Good luck!Simon & Mark
Bonus Puzzle for Patrons by Ashish Kumar
Hi everyone,We're delighted to share this bonus puzzle by Ashish Kumar with you. Ashish created this puzzle specially as a gift for our patrons (how awesome is that!).https://cracking-the-cryptic.web.app/sudoku/RtmPdrn446 This puzzle is a doppelganger sudoku. You can treat the grey cells as all ...
