Crossword Championships And Speed Solving
These events are truly incredible, where the best solvers literally read the clues and write answers in at the same time! Whereas for mere mortals you need to ponder a clue, often for several minutes, and often giving up after your pondering doesn't lead you to the answer, the best solvers can almost just write in the answers for cryptic crosswords.
How do they do this? Well no doubt lots and lots of practice is key, often solving several puzzles a day. But more than that they just seem to have a massive general knowledge and an intuitive built-in natural ability to just instantly be able to parse a clue, work out what type it is, and then arrive at the answer.
For most people, part of the pleasure of the cryptic is just to solve it at leisure, with no clock. However, if you are interested in speed solving, then you need to start timing your solve. And, since in a competition you will not have recourse to electronic aids, then you need to get used to actually working out anagram answers and so forth by hand (if you currently, like many solvers, use online tools or other gadgets). Also if you can't think of a word that fits a pattern of letters, then you'll just have to keep on thinking - no electronic aids to suggest words here!
In order to quality for a championship, you will typically be sent a puzzle or puzzles to solve, or have to solve puzzles in a newspaper, then send off your solving time - with the best solvers picked to attend the championships where you will solve puzzles in exam conditions. So there is no point cheating as you will get found out in the championship itself!
The best solvers of a newspaper cryptic crossword can solve a puzzle in around 8 minutes in total, which is pretty incredible when you consider that if there are 30 clues in the puzzle that works out at 16 seconds per clue: that's to read the clue, understand and parse it, and then to work out and write in the answer: pretty insane solving, really!
Of course, those fastest solvers are exceptional... if you can solve a cryptic crossword consistently - fully - and without help - in around 15 minutes or less then you are right up there with the best solvers and could potentially qualify for a cryptic crossword solving competition, although you'll need to occasionally hit around the 10 minute mark to have a chance of doing really well at one.
Are you a speed solver? What's your best time? We'd love to hear from you.
Date written: 21 Apr 2015
Comment on this post
You must be logged in to comment - please Register or Login
Punctuation In Cryptic Crossword Clues
When you start solving cryptic crosswords, you will notice that some clues contain punctuation.
Whereas in English there are set rules as to where and how to use punctuation, and what the punctuation means, with cryptic crossword clues this is not...
Added: 14 Apr 2015
Solving Double Definition Cryptic Clues
One of the main types of cryptic crossword clue is called the double definition.
With this clue type, as the name suggests, you will be presented with two different clues that both lead to the same answer.
Unlike many cryptic clues, both of the...
Added: 15 Apr 2015
Homophone Clues In Cryptic Crosswords
Cryptic crossword clues, as you'll have seen through this series of blog posts, come in various distinct types, and the list we've covered is not even exhaustive!
One of the clue types that people often struggle with is the homophone clue, or...
Added: 13 Apr 2015
Cryptic Crossword Anagram Indicators
When solving a cryptic crossword one thing you can be sure of is that there will be some anagram clues, or partial anagram clues, in the solving mix.
Some cryptic crosswords have over 50% of the clues containing anagrams in some form, whilst even the...
Added: 16 Apr 2015
100 Hat Riddle Interview Question Solution
A riddle or lateral thinking puzzle that has existed in a variety of guises for a long period of time has recently been featured in the news, both because it is initially baffling but also because there have been reports of some companies using this...
Added: 25 Feb 2016
Back to Puzzle Blog