crackingthecryptic

Bug Byte by Jane Street

Have a go at the latest puzzle from Jane Street! It's called Bug Byte and it's rather nifty!

 https://www.janestr...

May Patreon Reward - the Snake Egg Collection

Hello Patreons! Thank you so much for supporting the channel!

We are delighted to bring you this month's reward - a collection of puzzles themed on "snake-egg" sudoku, by Philipp Blume, aka G...

Simon's Solve of Sumgeons & Diagrams

Simon had an absolute blast with this brilliant mash-up of sudoku and Dungeons & Diagrams from sunnyjum. The rules are fine IF you're familiar with Dungeons & Diagrams logic game. (They ar...

Sumgeons & Diagrams by sunnyjum

This is epic. If you know the game Dungeons & Diagrams (or you've watched our recent streams where we've played it) then you must try this wonderful puzzle by sunnyjum. (He is the man behind Ca...

A Battle with a Beast of a Cryptic

Mark recently took on the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament final puzzle, on the channel. You might think that cryptic clues are more his speciality, but this puzzle makes that look questionabl...

Sandra & Nala's Spring Sudoku Pack

Here is a fantastic gift to the sudoku community from Sandra & Nala! A brand new pack of Fog Of War sudokus themed on the coming of Spring called Joyful Moments!

You can download the pac...

Islands Of Insight - Simon's Playthrough Continues!

Simon managed to get a couple of hours this week to continue his playthrough of Islands Of Insight. He discovered the "sounds" area and some others too. Let us know if you want to carry on watching...

One Up puzzles

Mark has done a video on the channel about Rodolfo Kurchan's One Up puzzles and website, in which he solves puzzle #11,an 8x8 One Up.

He also had a go at puzzle #13, a 6x6, and the ten practi...

April Monthly Reward - Dangerous to Know

Hi Patreons!

Thank you so much for sponsoring our channel - we are very grateful for your support. And we are delighted to bring you the April monthly reward - a sudoku pack called Dangerous ...

Islands Of Insight - Simon's Playthrough Part 2

Simon managed to get a couple of hours this weekend to continue his playthrough of Islands Of Insight. Definite strengths and weaknesses are emerging and he's very concerned there seems to be a wo...

Mark speed-runs today's Times Cryptic!

Simon has already worked through today's Times Cryptic Crossword no 28,871 on the channel, but here's a chance to watch Mark attack this DIFFICULT puzzle at his unusual speed: 2024-03-22 14:25:42 +0000 UTC View Post

Islands Of Insight

We've had a great time streaming Islands Of Insight these last couple of weeks but it has become clear that it would take years to make any substantial progress in the game if we only play it 2 hou...

A Most Extraordinary Cryptic

Every month, the Times releases the Monthly CLub Special to its club members - and this is the most extraordinary cryptic that exists. The vocabulary is so cruel and so recherche that nobody could ...

Our Longest Solve Ever

As promised, here is a ridiculously long video in which Simon does battle with a truly astonishing creation: Region Geometry by Emre Kolotoglu.  It's a puzzle that we've been aware of for a wh...

Dean Mayer's Sunday Times Crossword

Last weekend Simon solved The Sunday Times Prize Crossword, which was compiled by Dean Mayer.  Simon's always been a fan of Dean's clues but this puzzle was really something else.  There ...

March Patreon Reward - the Second Correction

Hi Patreons!

Well, that was predictable - I jinxed the reward by saying I expected there to be no more corrections. Well, of course I was wrong. Many many apologies.

This email has the...

March Patreon Reward - Correction

Hi Patreons!   Please use this pack instead of the last, especially in respect of Disco Ball and The Zodiac.

It seems a month cannot go by without a very minor correction or two bei...

March Monthly Reward: Evening Attractions

Hi Patreons!

Thank you so much for supporting our channel - we are very grateful for your encouragement. And we are delighted to bring you here the March monthly reward - a sudoku pack called...

Circle Sums by Jesper

Simon is continuing his series of trying to solve a "monster" puzzle every month as exclusive content for all of you who support us here on Patreon.  Today he attempts Jesper Josefsson's Circl...

The Maddest Cryptic Yet?

Every month Mark takes on the Times Monthly Club Special, a deliberately arcane cryptic that goes into the depths of the dictionary for its answers, and also features fiendish wordplay to slow down...

February Patreon Reward: 'Interactions'

Thank you for sponsoring the channel! As February's monthly reward, we are thrilled to bring you a set of 8 puzzles created by Riffclown. “Interactions” uses multiple lines in particular geomet...

The Times Cryptic Crossword - Definitions highlighted

As mentioned last week and in today's video, we thought it would be an interesting experiment (especially for newcomers to the puzzle) to give you the chance to try a cryptic crossword KNOWING the ...

This month's instalment of Cryptic Insanity

This cryptic crossword puzzle is the Times Monthly Club Special from the Times Crossword  Club, and is by (correction) Roger Phillips. It comes  with our normal warning about fiendish clu...

Roller Coaster Nurikabe by the_cogito

We've been delighted to share some very long solves of difficult puzzles with you over the last couple of months and we thought we'd continue the series tonight with Simon's solve of Roller Coaster...

All the Fun of the Fair - Correction

Dear Patreons,

With sincere apologies, we present a correction to the puzzle Tunnel of Love (the blue 3x3 box has moved!). Quite a lot of people have already solved the hunt, by making an ass...

January Patreon Reward - All the Fun of the Fair

Thank you for sponsoring the channel! As January's monthly reward, we are delighted to bring you All the Fun of the Fair, a series of 5 fairground-themed sudokus.

The first four puzzles are i...

Simon solves the Snackdoku reward pack!

Thanks so much to Skunkworks for constructing our December reward pack of 100 (yes, 100) 4x4 sudokus! It was an incredibly popular pack, and here you can watch Simon solve the whole thing from star...

Love Story by Francis Lai

A slightly longer version of the intro to tonight's video for anyone who enjoys the guitar intros.

Love Story is a film that means a lot to Simon for family reasons and its hauntingly beautif...

The Rather Evil Cryptic Crossword

Mark has a go each month at The Times Monthly Club Special. Perhaps foolishly, he tries to tackle it without a dictionary, relying on his extensive vocabulary, and wordplay skills, to untangle the ...

Broken Secrets by TotallyNormalCat

Continuing the series where Simon attempts requested "brutal" puzzles, he turns his mind to Broken Secrets by TotallyNormalCat.  Although it's over 2 years old, it has had only had two handful...