4 ms·

I'd like to see its performance on New York Times crosswords split into decades. I suspect they've been getting dumbed down.

anothernewdude 4y ago
I'm looking for a good online cryptic crossword. Something harder than Lovatt's Cryptic. The Guardian is no good, I can look at their solutions and still have no idea why those are the answers.
- billfruit 4y ago
  May be the Guardian one needs a Chambers dictionary to solve it? But still, is there a good guide to get into Cryptics?
  - tominous 4y ago
    Cracking the Cryptic, e.g.: https://youtu.be/ecytVCusIeY https://youtu.be/ecytVCusIeY It's mostly a variant sudoku channel but Mark Goodliffe is an insanely good cryptic crossword solver, and both Simon and Mark are good teachers. Beyond the intro the key skills are: parsing the clues into definition and wordplay, knowing signifiers for different types of wordplay, recognising common abbreviations (there are lists a web search away), recalling short synonyms, and anagramming. If you want to get your mind blown I highly recommend spending the $2 for Cracking the Cryptic's Patreon to watch Mark solve the Monthly Club Special using almost pure wordplay and whatever string manipulation coprocessor he has in his head (which also seems to work for sudoku too).
    - billfruit 4y ago
      That youtube channel seems to have veered into mostly Sudoku style puzzles than Cryptics.
      - tominous 4y ago
        Yes I said that. Still -- many, many hours of cryptic crosswords being solved and explained if you want to see how the best in the world does it.
- dash2 4y ago
  There’s a subreddit on UK-style crosswords that will help you with understanding clues: r/crosswords. NB that r/crossword is for the US style. You might find the Telegraph easier than the Graun to start with.
- Agingcoder 4y ago
  You just need to ask someone /read guides about solving cryptic crosswords. Once you get used to it, it makes sense, but there can a surprising amount of 'unofficial' knowledge (abbreviations, 'common' crossword answers, etc), or things which are uk-specific and are not straightforward if you're not from the uk. Some compilers are also easier than others / will make more sense to you (I like brendan, nutmeg, vulcan, and philistine).
- culturedsystems 4y ago
  More useful than just the solutions on the Grauniad's site is https://www.fifteensquared.net/ https://www.fifteensquared.net/ which has solutions with explanations of most of the UK newspaper cryptic crosswords, including the Guardian.
kbrackbill 4y ago
This seems believable. I've been solving the saturdays at a higher rate over time.
- phinnaeus 4y ago
  Perhaps your skill is improving...
jordanpg 4y ago
I once posted somewhere about this and was met with an avalanche of insistence that I was wrong. For anyone who doubts this, I suggest doing a few puzzles from this book of old Mondays from the 90s. This will very quickly dispel any doubt about this proposition. The puzzles in this book are Wednesday/Thursday-level and sometimes even harder. https://www.amazon.com/New-York-Times-Favorite-Crosswords/dp/031236556X https://www.amazon.com/New-York-Times-Favorite-Crosswords/dp...

anothernewdude 4y ago

I'm looking for a good online cryptic crossword. Something harder than Lovatt's Cryptic. The Guardian is no good, I can look at their solutions and still have no idea why those are the answers.

billfruit 4y ago
May be the Guardian one needs a Chambers dictionary to solve it? But still, is there a good guide to get into Cryptics?
- tominous 4y ago
  Cracking the Cryptic, e.g.: https://youtu.be/ecytVCusIeY https://youtu.be/ecytVCusIeY It's mostly a variant sudoku channel but Mark Goodliffe is an insanely good cryptic crossword solver, and both Simon and Mark are good teachers. Beyond the intro the key skills are: parsing the clues into definition and wordplay, knowing signifiers for different types of wordplay, recognising common abbreviations (there are lists a web search away), recalling short synonyms, and anagramming. If you want to get your mind blown I highly recommend spending the $2 for Cracking the Cryptic's Patreon to watch Mark solve the Monthly Club Special using almost pure wordplay and whatever string manipulation coprocessor he has in his head (which also seems to work for sudoku too).
  - billfruit 4y ago
    That youtube channel seems to have veered into mostly Sudoku style puzzles than Cryptics.
    - tominous 4y ago
      Yes I said that. Still -- many, many hours of cryptic crosswords being solved and explained if you want to see how the best in the world does it.
dash2 4y ago
There’s a subreddit on UK-style crosswords that will help you with understanding clues: r/crosswords. NB that r/crossword is for the US style. You might find the Telegraph easier than the Graun to start with.
Agingcoder 4y ago
You just need to ask someone /read guides about solving cryptic crosswords. Once you get used to it, it makes sense, but there can a surprising amount of 'unofficial' knowledge (abbreviations, 'common' crossword answers, etc), or things which are uk-specific and are not straightforward if you're not from the uk. Some compilers are also easier than others / will make more sense to you (I like brendan, nutmeg, vulcan, and philistine).
culturedsystems 4y ago
More useful than just the solutions on the Grauniad's site is https://www.fifteensquared.net/ https://www.fifteensquared.net/ which has solutions with explanations of most of the UK newspaper cryptic crosswords, including the Guardian.

kbrackbill 4y ago

This seems believable. I've been solving the saturdays at a higher rate over time.

phinnaeus 4y ago
Perhaps your skill is improving...

jordanpg 4y ago

I once posted somewhere about this and was met with an avalanche of insistence that I was wrong. For anyone who doubts this, I suggest doing a few puzzles from this book of old Mondays from the 90s. This will very quickly dispel any doubt about this proposition. The puzzles in this book are Wednesday/Thursday-level and sometimes even harder. https://www.amazon.com/New-York-Times-Favorite-Crosswords/dp/031236556X https://www.amazon.com/New-York-Times-Favorite-Crosswords/dp...