![]() ![]() Now back in Portland, he said he’s looking for like-minded puzzle and trivia fans to connect with locally. Marcus’ prize, in addition to the glory of being crowned champion, was £1,000, which helped reimburse his flight to London, he said. He responded to a clue with what appeared to be the only correct answer, then “20 seconds after turning in my work, I thought of another word that would also fit the clue’s definition and realized I had turned in the wrong answer.” “My own problem was a classic piece of disorientation,” he told The Times. Goodliffe congratulated Marcus after the tournament, as he presented him with the trophy. After 10 more agonizing minutes, the clock stopped and Webb was still solving. If he had somehow gotten it wrong somewhere, Webb had a chance to steal a victory with a perfect solution, no matter how long it took. Marcus felt good after solving the puzzle in just under 20 minutes, but there was still a chance he would lose. Treat that in an “eccentric” way, or as an anagram, and you get “pash,” which means having “one thing for another.” If you remove i from “is a hip”, you’ll be left with “sahp”. In the clue, “always drop one” meant losing the letter i. In a video recorded after the tournament, Marcus explained how he arrived at the answer. The answer was “pash,” which is slang for a romantic adventure. In the final, taking advantage of his decades of experience, he finally found the clue. “Each clue is like an equation, you have a definitional part and a cryptic part,” Marcus said. The letters AB usually refer to a sailor and U usually means “upper class.” There are more than a dozen types of cryptic clues, including backwards answers, anagrams, and words within words. The letters ER, for example, always refer to the former Queen Elizabeth, he said. Marcus said the clues often make use of obscure references and cryptic instructions that make little sense to outsiders. (The times)Īmerican crossword solvers may not be accustomed to British puzzles, which not only look a little different, but practically speak a different language. Marcus took down the defending champion and won the competition. Portland resident Matthew Marcus competes in The Times Crossword Puzzle Championship in London. He said he was tearing his hair out at 17 wide, a clue that read: “Is he an eccentric hip, always giving up one thing for another?” Looking at “_A_H” on the grid, he was at a loss. Marcus, burned out earlier by the rush, took his time as he struggled with his final clues. ![]() Steggle finished the puzzle nine minutes later, but also undid it by mistake. Goodliffe finished the puzzle first in six dizzying minutes, but he wasn’t perfect – a single mistake was enough to disqualify him. ![]() The last puzzle was what British solvers sometimes call a “stinker”, a puzzle with incredibly complicated and cryptic clues. His efforts took him to a four-way final with Goodliffe and two others: Peter Steggle and David Webb. ![]() While Goodliffe, the favorite, advanced quickly in the first two rounds, Marcus meticulously worked his way up, never the fastest solver, but always quick enough to advance. “It was by no means easy for me I needed to be lucky at several points to pass.” “He’s like a robot, he’s incredibly good,” Marcus said of Goodliffe. In those years, one man almost always stood in his way: Mark Goodliffe, the reigning champion with 12 titles to his name, including an incredible 10-year streak from 2008 to 2017. Marcus has been competing in The Times championship for the last decade, finishing in second and fifth place. When he was a teenager, he was able to outperform his elders in solving problems, which eventually led him to the world of competitive crossword puzzles. Marcus, who also won four nights on Jeopardy earlier this year, said the competition was exciting, depending on his ability to be the most accurate, but not necessarily the fastest, competitor standing.Ĭrossword puzzles have always been a part of Marcus’s life, inspired by his grandfather and uncle, whom he watched solve puzzles before he could read. 21 competition, held at the offices of The Times newspaper. Matthew Marcus, an American-born, British-raised software developer who moved to Portland last year, beat 111 fellow puzzlers in the Oct. (The times)Ī Portland resident has been named one of the best crossword solvers in the UK, after winning first prize at this year’s The Times Crossword Championship in London. Portland resident Matthew Marcus is crowned champion of The Times Crossword Championship in London on October 21, 2023. ![]()
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