Cracking the Cryptic

Cracking the Cryptic is a YouTube channel dedicated primarily to sudoku puzzles, but also cryptic crosswords and other types of pencil puzzles and puzzle hunts. Besides YouTube, CTC is also active on Twitter and Instagram.

The channel was set up in June 2017 by Simon Anthony and Mark Goodliffe, two puzzle enthusiasts from the UK. As of January 12, 2021, the channel has over 315000 subscribers.

Early days
The first video, a solve of a Times prize crossword puzzle, was uploaded to the channel on June 11, 2017. In the beginning, the channel was more oriented towards crosswords, with various genres of Times crosswords most frequently featuring. The first sudoku solve, a killer sudoku also from The Times, aired on August 26, 2017.

Early videos did not almost exclusively feature live solves, like recent videos. Several other video types frequently featured, such as commentated playbacks of previous solves, partial solves highlighting interesting clues and parts of puzzles requiring advanced logic, walkthroughs of puzzle theory and reviews of championship performances. During the first year, videos averaged between 100-1.000 views.

In the early days, the most frequently visited puzzle source was The Times. In January 2019, Times puzzles had featured on the channel 280 times, approximately half of all puzzles to have appeared on the channel at that time. Other frequent sources in the early days were Daily Killer Sudoku, The New York Times, The Telegraph and The Guardian.

The channel gradually evolved from a crossword channel to a crossword and sudoku channel. Crossword remained the most frequently appearing puzzle type until April 2019. Ever since April 2019, sudoku has been the most featured puzzle type on the channel.

While the channel had had several videos reaching view counts significantly higher than the average video, subscriber count remained low.

Between 1 and 9 sudoku
On March 8, 2019, Cracking the Cryptic uploaded the video titled "A sudoku with only 3 givens? How is that even possible?", a variant sudoku which would later be known as Sandwich sudoku. This video was picked up by the YouTube algorithm and caused the first wave of new subscribers for the channel. As of 15 June, 2020, the video has amassed over 540.000 views.

Around this time, the channel was gradually developing to variant sudokus, while also still frequently featuring classic sudokus and cryptic crosswords. During this time period, several other significant milestones contributed to the growth of the channel:

January 14, 2019

Launch of the Cracking the Cryptic Patreon page.

May 24, 2019

The introduction of the interactive CTC webpage, an online solving platform developed by Sam Cappleman-Lynes for the channel, allowing viewers to try solving most of the puzzles featured in videos before watching the video.

August 16, 2019

Release of the first CTC app: Sandwich Sudoku.

October 21, 2019

The channel starts using customised thumbnails on all of its videos.

November 25, 2019

Release of the second CTC app: Classic Sudoku.

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Most of their videos begin with a few bars from the start of Mozart's Sonata semplice for solo piano, and are between 10 and 25 minutes long. Each shows one of the two presenters attacking and solving a puzzle in real time, with their live commentary. Some of the sudoku puzzles are difficult ones from newspapers, with good advice for any solver, while the majority are hand-constructed puzzles which require highly advanced techniques to solve, or sudoku variants with special rules.