THE cream of Britain’s male crossword solvers crumbled before the only woman in the field in the final of The Times National Crossword Championships yesterday.

Helen Ougham, a plant scientist from Aberystwyth, vanquished her 23 male rivals to become the 31st national champion by correctly completing the three puzzles shown on these pages in a blistering 31 minutes and 49 seconds.

Ms Ougham, 50, who also won in 1995, was one of five former champions in the tournament at the Cheltenham Literature Festival, which was staged for the first time in six years. Ms Ougham’s victory follows another Cheltenham triumph for the fairer sex in last year’s inaugural The Times National Su Doku Championships, in which Nina Pell, 18, beat a male-dominated field.

The Times crossword has been a national institution since before Churchill and Attlee used to wrestle with it.

The 2006 grand final, in a first-floor lecture room on the University of Gloucester’s Park Campus, was contested by the survivors from an initial field of 173 entrants that had included a member of the House of Lords and the oldest entrant in the tournament’s history.

Martha Redfern, 93, from Crail in Fife, said that she had “left her brain behind in Scotland” after she crashed out in the opening round yesterday morning.

In a nailbiting final, Ms Ougham finished third but was the first correctly to complete all of the three puzzles.

Peter Brooksbank, 52, was the first to hand in his papers after 28 minutes and nine seconds. Agonisingly, he realised almost immediately that he had made an elementary mistake. “I noticed about 30 seconds afterwards that I had got the last clue I did wrong. I forgot to change a letter so I had ‘ont of’ instead of ‘out of’.”

Soon afterwards Ms Ougham was battling with her final clue, 23 Across on Puzzle number three: “Three cards for girl (6).” Honest readers who are hoping to test themselves against the championship puzzles should look away now. Cheats should welcome all the help they can get. “The answer’s Janine, or “Jack, Ace, Nine,” Ms Ougham said. It’s obvious once you get it but very hard to work out. I almost got stuck on that one.”

With all three puzzles complete she had to sit in silence for 28 minutes and 11 seconds until the hour expired, stewing over her every solution.

Ms Ougham has been hooked on crosswords since she started helping her mother out with science clues at the age of 14. She entered her first competition three years later but prefers the taking part to the winning. “I actually don’t think of myself as very competitive. I do it for fun. It’s a great excuse for spending a whole afternoon doing crosswords and talking about crosswords to people who love crosswords. Normally (when you do that) people think you are mad.”

Ms Ougham’s victory completes a memorable year in which she and her long-time partner Sid Thomas, another plant scientist, married in Gretna Green.

Mr Thomas went for a walk during the final. “I sat through it last time she won and decided never again. I aged 20 years,” he said.

David Howell, 53, a maths teacher from Roundhay near Leeds, finished second. Third was Phil Jordan, 58, a taxi driver from Trafford, Manchester, who could barely believe his improvement after he had failed to complete the regular Saturday puzzle in The Times.

Colin Dexter and Sebastian Faulks, the authors and crossword enthusiasts, were in Cheltenham to present Ms Ougham with her prize: The Times trophy and a cheque for £1,000.

Mr Faulks described her performance as a “quite amazing time. It just makes one’s head spin”. The author added that he spends around an hour a day wrestling with the puzzle and is constantly impressed by its quality. “With The Times I always feel when I’ve finished and go back over them that the clues were as well written as they possibly could have been. It’s a game of pedantry and it’s got to be as tight as it can be.”

The Daily Telegraph’s clues, in comparison, “are just flabby”, he added.

2006 Finals results in full (hover cursor over image and click on to enlarge icon)
Morning A heat
Afternoon B heat
Grand final

2006 Grand final puzzles
Puzzle 1
Puzzle 2
Puzzle 3
Solutions

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