Full Championship results

Mark Goodliffe staked a claim to puzzle-solving immortality at the grand final of The Times National Crossword Championship yesterday.

The defending champion, a 44-year-old finance director who is currently between jobs, demolished a formidable field at the University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham, to win £1,000. The three puzzles in the final, described afterwards as the hardest in the competition’s history, were solved by Mr Goodliffe in 27 minutes — nine minutes faster than his nearest rival.

He joins the elite group who have won the title three times and successfully defended it. Bill Pilkington won in 1987, 1988 and 1994, famously downing a pint of beer between each puzzle. John Sykes won the trophy ten times and was persuaded to compete only in alternate years to give others a chance. Richard Browne, the Times crossword editor, described Mr Goodliffe’s performance as “quite mindblowing”.

Fellow competitors were wondering how to beat him next year. Justin Daddow, 37, a child psychiatrist, who finished third, said he would have to “distract him in some way”. The runner-up Peter Brooksbank, 55, a deputy counsel at the House of Commons, said: “Two years ago his wife was about to have a baby so he wasn’t here. If he could be persuaded to have another one, that would be useful. Otherwise you could slip a mobile phone into his pocket and get someone to phone it.”

The winner found the puzzles “monstrous”. “Every clue was tortuous and threatened to rob you of your sanity,” he said. The final was fought out by 21 men and three women, 190 enthusiasts having qualified for the semi-finals yesterday morning.

The real battle was always likely to be between the regular contenders. For the rest, the day is a largely social occasion, Mr Browne said. “It’s the one chance the contestants have to meet each other and the compilers. They can also insult me in person, instead of over e-mail — although actually they tend to be extraordinarily pleasant. Crossword people generally are.”

Richard Browne, Times Crossword Editor writes:

The Cheltenham championship puzzles were widely praised by the competitors, and the identity of their compilers seems to have leaked out into the public domain to some extent. So, to give the setters their due, and to satisfy any lingering curiosity, we will for once break with tradition and name them. (This does not mean that we are going to change the general policy of anonymity - the daily sequence of puzzles will remain unattributed, as always.)

The authors of the puzzles were as follows:

Preliminary A: 1, Roger Phillips; 2, John Grimshaw; 3, Don Manley

Preliminary B: 1, Dave Crossland; 2, Bob Hesketh; 3, John Halpern

Grand Final: 1, Colin Gumbrell; 2, Richard Rogan; 3, Dean Mayer