Mark Goodliffe

Mark Goodliffe in Series 62...

...and 13 years later in Series 88!

Mark Goodliffe was a contestant in Series 62 and 88. At the time of his first appearance in 2010, he was a finance director. As of his return in 2023, he was a non-executive director and former chief financial officer. He was from London and was also a qualified chartered accountant.

Goodliffe is a twelve-time winner of The Times Crossword Championships, with a remarkable ten-year undefeated run spanning 2008 to 2017. He is also a former UK Sudoku Champion.

Goodliffe is well known alongside Simon Anthony, who represented the UK at the World Sudoku Championships, for their YouTube channel Cracking the Cryptic. On this channel they demonstrate (and occasionally live-stream) challenging paper-and-pencil puzzles, mainly Sudoku but also cryptic crosswords. The channel has been active since 2017, but grew in popularity during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. It now boasts over 500,000 subscribers.

Episodes

#	Date	Type	Contestant 1	Score	Contestant 2	Presenters				Guest	Lex	Max
4962	21/01/2010	P	Oliver Garner	81 – 75	Mark Goodliffe	Jeff Stelling	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	John Stapleton	Susie Dent	115
8166	08/12/2023	P	JJ Burrows	81 – 93	Mark Goodliffe	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Bob Harris	Susie Dent	137
8167	11/12/2023	P	Mark Goodliffe	117 – 41	Nicola Lawson	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Marcus Brigstocke	Susie Dent	122
8168	12/12/2023	P	Mark Goodliffe	94 – 38	Paul Woodward	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Marcus Brigstocke	Susie Dent	120
8169	13/12/2023	P	Mark Goodliffe	95 – 89	Jill Davies	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Marcus Brigstocke	Susie Dent

External Links

• Cracking the Cryptic on YouTube