Cracking the Cryptic (CTC) is a YouTube channel dedicated to paper-and-pencil puzzles: primarily sudoku, but also cryptic crosswords and other types of number-placement, pencil, and word puzzles. They occasionally stream puzzle videogames on YouTube.
The channel was set up in 2017 by two friends from England: Simon Anthony, a former investment banker, and Mark Goodliffe, a financial director.[6][7] Anthony is a former member of the UK's world sudoku and world puzzle championship teams, while Goodliffe is a 13-time winner of the Times Crossword Championships and UK sudoku champion.[6][7]
Each video is generally composed of one of the two hosts presenting a puzzle with given rules and then solving it in real time, with their live commentary. The channel features both standard and variant puzzles.[8]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the channel grew in popularity, and as of 23 June 2025[update] it had 650,000 subscribers, with the most popular video receiving nearly 10 million views.[9][10][11]
The music played at the beginning and end of many videos is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16, nicknamed Sonata facile or Sonata semplice.[12]
The channel has produced twelve Sudoku apps based on Sudoku variants: Classic, Chess, Miracle, Sandwich, Thermo, Killer, Arrow, Domino and Line Sudoku.
In October 2020, a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign was announced in order to produce a physical book with some of the channel's most popular puzzles. The campaign reached its initial target within 24 hours.[13] A second volume was funded in October 2022.
In addition to paper-and-pencil puzzles, the pair stream puzzle video games such as The Witness, Baba Is You, Blue Prince and Return of the Obra Dinn.[12]
