The Times Crossword Friday Masterclass: 5 July 2024: BRUTAL!!

[@hauntedmasc]

The central character of "pan-Slav" is a capital, or large, "S", which, when broadcast, or spoken, is "large S"! I was proud I got this one.

[@jufriol8733]

So russian broadcast would’ve worked as well like he said

[@romasteve7292]

When he almost says it I gasped. Definitely a more fun watch having solved it first!

[@JyotiDas-72]

Only if you spelled it rusSian

[@Antinomiste]

Wow

[@johtso1]

Where does the second s come from?

[@drmnc1]

Endlessly gnaws (rANKLEs) before vitamin B1 (BONE). Granted I would never have got this in a million years without Simon writing in anklebone. I like to try to work out some of the clues from a filled grid when I've given up on a crossword. A monstrous puzzle!

[@charliejoseph6465]

What is the word "taking" providing though? As Simon Says "no words in the clue should be superfluous"

[@Greyhawksci]

@@charliejoseph6465 I assume sequencing since they give the second half of the clue first.

[@charliejoseph6465]

@@Greyhawksci That accounts for the “before” but not the “taking”

[@louisesuth8141]

and to think Mark did it in 9 minutes. .. this pair are stars!

[@mikechappell5849]

7 and a half minutes for Mark

[@B1GB1RDB4G3L]

Part of what I love about Simon is that he is never "tilted" by hard puzzles; he's just enamoured, in awe, excited for a real challenge. This attitude is exactly what I look for when I watch people play games on KZbin. I just love how wholesome Simon is, and how much he loves puzzles. Keep up the great work Simon, your videos are a bit of sunlight in my life

[@azrobbins01]

I appreciate the way you talk out your thought process as you read the clues initially, even it if turns out that your first thought was wrong. It gives a lot of insight into how to think about the clues as you read them.

[@longwaytotipperary]

@@azrobbins01 agree!

[@emilywilliams3237]

"Hypochondria, one of the few illnesses I have never suffered from." You are hilarious, Simon. This was such a great video - thanks for continuing these weekly features.

[@Emmibean77]

This was brutal, indeed! Well done Simon. You still did far better than the vast majority of the population, and you did a great job of teaching and explaining. I say it every week, but it bears repeating: I look forward to these videos all week, as they are my favorite! Thank you for taking the time to share this beautiful hobby and your impressive skill

[@paulnamesa]

18 down is one of the most outrageous clues I have seen. just unbelievable. when I got it I genuinely had to walk away for a few seconds.

[@paulnamesa]

oh and to be honest i had to look up synonyms for favour.

[@paulnamesa]

the answer is its a homophone (broadcast) of the central letter in "pan-Slav" which is a capital S, or you might say a "Large S". which sounds like Largess which means favours.

[@OopsAllFrench]

Just want to say that I was recently diagnosed with a chronic illness and dealing with some of those symptoms and these videos always help me finally relax after a bad flare. Thank you Simon!

[@anomalousresult]

The feer of deep water is thalassophobia, I only know because there is a subreddit.

[@mctkrlvn]

Love your work Simon, keep it up!

[@longwaytotipperary]

Same here! 😊

[@davidrattner9]

​@@longwaytotipperarySimon's work is incredible!! 💜❤️

[@longwaytotipperary]

@@davidrattner9 yes, indeed! 🧡❤️

[@AndersHaalandverby]

ACME in the old cartoons is short for A Company that Makes Everything.

[@rhj5667]

A little footnote to 6d - in 1926, T. S. Eliot (who would later become a keen cryptic crossworder) complained about the 'language of tergiversation' ruining contemporary English, preferring writing 'that takes a word and derives the world from it: squeezing and squeezing the word until it yields a full juice of meaning which we should never have supposed any word to possess.' Quite a good sales pitch for the cryptic crossword?

[@KeplersDream]

And T S Eliot himself is an anagram...

[@thijsyo]

Hiding loos...

[@johnhantsuk8461]

When Simon first looked at 8 down he actually said the answer twice, but amazingly it didn't twig.

[@ALKroonenberg]

Big fan of these video’s, thanks as always, Simon! Might be fun to do yesterday’s Guardian puzzle as a bonus: elections-themed, and very clever and funny!

[@debrabowen4276]

There was a time, before finding CTC, when I thought of myself as an intelligent person. After viewing many of these amazing videos, I now identify as helplessly dumb. How do I even manage to put my shoes on my feet in their correct order of a morning? It is a mystery.

[@Landis963]

If it helps, the form of intelligence which derives "Largess" from tricking an onlooker into saying the words "Large S" is a low one indeed.

[@chitraagarwal8259]

Am amazed mark did this in seven minutes- just how!!!

[@arandamei2189]

Yes, this interesting video provides yet another illustration of how good Mark is at cryptic crosswords-world class.

[@KrisCadwell]

You still did better on this one than I can do on even the easiest cryptic. No need to apologize for your performance.

[@grahamross1422]

Getting answers you know about is relatively easy. Xenophon and his 10,000 shouted Thalassa when they saw the sea. I knew that. And I have recently re-read Flashman on the March (about the British invasion of Abyssinia) so Amharic was to the forefront of my mind. But how smart of Simon to get those two answers without even knowing they were words. He knew about Japanese screens, though, and I didn't so I was undone by shoji. 6:51 A wonderful puzzle. My favourite clue was the misdirecting for Largess.

[@HavelockVetinari-td2fy]

Anklebone semi-parse: ANKLE is RANKLES (gnaws into) with its first and last letter removed, taking could be ON, and vitamin could be either B or E, leaving the other letter unaccounted for LARGESS: The central character of pan-Slav is a "large S", which could be pronounced LARGESS.

[@wibbol]

Broadcast being both a homophone indicator as well as an anagram indicator really tripped me up with that one.

[@toerag572]

That was worthy of a loud groan when I got it.

[@TimWalton0]

@@wibbol I always thought that a double action like this was frowned upon

[@wibbol]

@@TimWalton0 Oh no, I misphrased my comment; it can serve as either, but in this case it's just an indication of a homophone.

[@BarryKort]

Party Favours are handed out (broadcast).

[@NiallKelly-v4v]

Such an impressive solve. Even after a year of watching these videos some of those clues were bonkers

[@Prazzie]

Very entertaining, thank you! Large S was definitely my favourite clue; I imagine the setter chuckling with glee about that one.

[@zachpekarsky6905]

Wow. That was absolutely brutal. I think you would've gotten to guessing tergiversator correctly had you been using pen and paper rather than recording for us. Amharic is the primary language spoken Ethiopia. I'm familiar with it only because here in Israel, we have a significant population of Ethiopian-Jewish immigrants

[@nsrikand1]

Good learning. Thanks Simon!!

[@mr_enigma]

Brutally difficult, but interesting to watch nonetheless. I loved the quick cryptic, some very nice clues there. Thanks, Simon!

[@MarcMcMillin]

great puzzle today! Love it 🙂 I can't belive I got 18 down before Simon!

[@archivist17]

"I'm even prepared to look it up in the dictionary to show it's not a word...Oh! It is a word! " 😁 Comedy gold, Simon

[@royston1928]

Loved this one!

[@grenvillephillips6998]

It's the very tough ones which teach me the most.

[@danjones9224]

Great video. Very helpful.

[@richardfarrer5616]

I fear it says more about me than I want to admit that I immediately got thalassic and Amharic, and inferred tergiversator (after all of the crossing letters) because I knew tergiversation as treachery. Yet there is no way I would have got some of the others in any reasonable time.

[@emisformaker]

The answer 'rap artists' makes me think of one of the greatest Stewart Lee comedy bits of all time

[@ranajamal3848]

Great solve

[@vinyl1Earthlink]

This was a real tough one, and flummoxed many solvers, including the TftT blogger. I did fairly well until the very end, getting stuck on the same area as Simon. I never managed to parse Eisenhower, anklebone, and chemist.

[@Raven-Creations]

I didn't find this too bad, despite some of the clues being brutal. After getting nowhere going systematically through like you, I abandoned this approach and scanned the clues for low-hanging fruit (for me) like sprog, side, hard pad (a symptom of canine distemper), anchorage, kittiwake, and fete. This gave enough checking letters to fill in more (like Amharic, which led to renegotiation), making the harder clues tractable. I was pleased to get tergiversator from the anagram, because it's a really obscure word that just happened to have lodged in my brain. I first saw it on a dictionary site's list of obscure words, and thought it was interesting enough to file away. Otherwise I'd have been as stumped as you. I knew 18D must be largess (meaning favours), but I couldn't figure out the wordplay, until I thought of "large S" (the central character in pan-Slav) as a homophone - very cunning setting that made me chuckle. This explains why "Russian" could not be used, because the central character is a small s. I really wanted you to get this because I think your reaction would have been priceless. I think the justification for anklebone is endless "rankles" (gnaws) before B1 (B one) - more cunning setting. You really should have looked at the letters in "gave terrorist" - two Es, only one I. I wouldn't object to you opening a small Notepad window, where you can play around with anagrams like this. For instance, you had T_R_I_E_S_T_R, leaving EGVRAO. In this case, it wouldn't have helped you if you didn't know the word, but at least you'd have known which letters you still had to play with. It might also help you to explain some of the wordplay more clearly, rather than clicking manically on the grid. There were some top-class clues in this, with some excellent surface readings and really sneaky wordplay (e.g. rent rise). There were also some pretty tough words, like thalassian, amharic, tergiversator, potto, Owenite (follower of Robert Owen, a utopian socialist), and shoji, so if you don't know them it's going to be brutal. I often wondered why Wile E Coyote continued to patronise Acme, given his repeated lack of success with their products.

[@Saryk360]

I knew the french verb "tergiverser" which means "to beat around the bush", but I did not know it in a "traitor" sense 😮 I also know Thalassian from many derivatives, the root meaning "sea".

[@sucrose11]

thank you simon :)

[@PeterMoore66]

I thought I had 2D very quickly and would have written in SNORKEL, which would have led me completely up the garden path! Yet it fits the clue as well as INHALER without the checking letters.

[@longwaytotipperary]

Amazingly created - amazingly solved!! Wonderfully entertaining!!

[@davidrattner9]

Hour and 15 min is indeed brutal and such great entertainment for us.

[@longwaytotipperary]

@@davidrattner9 yes!!

[@thelobsterperson]

Knowing the French tergiverser (to flip-flop or to change your mind) would have helped with that anagram

[@nfc153]

Well that was ... educational. 19a and 20d both new to me (and 6d too) but I did get 9a once a letter was placed so not a complete loss. Simon is going to be so mad when he realises the key thing with "pan-Slav".

[@archivist17]

Owenite - A follower of Robert Owen, an early Utopian Socialist, and an inspiration for the cooperative movement. Worth reading up. He was a great thinker, though not entirely unproblematic.

[@ChocolateJesii]

... and Mark did that in 7 minutes! 😮

[@rhysbart]

Those anagrams were all brutal

[@johnciolfi5085]

For 15-A, the vitamin is B1, which is preceded by ankle (rankles endlessly). Absolutely vicious puzzle. The only reason I got thalassian was because I knew the word thalassophobia, or fear of the ocean.

[@vinyl1Earthlink]

Simon would have done better writing down the anagram letters - his proposed solution had two Is, and there is only on I in 'gave terrorists'. And Simon is going to be very annoyed when he discovers that the center of pan-Slav is a Large S, which sounds like (broadcast) largess.

[@yahJahhhhajaja]

this is my first time seeing one of these puzzles. 12 minutes into the video and i’m trying to figure out how you’re getting some of these answers. it’s really racking my brain 😅

[@Myer5Hertz]

I was like this at the start. What I will say is that the first time you figure one out that he has to come back to, it feels AMAZING.

[@Prazzie]

I started doing the Times cryptics last November, armed with a cryptic crossword dictionary and anagram solver. I had to look up synonyms for at least half of the words. Now I can pretty much breeze through these unassisted, thanks to these masterclasses. Viewing the clues as akin to algebraic formulas and knowing those short synonyms help so much. Keep at it, it becomes clearer once you start to understand the "language" of cryptics.

[@Anne_Mahoney]

There are conventions and standard tricks, which Simon does explain as he goes along. You'll get used to it -- or to some of it, eventually! I grew up watching my father do these (hard to find in the US in the 60s, but he did), and I still only get about 70% of the clues even after a broad hint from Simon.

[@JyotiDas-72]

Given that zero, and even negative pH exists I never would have gotten that “most acidic” = pH 1

[@philipbrooks402]

Owenite- Robert Owen. Links to Manchester and a factory commune in Scotland.

[@reubenmckay]

I can usually follow along and even beat Simon to some of the answers but this puzzle was way out of my league. Dedinitely a beast of a puzzle and no shame to Simon for struggling with it. Totally understandable.

[@johnrowlands1284]

Another wonderful solve. Is it true that The Times has dropped the convention that setters are not allowed to refer to living people (apart from HRH)?

[@_pinkangels]

i was repeating amharic at the screen since first glance and i dont know why i just knew it 😂

[@yadiracamacho499]

Tergiversator would've confused me because in Spanish tergiversar is to to evade, to give explanations by twisting the truth

[@ianbent0n]

I'm new to these as an American and trying to dive in, but some of these seem really tenuous. If there are no extraneous contents and the puzzle cares a lot about technical accuracy, can someone please explain the purpose of "Maybe" in 4D and "that may indicate" in 11A? "Before taking" also seems out of place in 15A because it's referring to ANKLE. Thanks!

[@d4r4butler74]

I always look forwards to the Crosswords. Sure, this was tough. I like to think though that if some of the other clues had not fried your brain you would have gotten Largess even not knowing of the word. I would not have, but it is a huge pun... You probably would have asked the important question of "Why pan-Slav?" and still been able to get it.

[@charlesh.1643]

I laughed out loud on your comment: HYPERCONDRIA, one of the few diseases I haven't had.

[@ThecrystalwizardCoUk]

The central letter of "pan-Slav" is a big "S" = large S .. broadcast means heard/homophone! (This is the only clue I got!)

[@archivist17]

😄 Good joke from setter if true.

[@khaaqshy]

Thalassian was a write in for me, as i knew of the word for a phobia of deep water, Thalassophobia. 18 down is just downright nasty....... panSlav is used as it has the CAPITAL... or LARGE ESS in the middle of it, and if you overheard someone broadcast the central character of the word pan-Slav 'Its a large S' you might write that as Largess, defined here as a distribution of gifts... (party gifts... party favours..) also, if you do someone a large, you are doing them a favour. hellish, difficult clue.

[@dethbygaming]

I am extremely proud of myself for getting "Thalassian" right away but that's about all I got

[@dethbygaming]

I only knew Thalassian because of thalassophobia, which is the fear of deep water.

[@kurohone]

Anyone else staggered that Simon didn't know the word largesse? I'm pretty sure I picked it up long ago through fantasy or history books.

[@mikechappell5849]

He knew it, but ruled it out because he thought it was spelt with an e at the end, which I think is the more common spelling

[@BryanLu0]

I'm proud of getting Thalassian

[@sh4dowchas3r]

18 down is a terrible pun (ie the best kind) when you get it.

[@sh4dowchas3r]

the middle letter of "pan-Slav" is a big S. or if you will a large S. how do you hear it.

[@danielsaper8264]

Wow.... I watched you look up Tergiversator, and I still have trouble believing that's a real word.

[@BarryKort]

Oddly enough, it was the one obscure word that I happened to know, and suggested right away from the anagram letters. The US Columnist, George F. Will, introduced 'tergiversation' in one of his commentaries: «During the government shutdown, [Senator Lindsey] Graham’s tergiversations - sorry, this is the precise word - have amazed. On a recent day, in 90 minutes he went from “I don’t know” whether the president has the power to declare an emergency and divert into wall-building funds appropriated by Congress for other purposes, to “Time for President . . . to use emergency powers to build Wall.” - George Will, The Washington Post, 23 Jan. 2019»

[@profregan6937]

As wondrous as ever .

[@MrBigrig5]

This was a crazy puzzle - got everything except SHOJI. Loved all the clues, really interesting amount of cryptic definitions that didn’t feel too mean (even if the words themselves were pretty nuts!) An absolute guess on tergiversator but happy it went ok! Always so fun to see you solve these, Simon!

[@thezanycat]

PH0 is lower than PH1 and just as valid, was a bit of a bugbear for me. And you can even go negatives but obviously not in a crossword sense.

[@bristolrovers27]

Spiffing puzzle, somewhere between diamond and granite on the hardness scale

[@Margaret___71z]

Don't miss the exclusive interview with Binance's CEO for a glimpse into the future

[@bigjim6408]

Owenism refers to Robert Owen

[@MichaelPaine]

I know Thallassian as Sea Turtle, but have no idea why I know it!

[@Now_Or_Nova]

Being a thallasophobe was very convenient for 1 down 😂😂

[@michaelandersen-kk4fc]

Brain need more wine 😁😁😁😁😁

[@thatbear28]

Did anyone else think “possibly left man united?” was REDS?

[@Ile-des-Soeurs_Verdun]

Amharic is the official language of Ethiopia.

[@ashawthingart]

I think REDS is a better answer for 8 down.

[@MattSwain1]

No need for apologies Simon, so many words I don’t know in that grid and as always I learned plenty from watching

[@thescrewfly]

Quite surprised Simon didn't get Amharic straight away (possibly having come across it in a previous crossword). The gaps in his general knowledge are mysteriously unpredictable,

[@VonBlade]

Wow. Brutal barely covers it.

[@xSablelicious]

WWE

[@archivist17]

Owenite - A follower of Robert Owen, an early Utopian Socialist, and an inspiration for the cooperative movement. Worth reading up. He was a great thinker, though not entirely unproblematic.

[@philipbrooks402]

Sorry, hadn't seen your comment.

[@archivist17]

@@philipbrooks402 @bigjim6408 posted well before me. Pleased to know Owen's not forgotten!