The Times Crossword Friday Masterclass: Episode 19

[@Ruddigore]

Fantastic, the master is back. I love to watch Mark doing the Times Cryptic, his ability to suss out the wordplay almost instantly is outstanding.

[@bristolrovers27]

I second this, more Mark on crosswords plz

[@longwaytotipperary]

In awe of Mark’s extensive knowledge and taking the time to explain how to solve these puzzles! ❤

[@longwaytotipperary]

Also ❤the old Scottish phrase!

[@davidrattner9]

@longwaytotipperary the Scottish phrases today were something special!! 🙂 Treat for us to continue to have our favorite solvers post these! 💙

[@longwaytotipperary]

@@davidrattner9 absolutely ! 😃

[@onion013]

Mark's sheer ability always baffles me - what a privilege to watch!

[@imaginarycastle]

Very much enjoy the double cryptic videos!

[@blakebarnett9319]

As an amateur jewelrymaker, I can share that a cabochon is a flat-bottomed, round/domed cut of gemstone, which I'd actually be quite surprised to see on a diamond, which are faceted to catch and reflect the light. Cabochon cuts are much more common in colored semiprecious stones which are more opaque, such as lapis, agate, turquoise, etc.

[@skasperl]

Not only the solving is fantastic, also Mark's wit is making these videos outstanding.

[@orosma868]

I absolutely love these, the quick solve and the explanations, the titbits of information, everything! Couldn't be better. Thank you Mark.

[@Sam_weiqi]

This is seriously impressive. A 44 minute video when it feels as though you could have been done in 5 if you so wished. Thanks for explaining the clues so precisely!

[@francesT5877]

Los Alamos was the development site for the first two atomic bombs. If anybody is interested, the podcast The Rest is History has just put out two episodes on Robert Oppenheimer, though possibly only the first one is available. Very interesting and it’s a great podcast. Thank you so much, I’ve started doing these and I’m so bad at them still I had five wrong entries. There were even a few I got right that I didn’t understand. Lady Eustace was a baggage who married into a rich family and stole their diamonds so the novel is called The Eustace Diamonds.

[@emilywilliams3237]

I am always happy to "bear with you" on these Friday masterclasses - thank you and Simon for making this a weekly feature of CtC! I look forward to them. You are, of course, amazing, to see how these different words work and how the clues work. It shows what a lifetime of being familiar with and immersed in this "sport" can create. I have read 8 or so of Trollope's novels, not sure I have read Eustace Diamonds. My favorites are The Warden and Barchester Towers. The latter is one of the funniest books in the English language, but is best preceded by The Warden, in which we are introduced to Barchester and many of the characters. Worthwhile, I think, and entertaining. Witty. Thanks, Mark.

[@jarvisa12345]

It is fascinating how the brain works (or doesn't). 24:54 Mark pronounces ‘agave’ three different ways incorrectly then 25:23 pronounces it correctly when he's not thinking about it.

[@ymiros0953]

I think he was trying to pronounce it Spanish then. I'm surprised every time English somehow manages to not completely butcher a word so I can relate well to this.

[@jwolfe01234]

I noticed that too. Agave seems Spanish and it's vaguely pronounced as it would be in Spanish, but I looked it up and was surprised to learn that it actually comes from Ancient Greek. Of course, Spanish pronounces V like B, so it's actually ah-GAH-bay in Spanish. And it starts with a schwa in English, so uh-GAH-vay.

[@MrBigrig5]

Bravo, Mark! Always amazing to see a master at work

[@davidrattner9]

Wonderful job today!! Continue thank you for filling in for Simon when he isn't available!! Your expertise on these is just astonishing.

[@auximenes]

Thanks Mark. I really appreciate the crossword videos.

[@glum_hippo]

These clues were especially extra today. I laughed aloud at 'Los Alamos'. Thanks for the tour!

[@louisesuth8141]

I did that for the russian beggar!

[@Enkil01]

Love these when you give us the bonus fast solve. It's mind boggling to watch your skill.

[@HanBanan828]

Hi Mark and Simon. I loved these crossword vids (and your other puzzles) and I explained them to my husband. I googled a really easy one and we tried to sus out at least one answer. At some point in response to reminding him that the definition will be the beginning of end, he said “this doesn’t seem very cryptic if there’s all these rules, wouldn’t it be better/more challenging if there’s weren’t any rules? Or more interesting?” To which I wanted to say “Jesus it’s challenging enough” 😂😂

[@tdbraun6837]

You are really good at explaining the obscure wordplay and how it works. Enjoyed it!

[@Alex_Meadows]

Amazing to watch, as always. Thanks Mark!

[@mccabjo]

mohn's times are genuine (source: am mohn)

[@mccabjo]

Pretty sure mistigris is genuine too, as is mauefw (who isn't on the leaderboard but said on TftT that he did Thursday's in 3m19s).

[@CrackingTheCryptic]

Apologies @mccabjo, it's just that they push the boundaries of my belief! Kudos, Mark

[@MultiNacnud]

7 down Robert Oppenheimer: “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds”. Mark Goodliffe : “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of crosswords”.

[@accountnamewithheld]

I thought we were building a rice cooker

[@cloudbringer104]

Thank you once again. I have plenty of old Scottish words if you ever want to be really bored. I would happily share them in a corner at party with Simon and you.

[@StealthAngel667]

This is one of my favourite parts of the channel. It's absolutely deranged to me how anyone can figure out any of these clues and Mark just zooms through them without hesitation.

[@Anne_Mahoney]

These are fun. I like the super-fast-and-explain-later style that Mark has been doing for his second puzzle when it's his turn to do these, though I suppose that only works now that I've seen a few slower walk-throughs so I have some fighting chance of figuring out a clue or two myself. Must go back to Trollope one of these days.

[@timotab]

Fun fact: When geese fly in a V, one side of the V is almost always longer than the other. But do you know why this is? Because there's more geese in it.

[@danielbluebisson]

Mark betrays himself! Early doors he says his drug knowledge all comes from crosswords, but later he reveals he can identify cannabis by its smell. Informing the authorities immediately 😂😂

[@Seomus]

Los Alamos is where they did the work to come up with the atom bomb but they didn't test it there. That was at the Trinity Site in White Sands which is the middle of nowhere a few hours away.

[@swclements1]

I love the Friday special

[@johnpauladamovsky86]

I like it how Mark is so good at this type of puzzle, so that often, he sees the answer first, and then fabricates a reason for it, ex post facto.

[@biaberg3448]

Thanks for explaining what’s going on.

[@Raven-Creations]

I like clues like 13A, where the answer is the clue describing the word-play; we don't see enough of them. I guess they're hard to come up with, but also if they were more common, they'd not seem as special. The first puzzle was quite easy for a Friday. There was a bit of general knowledge needed, but nothing too obscure. The second was an odd one. Certainly the first few clues were hard to parse without any letters to work with. It's possible that other solvers do as I often do, which is to start from the bottom. I've found setters often use their fiendish clues early on, with the later clues being more routine. I think perhaps if you'd attacked this from the bottom up, you might have had a different opinion on it.

[@andyparkerson]

19:13 Have you ever noticed that when geese fly in a V, there is always one side that is longer than the other? You know why that is? There's more geese on that side.

[@701JM]

Boggles my mind how fast mark is on his 'Speed/normal run' I'd have gave up 😂

[@nendwr]

I'd only ever seen "agave" written down and would have gone for a bisyllabic a-GAVE.

[@PeterMoore66]

Los Alamos is quite a topical answer, as the Christopher Nolan-directed biopic of Robert Oppenheimer will be in cinemas very soon.

[@DevilboyScooby]

Thank you for pointing out it's not entirely reasonable to assume French anymore. I did French up until year 9, but a combination of amnesia, Spanish and Welsh have since knocked most of the vocabulary out of my head 😢 so I often have to Google translate certain words and live with the feeling I've cheated 😂

[@TheMajorr86]

Uh-Gah-Vay...Agave

[@philipbrooks402]

The Eustace Diamonds - Anthony Trollope

[@danielbluebisson]

Isn't 'Burn' a definition by example thats unindicated? Is this at odds with the rule described for CAFETERIA?

[@bibliopolist]

No, see en.wiktionary "burn": 2. burn (plural burns) (Northern England, Scotland) A stream

[@vinyl1Earthlink]

My problem was that I thought the French word for pig was cochin - wrong! When this was put paid to by organised crime, I had to use the literal and wrack my brains. If this were Mephisto, I could have plied my Chambers, but I was left guessing at the vowels. On the other hand, I have read The Eustace Diamonds. I did much better on the Thursday puzzle, solving in my average time, which is much slower than Mark's! That's the difference between having the knowledge and being forced to guess.

[@aupadenis]

w. o. w.

[@ThiisStil]

cracking solve, i am impressed by your drug knowledge

[@Vernicho]

Sick posh bird, sound as a bell. (12) Ill- u- mina-ting.

[@glum_hippo]

where is the definition portion? (Just trying to understand)

[@saswatmishra6917]

Where's the definition ?

[@Vernicho]

@@saswatmishra6917 My attempt at using the whole clue as the definition, be interesting to get expert feedback on it from Mark or Simon.

[@Vernicho]

@@glum_hippo An attempt at using the whole clue as the definition.

[@saswatmishra6917]

Honestly don't think the whole clue could be the definition but idk

[@Frie_Jemi]

Tequila is made from agave. (Uh-GAW-vay)

[@frenchguy7518]

Another French word for pig is "porc" (don't pronounce the final C), which became pork in English.