Dave Gorman's New Cryptic Crossword: A Tutorial

[@jesseraen4172]

Sweepers are a fish! They're a small, tropical marine (occasionally brackish) perciform fish of the family Pempheridae, according to Wikipedia.

[@andrewgrant6516]

When your house gets flooded by rising sea levels, they're great for keeping the chimney clean.

[@wickedcherub]

I have started doing the Quick Cryptics in the Times.. They're like beginner level cryptic crosswords and don't have any obscure words or Latin phrases so great for learning how to read the clues. The times crossword blog on livejournal has fans (?) explaining the answer to each clue, so I'm learning lots and was able to get a number of clues in this video! It's like.. A whole world has opened up to me lol

[@longwaytotipperary]

oh thanks, Tina - I'll look for that. Even after seeing the answer I almost always need to have it explained!

[@matttriggs1268]

In my experience, the Times Quick Cryptics are by far and away the easiest and best put together. Most weeks I make no progress at all with things like the Guardian Quiptic.

[@mikeychrisanthus9948]

Is there a way I can access that in the US? I like cryptic crosswords as a concept and like seeing the wordplay behind them, but doing random ones online usually end in my failures, and I don’t always understand after I reveal the answer.

[@mattmclellan123]

Yes I love The Times Quick Cryptic, The Times Cryptic Quintagram and am now getting into The Guardian Quiptic. Your videos helped me find my way into these…. Along with The I’s small 5-clue cryptic each day, as they include an explainer of their answers

[@longwaytotipperary]

I was unaware of cryptic crosswords before CTC. Now I look forward to watching Simon and Mark explain how they work. Not knowing British slang is a huge obstacle for my being able to solve them, but it is very enjoyable to learn word play and see how clues are put together. Simon is brilliant at solving and explaining! Very nice start to the day! Just had gnocchi for dinner last night! My parents took us to a hotel on the beach named Sans Souci when my brother and I were kids.

[@theshrikeooo]

Great solve, for the 1st time ever on a cryptic crossword I got 2 b4 Simon, Brown Bread and the RTA clue for Atrip, although I had never heard of that word either. I take it as a testament to Simon's great explanations for understanding cryptic clues finally starting to sink in

[@andrewgrant6516]

I love that Simon's fingers don't want to let him swear on the channel. Sweet Funny Adams is indeed both sweet and funny.

[@longwaytotipperary]

I never heard of that phrase so I looked it up. There's a lot to be learned through Google.

[@SligsTV]

Simon instantly solving every clue and then miscounting the s’s in “as cousins” is so fitting for this channel.

[@TimWalton0]

36:40 Simon hovers mouse over dictionary definition for sweep - "a wire drag used in searching for shoals" but it's nestled in a long paragraph so is easy to miss.

[@davidblake6889]

Atrip refers to a boat anchor that has just been lifted off the sea bed. Great solve, Simon. Dave definitely outdid himself this time. Some of those were monstrously hard.

[@puritan745]

I came to the comments to find out how that fishmonger clue worked - none yet so now eagerly awaiting with you Simon! - great solve and thank you for taking the time to explain and help those of us who struggle with cryptic clues!

[@Swisswavey]

Finger with sh (edges of Salah) and Mo in

[@puritan745]

@@Swisswavey Sorry, I should have been clearer, Simon spoke about that part but it is the "Sweeper" clue that I didn't understand. But then someone has now said they are a type of fish which is what we guessed. Thanks anyhow.

[@rays5163]

It's a fish called sweeper.

[@DontMockMySmock]

for the first time, I got a clue before Simon! "Some troops hiding underground (5)" is "METRO", the phrase "soME TROops" has "metro" "hiding" in it, and "underground" is the definition. it's like seeing the matrix

[@Ace-tg7ic]

Wow, perfect timing! I was just searching up for the old cryptic crossword video from years ago to fall asleep to (this content really helps stimulate my brain enough to not get occupied by own thoughts but not overly stimulating like other channels’ videos would) and found this one! Thank you Simon! Keep up the amazing work, these videos got me really interested in cryptic crosswords.

[@StKozlovsky]

*Simon:* "I think what puts people off cryptic crosswords is that they think "I don't know any revolutionary Yugoslavians, therefore I won't be able to answer this clue", but it's not like that" *Me:* No, what puts me off cryptic crosswords is that I looked at that clue and thought "four letters? Must be Tito", but it turns out it's all just wordplay I had no chance to get without Simon's hints... At least I got the phrase for "carefree" immediately because I've been to that park in Germany :)

[@richardfox6595]

Yes, the palace in Potsdam. Also the semi-borrowed word insouciance has the same root.

[@th.nd.r]

Loved the Salah clue! Great setting by Dave and great solving by Simon. Again, very happy to see cryptics featured on the channel!!

[@R.Daneel]

@36:27 Sweeper: "A wire drag used for searching shoals" shown on the dictionary page.

[@b34z47]

would love to see some new Goodliffe crossword content!

[@listey]

"I might have to go and read Harry Potter in a moment." - have to be honest; I'd listen to the audiobook if Simon was reading it.

[@KusaneHexaku]

i don't know really. Stephen Fry or Simon? hard choice

[@longwaytotipperary]

Simon reading Harry Potter would be great!!! 🤗

[@chronoptic4386]

Sad that we didn't get a little verse of "That's E in the corner" right at the start, but great solve nevertheless!

[@Draedaja]

Amazing! I had absolutely no idea about 6 Across until you said that it's really simple - I paused the video and figured out the definition and wordplay myslef, in just a few moments :'D (Nevermind, the other clues had me scratching my head again, even after the explanation... at least Simon was also quite stumped by some of these!)

[@GenWivern2]

Thank you for the tip off, once again. Solved it first (in a very similar time to yours, these things being a good deal easier if you don't have to narrate I shouldn't wonder) then watched the video. Bit of a curate's egg, and a distinctly hard boiled one in places. He's quite inventive, and a good fit for the Indy.

[@Antinomiste]

As a French totally mesmerized from beginning to end, it was quite funny to quickly find sans souci and see Simon panic about it

[@bibliopolist]

Same here as a German... It's very well known in German, of course, because of King Frederick the Great's palace "Sanssouci" in Potsdam.

[@caitlinerickson7355]

I sort of thought when I started understanding some of these clues, that the others would become a little more comprehensible. That...does not appear to be the case yet, but I have hope they might eventually 😂

[@pelahnar4]

Simon has indicated in this videos several times that if you become familiar enough with this type of clue, figuring out how to read them gets easier. I can only assume that I haven't reached that threshold yet.

[@nileprimewastaken]

I got lucky on the CD clue. I saw 'beginning' and I thought "what begins CD? C, or see. Oh, that's not enough letters. Well, the next letter would be 'd' from 'dee', and that spells seed, which I guess could be a beginning."

[@nirst79]

Fascinating that when trying to identify if a sweeper is a fish Simon reaches for a dictionary and not google!

[@andrewgrant6516]

He's got Alexa right behind him. She'd be so thrilled to be finally asked a question!

[@tinarion3598]

Just in case there are people out there who might find it interesting, the police no longer refer to them as RTAs as the "A", meaning accident, implies no fault. Nowadays they use RTC, "C" meaning collision or sometimes RTI with the "I" meaning incident.

[@ritchards]

As we learnt from Hot Fuzz, "accident" implies there's nobody to blame.

[@andrewgrant6516]

I thought RTI was repetitive train injury. When you tie someone to the tracks then reverse the engine backwards and forwards several times because you really mean it.

[@longwaytotipperary]

@@andrewgrant6516 😲

[@Rob-ew9id]

Not often I beat Simon, but RTA was instantaneous for crash involving vehicles for me, pretty straightforward. Had a couple I couldn't get at all though.

[@emilywilliams3237]

Thanks for another trip to nearly-inscrutable-land! I do enjoy it, though, and of course I'm very impressed with your vocabulary and the flexibility of your mind, necessary to solving these word-plays. Thanks for the video. It's getting less murky every time I watch one of these crossword videos that you and Mark put up. Oh, and I would not have thought that the letter "c" would be spelled "see" ... that is odd to me.

[@wossaaaat]

Wish I had the brains for this. I can only do the ones for kids, and even then I'm not good enough. Well done Simon. I like an occasional cryptic, and this was a good one. Probably already commented somewhere, but: *Sweeper:* _"a small nocturnal shoaling fish of reefs and coastal waters, occurring chiefly in the tropical Indo-Pacific."_ Family Pempheridae: several genera and species, including the western Atlantic glassy sweeper (Pempheris schomburgki), with transparent young.

[@B1GB1RDB4G3L]

I enjoy your crossword videos simon :)

[@accountnamewithheld]

"Sans souci" must have the same origin as "Insouciant" which means carefree!

[@larswallbaum1940]

Sanssoucsi (written as one word) is the name of a famous chateau in germany. the name comes from the french "without worries".

[@waterskym]

Insouciant.

[@Ruddigore]

I would have come unstuck on just the sans-whatever it was clue, though I may, like Simon, have totally guessed (and reached) the correct answer. Some great wordplay and definitely one for seasoned cryptic solvers.

[@Saryk360]

An instant of pride today when I got 15 down before Simon :D

[@pearl1606]

This compiler is a purist in terms of cryptic meanings, mixing all the types into bizarre surface readings. Its interesting how different the setters are in terms of approach, style, cultural refs., etc.

[@barneytrubble]

I only managed to solve 7 clues, though happily they included Brown Bread and Soap Box which Simon struggled with. I guessed that the Netflix one must be an anagram, but failed to work it out. The rest of the clues were totally beyond my ability

[@Swisswavey]

Never heard of the 5d answer but the wordplay made it easy with 3 letters filled in

[@longwaytotipperary]

Gnocchi is a potato pasta/dumpling. It's great with a tomato sauce and parmesan cheese!

[@Swisswavey]

@@longwaytotipperary yeah, I meant 6 down.

[@longwaytotipperary]

@@Swisswavey oh - I've never heard of that one either.

[@chipsounder4633]

Great puzzle, I am understanding the cryptic clues a bit more, really enjoyed that👏👏👏

[@johnwarwicker7603]

I've just returned from visiting Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam, so I was lucky to answer 15 down!

[@stephentroop7385]

I think sweeper is referring to a sweeper net which is used to catch fish - though would argue that would work better with fisherman than fishmonger

[@adamheywood113]

_Doctors_ is indeed a daytime soap opera. Not for the faint-hearted, and I don't mean that in a good way.

[@louisemcelhill5748]

My friend used to be a Chef at the Sans Souci Hotel in Jamaica.

[@VeritasUnae]

I think I'm still bested by cryptics at this level. Lots of terminology still to learn.

[@disneian]

I remember in one of the earlier Sudoku video Simon mentioned a cryptic crossword themed on Only Connect, does anyone remember which one was it? And did Simon solved it previously?

[@steve470]

This one: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aWaWkKaCoMaAaNk

[@iliba]

6 down is kinda misleading, the Police refer to "accidents" as RTC - Road Traffic Collision. They no longer refer to them as accidents.

[@andrewbowman4611]

Sans souci, while I didn't know it, reminded me of insouciance, so I got there that way.

[@williamhicken1206]

Dave Gorman creates very difficult crosswords.

[@zmaj12321]

Just googled "sweet fanny adams." What a dark phrase.

[@arty9935]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweeper Tough one today Simon, well done.

[@andrewshelley410]

The yesman clue has to be a poke at Danny Wallace.

[@stegra5960]

After just over 3 hours I had 16½ answers, the half being sans. Sounds pretty dire but the last time I tried an Independent cryptic I got two words, both anagrams, neither of which I'd heard of.

[@unwisebobcat624]

Also? How could the hint not be part of the answer, idk it just didn’t make since

[@bevstarrunner9472]

I know it is completely irrelevant to the crossword logic, but there is a Suburb in southern Sydney named Sans Souci. We definitely do not pronounce it the French way..

[@unwisebobcat624]

All this is something I wouldn’t think of

[@aaronmorris1513]

I knew sans souci because it’s the name of a pub in my town.

[@nickc6621]

anyone else spend half the time just staring at the U in 2 down

[@henrymarkson3758]

The gnocchi clue was too much!

[@geoffreyclark9909]

It's a tropical fish. Eaten in japan

[@andrewgrant6516]

Did you never play Grand Theft Auto London? You're Brown Bread, Mate!

[@annokrat]

sanssouci indeed means carefree! The Prussian king Friedrich the Great named is palace in Potsdam that way! It was the summer residence /retreat Together with the gardens it is breathtakingly beautiful... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanssouci

[@henrymarkson3758]

Same etymology as insouciant ?

[@annokrat]

@@henrymarkson3758 could very well be, but I don't know...