Steve Pemberton's Taskmaster Crossword

** TODAY'S PUZZLE **
Steve Pemberton is not only an actor/comedian/director/writer (see League Of Gentlemen and Inside No. 9, for example) but also a brilliant cryptic crossword constructor.
In a recent episode of the comedy quiz show Taskmaster he tried to encourage people to get into crosswords by revealing that he'd compiled that day's crossword in The Guardian newspaper! And it's that puzzle that we try in this video.
You can try it too at the following link:
www.theguardian.com/crossword...
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[@Taskmaster]

👏👏👏

[@AcidDotCom]

So surprised and happy when I watched that episode. Two brilliant shows combined! :D

[@mattgio1172]

Not sure who's running the account, but Alex absolutely strikes me as one who would watch this whole video. Greg would get bored and start looking for a roast to eat.

[@EuanBCFC]

@@mattgio1172Sorry to break it to you but it’s not gonna be either of them

[@mattmclellan123]

Is this the second Taskmaster contestant who has done a cryptic crossword? The first being Dave Gorman

[@steve470]

@@mattmclellan123 At least the second. I would guess that Victoria Coren Mitchell has probably done one at some point.

[@FineAndAndy]

Every explanation of a complicated cryptic crossword clue sounds like Adam West's Batman explaining the solution to one of the Riddler's clues, with a several step sequence of seemingly random word association that turns out to be correct.

[@jaymontana2708]

You have finally put into words why these infuriate me and I just can't get into them lol

[@jessevennard2640]

Wow. If you’re old enough to know, it’s spot on.

[@patcat8950]

Slightly more recently, there's also the "Hello to you" scene from Red Dwarf.

[@DevilboyScooby]

Or the 321 clues with Dusty Bin

[@15schaa]

I love Taskmaster, Steve and cryptic crosswords, so this was an absolute delight for me! Clue 24 down is also thematic to Taskmaster ("He follows Nick, losing task finally - a comfortable position") as Nick Mohammed is one of the other contestants this series. Incidentally, very clever people solved this crossword the day it came out and spotted the message, meaning us TM super nerds knew to expect Steve Pemberton (and someone called Nick) on the show before the cast was even announced!

[@r.g.9717]

Oh my gosh that’s incredible!

[@justnigel]

"Greg please give Steve all five points"

[@st0rmforce]

I want to cut together a load of out-of-context clips of simon into a video. "Trace of sewage found in abandoned septic tank. I mean it's brilliant. It's just beautiful!"

[@tiagomarques9822]

I take pride on being quite fluent and knowledgeable in English, despite not having it as my mother tongue; however, I am always flabbergasted as I watch Simon solve a cryptic crossword, realizing the huge amount of words I never heard of in my life. Once I read that you only start to really understand a language once you start getting the humor in it; understanding clues in cryptic crosswords must be a goal many levels above that - not to mention setting a cryptic crossword… I find it fascinating!

[@CatCheshireThe]

One thing about the crosswords they're doing here is that they do tend to rely a lot on extremely British terminology, so even a fluent speaker might struggle with them unless they specifically learned English in the UK. Of course even if you do have that experience they are still quite difficult, as demonstrated here when even Simon didn't know a couple of the words and had to look them up at the end

[@dolf370]

Same with me, I also consider myself fluent, but things like one-letter abbreviation 'b' for bishop in chess is totally beyond me (not to mention geographical clues, cricket and British lore I've never heard of).

[@Martijn-xb7ve]

For completeness, at 54:07, there is the word 'all' :)

[@eashanshenai4980]

Nice catch!

[@allyp305]

This is incredible- I’ve never heard of cryptic crosswords before, it’s amazing how you break down all the words to find the spelling and meaning. I feel like my brain got an exercise 🤣

[@markjreed]

I believe bacchanale with an e is a musical composition in an opera for a scene depicting a bacchanal without the e.

[@nightwishlover8913]

You're right: Saint-Saens wrote a few - unfortunately, the clue "seems" to require a plural...

[@novemberdag1127]

I (non-native English speaker) just thought the 'drunken bit' was the "ALE" in the end of the word haha

[@metroidman7592]

I had no idea what a cryptic crossword was when when steve showed it off on taskmaster. Im immensely more impressed now

[@KeiFlox]

How sneaky, PLEASE GIVE STEVE ALL FIVE POINTS.

[@peterdunlop7691]

Brilliant puzzle. Bacchanale with an e is given in Meriam-Webster. Loved Steve since League of Gentlemen.

[@evah4431]

Never thought my two favourite sources of British video content would cross like this! :)

[@nidoking042]

That is indeed how the Check All feature on the Guardian site works. It will remove any incorrect letters, so if everything is correct, the puzzle will show no change.

[@Umbra451]

In mathematics (and physics, by extension) the focus of a curve is a point in the "middle" of it. It's not quite the center of it (for instance, an ellipse has two foci, equally spaced along its major axis) but it's certainly evocative of being central to a curve.

[@zacharycampbell1002]

This is what I was thinking as well, I would say center a fair synonym because the focus of a circle is its center (well, technically, a circle is an ellipse whose two foci are the same point, but you know what I mean)

[@Shaun742]

The Riddle of the Sphinx episode of Inside No 9 was what got me doing cryptic crosswords in the first place, and 7 years later I'm still at it.

[@AlphaAxle]

once I saw this taskmaster episode, I immediately searched to see if you had solved it. So glad to see you do this!!

[@57thorns]

Success, I managed to figure out down 1 on my own! Now I can watch the video for the rest of the crossword.

[@57thorns]

And I nearly got two down as well... did not "back" the correct word before the substitution that I managed to find after googling a fact.

[@epd807]

He died pinching a loaf. I immediately thought ELVIS!😂

[@lucy861]

I am here for this CTC and Taskmaster crossover ❤️

[@MarushiaDark316]

I think rather than a Master Class, I might need a Beginner's Class on these types of puzzles cuz I just don't get them at all. I'm fortunate I was able to get maybe two or three out of the entire puzzle on my own. I think the explanation of "the real part of the clue is always at one end like a math equation" was quite helpful.

[@KeiFlox]

I always thought POLLOCK was with an O at the end, but apparently both O and A are accepted spellings!

[@okmarshall]

I had no idea either. Certainly in the UK we use the O spelling though, so I'm not sure why Steve went with the A.

[@KeiFlox]

@@okmarshall I've only seen the O spelling here in Canada.

[@jadeEpeace]

Thanks simon. Loved this extra crossword video. And even managed to get quite a few clues on my own, and a few others with some little hints from you! I’m disappointed at KZbin though; I watch your crossword masterclass every week and it did not suggest this to me. The only reason I knew was because you mentioned it in your regular Friday video and so I went looking. Even thought the algorithm doesn’t seem to rate these videos, I absolutely love them! Please keep ‘em coming!! PS I’d love a little video where you explain the different types of cryptic crossword clue; standard, hidden, double definition, cryptic definition, and lit?? etc.

[@Rubrickety]

I saw this Taskmaster episode (thank you thank you Taskmaster for making episodes available free on U.S. KZbin soon after broadcast these days!), and wondered if it was going to make an appearance on CtC. Glad to see it!

[@richardclegg8027]

Really glad you are doing this one. Dave Gorman's crosswords are also brilliant and original. I think you have done them in the past. He goes from strength to strength as a setter.

[@IskarJarek]

algorithm won on this one, never heard of cryptic crosswords, but imma try some now. thank you for the vid.

[@ghjk9592]

Just watched the episode of Taskmaster and remembered this video existed. I like to think I could get into cryptic crosswords then I watch you solve them and realise yeah I could do two 4 letter clues that's it. So many rules, ideas, constructs and concepts for writing the clues and reading the clues I feel you'd need a qualification in cryptic crosswords to understand

[@10prozenthimmel]

I recently discovered Taskmaster, and watch CTC regularly. What a Sunday treat for me! 🎉 (well-deserved too, since I got nothing for Mother’s Day, not even a call from my student daughter)

[@estherwestbroek]

Happy Mother's day! Give yourself a little treat to commemorate all the work you did mothering. Salute from a mother...

[@10prozenthimmel]

Thank you 😘 You too! ❤

[@hclapp219]

Elan is also a car made by Lotus, which would fit with the automotive theme as well.

[@jennwinter2243]

From the USA here. I am so glad you did this. I watched this Task Master episode the other day and thought about you! I normally don't watch the cryptic crossword videos (I can't even do standard crosswords)., but I am watching this one. :)

[@darrenbent7601]

I'm so glad that you posted this crossword. I am quite a fan of Taskmaster, and they played that episode the other day here in New Zealand. I did not realize how up to date the episode is. I am so glad that I can have a go at doing the puzzle myself at some stage too.

[@KeiFlox]

What a treat, an extra crossword solve! Some lovely clues in this one.

[@Revenant77x]

I knew when Steve entered this as a prize we would probably get a CTC video on it. I am very pleased that I was correct. Always a joy to see these videos.

[@leco4529]

I also saw this on Taskmaster. So glad you’ve done it here.

[@77bears]

the 11-across clue is really nice, once you realise it's trying to trick you with the homophones of "high hat" and "hi-hat" then the clue suddenly becomes easy to read. great video as always!!

[@charlesbrookes959]

Yay more of these please! The Times is quality but i really dig the thematic crosswords with clever reveals you get in the guardian and independent

[@SweDennis]

I know Simon uses the Chambers dictionary. When he says that initials have to be in the dictionary in order to be used, does that imply Chambers only, or any dictionary of reasonable reputation?

[@ElectricFury]

What a crossover! I absolutely love Taskmaster and of course, I love watching CTC!

[@JeffKotz]

Thank you for this. You were the first thing I thought of when I saw this. Great fun, Simon!

[@DevilboyScooby]

24 is a great clue; Steve is after Nick in the seating order this series.

[@jonas.groschwitz]

Being subscribed to both taskmaster and CtC, I genuinely thought this was a taskmaster video when I clicked on it 😂 A pleasant surprise though, for sure!

[@archivist17]

What great fun! Thanks for the extra crossword content 😀

[@DrDaveW]

Six across. If anyone here is old enough to remember the BBC Saturday morning kids' TV show Multi-Coloured Swap Shop. (I suspect I'm not alone!) The purple dinosaur mascot was called "Posh Paws". Meant to be the reverse of "Swap Shop", but annoying, not quite!

[@ibpants]

Cryptic crosswords make me feel like I'm having a stroke.

[@michaellee7313]

Just to be that guy, Bxa5 would be the notation specifically for the bishop taking a piece on a5. Moving the Bishop to the unoccupied a5 square is simply Ba5.

[@janet-dn2ot]

What a treat, thank you! A real bonus!

[@aenamabag]

Glad this channel got a Taskmaster bump. Great crossover.

[@SiculusTheEpithet]

I laughed out loud when he said "I don't think Whirr is a place in lancashire" when I already got that answer and I'm not even british :P

[@davidrattner9]

Thank you Simon for posting this special cryptic crossword for us!! To all the moms , grandmothers, aunts, sisters , and all special ladies that are celebrating today..Happy Mothers Day!!

[@recruit_37]

Im glad you did this. I had a look at it yesterday but i didnt do very well at all.

[@JDGorman0808]

Love the crossover! Now we just need you and Mark to appear on Only Connect to finish out our crossover dreams

[@thesimpsons17]

Steve's mind baffles me, such a talented man!

[@emilywilliams3237]

This was very fun! I love the crossword content, even though I don't get a lot of it - but I feel that I am improving!!

[@KingdomCome811]

I would really like to see a full speed solve from both Mark and Simon. Probably wouldn't be much talking but would be very interesting to see.

[@mace9770]

There’s a few of them on the channel. They’re incredible.

[@Vorash00]

Simon making sense of why I find it easier to do cryptic crosswords by reading all the clubs bottom to top!!! I always start with the last down clue and read every clue back towards one across notating and annotating as I go and only then once I’ve answers what I can within the clue list will I look at the grid and see what of the answers I have I can place for maximum impact to then attempt clues I didn’t pick up ok first inspection.

[@user-xl4tz4dj7v]

Combining two of my favourite things? And on Sunday, when I’m missing my daily cryptic crossword in the Globe and Mail? Hooray to Simon and Steve!

[@Anne_Mahoney]

How delightful to get an extra bonus crossword! And a good one, too. 😺

[@salfordnurse]

In the guardian if you do check all, it will remove the letters that aren’t correct, and Bacchanale is a musical composition depicting a drunken scene eg in ballets etc. would love to see you do one of Dave Gormans Guardian cryptic crosswords

[@bryanroland9402]

Re last Friday's crossword: The name "quark" was coined by the physicist, Murray Gell-Mann, and is a reference to the novel Finnegan's Wake, by James Joyce ("Three quarks for Muster Mark!" book 2, episode 4) In this context the word quark is an outdated English word meaning to croak and the line refers to a bird choir mocking king Mark of Cornwall in the legend of Tristan and Iseult. Talk about obscure!

[@justyouraveragenerd1493]

Amazing combination of my interests!

[@Dr.Death8520]

I'm still never gonna be good at crosswords, but i really enjoy the wordplay that the cryptic clues have. Might even give them a stab now I know some of the rules

[@iabervon]

He was supposed to bring the best thing that you can get into, and he suggested that getting into cryptic crosswords would be the best thing. I've done a lot of cryptic crosswords, but I've never gotten into one, not like Greg and Steve (in columns 2 and 8 respectively), so I couldn't say if that's the best thing. Greg was pretty dismissive of the idea of appearing in the newspaper, but he probably wasn't thinking of hidden in the crossword solution specifically.

[@janetnz3389]

Thanks a great training session. I complete my local cryptic but more by guess than deducted ... they are not this sophisticated

[@MrKiedis1984]

The Riddle Of The Sphinx is one of the better episodes on Inside No 9

[@paulienuesslein7136]

I was wondering when this would come to your attention. Because I am an American I’m never sure if there is I time difference for the airing of TM episodes for our two countries. As an aside, I’d never heard of Cryptic Crosswords prior to discovering your channel, and enjoy your Friday videos where you work through one.

[@richardlyons7582]

What a bonus for us all.

[@martindoyle143]

As I live in Manchester UK, I feel a sense of duty to defend the county of Lancashire from the slanderous accusation made by Simon in his attempt to answer 7 Down. I'll have you know we do not talk like The Wurzels this far north! My best guess is that the answer to 7 down relates to the county emblem of Lancashire which is the Red Rose (RR). The emblem of our neighbouring county (Yorkshire) is the White Rose. Perhaps both may be known to viewers clued up on The War of The Roses. For clarity, I'm referring the 15th Century conflict between the Houses of Lancaster and York... not the 1989 film starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner. I usually stick to Sudoku solves... but as a Taskmaster fan I thought I would give this Cryptic Crossword a go as a one off. After hearing his slur on the North, I think it is only fair that Simon should go and sit in the naughty corner with his 3s, no spotlight, and remain there until he either learns to behave, or loses his religion.

[@sh4dowchas3r]

7 down is a punny doiuble definitition, which you got then ignored. Imagine David Lloyd, the former cricketer/commentator, saying "Where".

[@myfyrmadocjones]

32:50 common spelling is pollock but apparently it can also be spelt pollack (I didn’t know that).

[@BunnyTVS]

There's a wonderful episode of Steve Pembertons 'Inside No 9' called "The Riddle of the Sphinx". The story is about betrayal and revenge centred around a cryptic crossword.

[@TheBT]

Yeah, the title is a spoiler if you know your Greek mythology.

[@stevesebzda570]

(Scratchy voice): "HELLO, and welcome to a special edition of Cracking the Cryptic." "WHERE, ..." Have a good day.

[@bryanroland9402]

Re last Friday's crossword. I deduce from your comments about Titus Groan that you haven't read Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy. Having spent many hours in your good company, I have some idea of your literary tastes and believe you'd love that Gothic masterpiece.

[@williamdittmann9281]

Legend

[@Kernel15]

Pollack and Pollock are both fish!

[@0Taneb]

My interpretation of "focus with Putin": "focus" can be taken to mean "zoom in on", and if you zoom in on a word you see its central letter. Not convinced by that though

[@phyphor]

That's the reading given by Fifteen Squared when this appeared in September last year: Guardian Cryptic 29,186 by Sphinx S(o)V(i)E(t) L(e)T(t)E(r)S [regularly] + [focus] of (pu)T(in)

[@zmaj12321]

I think the focus of a geometrical shape (such as a circle or parabola) can roughly correspond to its center

[@weldy00]

Crossover of the century XD

[@davidgustavsson4000]

I desperately want this to exist in my native language. I'm proficient in English, but I have absolutely no chance at any of these because of the obscure references. I could probably do it in Swedish though.

[@NoobixCube]

I'm not big on cryptic crosswords. I've been trying the Times, and permitting myself a google when something is steeped in American culture or sport that I'm not going to get (I'm just a casual scrub). I was doing this one along with Simon, and I often reached the same answers, but for completely different reasons. I don't know if I was lucking into a "right for the wrong reasons" situation, or if the clues can be read multiple ways and arrive at the same conclusion.

[@MultiNacnud]

bacchanale is an orgiastic musical composition, often depicting a drunken revel or bacchanal. Source Wikipedia.

[@archivist17]

Tassie can also mean the end part of a pen.

[@braveheart6816]

After I watched this episode of taskmaster i was hoping simon would solve it!

[@OldsoulKilljoy]

Did I fully click on this thinking it was an episode of Taskmaster? Am I disappointed to find it was in fact Simon and Cracking the Cryptic? Absolutely Not

[@nightwishlover8913]

27 Down: It's Cockney Rhyming slang 32 across: is the American spelling, NOT English (or the original French)

[@ndkndlvlsvls]

this feels impossible for someone like me who doesn't have english as their first language

[@_-_-Sipita-_-_]

i think the way to solve this is to literally forget the meaning of every word and arrange them into a different word

[@mattmclellan123]

Anyone else from Taskmaster who creates Cryptic Crosswords? First Dave Gorman, now Steve Pemberton. You’d think perhaps John Robbins, Mark Watson or even little Alex Horne might be quite into them!

[@steve470]

Victoria Coren Mitchell definitely solves them (with or without help from Tim Henman). Not sure if she's ever created any herself.

[@TheBT]

‘He follows Nick, losing task finally, a comfortable position’ - The most appropriate clue for this crossword

[@stangerrits6712]

The crossover you never expected but always wanted 😁

[@jackfeldman3916]

GREG PLEASE GIVE STEVE ALL FIVE POINTS

[@zmaj12321]

It's great when I recognize a contestant on Taskmaster! Now we just need Simon to appear one day.

[@SyntheticFuture]

Damn. These puzzles are so far beyond my understanding of the English language 😅

[@victoriabrown8556]

Can confirm he did indeed get the five points

[@MsNosis]

I used to like Taskmaster, but found the bullying of Alex Horne just sad. contestants spitting him in the face and such. Not entertaining one bit.

[@dolf370]

Do you know that he is the creator of the show? (If contestants have been spitting him in the face I think it's going too far, but he has obviously written himself into the show as the sidekick that is being continuously put down)

[@MsNosis]

@@dolf370 yeah, I know that. but I do not find it amusing when he is spat on regardless.

[@dolf370]

@@MsNosis No, I agree on that, spitting on him is not amusing. My point was that it's part of the dynamic of the show that he is denigrated. It is part of the format, it's similar in basically all the different Taskmaster versions I've seen from different places in the world. (In sweden it is called Best in Test; the taskmaster is a middleaged woman and the sidekick is a short chubby man. When she is nagging and jabbing at the sidekick it is so far from her real personality that noone ever takes it seriously.)

[@MsNosis]

@@dolf370 yeah, and obviously scripted nagging is one thing, but spitting in the face... no, I do not find Taskmaster any amusing at all after that incident.

[@dolf370]

@@MsNosis Pity one incident spoils it for you, but I do understand.

[@phyphor]

Ghettoes are *not* "dodgy", they are areas where minorities live and are therefore often underfunded (e.g. in the US) and are originally named for Jewish quarters (e.g. historically in Venice, the Venetian Ghetto). Unfortunately believing that a ghetto is a "dodgy part" indicates some subconscious racial bias, that we all have, hence calling it out so that it can be examined and understood. (Note that I am not calling Simon racist, just that we all have unconscious biases from living in the world.)

[@bobber0001]

The more of these "cryptic crosswords" videos I watch, the more I come to dislike them. The clues are always such a stretch, and even though Simon does spend a moment or two to explain them, the wording is never justified to any degree. It all feels like some sort of "secret club" that the constructors and solvers are trying to keep people out of. There has to be a way to construct these clues that doesn't alienate the potential audience!

[@JensGulin]

Maybe try ordinary crosswords? Or knitting? There's always an investment for entrance, not everything is for everyone. That said, I do agree that it appears like gibberish, oftentimes even after explained...