The Grand Final Puzzle From The Times Crossword Championship

** TODAY'S PUZZLE **
In a special edition, Simon recaps on the 2023 Times Crossword Championship, which took place on Saturday and works through the incredible final puzzle. It was set by Richard Rogan and is full of mesmerising clues!! As mentioned in the video, if you're interested in sponsoring the next championship, drop us an email at [e-mail] and we'll put you in touch with the right people.
The puzzle is available to play on The Times crossword club website (which is behind their paywall):
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[@QuarkTwain]

This puzzle is so far beyond me, it's like watching magic to see how it's solved. I could probably learn some of the wordplay techniques with practice, but I'd still be hopelessly stuck because of the obscure references.

[@andrewzmorris]

You learn references from practice as well. When you do a crossword and it refers to something you don't understand, you try to get it from the other parts of the clue. Then, once you've finished, you look up the reference, and that adds to your pool of knowledge. I'd never heard of loads of things before I started doing crosswords, but you learn!

[@alltradejack]

48:57 - "Gave it away a bit," you say. And yet, I had no clue what it was about. *sigh* This crossword is monstrously hard. And Mark finished it in 10 minutes. You guys are just superhuman.

[@joeg451]

I had a good chuckle about the story of the missed clue at 5:00. Sounds like your Sudoku scanning skills are coming back to haunt you!

[@missioncardiac7599]

Well, if Mark could solve this in 10 minutes, he's still the GOAT in my book. Im terribly disappointed about his mistake, and yours too, of course. There are lots interesting International sports going on but this competition was the one I really cheering for.

[@stevewood8]

Now this one really is, as Simon says, "a bonus edition'". Hugely entertaining, as ever, and very much appreciated.

[@Liamneedham29]

The variation I've always known is Ulaanbaatar. Ulan Bator is the old anglicized version only really used by the western world. Its such a harsh answer. It's not even a crossing letter. Ulan Batar makes complete sense if you only know the first spelling. Easy mistake to make, but the clue does hint at OR with Yellow.

[@rockhopper_penguin]

I'm not even familiar with the old Ulan Bator spelling because I've always known it as Ulaanbaatar. I don't think Ulan Bator is used anymore so I'm very suprised it was included.

[@zmaj12321]

Wow, now I'm wondering why I know it as Ulan Bator instead of Ulaanbaatar.

[@MattYDdraig]

Decades ago, western references used Ulan Bator as a mistransliteration of the Cyrillic version of the name (i.e. Улан-Батор) so it's definitely how I saw it as a child, but long consigned to the dustbin of false memories 😂

[@christhecyclist5998]

It doesn't seem quite appropriate of the setter to use it with the O unchecked.

[@zmaj12321]

@@christhecyclist5998 It's checked from the wordplay though. OR is yellow, AR isn't.

[@jimmahT]

Monstrous! To think Mark solved it in 10 minutes. What a beautiful mind!

[@emilywilliams3237]

This was absolutely fascinating, both as a solve and as an account of the championship day and event. Thanks so much, Simon. I am very sorry that you did not get farther in the competition. Both you and Mark have been very gracious in your congratulations to the finalists and the winners. Cracking the Cryptic is an example of the best things going. Thanks so much for this video (and for all that you and Mark do to create this community),

[@cloudbringer104]

Thank you, Simon, for sharing with us the Times competition. I did wonder why you didn't mention it yesterday. I love your Friday crossword class. Once again a huge thanks. X

[@GuilhermeCarvalhoComposer]

Absolutely love the "war stories" about the championship. You two deserve all the praise not only for participating but also for telling us about it in such fun ways. We're very lucky to have two absolute beasts of solvers just casually telling us how "poorly" they did and having a laugh about it. Is like Usain Bolt laughing about one time he tripped. Yeah, man, you're still Usain Bolt. 😂

[@wossaaaat]

More bonuses! And a crossword no less. Thanks guys!

[@danparsons1423]

I absolutely love these masterclasses, I’ve always been interested in cryptic crosswords but was only able to solve the quick ones - I’ve learnt so much that I’ve improved enormously 😊

[@Avenida47ps3]

I’m looking forward to Fridays every week just for the crossword videos. It’s such a pleasure for me to watch those, even though I don’t know (as a non-native) half of the words. Keep up the good work, bringing so much joy for many of us!

[@user-py8kl5gh2q]

Thank you so much for this solve, Simon - especially after what must have been a frustrating and disappointing Saturday at the championship - I know you'll both be back for more next year! I could have been in the solution hall for a month and not got half of these clues - your explanations are extremely illuminating.

[@julius9055]

That spelling of Ulaanbaatar would throw me off too tbh. That would annoy me if it was the reason I lost.

[@peterdunlop7691]

Such a great episode, glad you guys had fun

[@jadeEpeace]

Thank you Simon! This was fascinating.

[@keithlewis7205]

Absolutely love cryptic crosswords and the explanations!

[@longwaytotipperary]

So glad to see this this morning!

[@davidjc1234]

Really enjoyed this video-thanks. So pleased that Matthew managed to win.

[@archivist17]

Great to get a sight of MM, after seeing his name in the lists every Friday

[@SuicideDeathCommando]

An amazing solve by amazing minds! I'm completely and utterly blow away.

[@Jonty340]

Thank you very much for this. I did most of this (bar 6) in an hour and, like you, tackled the left hand side first. I had no clue about tramp, so thank you for the explanation. Pash I thought was more attainable with parsing, although still impossible for me. Absolutely vicious, as you say!

[@profregan6937]

Magnificent. Wisdom and humility in equal measure!

[@robertrome2293]

Thank you, Simon, for another wonderful video. I am now feeling very proud that I got so far (albeit in about an hour) - indeed when I started watching the video I had got all but three clues: 4D, 17A and 25D. As you read out the clue to 17A (and before you solved it) the answer suddenly came to me. For 25D I was thinking about the 3Rs but simply couldn’t work out what was going on. For 4D the only answer I can think of was tramp, but I didn’t put it in because I couldn’t justify it (and which I still don’t fully understand). I’ll admit that there were a few guesses where I got the answer from the construction of the clue, but had to look things up afterwards (the words obang and pentad, and whether there is a river Amber in Derbyshire - there is). I also thought that Welles was a spelling mistake in 10A - I didn’t get the reference to Orson Welles. Wonderful stuff and thanks again Congratulations to the new champion and commiserations to all that missed out.

[@laurenwrubleski7204]

My goodness this is difficult! I'm going to take pride in the fact that I got 5a in about 2 seconds from the t and d, although it took me a moment more to verify the wordplay. Fantastic walkthrough on a lovely puzzle, thank you Simon!

[@amysteele2488]

Yayyy! Bonus crossword time 😎

[@adynofpasavil]

I've been a fan of sudoku for ages but recently got into crosswords! This is far beyond me but I got so excited to hear someone from Portland was participating! I live in Portland as well. :D

[@MaritWatery]

One thing is for sure: I, personally, will never ever be able to finish a cryptic crossword. Mostly that is due to my mother tongue being german. But my mother-in-law tongue is english. So I have picked some things up. But the detailed knowledge required to understand these clues and solve them is just mind-blowing to me. I had a little aha-moment when you were talking about 4 down towards the end and I suddenly thought "tramp fits in there" and then you went and put that word in :-D but that was not looking at the clue at all. Anyway, I love the Friday crosswords videos. I'm learning a lot. Just wish the knowledge would stay in my head for longer than 5 minutes 😅

[@philipbrooks402]

Thanks for the bonus Simon.

[@archivist17]

I'd have struggled with almost every clue, but would not have got 5a, even if I'd cracked the rest. Thanks for taking us through it, Simon. Hope Team Cryptic don't have to wait too long for a chance to improve your results.

[@marktrescowthick9027]

The winner has a great blog of the puzzle at the times for the times web site. Well worth the read.. especially his opinion of Mark.

[@Anne_Mahoney]

I love the crossword videos, even though I'm still at novice-baby-fluffball level as a cryptic solver. And the detailed post-mortem of the competition itself was fascinating. It's also telling that it's Simon who informs us that Mark finished the brutal final puzzle in 10 minutes, faster than the actual finalists and faster than anyone in the audience -- Mark himself was too humble to point that out, but Simon's latent hero-worship peeks through. I'll look forward to seeing both of you revert to your normal form in next year's event! 😻

[@GordonjSmith1]

An excellent crossword, certainly challenging!

[@louisesuth8141]

oh my that last one was brutal!!

[@bryanroland9402]

A treat to get an extra crossword video. The word "pash" isn't in a lot of people's vocabulary and "thing for another" follows "dropping one" so smoothly, making it very hard to spot that it's the definition.

[@Vernicho]

4d is incredibly difficult to parse. The letters leave no real choice but yes very difficult when you know a single letter wrong may cost you victory. Did Mark parse it? Seen lots of different spellings for Ulan Bator but the wordplay did indicate this spelling. A really tricky puzzle but to be expected for the Final.

[@samspackman8750]

I can safely say that I did not get 4 down. Congrats to you and Mark for doing so well at the championship!!!

[@theunamiable]

I could get a couple quickly, based on the letters you had: 6d, 12a and maybe 29a. I am very aware of 28a as well. Beyond that, it's all entirely mysterious.

[@azeal5030]

For a while I was thinking 4 down was 'Trace', from 'poor tent' being 'portent', being finding something about to occur, where you can also say to 'trace' is to locate something, and a 'trace' can be a sign left by someone, such as a vagrant's house - especially one that has been 'put up', ie. stashed away, removed, leaving a trace - way off though

[@LednacekZ]

Ulan Bator would never come to my mind. I know the city but it has a lot more letters in the name

[@Daiwie44]

I HAVE NEVER DONE A CROSSWORD. This was increadible! English is my second language, which you might tell from "increadible" (which appears to have a very harsh, red line underneath it) But anyways, this is just so magnificent! If not straight up magical! I will definitely be checking out the Friday masterclasses!

[@sebastienlecoq3956]

Not even on patreon (I would have understood), we are so spoiled... 20 across : now I will be conviced that this IS the ethymology of the expression 'high alert'..

[@wedgwoodswepston9449]

I was probably not correct in my reasoning but i got the PM element of 4 down as the Prime Minister being the First Lord of the Treasury

[@thomasbrassington]

18d : might the flight just be stair, and pole be rod - as in an equivalent old measurement of length?

[@cassie2237]

how the hell does he understand any of the clues?!?!!?! so amazing

[@peterowe1345]

4 down; to ‘amp’ or ‘ramp’ even would be to put up?

[@trobin]

david webb has a scrabble/crossword channel of his own, called Dweebovision! great gameplay and you'll get to see his perspective on the championship as well :)

[@erickehr4475]

I’m somewhat surprised they allowed ‘Ulan Bator’ as an answer. To me it is like having Peking rather than Beijing as an answer defined simply as ‘city’ with any suggestion that you are looking for an obsolete spelling/romanization.

[@nfc153]

Extra crossword content! 4D: Did I get it? Barely even after it had been explained.

[@clara931]

So happy to know even geniuses can be morons., and so happy you are sharing the story of this most intriguing sport I wish could be shown on all mainstream media

[@aarondaley5885]

I thought "poor tent" was a hint towards Portent

[@de8o]

Now my brain thinks it is Friday.

[@matttriggs1268]

It would be good to know what Mark found as the hardest clue/his LOI.

[@erickehr4475]

I can’t say I solved 4 down at the early stage, but my first thought on reading the clue was that Home might refer to the former PM.

[@MattYDdraig]

The Ulan Bator clue confused me for a while before remembering it had that as an old spelling no longer in use, which I imagine contributed to problems for the geniuses on the stage.

[@ArmchairBard]

I think part of the clue in 14 down might have been 'per se.' Se sounds just like say. Per se meaning "in itself," could be understood as the default, or normal state.

[@davidotoole9328]

I have paused the video at 14:40 and will spend one whole hour attempting to solve 4 down and shall report back!

[@MrCleanx]

As someone who doesn’t do crosswords, I have absolutely no idea what is going on 😅

[@soremekun]

The three R's are really only one R. Lol

[@sherlockshlome473]

Isn't TRAMP just T (for tent) + RAMP (for up)?

[@randomistmech]

I got TRAMP from "finally put up" interpreted as "put up" = increase = Amplify abbreviated to AMP, and finally, so at the end. Then I thought a poor tent might be a TARP as an anagram with "home for one" indicating an extra letter is needed, being the M of AMP. But then I'm not a cryptic crossword kind of person so my logic is probably miles off.

[@sherlockshlome473]

T = poor (t)ent, home for one (just one letter) RAMP = well, it goes up, you may use a ramp when you put something up somewhere, and "finally" = at the end of the word, as you say.

[@davidrattner9]

Just absolutely astonishing and mind blowing this was the final puzzle. Amazing and terrific job Mark got it in 10 minutes. Beyond thank you Simon for sharing this with us!!

[@moltencucumber6514]

the only 2 I got almost instantly were Lugosi and Pentad

[@samson4712]

9:23 for the lazy

[@markcroxteth2108]

super

[@richardfarrer5616]

Oddly, I spotted "pash" quickly from the wordplay, even before the crossing 'A' was there, though I hadn't quite worked out the definition was "thing for another". The rest of the crossword - not so much.

[@Tony_Bruce]

David Webb? Is that the Jason Bourne, David Webb?

[@Goryus]

The operator of the @dweebovision channel

[@mikehunt6511]

Me trying to solve this even though i cant even solve a quick cryptic one in less than 30 minutes lmao

[@CpnRad]

I don't do a lot of crosswords but I find BRRR an unsatisfactory answer

[@andrew_hulme]

'Newsflash' was one of the answers that I got, eventually, after realising that 'Welles' wasn't referring to H G Wells, but Orson Welles.

[@natalieunis5122]

I’ve been watching videos of the 2023 World Jigsaw Puzzle Championship and I wonder if your skill in this type of puzzle and sudoku is transferable to a jigsaw?

[@phyphor]

A fellow fan of Karen?

[@natalieunis5122]

@@phyphor guilty! Lol

[@snr0n]

Another fan of Karen here! I wouldn't think there's much transferable skill between CtC's focus and jigsaws, especially if we're talking about Simon's skills specifically - just seems like you're bound to get the usual issues with scanning on a much larger scale. I don't mean to downplay the skills Simon does have at all (I'd never have been able to get most of these clues), I just think they're completely different things.

[@nightwishlover8913]

Yes 25 down is totally outrageous - because it's not a word 17 across is a bit off and 4 down is AWFUL - even though I remember him.

[@irenesabe]

what does an interrogation mark at the end of a clue mean?

[@SomeRandomGuyOnYouTube]

It usually means there's some extra trickery going on, like in this puzzle "thirty-second" to mean MIN (because it's half of the word "minute")

[@Ray_Ridley]

Great analysis of a brutal puzzle - sorry to hear of your misfortune on the day (and Mark's).

[@phbarnes]

Tramp - I think if you go back to the definition, one of the meanings (NZ) is to live as a vagrant, so there is the “and lit” within the cryptic “put up”. I am usually a 30-40 minute solver but this would have taken me days…

[@heatherallan9767]

🌿What a treat...lovely monday surprise...thank you

[@archivist17]

44:00 Not at all a normal puzzle, but Mark is not a normal solver.

[@peethoagland8907]

Is "BRRR" in the dictionary?

[@SomeRandomGuyOnYouTube]

Yes, it's in the ones that count. And it's a familiar word, anyway.

[@squallleonhardtt327]

Is it just me or is there an extra misleading layer to 4 down - at the start when you showed the first letter was a T and we didn't know the other checking letters, I thought there was a possibility it could be TEPEE. As that could be considered a kind of tent AS WELL AS the fact that "finally put up" could suggest the final letters of "put" and "up", T and P to hint at the literal pronunciation of TEPEE... If that was an intentional misdirect by the compiler, that is just ridiculous!

[@DarklordZagarna]

I still don't grok how the word "eats" means "table." One eats at a table, of course, but they're not synonyms. The clue seems to lack a definition.

[@SomeRandomGuyOnYouTube]

It's slang, "eats" as a noun meaning "things to eat." "Table" can also mean the food on a dining table.

[@DarklordZagarna]

@@SomeRandomGuyOnKZbin I've never once seen "table" used to refer not to the place of eating, but the things on it. Bridge too far IMO.

[@SomeRandomGuyOnYouTube]

@@DarklordZagarna Particularly in the context of food served by restaurants

[@iseriver3982]

Handing in an incomplete puzzle? Well that was rude of you... Sorry 😊

[@DaShikuXI]

I really thought 4 down was going to be some 5-letter word for a cardboard box, as some homeless people live in those and they make for poor tents. Honestly I'm gonna say I was close enough on that one 🤷‍♂

[@jeffreytennant]

The clue for TRAMP is too arcane for me Perhaps it can be justified as Home (PM) for one (A) finally (RT for round trip) put up (reversed) I still don't like it.

[@mikechappell5849]

No, 'Home for one' means home is an example of something, in this case a prime minister. a is just a, and poor tent finally means the last letters of poor and tent, so rt. Put all this up and you get pmart reversed. The definition is the whole clue

[@faciendminuend7347]

@@mikechappell5849 The letters of TRAMP can be explained from the clue, as here, but where is 'tramp' indicated in any way ? I don't associate tent with a tramp. Neither CTC's nor dweeb's explanation convinced me.They didn't seem to be convinced themselves.

[@mattmayoh9680]

@@faciendminuend7347 Someone whose home is a poor tent might be referred to as a tramp. I only guessed that at the end of the video, and was no chance of understanding the clue, as I've never heard of Alec Douglas-Home.

[@Watch3rOfTheSkies]

The cryptic crossword community seems like one of the most self-masturbatory groups of people in the world. Simon fits right in.

[@lundhlundh]

You must construct additional pylons

[@CrackingTheCryptic]

I love this comment. Even though Protoss should be deleted from the game :)

[@misofac]

(Edit: I'm both right and wrong in different parts of my comment: it's not a typo but I was on the right track with the rest. I'm keeping the text of my original comment below, but read the reply by @mikechappell5849 to get the whole picture.) There's a rather unfortunate typo in what I assume is somebody's transcription of 10 across. (I certainly don't expect that the actual competition puzzle had the same mistake.) The author of the War of the Worlds is Wells, not Welles. In a crossword of this level it is absolutely fair for the puzzle author to do such a thing intentionally, so when solving at home I spent a bit of time trying to fit Orson Welles into the clue somehow :)

[@mikechappell5849]

No typo at all. the reference is to Orson Welles' 1938 radio version of the book, which famously presented it in the style of a news bulletin, leading many people to think a real alien invasion had occurred. The similarity between Wells and Welles is cleverly used by the setter here

[@misofac]

@@mikechappell5849 Ooh, that's the best of all possible worlds: the clue is correct, it *does* involve the detail I picked up on, *and* I learned something new (I had no idea it was him who presented the radio show). Thanks for letting me know!

[@thomasbrassington]

18d: might the flight just be stair, and pole be rod - as in equivalent old units of length?

[@thomasbrassington]

Sorry, posted in the wrong bit.