The Times Crossword: EXPLAINED

[@ascottdukes]

I'm in the minority who prefer the crossword videos over the sudoku videos! (although I love them both). thanks as always!

[@yojimbo301]

I enjoy crosswords the most. I appreciate them still being a part of the channel.

[@samakafrisco1759]

I believe LATISH's definition is "A bit behind", and "affected by erosion" is the hidden indicator.

[@nickburton5871]

I got that too, so feeling a bit smug, except I couldn't do half the rest. Oh.

[@kevinmartin7760]

"mudflat is hit" affected by erosion indicates that some letters have been removed (eroded) from either end, leaving "latish"

[@TheTruth-xp2of]

Djakarta is indeed an alternative spelling of Jakarta. The city used to be Jayakarta, before the Dutch invaded and colonized it, renaming it Batavia for centuries. During WWII, the Japanese Empire kicked out the Dutch. Seeking to remove Dutch influence, the Japanese dug through Indonesian history and reintroduced the old name, and thus it became ジャカルタ(Jakarta). When transliterated to English, ジャカルタ became Jakarta, but when transliterated to Dutch it became Djakarta. Both spellings were used interchangeably until Indonesia secured independence from the Dutch (The Dutch made a failed attempt to recolonize after Japan left post-WWII) and gradually the English spelling won out.

[@dippypete8744]

AHH! i love all the cryptic crossword videos I still can’t understand how simon can think of so many answers so quickly it’s so impressive🥺🥺

[@andrewzmorris]

Practice practice practice. Same as anything really.

[@TimWalton0]

It's great to see cryptic crosswords on the channel :-)

[@fruitshuit]

I've been watching all the crossword videos and I think i'm finally, finally, starting to get things! Words I got before Simon were Lackadaisically, Pussyfoot, Born in the Purple (Thank you crusader kings) and Djakarta! Always love to see crossword content on the channel. The way Simon felt about Born In the Purple is probably how many of us feel when he hits out with stuff like "And an Obi is a sort of charm, of course" 🤣

[@moonlightcocktail]

woah, I got the except same except Pussyfoot. But i did get soft pedal earlier. have you tried Quiptics from The Guardian? They make good starters for the week and they're usually the only ones I can deal with. I tried the Independent but I can't get past 40% most of the time

[@BigAsciiHappyStar]

@@moonlightcocktail I'm familiar with the Quiptic, but only because a number of folk print them at work😄

[@colinwallace1901]

TWIX is a brand name of a chocolate treat. I have always been intrigued by crcyptic crosswords so I really like this series. I even find myself solving the odd clue.

[@StKozlovsky]

I think he did know about the brand, but couldn't understand what "not so with respect to meals" means.

[@jwolfe01234]

People who watched Bob Ross's The Joy of Painting back in the day would probably be familiar with Prussian Blue. Ross was a bit of a cultural phenomenon in the US. Even people who didn't watch his show would know who he was. Wikipedia says it also aired in the UK, but I don't know how well-known it was.

[@craftsmanwoodturner]

Pretty well known. He was just so friendly and chilled...

[@samuelcardwell577]

funny enough, I know Prussian Blue not from Bob Ross but from my dad - he used to be a histology technician and one of the dyes he used was Prussian Blue.

[@frschaddelee]

Bob Ross was famous in Europe as well, still is.

[@rickole7404]

I only happen to know Prussian Blue because a novel I recently read made a reference to the color, fun coincidence

[@Ruddigore]

Great solve. I love cryptic crosswords, I do two or three every day and it was the reason I subscribed to this channel when it was in its infancy. Stuck with you because I'm a huge Sudoku fan too.

[@danielwcrompton]

I love the cryptic crossword content, I wish there was more

[@milliejones2220]

hiya! long time watcher here! i couldn't see any other comments saying this but i believe the twixt clue relates to the chocolate bar called a "twix" i'm shocked you've never seen them around, simon! if you like caramel you'd very much enjoy them.

[@emilywilliams3237]

Not only did I enjoy the solve of this puzzle, but also the browsing of the dictionary afterwards. Thank you so much for doing this - very fun.

[@Swisswavey]

The crossword stuff is great, please keep it up!

[@oscarbarnes2130]

I first subscribed for the cryptic content, but I really enjoy the soduku-type videos too. Either way I'm happy to watch what you out out :)

[@Faith276]

Really love the crossword videos! It's always fun to see Simon speed through them!

[@phyphor]

Good to see my friend Verlaine getting a shout-out.

[@vpr0]

As a non native speaker I've always been in awe from you making cryptic crosswords look easy, I never thought it would be possible for me to reach the level of even beginner ones. But this video finally made me try. I got a times subscription, the dictionary you use and with a lot of looking up synonyms on google and using sites that help with anagrams (I've always hated them even in my language) I can sort of do it. I even completed one. Sometimes feels like cheating, but still immensely fun. I hope I get better and stop using some of the tools.

[@vinyl1Earthlink]

You can learn a lot if you follow the blogs on Times for the Times. We explain each clue every day, and there are plenty of comments.

[@hangugeohaksaeng]

Thanks for a fun and instructive tour through the strange world of cryptic crosswords. I think I may be getting some semblance of a hang of them.

[@andrewcowper9335]

The NME magazine used to talk about liggers a lot, meaning people who got on the guest list at shows and hung out at record company parties for the free drinks.

[@bluerizlagirl]

Well, I got some of those in less time than it took Simon to think about and say them. I think I'm going to have to try the Times crossword myself!

[@th.nd.r]

Absolutely incredible job, loved some of the clues but the start of this video is you for sure Simon!

[@finlandtaipan4454]

This is the boss level. In every other crossword video on this channel, I have gotten at least one word before you guys. Here, I was happy to be trailing far behind posthumorously.

[@robbiedart7422]

Weirdly the only one I got was Lackadaisically... I'll take that as a win tbh

[@gtdp]

Really enjoyed this video, I look forward to every cryptic crossword video on this channel!

[@Raven-Creations]

I liked twixt. You're not supposed to eat snacks between meals, so chocolate snack time is not 'twixt meals. For latish, "a bit behind" is the definition, not the clue for a hidden word. The erosion removes the outside letters from "mudflat is hill". You got the right type of clue, but took the hint from the wrong end.

[@drlabos]

In the Byzantine empire, princes and princesses were born in a special room that was decorated in purple. So anyone born into the royal family was called “porphyrogenetos” which means born to the purple or born in the purple. Purple dye was very expensive and so a sign of wealth and power. Edit: oh I guess Simon looked it up at the end :)

[@wistyLMD]

yay!!! i love the crossword episodes. getting better at following along! i managed to get PARFAIT once the P was placed. now i want dessert... edit: oh wow, NAIVEST is such a good clue

[@andrewshelley410]

Prussian blue is the marking fluid used in metalworking.

[@friarken]

Love the crossword streams, more please!

[@SnugglesPlays]

Can you do more of these please? I enjoy watching you solve them. Also, I am trying to learn how to do cryptic crosswords myself and am struggling somewhat! Can you do a beginners guide to cryptic crosswords?

[@selenasilverstep7981]

"Jakarta, when I went there, wasn't spell with a D" best quote right here

[@aoi7910]

I really liked you showing the dictionary in the end 😆

[@SamThe42nd]

I swear I've heard the phrase "Born in the Purple" somewhere before, but I cant for the life of me remember where. XD Great video as always.

[@ryaneakins7269]

I thought it was going to be “born TO the purple”, because one of the early episodes of Babylon 5 has that as its title.

[@richardfarrer5616]

Fates: Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos Furies: Tisiphone, Alecto and Megaera. There is a very fun (but quite old) book called The Night Life of the Gods starring a character called Megaera, which is well worth a look.

[@theother1s220]

You are correct. Prussian blue was a color used by the late American painter Bob Ross on his show The Joy of Painting.

[@charlesbrookes959]

Would love another Listener crossword at some stage!

[@Nickle314]

Born in the purple goes back to murex shells. It was the only purple dye until mauve came along in the 19th century. It took thousands of murex shells to make the dye, so was very very expensive, and just used by emperors.

[@finlandtaipan4454]

MUREX is one of my favorite Scrabble words. (Sorry, it's not one of the 2315 Wordle answer words.)

[@grenvillephillips6998]

Fridays in the Times does seem to throw up the more difficult puzzles - I was just happy to get most of the answers.

[@B.M.0.]

Social Media Function = Liking ("Like"

[@gordonglenn2089]

Always a thrill to see a cryptic crossword being cracked! The Times is too much for this American, but I enjoy watching and playing along.

[@longwaytotipperary]

Simon: "You might be seeing this immediately..." 🤣🤣 Simon is simply amazing at understanding the clues and figuring out the answers at warp speed.

[@4videovideo]

I want more of these.

[@Paul_9320]

Born in the purple is indeed an expression about nobility used in discussions of the Byzantine Empire

[@elvagabundo4607]

Excellent burn on those "slow" typists. I guess you could call it a slow burn!

[@mxspokes]

A Twix bar is a chocolate bar with cookie and caramel in the US

[@donaldsnyder1543]

Yes but which is better. Right Twix or Left Twix?

[@andrewzmorris]

He knew that since he got the answer, but the question is how can "Not so, with respect to meals" possibly be a definition of "twixt"?

[@mxspokes]

@@andrewzmorris betwixt is a word that means "between" and 'twixt is an appropriate abbreviation

[@sonalita_]

And the UK and Simon has kids so I am surprised he didn't get that! (Unless his kids never eat chocolate :O )

[@Thaplayer1209]

Before seeing the answer: “How would I ever solve this?!” After seeing the answer: “Holy hell it was just this!?”

[@philipjohnt]

Don’t eat chocolate between (Twixt) your meals, my mums favourite sayings

[@bristolrovers27]

Great crossword content

[@nickloader3184]

Loving the cryptic crosswords. Some fantastic clues. Excellent solve. Pleased I got pussyfoot, lackadaisical, zippiest (with crossing letters) and the explanation for latish before Simon. Left in the dust with everything else.

[@jamesgillam6478]

There is in fact a Prussian Blue 😂 Bob Ross used to use it in his paintings lol

[@accountnamewithheld]

This is the second one of these crossword videos Simon where you didn't remember that 'car crash' can be stated as RTA -- Road Traffic Accident! Time to add it to your lexicon methinks...

[@XdivineExp]

aww yiss a new cryptic crossword video.

[@estd1759]

More crosswords, please!

[@doublelxp]

These videos make me wish I'd tried the cryptic crosswords in the puzzle magazines I got growing up. They just seemed too abstract for me.

[@BigAsciiHappyStar]

Pity about the S starting 1 Across/1 Down. The other corner cells have letters that rhyme with three, giving us a choice of songs: That’s P/T/E in the corner. P/T/E in the spotlight losing its religion 😊 Oh well, three out of four ain’t bad!

[@sh4dowchas3r]

I'm think the "gatecrash" may have been doing double duty as part of the meaning of "Lig", as well as indicating kin goes into it.

[@muskularchicken]

And then I told myself I knew English (as a second language). To me, understanding how can one come up with such "clues" is the same as understanding how the universe is not contained in something and it's just infinite blackness after the farthest star/ rock/ thing

[@nehocmaharba]

I think the Twixt clue referencing chocolate and meals has to do with the candy bar Twix

[@stumbling]

I was very chuffed with myself that I instantly got 12 down at 5:23... except I didn't... LITHOGRAPHY fits perfectly and is a method of printing but I'm not sure about the cryptic clues. I may well have slapped that one in if I was solving myself and then got stuck forever.

[@d4r4butler74]

Thank you for this! I may not be able to do the word play, but I love learning about it.

[@bazcuda]

As anyone who's seen the TV ads will know, a Milky Way bar is the chocolate snack you can eat [be]twixt meals; not so a Twix 😉

[@Skimbleshanks73]

Only reason I know about Born in the purple is crusader Kings 3 ^^

[@AngrySanta]

Shame I couldn't try the puzzle. Might be best to avoid subscription-only puzzles in the future.

[@GordonjSmith1]

Chocolate Snack Time is 'Twix' plus 'T' from time = Twixt

[@stephenjames2951]

Djakarta. Does the question mark mean variant spelling?

[@latze74]

Yeah... I think I'll stick to Sudoku. English is my 4th so every now and again I manage to (barely and painfully) solve a Wordle, this, however, is just a GnAP for me: Genuinely not Approachable Puzzle.

[@TrinityEcho]

I am a completely native English speaker and I haven’t the faintest clue how to approach these puzzles

[@maljamin]

Yes, I love words and language but these feel so far-flung into subjective territory. With (good) sudoku you are still getting that interaction with a human setter, but your moves are either logically valid or not. Also I just didn't learn enough about Clotho and whatnot. It's not self-discoverable knowledge.

[@latze74]

@@TrinityEcho Thank you for saying this - it really gives me some peace of mind!

[@jonathanbutler4124]

Surprised you hadn't heard of born in the purple - I know it and I know essentially nothing!

[@bobblebardsley]

I only ever heard the word 'lig' in 1998-99 when the ladettes were at a different London press party every Friday night.

[@louisesuth8141]

It was a favourite word of the NME back in the day. . we all wanted to be liggers!

[@cardiffmad]

Djaka-RTA (Road Traffic Accident)

[@nakymatonlapsiN]

the only reason i knew born in the purple as an expression is crusader kings three

[@jeffreytennant6980]

Just a guess: TWIX is a chocolate candy bar. Nine PM (IX) is not mealtime. Where the final T comes from I don't know

[@msolec2000]

Has to be Chocolate snack (TWIX) + time (T)

[@PeterCooperUK]

I love watching these but I lack the cultural experience to do these myself. How university is “up” is beyond me, I googled it and apparently people say they’re going “up to university” but I’ve not heard this once ever 😆 I can do the NY Times crosswords no problems though and you get more crossing words to help you narrow in on the answers.

[@johntaggart6724]

I had the same flummoxed response when Simon said, “at college will be up,” so matter-of-factly. Not having a firm grasp of UK-specific sayings/phrases makes these nigh on impossible (for me anyway)

[@heatherorford3366]

Wow. I just learned I am not that intelligent. :D

[@martyrobbins8828]

Join the club sister. That's almost everyone watching these videos.

[@andrewzmorris]

Doing crosswords is a skill, one that Simon has spent a *lot* of time practicing. You can learn it too, it just takes a lot of practice.

[@TheFreeBro]

Why is college “up”

[@sebastienlecoq3956]

Find "alter egos" in litterally 10 seconds. Excuse himself for being slow.. Good old Simon.

[@alanbeavan6229]

Can anyone tell me the dictionary program Simon uses? I can't seem to find one as good as it

[@Raven-Creations]

It's in big letters in the top left of the window "The Chambers Dictionary & Thesaurus" (and in the title bar), although I think it's now published as two separate programs by WordWeb. Chambers sells a deluxe version, but I think it's only for iOS devices. Chambers is widely considered as _the_ reference for crosswords (some publishers won't accept crosswords if they contain words that are not in Chambers).

[@alanbeavan6229]

@@Raven-Creations Obviously I thought to check the big letters and I am aware that Chambers is the go to resource for crosswords - that wasn't what I was asking. What I am looking for is the program that Simon uses, which is not the wordweb one.

[@isabelamacedobellsita8394]

Every time I see a cryptic crossword I recall how much I don't know english hahahahahahaha

[@dizwell]

I can't find any reference to Jakarta being spelled with a D! Seems a bit naughty!!

[@nielshansen164]

Djakarta from 1942 to 1972 (Wikipedia).

[@dizwell]

@@nielshansen164 I read the whole article and saw no mention of that! I'll have another look... Edited to add: it's right there in the second section, headed 'names'!! Doh! And thanks for the pointer.

[@smokeyassassin]

Chocolate snack would be twix and time would be t.

[@damienreave]

At first I was like "how did he not get the born in the purple clue" but then i realized he got all the rest of them and i didn't get 90% so oh well

[@sonalita_]

How do you get "up" from "at college"? #baffled

[@martyrobbins8828]

In every video you seem to say something like "I know you guys must want to see me dead and buried after not being able to solve this question"

[@maljamin]

Yes, I sometimes wonder if there are grumpy/rude viewers fended off by Simon's apprehension. Like as long as Simon gives them voice, pays the troll toll, they're like "ah, he's recognized how annoyed I must be, I don't need to comment".

[@martyrobbins8828]

@@maljamin I think he's just the most humble person alive.

[@raen984]

To what extent is this a learnable skill?

[@nickloader3184]

As much as anything else. Everyone starts at a certain level and from there they study and practise to improve. Lots of ways to learn.

[@andrewzmorris]

To the fullest extent. No-one starts out good, but with practice you get better quite quickly

[@jeffreyjux]

I totally cant follow along @.@ guess im just dumb

[@ArtMonkforHallofFame]

Why do I enjoy being made to feel so stupid? No clue…

[@th.nd.r]

Can we address how weird it is to hear Simon say “pussy” lol

[@zelassin]

Pretty sure it should be Jakarta, not Djakarta.

[@litis5151]

I barely even managed to follow your explanations of how you found the words. this is rediculous.

[@YourFavouriteDraugr]

Crosswords, especially "cryptic" ones, are not puzzles, they're pure guesswork based on relative nonsense.

[@crazypomp927]

Djakarta is an outdated spelling unused for at least 50 years. Kind of rubbish to use in the crossword.

[@andrewzmorris]

I think it's ok to have obscure words in a cryptic crosswords, especially one targeted at pretty expert solvers. If you don't know the word itself, you can use the wordplay to deduce it (like Simon did in the video).

[@spiderspace8249]

twix is a chocolate bar - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twix