The Times Crossword Friday M̶a̶s̶t̶e̶r̶class FAIL: Episode 32

** TODAY'S PUZZLE **
In the 32nd edition of our attempt to solve a Friday Times crossword, Simon takes on today's puzzle, which is one of the harder puzzles in the last couple of months. As usual, there are a LOT of great clues in this one!
The puzzle is available to play on The Times crossword club website (which is behind their paywall):
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[@skymotel2]

You may be disappointment in yourself, but we are not... Love you Simon!

[@longwaytotipperary]

Absolutely!!❤

[@emilywilliams3237]

Exactly!

[@stevewood8]

Simon joins the dreaded OWL Club (One Wrong Letter). Still hugely entertaining and informative - wouldn't miss this weekly treat for the world.

[@KestrelQ]

I have never understood cryptic crosswords and I don't think I ever will, but by golly I will never stop being amazed when I watch these masterclass videos. Blows my mind how you do this!

[@ahouyearno]

After a few of those I finally managed to solve one in my own native language. I had to look up 3 hints, 2 of which I still don't get but I managed the rest. They're fun!

[@longwaytotipperary]

@@ahouyearnocongratulations!

[@johnmerriam8661]

I love these videos. I'm in hospital for a long stretch with leukaemia and these masterclasses are a highlight of the week.

[@limegreenelevator]

Hoping and praying for healing. Glad you're finding joy in the crosswords!

[@willygetssilly]

I really wish the algorithm would give more props to the crossword! It’s by far my favourite video every week I hope you keep going on them!

[@fraserfranklin8199]

So gods can bleed.

[@mikechappell5849]

Mark is a god. Simon is somewhat more fallible

[@mc_davit]

​​@@mikechappell5849to be honest mark made more mistakes, some lucky, in sudoku puzzles (excluding gas) that i've seen him solve compared to simon, who rarely does and even if he does, soon spots that mistake

[@JohnLeeShaw]

As always, Simon, thank you so much for taking the time (and putting your neck on the block) to do another masterclass for us this week. A real treat again. Watching you agonise over 19D was quite something -- a case of looking too hard and missing the obvious, I think. Sometimes things can be that easy. I must say, I'd love to have one of your fails some time 😅 No doubt you will be back stronger, (and an expert of all things pasta), next week. In the meantime, as always, I wish you and all a fine weekend! 😀

[@snr0n]

I hadn't the faintest idea of how to approach a cryptic until I got into your beginner tutorials a few years ago, and these days I not only smash through local cryptics with no trouble, I regularly write my own clues! I'd still never make it through an offering from The Times in one piece without these videos, so please do keep making them. I enjoy the rest of your content too, but this is the stuff that I absolutely never miss.

[@oak3001]

Sending my fondest greetings to the KZbin algorithm! (And thank you for the crossword content)

[@longwaytotipperary]

Second that!

[@KeiFlox]

Love the insights into your and Mark's minds re: crosswords and vocabulary. My mind definitely works in the same way as yours, Simon!

[@longwaytotipperary]

That was fantastic! Both Simon and Mark are hugely talented wordsmiths!! Simon’s brain is top notch brilliant! And as always our masterclass is extremely entertaining!!!

[@emilywilliams3237]

You are entirely right!

[@davidrattner9]

Of course she is entirely right!! ❤❤❤

[@davidrattner9]

​@emilywilliams3237 you are also entirely right when you comment. 😁

[@longwaytotipperary]

@@emilywilliams3237 😃

[@longwaytotipperary]

@@davidrattner9 😄

[@notthatseanbean]

Im trying to think of a cockney rhyme, but I haven’t a Scooby Doo…

[@adamusher468]

Love the cryptic crossword content! Never miss it on a Friday!

[@mikechappell5849]

As the definition Simon looked up showed, the Sybil gave a drugged sop to Cerberus the guard dog of the underworld, in order to calm it so she and Aeneas could get by. Hence it can mean a kind of bribe but one that is conciliatory or propitiatory, so 'what can calm' is not a problematic definition

[@waynethomas7406]

That really was a masterclass. The best part for cryptic learners is that sometimes, and those times become more frequent, your reading of the clues helps in completing the solve at the other end of the screen. I don't think anyone really screams at the screen, just enjoys the mental gymnastics going on in real time. Many thanks again

[@michaelpdawson]

Fusilli is the pasta, Fuseli is the artist! "Sop" made perfect sense to me; it's something you give to someone to appease them. Simon misspoke about the word né, which is the masculine form and would not be used in reference to a lady's maiden name...that would be the feminine née. I has dying waiting for Simon to see the trick in lOCAl dRINk hAs!

[@laurasmith2173]

I am typically insistent on spelling words correctly (even if I have to look them up to do so) however, I would not consider one single spelling error for an entire cryptic crossword to be a failure or a disappointment. Well done, friend. We learn from you and Mark everyday.

[@glum_hippo]

Hooray for cryptic crosswords - the puzzles I love to hatewatch because I'm so clueless about them. Simon is great! This is my ringing en-gorse-ment.

[@longwaytotipperary]

😂

[@MichaelLamparty]

The word née (feminine) and né (masculine) literally means born in French. In English is is mostly used to indicate a married woman's maiden name, so you don't see the masculine form that often.

[@longwaytotipperary]

Didn’t know there was a masculine version…. 🤔

[@MichaelLamparty]

@@longwaytotipperary Sure! Cet homme est né en France. That man was born in France. I should have said in my original comment that you don't see the masculine form to often in English. It is used in French all the time.

[@longwaytotipperary]

@@MichaelLamparty thank you for clarification!

[@gionatangallo]

I won't ever do these crossword puzzles, but I always enjoy watching you and Mark solve them. Cheers.

[@2Lazy2BAwesome]

I am a non-native speaker and this was the first time I saw this kind of crossword. To me it looked like an absolutely brutal challenge with all those wordplays. It took me half the video to even understand how it works. (I was screaming "Spaghetti" to the screen though :D) Thank you for brilliant explanation, Simon!

[@user-qt9dq8yy6f]

Brilliant as always. I just bunged in gorse without worrying about it - incredible that you worked out what the druid thing might be. Chapeau!

[@leojs5673]

getting one letter off among so many correct clues that to most people would be almost impossible, is far from a fail great sir!

[@longwaytotipperary]

Exactly!

[@emilywilliams3237]

Fridays are a quadruple treat - Mark's Wordle to start the morning, then this Masterclass (NO not a Fail at all!), then two sudoku videos (or occasionally other puzzles). TGIF indeed! Thanks, Simon.

[@euler73]

Oh Simon! Don't be so hard on yourself! I am dreadful with cryptic crosswords but love doing them and enjoy watching your solves. For me, cryptic crosswords are much like sports such as pool or snooker. I completely understand the underlying principles but I lack the application. I don't have the sort of mind that can think so quickly about language as Mark and you. One can hope to learn though!

[@arthurcharest9061]

Love these friday crosswords, thanks Simon!

[@ronitabick961]

Always excited to see your cryptic crossword content!

[@solaramama]

I look forward to the Friday classes every week

[@timduffy3333]

NINA could be taken from AL Hirchfeld, He was an artist who did drawings for many well known publications. He would hide NINA or multiple NINAs in the drawing. He started this when his daughter Nina was born.

[@andrew_hulme]

I learned how to do cryptic crosswords from this channel during lockdown. I nearly finished this one, but wrote 'fore' instead of 'fire' as a blind guess at the end because I couldn't see how it was working. I got 'gorse' but had no idea about the word play.

[@GordonjSmith1]

Simon, I really enjoyed this solve. It was both very inspiring, and also very funny. Wonderful you, I aspire to be as able as you are, whilst screaming at the screen when I 'get it'. Keep them coming, I look forward to Fridays.

[@janet-dn2ot]

Simon, you are wonderful and so patient at explaining your thinking! Delighted to read about the OWL club too! Many thanks for your Friday contributions, highly enjoyable even if I'm not getting any better at crosswords when doing them solo!

[@davidrattner9]

More wonderfulness from you Simon with these masterclass cryptic solves!! Thank you as always for continuing these.

[@barneytrubble]

Lol. Spoiler alert. Simon says "don't look at your screen" then proceeds to read it out anyway!!

[@elizabethL8n]

That can hardly be called a fail!! Amazing solve as usual - thanks!

[@christhecyclist5998]

Thank you. I really appreciate your crossword content.

[@derbydog1976]

I will never get these puzzles, but it is great watching you do and explain them every Friday.

[@easy-goingechidna]

Gosh, hardly a fail!

[@dm3591]

Really enjoy cryptic Fridays, please keep them coming.

[@intentionalrounding]

Four things as an American who’s pretty fast at NYT xword so decided to subscribe to the Times xword club a couple of months ago for a challenge: 1) This series, as well as the early CtC xword videos (OG here), are invaluable. Please continue on with them as long as possible. 2) I see gold and copper in clues constantly, and they never seem to be the Au or Cu version. Gold is OR as today, and copper is either element or suggesting something about a policeman, CO, PO, DCI, NARC, what have you. Today was esp frustrating because 8D mentions copper, I had all those Es in the grid, and there’s “making a bolt” at the end, so I spent ages trying to fit some version of electroCUtion in there. Alas! (At least Arsenic is almost always As.) 3) Your parsing of the clues has been a great help for understanding what the hell is going on in cryptic xwords. But after I became familiar with that, the biggest thing that’s cut my times in half has been something you’ve never - or at least it’s been a very long time - mentioned as a tip: Rifle through the clues to somehow get letters in the grid, as it’s far easier to come up with a word that might just fit the clue given the check letters, which one can then justify afterwards, than trying to solve a clue out of thin air. (Kind of like the NYT xword, actually.) Without getting most of the easyish - besides GORSE - SW done and answers like SET UP, SPAGHETTI, RATIONALLY, etc. entered quickly, I imagine this one would have taken me donkey’s years. 4) A tip you’ve passed along for sure, but have undersold, is learn your birds and plants. As a foreigner, no clue what the explanation is for this obsession in cryptic xwords, Times or otherwise. I parsed that one clue correctly, but couldn’t possibly believe a CHIFFCHAFF is a thing that exists. Didn’t help that “whiffling” is a thing that some birds are known to do. Had WHIFF in there forever.

[@SomeRandomGuyOnYouTube]

Gotta know your British rivers too! Often clued as the old cliche "flower" (cos a river flows, get it?) or "runner".

[@intentionalrounding]

@@SomeRandomGuyOnKZbin oh yes! The Dee shows up frequently. Also good to know are the suburbs/towns surrounding London and the small islands of the British isles. With every passing day, I’m committing all of these to memory, slowly but surely.

[@adrever1986]

Thank you for another great video! As instructive as ever :)

[@jimbothefuzzy]

Well, it seems Simon and I both misspell the same word in different ways. My brain defaults to the middle bit being "LISS." At least until I correct it. I don't know if that would have left me more or less confused in his position. Probably more confused than mixing up 1 and 5. Everyone has off days, Simon. Your sudoku videos are still a lovely way to wake up and get my brain going. And the crosswords are a nice way to relax at the end of my Friday. It does leave me with the minor issue of "I enjoy watching Simon so much that I usually don't attempt the puzzles, because then I don't enjoy Simon's solve as much." But it gets my brain thinking enough that I can get back to working on programming-related things. So he must be doing SOMETHING right if my code is better on days I watch his solve with breakfast.

[@Emmibean77]

A solute my fascinating and entertaining as always! Please keep your comments to yourself kind, Simon, and I can’t wait to watch again next week! ❤

[@archivist17]

Peon, in the meaning foot-soldier, is French for pawn in chess, and is the derivation of the English word.

[@cumulus888]

This is still a master class whether it is fail or not.

[@martinyyt]

A masterclass and certainly not a fail. I did shout a bit when Simon skipped over “patronymic”, and I could see the rationale for “ocarina” - it’s rare that I would spot anything in one of these. Most of all I liked how he reasoned his way to a Welsh word.

[@johnh2052]

Just pleased to actually get a word before Simon. Never happens. :) Spaghetti!

[@graemeanthony1791]

Oh, you're far too hard on yourself, Simon dear. Simon: brilliantly solves SATURNINE out of absolutely nowhere and doesn't think it even worthy of remark, before correctly inferring the existence of an obscure Welsh dictionary word from wordplay alone. Also Simon: I am absolutely *flipping* furious at myself for mis-spelling a pasta.

[@erickehr4475]

Don’t worry. We all make a fusilli mistakes.

[@Skamba]

"If you're down with it, in modern lingo, you're sort of au fait with it"... I had to laugh quite hard at that.

[@longwaytotipperary]

I had to look up at fait (at first guessing it was spelled oh fay) 🤪

[@onion013]

This is my favourite part of Friday! :)

[@ThecrystalwizardCoUk]

I saw OCA-RIN-A in the words, but didn't see how to get there from "never to be tipped"! Aha! No tips (ends)!

[@fregus.]

that welsh word was genius! just so you know, "dd" in welsh makes a voiced "th" sound like in "the"

[@obscurefox5389]

I really enjoy these videos. Thanks for making them!

[@archivist17]

Patronymic is exactly as you say, 'father's name'. In languages such as Russian, the middle name is derived from the father's first name. Eg Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, whose father was Nikolai, or (for a female example) Alexandra Mikhailovna Kollontai, whose father was Mikhail.

[@skymotel2]

Sometimes Wikipedia can a font of knowledge..... "The Council of British Druid Orders is a neo-pagan group established in 1989 which was originally formed to facilitate ceremonies at Stonehenge.[1] The Council's founder, Tim Sebastion, used the title "Archdruid of Wiltshire, Chosen Chief of the Secular Order of Druids, Conservation Officer for the Council of British Druid Orders and Bard of the Gorsedd of Caer Abiri (Avebury)."[2]"

[@sebastienlecoq3956]

Not even 10 minutes in, and I laugh my head off on 9 accross, and shouted the answer at simon at 11 across (after he explained every step of the reflexion). I'm in for a treat I think.

[@stick.-2449]

love these, a great way to learn

[@ianyoung1101]

Makes the rest of us feel better! Thanks for the great vid!

[@chiderakalaji7206]

The good thing about pulling an allnighter is the getting to see this video early

[@royston1928]

Another great video Simon! Loved it

[@doublepudge465]

Never completed a crossword in my life. But do enjoy watching these be solved. 🤩

[@bobh6728]

Fay is a fairy. But there are other interesting references to the term “fairy fay”. In the song Polly Wally Doddle repeats the phrase “Fare thee well my fairy fay”. There is also a connection with Jack the Ripper in stories and songs.

[@BocciaRaf]

Completing the entire thing with a single inconsequential wrong letter in under an hour… that’s a… unique definition of failure. Bravo!

[@st0rmforce]

Watching these masterclasses have definitely improved my cryptic crossword skills, from non-existent to novice. I had a go at a daily mail giant cryptic a couple of days ago. I managed to work out a lot of the wordplay (only occasionally cheating and looking at the straight clue). Still need to teach myself more synonyms.

[@francesT5877]

I was thinking you might have dredged up the painter Fuseli who did the very famous painting “The Nightmare”, and conflated it with the pasta. Also “fuselage” is spelt with an e. Today I managed a lot that you didn’t find, which was heartening for me- however there are lots of days when I can only manage one or two entries, and I think that probably never happens to you. There are days when the quick cryptic is too much for me. Anyway as always thanks, it’s with the help of these videos that I am slowly getting better at cryptics.

[@archivist17]

"I don't understand what's going on in my head". Me too, Simon, me too 😆

[@rockhopper_penguin]

This was a highly entertaining video. Thank you Simon. I also struggle with spelling so I feel your pain on the fusilli mishap.

[@Jonty340]

Brilliant! My favourite videos of CTC. A lot of similarity to my efforts.

[@Stu_1977_SEmelb]

You hope that the rest of it was helpful? It was ALL extremely helpful! You are brilliant, sir. 🏆👏 I tried this one; only managed to solve three words (one of which turned out to be wrong). Plus, I can barely spell "spaghetti", never mind "fusilli". 😕

[@Ruddigore]

A nice solve. Spelling errors catch me out more than I would like so I can empathise and indeed sympathise with you on that little error. Oh, and 'dd' in Welsh is pronounced as a hard 'th' as in they, or those.

[@ClairvoyantTruth]

I thought 19D was referring to a Cairn rather than the cut off method he used - still worked!

[@erichvereen1988]

A fail for Simon is still a win for us. I've never been good at crossword puzzles anyways. I'm better with numbers. 😀

[@nomesky]

Gorse was absolutely inspired!

[@e1211]

Loved the ocarina of time reference

[@richardfarrer5616]

Gorsedd (pronounced gorseth) is a Welsh word for a druidic council.

[@myfyrmadocjones]

28:35 Referring to 27 across, it is easy for a Welshman like myself to recognise GORSEDD for druids / bards then removing the DD as you suggested gives GORSE. EDIT 49:55 I hope you didn’t mean to say that Welsh was ludicrous!

[@MrHatsuka1]

If you ever watched Seinfeld, you'll remember it is fusilli. Kramer made a pasta sculpture of Jerry in the episode Fusilli Jerry, using fusilli because, as a comedian, Jerry is silly!

[@MarcMcMillin]

Great Friday morning!

[@bibliopolist]

Perhaps you thought about Heinrich Füssli who anglicized his name as Henry Fuseli and became a well-known painter in England.

[@SomeRandomGuyOnYouTube]

Yes, that was the obvious trap to fall into 🫤

[@samspackman8750]

Moar Cryptic Crossword vids!!! I would love to see if Simon could do an old school Torquemada one!

[@beemini3374]

In case no one else has said it, Iowa State University is located in Ames, Iowa, and AMES appears ALL the time in NYT crosswords for some reason.

[@MrBigrig5]

Ocarina and Gorse were the last two that stumped me too!

[@basilicon.]

Patronymic is from the Latin words for 'father' (pater) and 'name' (nomus). Both of these words in Latin are originally from Greek, as many words in Latin are. In fact, the word patronymic itself translates from Greek directly (patronumikos).

[@Anne_Mahoney]

Well, no. Latin for name is "nomen" (not "nomus"), and both words are natively Latin. Father, pater, and πατήρ are cognates -- sibling words, if you like, independently descended from a common ancester. Similarly, name, nomen, and ὄνομα are cognate. Very few Latin words come from Greek: the Romans didn't like to borrow words. Some technical words, like philosophia, get borrowed, but this is more frequent after the classical period. You're right that "patronymic" comes to English from Greek -- these have been a standard way of naming people from the beginning of the Greek language. Indeed the very first line of the Iliad refers to "Achilles Pelides," Achilles son-of-Peleus, using his patronymic.

[@onijester56]

You got one letter wrong, an I and E mixed up. That's better than I could do.

[@CompletelyCr]

BOBBINS!

[@Unchained_Alice]

Only Simon could solve really difficult crosswords and sudokus yet fail to spell fusilli correctly

[@mbstart]

Mispelling fusilli is allowed, but mispelling fusillade less so.

[@Rdlprmpf12]

Cheap German booze is more devastating than a French rifle.

[@hoagy_ytfc]

I'm sure he'd know how to spell "fusilier", which would have hinted at the problem there if it came to mind.

[@bobblebardsley]

If I completed the Times Cryptic Crossword except for one not-crossing vowel in the middle of a word borrowed from Italian, I'd consider that a success. The sombre tone of the outro music is more suited than ever to this video though, so there's that! Happy Friday Simon, I'm sure you'll redeem yourself at 8:30 🤪

[@OskarMarszalek]

thanks for the videos

[@thedrunkenelf]

I’m starting to get a better handle on these types of crosswords. I can only get about three or four in a cross word but that’s better than the zero before I watched your master classes

[@azrobbins01]

I don't know half of those words, much less how to spell them. Don't feel bad!

[@kevinmartin7760]

"Local drink has" never to be tipped: actually, "tipped" refers to adding a letter (not removing one), and the "never to be" removes it (them). Too bad about fusillade though. "Fusil" is French for gun and is the origin of the word.

[@craftsmanwoodturner]

Strictly, it is the French for rifle; the barrels of which have spiralled grooves in called rifling. This links back to fusilli, which are spiralling pasta shapes.

[@grenvillephillips6998]

Anticipating where Simon had gone wrong, made it quite an exciting solve. I wonder if the word "Doh!" is in the dictionary?

[@williambarnes3868]

Fussilade. Sporific = generic term for sleeping pills etc. Druidic Council = Gorsedd.(Welsh).

[@JustAnotherBuckyLover]

I feel so clueless right now. Pun fully intended. And I'm sure someone else has said this by now, but the double d in Welsh is pronounced as a -th. So Rhondda = RON-thuh, for example.

[@thitherword]

You know you're good when you deem your masterclass a failure due to one wrong letter.

[@philipbrooks402]

Unlucky Simon, ask for VAR!

[@rosesrosesroses]

Simon when he gets 1 letter wrong: I am no longer a master

[@dimboump]

11:55 Patronymic is of Greek origin, not Latin :)

[@andrewzielinski8845]

Crikey, the ravens have left the tower of London, Britain will fall after this,!!