The Times Crossword Friday Masterclass: 30 August 2024

[@anomalousresult]

I lost my job a few months ago and struggled to find work, developing the rather ignominious habit of cracking a beer as you cracked the cryptic. That will soon no longer be a Friday afternoon custom as I recently secured a new job. Thanks for taking my brain to another place for an hour each week.

[@Alex_Meadows]

Hearty congratulations on the new job!

[@andymoss]

I too was made redundant/laid off late last year and after seven months of applications, rejections, interviews followed by rejections, ghostings, and stress I’ve simply decided to retire. Golf, CtC, beer, volunteering, and my small reseller business will keep me busy from here on out.

[@anomalousresult]

@@Alex_Meadows many thanks 😊

[@anomalousresult]

@andymoss still have a mortgage to pay so that lushful life is a bit out of reach, can't wait to devote my time to neolithic site visiting, cryptic crosswords, and flight simming.

[@Rockki2]

I live alone and have no real life friends. Thank you for making these videos every week. I’ve been a viewer for years ❤

[@angec9908]

Flagstaff is in Arizona. Love your videos and your comments like “I want it to be a U.S. city”

[@kathrynceizyk5259]

I went to college in Flagstaff, AZ. It's a lovely town!

[@FionaThompson-fl2by]

Lots of good mountain biking in Flagstaff, enjoyed every race I did there!

[@derekwalsh1973]

I love how, after 81 Masterclass videos, Simon is still unsure whether ‘H’ is the unit of inductance or not 😂😂 He’s only looked it up in Chambers about 56 times. I certainly had never heard of it until I started watching these videos and now I’m shouting “Yes Simon, H is a Henry” every time it comes up 😂😂 that’s the charm of these videos. Keep them coming, please 🙏

[@rbettsx]

... And he still doesn't have the foggiest what 'inductance' is....🙄

[@bluerizlagirl]

@@rbettsx It's a property of a coil of wire. When you apply a voltage to the ends of a coil, it acts like a magnet; and the fact of it suddenly becoming magnetised then induces a current the other way around that fights against the current you are trying to cause to flow. But this isn't quite enough to oppose it altogether, due to resistive losses and other things picking up a tiny bit of the magnetism, so the current builds up gradually until a steady state is reached where the only thing limiting it is the resistance of the wire. All the while the current is increasing, a magnetic field is being established in the core of the coil, and potential energy is stored in it. If the voltage source is now disconnected, the magnetic field fights against this change by trying to keep the current flowing in the same direction (like a heavy object will carry on moving after you stop pushing it). This creates a kickback voltage, which has the opposite polarity to the one you originally applied; and this voltage can get really, really high. Sometimes high enough to produce a spark; and even if it doesn't, the only way that energy can go anywhere is as a burst of radio-frequency interference. (It's why you often see a diode wired across a relay coil: it protects the transistor switching it, by providing a path for the induced current.) Inductance is the name given to the property of how slowly the current builds up. If you think of coils as containing special, super-heavy electrons that take a good shove to get them moving, then the Henry is to the kilogram as the ampere is to the metre per second.

[@user-pz8ew5bv4b]

I usually don't comment that often but of course we have to let the algorithm know that everybody loves and enjoys these cryptic crosswords! 23 down was really neat.

[@bobhackett8473]

Simon, your enthusiasm for solving these puzzles, and your joy at how well the clues are constructed, is lovely, and brightens my day!

[@timotab]

As Simon noted, Ilium is an old name for Troy. Furthermore, the Greek Suffix -ad means "the story of". So, Homer's Iliad tells the story of the Trojan war. It's not unreasonable, therefore, to translate that title to "Troy Story" :)

[@PassionPopsicle]

I do love the crossword videos. I will never be able to solve one myself, but I get most of the clues when you explain them, and then I get to feel a bit clever by proxy ❤

[@emilywilliams3237]

These are fun and helpful - I occasionally get three or four clues in the quick cryptic thanks to your tutelage (yours and Mark's) in these videos. Thanks for doing them every week despite any and all travails!

[@davidrattner9]

Extremely fun and helpful all the time from them. 🙂

[@longwaytotipperary]

@@davidrattner9and @emilywilliams3237 agree with both of you!!!

[@davidrattner9]

As we wrap up August...the joy we get from seeing you solve these for us Simon is always exemplary. Learn so much from you. The best Friday entertainment out there!!

[@Prazzie]

I really enjoyed the cryptic crossword today, thanks to your friend for setting such a lovely puzzle. The Hook clue really tickled my fancy, it was my favourite one.

[@3RBK57]

I look forward to Simon’s clever solves every Friday. Thank you!

[@cypher686]

I love these videos - I find them more interesting than the sudokus - the new sudokus have about a page of instructions which just ruins things. But these crosswords are so much fun

[@jayclarke3142]

Love the cryptic videos!

[@kathrynbolle6621]

Couldn't watch on Friday, but definitely worth the wait. Love these videos!

[@nsrikand1]

Excellent, Simon! Keep going! Learning a lot!!

[@debrabowen4276]

Love these cryptic crossword videos!!!

[@elizabethL8n]

Love these - please do more!!!

[@B1GB1RDB4G3L]

Thanks for the video Simon!

[@mjkluck]

Love the cryptics.

[@lolman123121]

The best part of the week!

[@esti369]

Love these videos. Thanks Simon.

[@danjones9224]

Loved the whole Face T = Facet clue. This is the kind of clever but fair cluing you see more in The Guardian, from my limited experience.

[@Raven-Creations]

Two nice puzzles. The main act had some really clever clues. I guess having set for The Listener which is known for some tricky puzzles explains the unusual (for The Times) wordplay. I did like the wordplay for teeth, which must be quite tricky to set whilst maintaining a nice surface reading. Clearly living people are allowed in the quick puzzle, or Swift would have been wrong too. I do think you were still a bit discombobulated when doing the quick one, but just over two minutes is impressive. Thankfully you rescued the recording nicely. If you'd not gone on about it, I wouldn't have noticed the join.

[@Kleyguerth]

Thanks to the recording software I figured out a clue before Simon! Malady!

[@DarrenNakamura]

Hi Simon! Arizona native here. Flagstaff is a city in northern Arizona with a population under 100,000, so it's not surprising you haven't heard of it, but you still nailed it through the wordplay.

[@Ferrastar]

Simon must not have a Cars fanatic in the house who blasted the song Route 66 on repeat for months

[@charliecarrot]

​@@FerrastarGallup, New Mexicoooo

[@creaghant]

Excellent solves - Thank you Simon 👍 and I found the quick crypic a little more difficult also !

[@joelstuckey3685]

That d20 clue is actually amazing

[@kevinmartin7760]

I had Flagstaff almost right away (after getting 4D and the start of 5D) but with a slightly different explanation: To flag can mean to slow or stop having run out of energy, hence delaying. "Following" referred to 'staff' ("man") following "Flag". However I think Simon's explanation is slightly better.

[@TheFrogfather1]

Flagstaff is indeed a city. Frog and I went there on our railtour of the US last year. It's the closest station to the Grand Canyon (not counting the Grand Canyon railroad which is private).

[@Alex_Meadows]

Thank you Simon! Apparently the "No living people other than the monarch" rule has now been scrapped, which has caused a certain amount of consternation in the ranks. Personally I like it: if I have to learn antiquated words for a sailor, I don't see why I shouldn't have to know who Taylor Swift is, unless we actively want to mire this hobby in the early 20th century and eventually kill it off entirely.

[@scarletmanuka6170]

"One who assists" being "passer" is likely particularly from basketball, where assists (passing the ball to someone who then scores) are a tracked statistic.

[@thescrewfly]

For some reason it's nice having teeth for power in both crosswords (is a sentence you don't hear very often).

[@vinyl1Earthlink]

I like it when Simon says the answer and doesn't recognize it is the answer. He is forgiven for not knowing Flagstaff, but he definitely should have put in from stem to stern and eyesore more quickly. My problem is getting the answer, not parsing it. My time on this puzzle was 44 minutes.

[@b4de1a2e]

Those closely following distance running will know Flagstaff as a popular destination for altitude training camps, similar to St. Moritz, CH or Iten, KE

[@mikeash47]

It’s like watching someone play Calvinball in a puzzle and somehow it all works.

[@mikeash47]

“Egg beater is a phrase that means a helicopter” I mean what in the world! And yet there it is.

[@katiemiaana]

You're really good Simon, 2 minutes for the fast cryptic, are they human?

[@grenvillephillips6998]

I think his technical issues knocked Simon out of his stride but very enjoyable as usual.

[@waynethomas7406]

Two clues in and am simultaneously astounded by your ability to read and interpret the clues and shocked at your obvious lack of familiarity with western movies 🙏

[@bradleyshannon7894]

Come on KZbin, figure out that these videos are great and show them to more people.

[@cypher686]

The problem is, most viewers of KZbin have an attention span of 7 seconds and 3 brain cells so this video would never be publicised to them

[@anthonyhastings5961]

Flagstaff, Arizona don’t forget Winona….is in the piece…Route 66

[@oak3001]

Both of those puzzles had teeth ;-)

[@TiagoMorbusSa]

We can hear you, Simon!

[@keithlewis7205]

Flagstaff is a city in Arizona

[@Kradlum]

I'm going with conversely means NOR Also, Simon tells us one of his favourite clues in the cryptic was power=teeth, then a few minutes later, he doesn't spot the similar clue/answer in the quick crossword. 😆

[@Ruddigore]

No, it's to do with the terms of a relationship reversed, eg: All mothers are women, conversely not all women are mothers.

[@vinyl1Earthlink]

I am surprised Simon did not mention that Shane is filling in as crosswords editor at the Times after the untimely death of Richard Rogan.

[@nicholasking2804]

Flagstaff is a fairly small city in Northern Arizona, not surprised you haven't heard of it.

[@homoludensaustriacus5581]

Still very popular in music. Not only to get your kicks as it‘s on Route 66

[@johnpauladamovsky86]

These puzzles require such a ridiculous breadth of cultural knowledge, it's a miracle than anybody can solve them, let alone construct them out of thin air...!

[@VonBlade]

Engaging with the content for the algorithm. AKA it's my favourite day of the CTC week. I know the video recording snafu might have scrambled you, but surely 24A is just an and lit/double definition?

[@VonBlade]

59:40 I would suggest that your knowledge that only the reigning monarch could, generally, be the only living person a clue referenced made Letterman and Assange harder than needed. The bane of too much knowledge. Whereas to those of us more simple-minded folks who just read and solve a clue at face value, it was clearer. 13 down is one of my favourite clues ever. Proud words indeed.

[@faddy91]

Seems like some of the modernisations they tried out in a special puzzle are leaking into the the quick cryptic.

[@A_CC_K]

Yay, another video

[@willjohnsnow]

Skipped straight to the Quick Cryptic solve. There was lots of discussion on the Times for the Times blog post about the three references to people. I think I remember reading they are trying to 'modernise' the references and cluing, perhaps this was too much too fast for the established audience.

[@gjzgodd]

Could 12 across be a football reference? One who assists = passer

[@azrobbins01]

I watch another KZbinr all the time, and he will be in the middle of an hour long video, and suddenly say "Wait, am I recording?", and then check his OBS and see if it is working. Makes me wonder how often he gets that far into a video only to find out he forgot to record it. If that happened on one of these, you would almost have to skip the puzzle, since all the suspense would be gone. Watching you work out the solution in real time is what makes the videos interesting.

[@chris_wicksteed]

I'm going to guess GeoWizard

[@azrobbins01]

@@chris_wicksteed SIFD. I haven't heard of Geowizard.

[@chris_wicksteed]

@@azrobbins01 Ah, he's a british KZbinr who often checks OBS midway through recording of geography-based games. He also does some slightly mad real-life challenges, like crossing countries in a straight line using GPS, or traversing a city without walking along any roads.

[@chitraagarwal8259]

That 23 D was mind blowing

[@HalcyonAcorn]

Simon's never heard of "from stem to stern"??

[@sagov9]

k = 1000 from computing? not from kilogram, kilometer etc.?

[@cypher686]

What do you mean by the typists?

[@arthurwatson8340]

Typists first solve on paper then type in their answers quickly to check.

[@alantaylor1179]

Sight for sore eyes?

[@steveunderwood3683]

If he doesn't know Flagstaff I guess he has never seen the Grand Canyon.

[@bluerizlagirl]

1A "Flagstaff" [, AZ] and 5D "From Stem to Stern" -- I am already officially in love with, and wish to have babies with, this setter. Slight nitpick; I'd label the faces of an icosahedron A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, U and V, missing out I and O to avoid confusion with 1 and 0.

[@sudeaksarai]

yess first❤

[@leiflarson1]

I didn't get the first clue and I used to live in Flagstaff.

[@gerrygunn5109]

Personally, I would fire the person who first thought hour-long ads would be a good idea.

[@heatherallan9767]

algorithm....process or rules for (esp. machine) calculation.....man of kuwarizm ...persian... surname of 9th C mathematician...al kuwarizmi.....[oxford dictionary]

[@GordonjSmith1]

The solve was a good effort. However the puzzle was, for all its cleverness, not a very good example of its kind.

[@williambarnes3868]

Simon, you keep on about how to read the clue and then you dont. A sight is an Eyesore!

[@maribelfarnsworth4565]

Flagstaff is a city in Arizona