The Times Crossword Friday Masterclass: 4 October 2024

[@tweetie4676]

Just here to listen to Simon explaining that you absolutely cannot just abbreviate any old word, it MUST be backed up by the dictionary. A weekly tradition it has become :)

[@MattBerryTKO]

I was going to suggest we have a whip-round to get him a new version of the dictionary, but actually that feels like part of the 'bit'.

[@tweetie4676]

@@MattBerryTKO Absolutely!

[@MichaelLamparty]

@@MattBerryTKO I believe he has mentioned in the past that he has the most current version that comes on CD-ROM. Later editions only came in physical book form.

[@Alex_Meadows]

He says it every week, but it bears repetition! 😊

[@Anne_Mahoney]

When does that become a secret, to be shared only with one's closest friends? 😺

[@Sgray-ep7se]

Simon after 1,5 hours explaining wordplay: "I am a moron!" Everyone: "This guy is a genius!"

[@OddLittleShoppingBag]

The Equal Rights Amendment was originally proposed in the 1920s, approved by Congress in the 1970s, but failed to be ratified by enough states to take effect before the deadline. Some states then rescinded their ratifications, while at least one state has ratified it in the last ten years, arguing the deadline was itself unconstitutional. Basically because of the numerous political arguments it implicates, the extremely high bar for amending our constitution, and the lack of detailed rules for making amendments (and the political arguments about those, etc.), the ERA has been a matter of occasional and often intense debate for nearly fifty years.

[@Astervista]

As soon as I saw court in the etc clue I foresaw the tomography hint - I was like “yep, he’s going to do it, he’s going to read the definition of ct as tomography” was so pleased when it actually happened, I think we can forgive Simon. Obviously ct being the exam in “ct scan” in an hospital, if you ever seen that it's not at all mobile

[@jackie11aug]

37:11 Simon’s joy at the beauty of this puzzle. Why I watch every week.

[@puffin7285]

The longer the video the better. Absolutely love that this is basically the minimum length of a movie

[@PotmosHetoimos]

What a stunning puzzle. Some of the best clue writing you’ve ever featured! No shame at all in having considerable difficulty parsing some of these

[@Astervista]

“Someone thinks you can abbreviate any word with its initial” Simon, I don’t think anyone in the world will think that anymore after all that repetition :) I’m kidding, keep doing that, it bears repetition!

[@fatha2092]

21:47 that sudden realisation is hilarious 😂😂😂

[@skx9159]

We watch these logged out on the TV so no use to the algorithm but love crossword so much more than sudoku! Can't believe these get less views. An absolute joy watching Simon

[@archivist17]

A very well written puzzle! And you managed to parse some incredibly complex clues while stumbling over the easy ones 😄

[@longwaytotipperary]

“It’s hard to see why that’s easy.” Yes. On at least two levels. I love the complicated clues - after Simon explains them and I understand how well crafted they are!

[@davidrattner9]

Great way to get Friday started!!! Constant joy and treat to see Simon work his magic for us in solving!!

[@stubbsz]

My son's a rower and rowing families use the word erg more than you might imagine; so I got that clue instantly.

[@creaghant]

That was a fantastic puzzle and a great solve - Cheers Simon - This remains my favourite video each week. 👍

[@PassionPopsicle]

Ha, video appeared just as I refreshed. Lovely. This is my favourite video of the week ❤

[@VonBlade]

My favourite day of the CTC week. A constant delight. Hey YT, we love crosswords. Or, as we say on a Mark Watson video, I am engaging with the content for the sake of the algorithm.

[@Anne_Mahoney]

I love these -- I don't do cryptic crosswords very often myself, and I do lots of sudoku, but when Friday evening rolls round, I'm now always choosing the crossword master class over the sudoku video. (Which normally does get watched some other time.) It's just cool to watch you take the clues apart, and it's also fun to get one on my own from time to time.

[@bryanroland9402]

Very enjoyable as usual. I was looking for a Q to complete the pangram so Mary Quant and torque soon sprang to mind. Simon seemed to assume that quant, meaning a computer modeller, needed no further explanation. I'd never heard of it myself.

[@BRBTheFireball]

"Next contestant, Sybil Fawlty from Torquay. Special subject, the bleeding obvious."

[@Prazzie]

Another delightful video, thank you. I don't mind the longer videos (those wishing to save time can watch at a slightly faster speed) and I definitely don't mind hearing repetition of the rules. I think it's useful for those new to cryptic crosswords.

[@hpStolz]

I've been here to watch the sudokus, but this just blew my mind! In no way do I feel ready to tackle one one, but this is the first time I have understood what cryptic crosswords are even doing. Very interesting! Simon's patience at explaining every detail to us is very helpful. Some of those solutions seem like enormous leaps of logic to me, but I do at least understand the idea of how they are constructed

[@SvenBeh]

So yesterday was a holiday in Germany and hence i have a long weekend. This video actually reminded me it’s friday :)

[@stevehickman8441]

One of the best experiences on You Tube. It takes me all day to solve and there's always a couple of answers I get but don't completely understand. Simon's explanations are clear, intelligent but a bit quirky and always fun. Loved the Lord Ali reference slipped in there...

[@Carpetf]

always get excited when I see the length of one of these is over 1 hour... 1 hour 30 minutes even better!

[@icecreamandsadness]

I love it when the videos are long enough to last me the whole weekend ❤

[@phil_c]

Thanks to these videos I’ve recently started attempting the full cryptic - managed to complete a couple with SNITCH ratings at around 60-70 a couple of weeks ago, & this is the first time I managed to complete a Friday puzzle! Didn’t quite understand a couple of clues’ word play so enjoying watching Simon explain.

[@peterbiddlecombe1939]

I feel sure that I've said at least some of this before, but here goes: the main dictionaries used for Times cryptic crosswords are Collins English Dictionary and the Concise Oxford, not Chambers. That said, there is a list of accepted one-letter abbreviations for Times crosswords, most of which are in Collins / COD, but not all, most of which make sense to me. A couple of examples: B=breadth, M=month.

[@richardlawrence6619]

Great fun to watch. Thank you

[@chris_dixon]

I do so love these videos and slowly but surely I’m getting better! What really makes me laugh is that Simon is always saying that is could be a pangram and it almost never is!

[@mrscraftalot]

Such a great puzzle. Thanks so much for these videos; I’ve learned so much from them. I’ve learned so much, in fact, that I was yelling at you how to read the clue for donor. Lol. I also mistyped presumptuous this morning.

[@jayclarke3142]

Loved it

[@shockerinca]

Thanks!

[@erickehr4475]

“Ephemera” is both a singular word meaning a mayfly of the genus Ephemera, but it also the plural of the word “ephemeron” meaning anything short-lived, or of limited value. I.e. it is plural in its standard English usage, but it is certainly justifiable to have as a singular in the crossword, if the scientific meaning is implied or possible (as it is here).

[@repand1]

Best way to end a long week. Thanks from Los Angeles, Simon!

[@AngryLlamas]

TOR is also literally a "prominent landmark" in that it's a landmark that is sticking out (literal definition of prominent) of the ground. Brilliant!

[@jamesmoriarty6782]

I think I spent half an hour screaming "Torque" at the screen. But then I'm an engineer whose stock in trade is torque, so I have an advantage! The clue surfaces in that crossword were sublime, kudos to the setter, whoever they are.

[@jonathanallan5007]

Absolutely loved this episode!

[@Alloid-j1j]

Excellent puzzle setting for the amazing solver.

[@heatherallan9767]

🥰 i so enjoyed this one... thank you...

[@jimbothefuzzy]

The biggest thing I have learned from this series is that if you can't make sense of a clue, go back and re-read it to see if you can parse it any differently. That's the only reason I beat Simon to a number of these. But if not for Simon's teaching skills, I wouldn't have even gotten one letter in the grid. So I still have a ways to go.

[@mityaadamskiy]

Nice to see such good company in the PRESUMPTIOUS camp! I first typed the correct version and then thought that it looked ugly and changed it.

[@Harry-sp3fz]

I immediately thought of this from the Big Short when looking at that 26A... "He's my quant!" "What?" "My quantitative"

[@peterdunlop7691]

Marvellous puzzle and solve. Ty

[@nickr3115]

Very very entertaining! Thank you Simon.

[@geoffreyclark9909]

Brutal that. Good solve in my book

[@missioncardiac7599]

Greatly enjoyed that. I am sorry Simon but while absolutely admiring your solving skills, I could not help but laugh at some of the stuff. Fawlty Towers sprang immediately to mind while you were mulling over 22D, especially as I was looking out for a Q. As for sumptuous, well, we have all been there, though this one is well ingrained.

[@grenvillephillips6998]

Outstanding puzzle and entertaining solve!

[@mrmidlife2546]

This is a brilliant puzzle. Simon and Mark talk about the bottom corners of crosswords being easier because the setter wants to finish. I wonder if the setter saw that and worked from the bottom up, because this was fiendish.

[@alanmartin7315]

Spot on.

[@danielcarrier3577]

Simon, I remember a puzzle that either you or Mark did that had at least 5 of each letter! One of the clues was Rikki -tikki-tavi.

[@LesterLardenoye]

The scatological indulgences, amongst other quirks, lead me to the following question for the setter: Are you Dave Gorman?

[@SomeRandomGuyOnYouTube]

Another Dave Gorman trait is quite long clues. Hmm.

[@LesterLardenoye]

@@SomeRandomGuyOnKZbin As are substitution clues.

[@nfc153]

I did wonder.

[@salfordnurse]

I thought the same

[@DadgeCity]

There is a setter who likes toilet clues, but it's not Dave.

[@lillycullen2235]

I spent the whole thing grinning at Simon giggling through the toilet humor.

[@VonBlade]

32:12 It was a Penta-Pangram. It was utterly ridiculous. Video was titled "Have we already seen the best puzzle of 2018" for anyone who wants to search the channel.

[@Prazzie]

Thank you, I was going to use a KZbin text search engine to find it, you've saved me the trouble!

[@joshuasturm7495]

Watching Simon solve clues like this that mean absolutely nothing to me gives me the same feeling as the Adam West Batman doing Riddler's riddles.

[@ventsiR]

21:47 hahahah that was so funny

[@vinyl1Earthlink]

I laughed at the Quickie solve - you fell into all the traps the commenters reported falling into in the TftT blog. Many had presumptious, and some had either criminal or clinical.

[@mikechappell5849]

I'm not impressed that so many cryptic crossworders can spell neither presumptuous nor sumptuous

[@vinyl1Earthlink]

@@mikechappell5849 - I suspect many of them put in -ious before seeing the answer, and failed to change it.

[@davidm9148]

Best one ever. Way beyond me but Simon led me to some answers before he got them, always enjoyable when that happens. Shouting the answers at home to a recording is totally pointless and illogical but that doesn't stop me!

[@Phog273]

Certainly not laughing! Entertained!

[@Kradlum]

Trying to force a pangram in helped me get 22 down and 26 across, as I could see that the puzzle still needed a Q

[@Zihuatanejo-]

I think ephemera is one of those words which are both singular AND plural (like bison and sheep).

[@phyphor]

One wonders whether Jane Street would be happy seeing the struggle with the word "quant", considering what they do.

[@stevewithaq]

As a Yank, the only reason I got 22 down is because of an episode of Fawlty Towers I saw 40 years ago...

[@vinyl1Earthlink]

I suspected UK solvers wouldn't know of the ERA. This is probably the only case where US solvers have an edge! The setter also used trunk instead of boot, another Americanism.

[@bryanroland9402]

Brits are mostly familiar with American English but not vice versa in my experience.

[@vinyl1Earthlink]

@@bryanroland9402 I couldn’t solve these puzzles if I didn’t have thorough knowledge of UK English, not to mention the cricket, the medals, the football teams, the towns, the TV shows, etc, etc. it takes a long time for a US solver to get up to speed.

[@marsh_usa]

​@@bryanroland9402 Thanks to Hollywood?

[@bryanroland9402]

@@marsh_usa Yes, and TV, music and literature too. I get the impression that familiarity with British culture and entertainment is relatively rare in the US and I don't think any cryptic crossword setters make US friendly crosswords. A lot of homophones wouldn't work for a start.

[@hillrp1]

Ergate - an ant of one of the worker castes

[@mw5076]

Are you allowed to use a physical copy of the Chambers Dictionary for competitions?

[@thescrewfly]

It's not oggle (as in boggle), Simon, it's ogle (as in ogre). Also saying zee when you mean zed is mildly traitorous.

[@DontMockMySmock]

You missed, in your dictionary, where it said "see 'ephemeron' below", where I assume you will find that "ephemeron" is singular and "ephemera" is plural as you'd expect from a Greek-derived word. However, in modern english usage, it seems "ephemera" can also be used as a singular.

[@michaelpdawson]

I came up with INSTANTER for 1 down, which I think could also be a valid solution.

[@vinyl1Earthlink]

@@michaelpdawson Maybe valid by itself, but in these puzzles you have to use the crossing letters to validate your answer.

[@michaelpdawson]

@@vinyl1Earthlink Of course it wouldn't have worked, but when Simon was looking at that clue there were no crossing letters yet. I just think it's funny that there is another anagram of those letters that could fit the definition "short term."

[@karthick_michigooner7431]

Entrance = DOOR "to house" N = New ==> DO - N - OR

[@skirwingle]

I was shouting that at him! 😂 He just couldn't resist reading "entrance to house" as one thing...

[@GregJonesLivesHere]

Following the advice to think about why words are in the clue are there would have helped, there'd be no need for "to house" if it wasn't important 🙃

[@anomalousresult]

Yes he got that.

[@jakstrike1]

Great surfaces but most off the setter's wavelength I've seen Simon

[@karthick_michigooner7431]

TORQUE , QUANT

[@waynethomas7406]

Brilliant end. Having clearly pronounced sump-chew-ous, then puts in an i rather than a u. There's hope for us all 🙏

[@kurohone]

This whole puzzle was just a prank on Simon, wasn't it?

[@loshadkinloshadkin725]

One is a Roman numeral for number i 😂

[@nakorbluerider]

Trust that I for one am not laughing at you, as I spend several days staring at the same easy crossword, picking it apart bit by bit and slowly making progress before I either finally come to a victory or throw in the towel when the next week's releases. That I have solved any of these start to finish is in no small part a credit to these videos. Perhaps eventually I will achieve a time less than several hours lol.

[@tiansivive]

Funny how as a non-native, I would never spell it presumptious, but my brain keeps telling me transiant is fine

[@stephenmccarthy1795]

OXIDBEE.

[@shubhambindlish1124]

just for kicks, would like to see what time magoo does on this when he speeding through it..

[@Alex_Meadows]

7:14!

[@inediblenut]

I enjoy these puzzles most when Simon takes pains to explain something, and completely fails to provide any illumination. I am starting to get a few answers on each one, but still think Simon is doing some witchcraft to get most of these clues.

[@uncluckable6535]

Dude you'd look proper dandy in lederhosen you should go for it

[@valentinagambetti167]

I think it’s ironic that Simon, who often mentions not studying Latin, feels ignorant for thinking that ephemera is plural… neutral nouns in Latin do end in A when plural! That’s definitely “ephemeral things”!

[@rbettsx]

18:12 Have to disagree with the ‘beauty’ of 8ac .. the wordplay just doesn’t read.. it’s in the wrong order. This setter tries to get away with that more than once in this puzzle. It’s at least inelegant, if not unfair. We shouldn’t have to descend into some weird glass-bead game to justify an answer.

[@DrGonzoSokkaJenius]

Very presumptyush of you to spell presumtous "presumptious" 😂😂😂

[@mbstart]

Another great puzzle solve, but too lengthy. Reading the comments suggests that the vast majority of watchers want to increase their solving ability by seeing how an expert tackles the hardest puzzle of the week, and most will have watched lots of the earlier solves in the series. Is there the need therefore to take so much time explaining 11across for instance; I bet the vast majority of us saw the answer in a nanosecond, with the checking letters available.

[@icecreamandsadness]

I think you're on the wrong channel mate.

[@azrobbins01]

The ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) has not been ratified, and although it seems like a good idea on paper, it would cause all sorts of unintended consequences, such as women being drafted during a war, etc.

[@BarryKort]

For those unfamiliar with the acronym, ERA stands for Equal Rights Amendment.