The Times Crossword Friday Masterclass: Episode 25

** TODAY'S PUZZLE **
In the 25th edition of our attempt to solve a Friday Times crossword, Simon takes on today's puzzle, which is rated much harder than average! This is a quality crossword and will fully explore any classical weaknesses in your game!
The puzzle is available to play on The Times crossword club website (which is behind their paywall):
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[@richardfarrer5616]

Flemish bond is a form of bricklaying where the bricks are laid at right angles to the rest of the course so they can join two separate walls. Magwitch comes from Great Expectations, where he is a prisoner who is transported but later returns. This is the first time I got a fairly large number as quickly as Simon, although sometimes only after he had pointed the way.

[@ridefast0]

Also, 'returning from game' gets 'mag' if I understand correctly.

[@esti369]

39:10 “The lack of a classical education - it just kills you!” is the most Simon-esque of comments 😂

[@MulberryElmham]

I’m a long time cryptic crossword “solver” and love these videos. And for those worrying about the “lack of a classical education” I did study Latin and always wondered what good it would do me. And fifty years later and as an avid crossword fan I can tell you that it did me no good whatsoever.

[@bertbergers9171]

No good is to little but not much sounds about correct. I do love my "knowledge" of latin culture and gods and stories, and in southern europe i find i manage to understand some words form there latin root words which helps a bit now and then. And i find it gave me room to a certain way of thinking with more finess and nuance that i miss in Dutch and people these days.

[@viri6839]

I can't believe we're on episode 25 already. These are so much fun!

[@profregan6937]

It used to be University Challenge that I looked forward to every week. Now it is the Friday crossword. Glorious!

[@archivist17]

Anfield's Kop is named after Spion Kop, where a significant battle took place in the Boer War. As a small piece of trivia, both MK Gandhi and Winston Churchill were present - the former as a stretcher bearer; the latter as Army Lieutenant. Louis Botha, later first PM of South Africa, headed the Boer forces in the battle, and is said to have personally captured Churchill two months earlier.

[@TheBoredNerd]

Hi Simon. I jwant you to know just how much you've been integrated into my weekly routine. I only work Monday through Thursday and so I often have a quiet Friday morning to myself. Your crossword videos conveniently upload as I wake up every Friday morning. The coffee is made, I put your video up on the living room TV, and my cat comes up and lays on my lap. I'm writing this as I sit with my hot cup of coffee, relaxed and overjoyed with another great video. Cheers from USA.

[@amysteele2488]

Re: 24 across... Flemish Bond and English Bond are both types of brickwork. The 'spy' connection of course you got. Probable that Flemish carried double meaning here, hinting at Ian Fleming, as you surmised

[@davidrattner9]

Thank you for the extra explanation about this clue. 🙂

[@clintonevans2003]

I had Great Expectations for this puzzle

[@jodyvanliew2514]

I love Simon's humility and his British wit . He has such an incredible mind .

[@benphelan88]

“The note he left was signed ‘Old Father Thames’, it seems he’s drowned, selling England by the pound”. - Genesis, “Dancing With The Moonlit Knight”

[@afanofosc]

Excellent song

[@nickburton5871]

To reef a sail is to reduce its size, by rolling it up, or tying up folds, using reefing points etc. to make it safer in high winds. It's obviously high time someone took you sailing, Simon! It would definitely put a smile on you face (in the seemingly unlikely event there wasn't one there already!) I guessed Magwitch, because the fictional action took place a couple of miles from where I live. Dickens does use some artistic licence, though. Magwitch is supposed to have escaped from a prison hulk, still hobbled by chains. He would never have made the shore; the weight of them would have drowned him! As usual, I got several ahead of you, most more slowly, and several were beyond me. Love the videos, Simon! Thank you!

[@richardclegg8027]

When you have reefed a sail the "part of (the) sail" reefed is known as a reef in the sail which fits the clue perfectly.

[@d4r4butler74]

Always love the crossword videos. The comments section is almost as informative as the video! Love you all.

[@wendictive]

OMG simon You have broken me .... did a miracle sudoku from the app and i took my self in hearing YOUR voice "then we ask ourselves .. where do ??? go in this box" PS im danish ..why do i think in english???

[@Vernicho]

Good solve today, was screaming ' Spion Kop' at the screen. Always enjoy these solve Chop many onions, then use half in mixture to see him. (5, 7)

[@debrabowen4276]

I adore cryptic crossword videos!

[@TheTwin12321]

As someone born without the sense of smell, the word osmic was obvious to me, since the medical term for having no sense of smell is anosmia. This was the first one I got before Simon did! I was unable to solve most of the other clues tho...

[@davidrattner9]

A 1/4 to 100 already !?!?? The best Friday tradition out there! Love your explanations Simon and dedication to solve these for us.

[@BigAsciiHappyStar]

Wait, did Simon really say "zero wing" at 41:21? Even I know that's the name of a video game with hilariously bad English including the infamous "All Your Base Are Belong To Us" 😄😄😄😄😄

[@lexta13]

Loved the Latin exam anecdote!

[@erickehr4475]

It’s never too late to start learning Latin and Greek!

[@Teverell]

recte dicis, amice!

[@Anne_Mahoney]

@@Teverell Tu quoque!

[@PeterMoore66]

29A: In Great Expectations, Magwitch was transported and returned, so the 'straight' part of the clue is "Character transported returning" EDIT: posted before Simon got there!

[@wjwarren4269]

If you have an iPhone, Simon, you can silence/dismiss an incoming call with the… well I guess I’d call it the “sleep” side button… 1 and 2 presses respectively. You can also create a Focus mode to limit alerts, such as calls from non-Favorites. Makes for an easy way to set a… CtC mode for the phone. Cheers!

[@arthurcharest9061]

Great solve and explanations!

[@theweedledrop]

Love a crossword video on a friday morning.. makes WFH ever so much more fun

[@Anne_Mahoney]

I actually saw several of these before Simon did! And several more after he'd said "I think it's sort of like this" and had half the work done. These Friday crosswords are becoming a highlight of the week, right up there with the GAS videos, if for different reasons. (I'm not solving these puzzles ahead of time and comparing notes on your solves!)

[@paul_harness]

Really enjoy these , thank you 👍

[@Teverell]

Bond - English or Flemish? English bond or Flemish bond is a way of laying bricks (I know this from my Dad!). Bricks are laid in courses... if you look at older buildings, you'll see either courses alternating all long and all short sides, or alternating by individual bricks, long short long etc... One style is English bond, the other Flemish (no I can't remember which is which!) Also pretty sure the one about part of a sail on a bird is reef knot, though I'm not a birdwatcher to know what a 'knot' is in terms of avians. In the old days of sailing ships, you would shorten sail in bad weather by reefing the sail (incidentally, using reef knots, which is where the name comes from). Pretty sure the character Magwitch (from Dickens' novel Great Expectations) was sentenced to be transported to Australia. So the definition is therefore 'character transported', not just 'character'. But props to you for getting any of these, I certainly wouldn't be able to fill in any from a blank grid!! The Kop was named for a hill in South Africa called Spion Kop 'Spy Hill', used as an outpost (I believe) in the Boer War. Cor blimey, not 'alf, guv!

[@tonyroberts3926]

I got Magwitch before you - so I "Pip'd" you to that one! Many people study Great Expectations at school these days - even my grown up son did - years ago. Of course in my day we only had the Canterbury Tales and a bit of Shakespeare to work with.

[@andrewgrant6516]

A stellar pun, I hear.

[@longwaytotipperary]

Always enjoy these!!!

[@bryanroland9402]

Thoroughly enjoyable as usual.

[@JohnLeeShaw]

Once again, a fabulous watch, Simon. No shouting from this end, but one or two chuckles. As one who finds himself a lost cause when it comes to cryptic crossword solving, it gives a little comfort to see you having the odd troubles. Watching you take them on and eventually get the better of them is so enjoyable, and part of why I can't wait for Friday! Wishing you, Mark, and everyone else here a fab weekend! 🙂

[@grenvillephillips6998]

An heroic struggle, which is much appreciated.

[@suewilliams7091]

love these videos!! I'm not clever enough for the times crossword but try the one in the Daily Mail every day and with your help and tips am getting better thank you.

[@arvidengman4026]

Love watching these! And loved hearing the anecdote from your childhood! Greetings from Sweden 🇸🇪

[@no-feetmcgee5577]

With that Q and Z, I thought this was going to be a pangram grid... and it so easily could've been! Just change TAIL to JAIL and MALI to TAXI. I'm a bit disappointed in you, constructor, to be honest. But good cluing as always :)

[@DJColdCutz_]

I was disappointed too haha

[@sebastienlecoq3956]

In french, obsèques (without the i) means funerals, so I kinda shouted at you for the explaination of this one (even if I was off by a letter), I hope you didn't mind. Regarding the snitch rating, I was more impressed by the amount of solves (11 before starting) than by the time it took to be solved.

[@MrBigrig5]

Favourite videos on KZbin! 🎉

[@roryparle]

Lots of comments about bricklaying for the Bond clue, but it's also worth noting that the character of James Bond is not English but Scottish.

[@SomeRandomGuyOnYouTube]

"English" in the clue is referring to the bricks, not the spy

[@roryparle]

In the video, Simon speculated that it was referring to the spy, and I was pointing out that it couldn't be.

[@CallsHimselfAWriter]

Magwitch is from Great Expectations and is literally a ‘character transported’ as he is introduced to the reader a a convict who has escaped a ship. I don’t think I would have got it though as I’d have struggled with the cryptic puzzle!

[@andrewshelley410]

You say you regret not studying the classics as though it's no longer an option, you're old but you're not dead yet.

[@puritan7473]

Letting you know, I was deffinitely NOT shouting at you, or getting ANY of these incredibly difficult clues quicker than you today. Well done on an incredible solve!

[@tychoorton4222]

Love these videos! My parents are crossword fiends and this is helping me to learn so I can do it with them 😊

[@martinyyt]

I figured out "souk" the first time Simon highlighted it! That's a first for me. Many moons ago, I had to read "Great Expectations" in school and I have no recollection whatsoever of the Magwitch character; so, reading Dickens doesn't always help.

[@andrewgrant6516]

It's Robert's turn to put the rubbish out, as his mum keeps reminding him.

[@kuchcyk]

Strangely, I found this week's much easier than previous weeks. I suppose it depends on one's range of knowledge and how that maps to the crossword itself. Or maybe I'm just getting better at it :-)

[@trisha2584]

It makes my day when I can get an answer before Simon (I admit this is rarely)

[@kchorn1]

Purslane is one of my favorite weeds to eat, and it's very nutritious too!

[@bertbergers9171]

Market being british with a U 3d should be SOUK i am guessing immediately (all other words are a nogo for me even with latin in school ;) ) and the underline you missed the bit of the pants being short to get rid of the final n. Now curious how this rolls out. Woot, you found them all, i love how invested you are to proof to yourself (and audience) that you have the correct wordplay! In a time where youtube videos are full of people having more selfesteem then knowledge i find it admiriable (probably spelt wrong sorry) that you want to be right in what you tell. That is great and should be taken as a rolemodel to all these people crapping videos on this platform that don't believe there is audience that appreciates truth over bravado.

[@michaelmatter1222]

14 Down - Holy moly I need a cannoli after Simon explained that clue

[@auximenes]

Could the Father Thames clue also reference the Ol Man River song…he just keeps rolling along.

[@crhodgkin]

I think "Old Father Thames" is a song on its own (1933), with the repeating lyrics, "Old Father Thames keeps rolling along / Down to the mighty sea."

[@thitherword]

Always delighted to see a new one of these pop up on Friday. I watch CTC crossword videos almost every night. I have to ask, will you be playing a new game any time soon?

[@DevilboyScooby]

I have no confidence in solving one of these myself, but I do enjoy your breakdown of clues and started writing my own instead 😂

[@charliejoseph6465]

Give us one

[@DevilboyScooby]

@@charliejoseph6465 Crazy finch glided to distillery in Scotland (11)

[@charliejoseph6465]

@@DevilboyScooby Glenfiddich! (Though I must confess I did have to google list of scotch whisky's as I couldn't remember the name!) Very nice, though am I being picky to say the word "to" might be added just to make the wordplay make sense as a sentence and not as an indicator to solve? Drunk finch glided in distillery in Scotland? I feel "in" is a more legitimate word and then drunk helps play on the distillery part for a more amusing mental image.

[@DevilboyScooby]

@@charliejoseph6465 it's only really the times (arguably the pinnacle of cryptics) that don't have any linking words whatsoever in any of their clues, I imagined the Finch as an outdoor bird rather than indoor. I do have some clues without any links- What an inmate might sit at to eat lowest rank of the police? (9) Energetic queen embraced by gym teacher (4) I just chose one at random I was proud of getting an anagram for lol 😂

[@charliejoseph6465]

@@DevilboyScooby Ah ok, I only ever look at the Times. And I hope you understand I wasn't criticising, just brainstorming! I'm going to plump for Constable Pert? I came up with a couple myself recently actually Burning love bird (8) Most arousing blonde's rear end grabbed by male chauvinist (7)

[@vinyl1Earthlink]

It's surprising Simon didn't get 5 right away - it's a bunch of stock cryptic components. That was my FOI, and one of the very few for quite a while. Simon does see a lot of them rather quickly, but I get some he doesn't see - like obsequies/obsequious. The clue Simon couldn't understand is one of the rare ones where you actually have to know something about the answer, in this case what Magwitch actually did in the Dickens novel. Well, I do know Latin and Greek, and read all the Dickens novels in a graduate school seminar, and Simon still out-solves me.

[@plusjeremy]

Fancy meeting you here!

[@peterjongsma3221]

Magwitch was transported as a convict.

[@blakebarnett9319]

Osmic is indeed dealing with the sense of smell, and the etymology of the element Osmium. It forms a strongly scented (and quite toxic!) oxide when exposed to air, thus the name.

[@11mandylion]

around the 39th minute, doing a cryptic crossword... 'The lack of a classical education, it just kills you' :D

[@archivist17]

24a James Bond is canonically Scottish

[@AtekomiTesuji]

I got 9 down as Reef Knot straight off!

[@missioncardiac7599]

Wow, that was difficult. Ironically the two words Simon had the most difficulty with were the ones I got straightaway: SOUK and MAGWITCH, but I did study Great Expectations in school.

[@TheFrogfather1]

I only know purslane because there's a restaurant of that name near me!

[@archivist17]

29a well done knowing the character name without knowing the plot! 😉

[@fussyboy2000]

Maybe aphis99 or verlain could be convinced to do spot as guest solvers? Also English Bond and Flemmish Bond are different patterns in brickwork.

[@Anne_Mahoney]

Yes, I got that too -- Flemish bond is particularly pretty.

[@williambarnes3868]

The poet is TS Elliott. English & Flemish are types of Bricklaying. Bond is the name for the type of layer. The elephant is DUMBO. Magwitch is from Great Expectations by Dickens, he was transported to Australia and later came back. 2 Down refers to the song Old Father Thames. Anosmia = loss of smell. Purslane is a herb. Spion Kop was abattle ground in the Boer wars.

[@Julzableful]

This isn't very much in the spirit of watching the video... your comment took away the fun of the journey to see Simon figure them out.

[@garybrittain8210]

24 A - Flemish Bond is a brickwork pattern

[@jgreen2015]

Maybe MAGwitch from 'returning from GAMe'? Though why it's shortened with the e I dunno 🤷

[@accountnamewithheld]

Game = MATCH containing good group of women Good = abbrev. G Group of women = WI, Women's Institute = MAGWITCH

[@DJColdCutz_]

Went through all the trouble of putting a Z and a Q in the puzzle, they couldn’t have come up with a J and X to make the whole alphabet?!

[@markmcknight9601]

Yes, some shouting. But less than when you miss givens when scanning in Sudoku.

[@de8o]

This video reminded me that it is Friday. Here comes the weekend.

[@TrekBeatTK]

I think a dumbshow is a pantomime, if I remember correctly

[@Anne_Mahoney]

Yes, or charades. I was pleased that "elephant" immediately made Simon think of Jumbo (my university's mascot!) even though that's not the relevant elephant here.

[@Wouter10123]

10:22 You always say there should be no superfluous words in the clue. So what's "the" doing there? Surely the clue "A little animal in country" would also work, right?

[@MarcMcMillin]

yaaay 🙂

[@moocowpong1]

I suspect “brief time” represents MO because it’s short for “month”

[@johnglass6725]

Or more likely short for "moment"?

[@moocowpong1]

@@johnglass6725 but if “brief” means to use an abbreviation, then “time” can be any length of time, and month -> mo is a much more standard abbreviation than moment -> mo. And if “brief time” is literally a short time interval, then why is it abbreviated? It’s not “brief brief time”.

[@glum_hippo]

We are so privileged

[@archivist17]

1d I though 'Sour' as very British 😂

[@LednacekZ]

the only thing i knew was osmic

[@StorymasterQ]

28:56 Simon: "Superior is U" Me: "No, Simon, you're the superior one. Superlative, even."

[@emilywilliams3237]

"Stupidest man in Christendom" ... yes, that is just how I think of you, Simon. (jk) Thanks for this interesting and amazing video!

[@Anne_Mahoney]

I love the old-fashioned "in Christendom": my mother would say that occasionally but Simon is the only living person I know who still uses it.

[@emilywilliams3237]

@@Anne_Mahoney Yes, my grandmother used to use that expression. Also "ye gods" as an exclamation - even though she was a good Christian monotheist!

[@ahouyearno]

He says that as he finishes solving tbe hardest crossword.

[@andrewgrant6516]

You lost me at Kop.

[@jpatrick1967]

Im curious how quickly you could solve these if you weren’t making videos to keep us entertained. I’m thinking you almost cut the time in half at least

[@Math.Bandit]

@@SomeRandomGuyOnKZbin In particular I think if he was solving for time he doesn't agonize over Magwitch and just goes with his gut rather than spend time trying to justify it, which he does for our benefit.

[@Anne_Mahoney]

Or a lot faster: Simon's not Mark (as he'd be the first to tell you) but he's probably in the top 10 or 20 fastest, maybe better than that on a good day. We don't see Simon release his inner Beast as much as we do Mark but I dare say it would be an awe-inspiring sight. (How about it, Simon? Beast Mode through a set of Discord GAPP, or through an early-in-the-week Times puzzle as Mark's done once or twice when it's his turn to do Friday master class. I'd love that!)

[@ikbeneenvogel6118]

You just watch me a every w to its f l >:D

[@watchmakerful]

Aren't the first three letters in MAGWITCH a part of the word GAME written backwards?

[@sarahnash7174]

That's what I thought!

[@plusjeremy]

There’s nothing to indicate removal of the last letter, though.

[@accountnamewithheld]

Game = MATCH containing good group of women Good = abbrev. G Group of women = WI, Women's Institute = MAGWITCH

[@peethoagland8907]

Simon's accent does not indicate that he is from up north, how did he become a Liverpool supporter?

[@thezanycat]

I disagree that “losing its top” can only apply to down clues

[@steveunderwood3683]

This man must be a terrible brick layer if he doesn't recognise Flemish bond. He knows so many obscure words, but doesn't know underlinen means underwear He recognised the name Magwitch as a fictional character, who was an illegally returning transporter, and still struggled with the answer.

[@DaShikuXI]

First?