"Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid"... The Times Crossword Friday Masterclass: 13 September 2024
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ธ.ค. 2024
- ** TODAY'S PUZZLE **
In the latest edition of our attempts to solve a Friday Times crossword, Simon tackles today's puzzle which is the hardest in over a year. As you'll hear in the introduction, even 12x champion solver Mark thinks this is a scarily hard puzzle!!
The puzzle is available to play on The Times crossword club website (which is behind their paywall):
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I just want to tell you, Simon, that this week I completed an entire (New Yorker) cryptic crossword for the first time ever, and I would never have been able to do it without these videos. Thanks for being such a good teacher.
That makes me very happy, well done!!
He’s really good at explaining his thinking, I agree! 👏👏
I love the fact that Phistomephel has dug so deep in Simon’s brain that now he just can’t say Mephistopheles anymore 😂 thank you Simon for these videos!
Cain was the elder brother but, notably, Eve isn't usually considered a man.
Oh hi there!
Harsh but incredibly fair :) Yes, I am a doofus!!!!
@@CrackingTheCryptic you are not a doofus! He WAS the 3rd man (according to the Bible) - Adam, Cain, Abel - all men .
@@CrackingTheCryptic Yeah I too thought Eve would be man not in the sense of male but more so in the sense of human
There were plenty of other humans around. Cain, Abel, and Seth all found wives from the Land of Nod.
I'm a fluent but not native English speaker. I would never be able to solve a single clue by myself, but the explanations and solutions expand my vocabulary with words I didn't even know existed.
Fantastic it's Friday. If Mark is frightened, oh boy us mortals are in trouble. Crossword Friday is my favourite day.
10A with "original" being the anagram indicator is evil.
I'm never more impressed than when Simon finds, through the wordplay, the answer for a word he barely or never heard of. That he found Abelard without knowing him for being a famous philosopher and lover is mightily impressive.
« Oh my gosh it’s obvious » what a gem! 23:45
I imagine that the setter of this puzzle watched this video intently, as Simon initially falls into his devilish traps. 'Mwahahaha!' But, as always, Simon overcomes with eventual triumph. 'Curses, foiled again!' The setter sharpens his pencil ready to devise another. Entertaining as ever, not to be missed.
Solving a good puzzle always gives you a fascinating glimpse into some of the corners of the setter's mind.
Brilliant puzzle, great solve. 1 across and 1 down are great clues because they send you down rabbit holes from which there is no escape, but when you know the answers they seem so obvious. The mark of a great puzzle. Simon as brilliant to listen to as ever. Thank goodness he only does this on Friday otherwise I'd never be any work done!
Excellent Simon. Please keep going!!
Midi is used to refer to the south in French. Midi means noon, and at noon the sun is in the south, indicating that direction.
Oh interesting, is midi similar to the English word "midday"?
@@daylightsleeptight Pretty much, yes -- "mi-" can be used as a prefix on some French words to mean "half" or "middle".
@@bluerizlagirl That's cool, thanks for the explanation!
@@daylightsleeptight Similarly, our word for "midnight" is minuit. "Di" comes from Latin "diem" and is also found at the end of most of the names we use for days of the week.
@@frenchguy7518 Interesting! I have never studied French (but now I kind of want to) so I had only ever of the word "jour" to mean day, not the "di" suffix.
Thoroughly enjoyable as always. Many thanks Simon.
Love the cryptic solves. Keep 'em coming.
As I struggled with 1 Down - trying to make a word ending in "it" - Simon's voice saying that no word in a clue is superfluous came to mind. And fitting in that opening A took me off the wrong "it" route and put me on the right path.
These are the best videos! Thank you Simon ❤
I'm learning a lot from these videos - so much that I got six or seven of these before you and spent the next few minutes actually trying to mentally urge you on. Of course, the rest were much, much slower and only cottoned on as you talked through the explanation.
I've learned that there are 3 important factors to crack a cryptic:
1 - understand the conventions and learn the common abbreviations
2 - guess the correct non-cryptic bit
3 - have a LOT of background knowledge
Have a lovely day whoever comes across this comment
you too 🎉
Back at ya!
Thank you!
Definitely counts as a kind comment.
Same to you, with chocolate cake!
Very enjoyable solves Simon - thank you 👍
“Oh my gosh, it’s obvious!” And other puns I didn’t know I needed in my life. 😅
i am always delighted by how many times you are excited about a possible pan-gram but it almost never is!
Oh how I love this Friday crossword video. Thank you Simon!!!
SPIRAL STAIRCASE!!! Watching this channel for years, and this is the first time I've spotted a cryptic clue before Simon. Granted, this was pretty much an American-style crossword clue. But I'll take it at this point.
Love these. Thank you
Ive never done a crossword puzzle but these are so lovely to watch
That one was really worth Mark's warning.
Another smashing video. Loved the golf club and your contemplation of suderon. 🙏
Subscribed with Notifications set to 'All' and TH-cam still didn't tell me this had been uploaded. Very happy to have found it here anyway though!
I’ve had trouble with that as well. Try a quick “unsubscribe “ followed by a quick “subscribe.” That seemed to work for me.
@@longwaytotipperary It's weird because it never misses a notification at 8:30pm or 11pm but it just does not want to tell me about crosswords. I'll try your suggestion, thanks!
@@bobblebardsley same. One Friday I just didn’t get the notification. Someone else suggested to try the unsubscribe - resubscribe trick. I’ve gotten notifications since then.
Well done, Simon! And on the QC too; a lot of us at Times for the Times struggled with 19d but it only delayed you for a moment.
I look forward to this every Friday
The fact that it took me over 15 minutes to solve it and I *still* have a top-30 time on the leaderboard says a lot about this puzzle - that would barely crack the top-100 most days. I did find it very funny seeing you breeze through the northeast corner, though, considering that’s where I struggled the most.
Excellent commentary. I only managed the top clues and had to stop as time was pressing. Learned something new with ABELARD and NOSFERATU. Loved the GROUNDED clue
Best day of the week!
Nosferatu is a vampire, who is basically just Dracula, but with a different name because he's from an unofficial adaptation
Norm Macdonald, the Canadian funny-man, he had several great jokes involving vampires and Nosferatu... "It's as cold as a vampire's demeanour."
There's a remake coming out this year written and directed by Robert Eggers!
“Ah, Nosferatu”
“We haven’t met”
“Sorry, Nosferavous”
Yay a crossword video!
Great stuff
Abelard is a philosopher and lover due to his romantic connection with his pupil Heloise. Great video, Simon. I'm getting a lot better at these but not up to a 150+ Snitch rating quite yet!
Nosferatu is the name of 1 1922 movie (with a 2024 remake) -- pretty much Dracula set in Bremen instead of England. In 2000, Shadow of a Vampire is a fictionalized "making of" that movie with William Dafoe playing a vampire inhabiting the title role.
Eager to see this one as it was my blogging duty. I seem to be one of the few people who didn’t find this bad at all, although I needed an aid for one clue at the end. Sometimes I think being an American puts me on the opposite wavelength from you guys!
Great solve bud. I expect to finish the mail everyday. Odd brutal one. The times is a different kettle though
Nosferatu is a vampire from a german horror movie, used quite a lot in the lyrics of black and gothic metal, one example that comes to mind is "She's got a date with Nosferatu" by Type O negative
Hi please can the crossword playlist be updated with all the newer Eps? I think it only goes up to 40 something and sometimes it's nice to watch a bunch in a row 😊🙏🏻❤ love these vids!!
School holidays just started in Australia and I was even more excited than my students. So excited to watch this one!
Hi Friday Crossword Gang
Breakfast with Simon and the CtC community!!! 😊
Wouldn't you have it any other way? 😁🤎💜
@@davidrattner9 I do look forward to our Friday morning get togethers! 😊 🧡💜💙
I watch these after dinner on Fridays -- so, wine and nuts with Simon and the CtC community. 😺
I really thought 1A was going to be anointed, as in 'anointed heir' being a 'grand' position. "A tidy sum kept at home" I thought the A was straight, the 'tidy sum' could be 'noted' (as in, a stack of banknotes being a tidy way to carry a large amount of money vs. 'coined') and then 'in' inserted into the middle of that. Pretty astounded that there's a completely different way to interpret that.
Shako, finally my Diablo2 knowledge was useful.
(Peter) Abelard and Heloise were famous medieval tragic lovers. Her relatives did not approve and so castrated him, after which he entered a monastery and she a convent. He was a famous philosopher and theologian
The third equation of motion is v^2 = u^2 + 2as.
It can be derived by considering change in kinetic and potential energy
I was going to post this but wanted to check whether anyone had already posted it. It doesn't feature time in it so not very useful for cryptic crosswords.
Simon's never addressed a haggis, it seems - "weel are ye wordy o' a grace / as lang 's my arm!"
I have a feeling this puzzle was made to stymie cryptic crossword experts specifically, because I think I had no more trouble than Simon did with any of the clues, and most of them, significantly less. I didn't even need to resort to a dictionary until it came time to figure out the unchecked letters in the feathered hat. Also, "le Midi" is the south of France. I was thinking about sud as well, but I had enough cross letters to rule that out quickly.
I didn't think that would ever happen, but I got a golf-themed solution way before Simon did.
Sweater? For Brits: Jumper? We are having an early fall heat wave here in Minnesota.
DOMINOES....!
Midi is noon, and it's a name for the south of France. It's the same in italian, the south is referred as "mezzogiorno" that means noon in italian
Thank you for these. I really enjoy these long solves Simon. In fact I only come to this site for the crosswords. When are you or your colleague going to do the next Listener crossword? ;)
Simon, the third equation you keep trying to think of is one that doesn't involve t: v² = u² + 2as.
Proud of getting “dealt” about 10 seconds before Simon did 😅
Adam, Cain, Abel...Third Man. Eve was first woman
The Abelard & Heloise "LOVE STORY" was featured in "Being John Malkovich"... It's one of my favourite scenes in all of cinema: th-cam.com/video/GK19zONpd04/w-d-xo.html
first time I've ever got a clue!! was shouting dominoes through the screen:)
Let's gooooo
For a churchwarden "spiral stairs" are at the forefront of one's mind, so that was a doddle.
Right after he tells us to not take "Judge's conclusion" literally, he gets to "Tiles hopefully all toppling" and I immediate got Dominoes from that. Sometimes you HAVE to read the clue literally.
Lets all have a guess how many times Simon has recited equations of motion.
I took a longer time getting the answers, but I parsed them more quickly - for example, I saw the mayo dress minus D at once. I also saw midiron right away from the Midi. It was certainly a very long solve.
"Midi
geographical name
Mi·di mē-ˈdē
the south of France bordering Spain to the south and Italy to the east"
What a brutal clue
Saw the snitch rating this morning, decided not to attempt it and just wait for this episode haha
I can thank Breaking Bad for getting 7 down lol
as soon as he said US drug agency I pictured Hank 🤣
Bet you got a good chuckle out of 28A too then 😁
One week you should try racing the cryptic and talking through the quick cryptic.
there's a "Rue du midi" in my town
What's the dictionary ( hard copy) that you would recommend to purchase especially with respect to Crossword solving? The Chambers edition is very old , of 2014. Thats why I asked.
🎉🎉🎉
There were so many cracking clues in this, it's certainly my favourite for quite a while. This setter is a real artist.
I really liked goalie. The clue was very deceptive, looking for all the world like there was some clever wordplay going on. Grounded was also nice and similarly deceptive.
Abelard was cute, with unusual wordplay, even though it was somewhat telegraphed. He was indeed an old philosopher, who famously loved his student Héloïse, getting castrated for it by her uncle.
I thought you'd have got dominoes straight away, considering how many times you use the word when doing sudoku. That made "as long as one's arm" easy which gave some useful crossing letters.
It would have been hilarious if 23A was some kind of ostrich instead of a golf club.
After suggesting cohere, I'm surprised you didn't get adhere. Any date AD is after the first Christmas. Another quality clue.
Subtend was a nice clue for tripping up regular solvers - ship = send but somehow = ubt. Subtend is usually used in reference to the angle in a triangle opposite a side, as in the angle subtended by a line (or arc in the case of circles).
Cowhouse was a lovely clue. Simple but deceptive.
Mayoress was also lovely - mayo/dress = dressing/gown, hiding the d gives mayoress.
I could see that the school party was going to be prom but I read the wordplay wrong, and thought that promi was anagrammed, when it was just prom I followed by sort with the T dropped. That was another nice clue.
Le midi is the south, because that's where the sun is at noon (midi).
Is capitalised T on Tower ok??
Love these crossword videos! Question (out of curiosity): Why does 1a have 'a' tidy sum, when the a isn't used in the answer? Doesn't the clue mean the same without the 'a'?
'made a tidy sum' is rounded
What is the dictionary & thesaurus program used in this video?
I’m intelligent. I watch Cracking the Cryptic, Friday Masterclass edition.
Simon, ref 1d, Goalie and the game being in front of him. I beg to differ. In our mature gentlemen's football group we have a goalie who keeps thinking that he is an attacking midfielder. Unfortunately, most of the game takes place behind him and he keeps conceding!
I laughed out loud as I almost instantly solved 22D.
Is the solution font different?
This never occurred to me before but was December 26th (i.e. the first full day after Jesus was born) considered BC or AD, bearing in mind it wasn't New Year's for another week? 🤔 I know in reality we didn't start numbering the years that way until much later, but it's pretty interesting to imagine he was around for a week when it was still technically 'BC'.
re;4 down "elate" does due really mean late ?
Able was the third man, as Eve wasnt a man
"Republic of Burundi will never been used, it's too obscure; but 'games' can means 'RU" for rugby union" is exactly the kind of acceptable logic that's why I'll never get into these
Well 'tis Friday 13 1:40
The other equation of motion doesn't actually mention time: v**2 = u**2 + 2*a*s. The square of the speed v after an object has moved s metres under a constant acceleration a, having started at u metres per second, is equal to the square of the initial speed u plus twice the product of the acceleration a times the distance s.
A nonet is a group of nine. I'm almost surprised that word hasn't entered Sudoku terminology .....
Is "Nosferatu" the Transylvanian (if that's not a language in its own right, then whatever language they would have spoken there) word for a vampire? The "Nos-" at the beginning looks as though it could be a prefix meaning "night-".
"School dance" is PROM (from "promenade concert" -- originally an open-air performance of music with no seating, so the audience could walk around and anyone would be able to dance with anyone else if the mood took them), "I arrange" is I SORT and "almost" is saying "drop something from the end", giving PROMISOR -- a party who guarantees something.
If something is "manifest", it's OBVIOUS. If that "includes Lithium", we can insert LI into OBVIOUS and get OBLIVIOUS for "unaware".
"While" is AS LONG AS, If we treat "a sermon" originally, we could rearrange the letters and get ONE'S ARM, and AS LONG AS ONE'S ARM sounds like a suitably literary way of saying "interminable".
18A, Keeping it in the family, I see .....
"South of France" is MIDI. "Republican" is R. "Applied to" could be ON. Not heard of a MIDIRON, but it certainly sounds like an old name for a golf club.
25A In geometry, a chord of a circle is said to subtend the angles opposite it at the centre and on the edge of the circle (and one is always double the other). "Ship" is being used as a verb, giving SEND, and you have to put "but" -- the letters B, U and T -- "inside" it "somehow", i.e. in a different order, giving SUBTEND.
"After the first Christmas" is a fancy way of saying A.D., as in dates, and "present" is HERE, giving ADHERE = to bond.
v^2=u^2+2as
20A. Municipal chairman could be a mayor. And a dressing gown is a kind of dress. Hiding the d, an abbreviation for diamond.
That would be mayorress with two rs, and the definition would be stuck in the middle of the clue
Abel is the 3rd Man if you exclude Eve as she was a Woman
Abélard was a French philosopher and is famous for his affair with Héloïse. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Abelard#Affair_with_H%C3%A9lo%C3%AFse