Simon FAILS But What Does He Do Wrong?!

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 มิ.ย. 2022
  • ** TODAY'S PUZZLE **
    Simon has a go at today's Times cryptic crossword, which is considerably harder than average difficulty. But something goes wrong... very wrong. What will you make of it? Let us know in the comments!!
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ความคิดเห็น • 214

  • @efa666
    @efa666 2 ปีที่แล้ว +139

    Simon's restraint to not call the guy with 1:35 a cheater lol

    • @leppyr64
      @leppyr64 2 ปีที่แล้ว +55

      He calls them out in another video. He says, "They solve the puzzle on paper and then input the answers... so they're just slow typists."

    • @iabervon
      @iabervon 2 ปีที่แล้ว +13

      Some people like to work on paper and then have an electronic archive of their solves. People sometimes end up in odd parts of leaderboards when they use sites in non-standard ways. I remember there was someone who was consistently the fastest time on Nikoli because they'd practice by resolving each puzzle several times, and comment with their first few solve times, which were fast but not usually the top.

    • @leppyr64
      @leppyr64 2 ปีที่แล้ว +13

      @@iabervon Yup. Simon's point is just that they're not real solve times.

  • @longwaytotipperary
    @longwaytotipperary 2 ปีที่แล้ว +102

    How on earth do you consider this a fail????? two letters out of that brutal puzzle? You are just brilliant!!!

    • @bevstarrunner9472
      @bevstarrunner9472 2 ปีที่แล้ว +12

      Especially when the two incorrect letters were not common with the down clue..

    • @Alex_Meadows
      @Alex_Meadows 2 ปีที่แล้ว +14

      Well said! I was expecting the sort of complete mental collapse that I have when I try my hand at a cryptic. If I did as well as Simon on this puzzle I'd be bragging about it for years!

    • @longwaytotipperary
      @longwaytotipperary 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@Alex_Meadows Amen! 👍

    • @Anne_Mahoney
      @Anne_Mahoney 2 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      Besides, "harum-scarum" is kind of a fluff word anyway and there's no reason it shouldn't be spelled with different vowels in those unstressed syllables. Your spelling made better sense of the word-play (though you were right to point out the implication of "dictator," which I didn't quite understand until a bit after you said it).
      On the other hand, c'mon, the Niobe story isn't all *that* obscure. She bragged that she was better than Leto: "I've got 14 kids, 7 sons and 7 daughters, so I dunno why Leto thinks she's so great when she's only got 2." Leto: "Yeah, but my kids are Apollo and Artemis -- yours are only mortal. Let me prove to you just how mortal they are." Slaughter ensues. Niobe is not best pleased; another god takes pity on her and turns her into a rock, but she's still heartbroken and weeping.
      I'll leave you to look up the Ganymede story on your own, but serious props for the US geography and the postal abbreviations. Yes, ME is Maine (MA = Massachusetts, MD = Maryland, MI = Michigan, MO = Missouri, MS = Mississippi).

    • @longwaytotipperary
      @longwaytotipperary 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@Anne_Mahoney and GA is Georgia!! 🙂

  • @DArtagnonW
    @DArtagnonW 2 ปีที่แล้ว +71

    I just love cryptic crosswords. They hit everything I love about wordplay.
    As for Euler: the usual pronunciation is like the 'Eu' in German... that is "Oiler".
    But try to forget this fact when you discuss Euclid, which is just "Yooclid"

    • @stephenbeck7222
      @stephenbeck7222 2 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      I also have always heard the French (or maybe it’s the French-American) pronunciation of Fermat: “fur-maw”, not “fehr-matt” like Simon says it.
      I teach high school math and I actually had a bonus question recently on a quiz, asking which word rhymes with the mathematician: fueler or boiler.

    • @howardwilde
      @howardwilde 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Yes. Hence the title 'well-spoken' for the brutal Euler-themed Listener puzzle a couple of years ago. (Oiler = well). It took me days to get that.

    • @lewsouth1539
      @lewsouth1539 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      "But try to forget this fact when you discuss Euclid..."
      Or just remember that Euclid was Greek....? (And, btw, as with most ancient Greek names, the "standard" English pronunciation ("Yooclid") is not really correct.)

    • @lewsouth1539
      @lewsouth1539 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@stephenbeck7222 The French pronunciation is actually "fehr-mah"-more or less. (You know, it's French, so... )

    • @Anne_Mahoney
      @Anne_Mahoney 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Easy to remember Euler's number: it's called "e" from his name. Comes up prominently in Euler's identity: e^{i π} + 1 = 0.

  • @kea2878
    @kea2878 2 ปีที่แล้ว +32

    Thought I'd have a go at the puzzle before watching the video ... and after a few clues I realised I'd written the puzzle, which was a surprise. But it still took me 3:55 to solve-remember the answers.

  • @damadclown
    @damadclown 2 ปีที่แล้ว +29

    Your face when you're still stuck on the first clue and the guy who's about to finish in half an hour calls himself "imbecile". Don't apologize Simon, you're amazing

  • @paulmyrin5028
    @paulmyrin5028 2 ปีที่แล้ว +34

    32:45 While the number e had been discussed before Euler, most notably Bernoulli's investigations into compounding interest, it was Euler who was the first one to prove the value of e = 2.71828... That was a brilliant clue, amazed at how quickly you figured it out.

    • @lewsouth1539
      @lewsouth1539 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      Not sure what, if anything, it could mean to "prove the value" of a constant. If you're referring to calculating it, Euler wasn't the first to do that (tho he did find 10 more digits than the previous calculator).
      en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_(mathematical_constant)#Known_digits

  • @tremkl
    @tremkl 2 ปีที่แล้ว +41

    I do believe that because “public” can refer to a community, I have heard someone refer to “their public” meaning their community of supporters.

    • @CS-bn5wg
      @CS-bn5wg 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      public can also refer to an audience (which are usually comprised of fans)

    • @nidoking042
      @nidoking042 2 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      I was thinking of the phrase "adoring public" referring to a celebrity's fans.

    • @Frietoe
      @Frietoe 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      In Dutch the word for audience is actually publiek (pronounced: publeek)

    • @CS-bn5wg
      @CS-bn5wg 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@Frietoe in French, it's the same: "public". in German, it's "Publikum", etc. a lot of European languages have an equivalent

    • @chuckdecker3765
      @chuckdecker3765 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      I think, specifically, "Open fans?" is referring to a golf or tennis open, where the audience is the public gallery.

  • @jwolfe01234
    @jwolfe01234 2 ปีที่แล้ว +20

    A difference between sudoku and cryptics on this channel: In Sudoku, when Simon or Mark miss something, I get annoyed because it slows them down and they often never discover what they missed because they find another way. When Simon missed "Automatic Pilot" here, I knew he would find it eventually, so I was just sitting there, "wait for it, wait for it, ...." And then he found it and he was annoyed enough for the both of us.
    And then he got annoyed over Skinny, which I thought was hard because it was so unintuitive. Reminds me of the old child's joke: "What's brown and sticky? A stick"

    • @lewsouth1539
      @lewsouth1539 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      I love that joke! And I've never heard "skinny" used that way (tho I did figure it out).

    • @Alex_Meadows
      @Alex_Meadows 2 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      What's green and spongy? A green sponge.
      What's red and invisible? No tomatoes.
      Sorry, I'll stop now.

    • @paulconway670
      @paulconway670 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      @@Alex_Meadows Why stop...? What animal has more lives than a cat? Frogs because they croak every day! ps ... Simon, not a fail! The first priority of all these videos is to entertain! Job done!

  • @gnfnrf
    @gnfnrf 2 ปีที่แล้ว +75

    I got into this channel through the Sudoku videos. Simon (Mark too) is a much better Sudoku solver than I am, but I can usually follow along with his solves, and sometimes even replicate them.
    But these cryptic crosswords? Every time I watch a video, I am completely bamboozled. Simon reads a gibberish clue, immediately says, "if you reverse this word, abbreviate this, and take the first two letters of that, you get an obscure 18th century slang word that means this" and I have no idea what he's done or why.
    So, if occasionally, he is just a fraction as confused as I am, or if he doesn't get one answer completely right, I don't think he's stupid. I think that it's amazing he does it so rarely, since I don't consider myself stupid and I couldn't do it at all.

    • @longwaytotipperary
      @longwaytotipperary 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Exactly!!

    • @KinkyTurtle
      @KinkyTurtle 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      You just need to understand how cryptic clues work. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptic_crossword#How_cryptic_clues_work

    • @longwaytotipperary
      @longwaytotipperary 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      @@KinkyTurtle Thank you for the link. Beyond knowing how they work, I think, is being cognizant of the possible slang terms, and abbreviations that the setter has at their disposal.

    • @eddiejcc
      @eddiejcc 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Beautifully stated!

    • @kindlin
      @kindlin 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Cryptic Crosswords are the worst, I have to agree. The way you need to "find" the way to parse the clue and come up with some obscure word that I have no idea of and would never expect anyone else to know, either (but apparently Simon does, so....), it's almost magic. Even reading definitions of the clues, like what Kinky posted, are almost gibberish. Even with explanations the answer is almost non-sensical.

  • @DaleKingProfile
    @DaleKingProfile 2 ปีที่แล้ว +11

    Just for completeness, ME is indeed the abbreviation for Maine, since MA=Massachusetts, MI=Michigan, and MN=Minnesota

  • @LittleBallOfPurr
    @LittleBallOfPurr 2 ปีที่แล้ว +35

    If you don't know why he was looking up the word Spelunking, you've got a wonderful Sudoku video to check out, from last night.

  • @EchoMirage72
    @EchoMirage72 2 ปีที่แล้ว +24

    Well I wouldn't have gotten any of these ... but Ganymede is the largest moon (and of the Solar System) of Jupiter.

    • @jasonlfunk
      @jasonlfunk 2 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      And the cup bearer of Zeus, aka Jupiter.

    • @pelahnar4
      @pelahnar4 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Sometimes, Simon says something like "that's an odd collection of words, it probably means it's an anagram" because usually, getting clever things to work takes manipulation of the words and meanings. I was impressed by the Ganymede clue because...the word Ganymede is just there. It just so happens to be made up of the abbreviations for 4 US states and they happen to be on the east coast.

  • @emilywilliams3237
    @emilywilliams3237 2 ปีที่แล้ว +15

    I so enjoyed this. I confess that I did not watch it like a hawk (which is how I watch most of the sudoku content on CTC), but allowed your dulcet tones to wash over me in a partially foreign language while I did some embroidery. At one point my husband was in the room and heard you read a clue, give a word or two of explanation, and then fill in some obscure word. He laughed - because it is so hard for us American crossword solvers to even begin to grasp how these cryptics work. But I am beginning to understand much better, and I could explain the clues to several answers as I talked with my husband. I can't actually recognize it for myself yet, but I am much better at understanding how you got there. Thanks so much for doing this, Simon. I love seeing this other side of your splendid mind.

  • @stephenbeck7222
    @stephenbeck7222 2 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    Simon: posts cryptic crossword solve displaying brilliant command of the English language.
    All the comments: you pronounced the Swiss mathematician wrong, you nit.

    • @lewsouth1539
      @lewsouth1539 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      To be fair, I don't think anyone else called him a nit.

  • @JimmyLundberg
    @JimmyLundberg 2 ปีที่แล้ว +12

    Thanks for uploading more cryptic crossword content! It's really amazing to watch.

  • @mustamakkara9373
    @mustamakkara9373 2 ปีที่แล้ว +15

    e is the base of the natural logarithm (ln), it's 2.7ish, and it is indeed referred to as Euler's number.

    • @mikelopez9893
      @mikelopez9893 2 ปีที่แล้ว +9

      And it is pronounced "oiler" not "youler"

    • @stephenbeck7222
      @stephenbeck7222 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      For as much number theory and modular arithmetic that Simon and Mark display in their sudoku solving, they have revealed some gaps in basic algebra recently. Haha.

    • @danielsharp2402
      @danielsharp2402 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      ​@@stephenbeck7222 As if e and natural logs are basic algebra. If I did not go to university or watch Numberphile I've never would have known about it being called Euler's number.

  • @Faith276
    @Faith276 2 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    This was genuinely so fun to watch!! I don't think you're a failure, it's amazing how you get these clues so quickly and how committed you are to understanding them. It's a pleasure to watch!

  • @DhansakPuzzles
    @DhansakPuzzles 2 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    Fans = public because some actors refer to their fans as their public, presumably.

  • @thomashirsch4302
    @thomashirsch4302 2 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    "hot personality turns to carnality" sounds like a line from Eminem's Lose Yourself

  • @markcaraccio8467
    @markcaraccio8467 2 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    For the harum-scarum clue, dictator refers to one who is speaking, not a tyrannical leader. So this is a "sounds like" clue.

    • @highpath4776
      @highpath4776 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I knew of Procol Harum , but was sure generally the spellings had an e in them (problems of the English vowel shift ?)

    • @Mitrasmit
      @Mitrasmit 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      Thank you. I was wondering about that.

  • @richardfarrer5616
    @richardfarrer5616 2 ปีที่แล้ว +9

    Ganymede is indeed a moon of Jupiter. They are all named after Jupiter/Zeus's lovers or descendants.

  • @nemuchan
    @nemuchan 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    number of Euler is e, it is used in logarithm : ln(e)=1 and also
    and also e^(i*pi)=-1

  • @ollywinkles
    @ollywinkles 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    "I thought cutaneous was 'of the skin'" hahahahaha

  • @lewsouth1539
    @lewsouth1539 2 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    [25:07] “So, what's this, then? Butterfat.” I nearly fell out of my chair upon hearing this random remark, as I had just figured this one out. Is Simon psychic or what?
    This is the first crossword video I've watched. I guess I was drawn in by the title (but no, Simon, you hardly "failed"); anyway, I'm glad I did, cuz I could repeatedly pause the video and work on solving the puzzle myself. I got all but 4 of the answers (elfin, inn, dorsum, and Niobe) on my own*, tho I often didn't get all of the wordplay in the clues. I was also pleased when Simon got 'dorsum', and I immediately understood why that was right-tho I'd never have thought of 'tot' = 'sum' on my own. (Hope I don't sound like I'm bragging. I was just tickled to do this well.)
    *EDIT: I did need Simon's explanation of 'George' = 'autopilot', but soon realized what the correct answer was w/o further help.

  • @howardwilde
    @howardwilde 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Thanks so much for doing a crossword for a change! Lovely self-deprecation as ever. Kudos also to the setter for the brilliant surface at 4ac.

  • @alexandersage4379
    @alexandersage4379 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Well done!! Thanks for sharing this puzzle, several clues were beautifully constructed.

  • @louisesuth8141
    @louisesuth8141 2 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    Plenty amusement, thanks for doing cryptic crossword.

  • @Eichetheking
    @Eichetheking 2 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    The only fail in this video is not knowing Euler's number being "e" :D

    • @thescrewfly
      @thescrewfly ปีที่แล้ว

      That was probably because it's known as Napier' Constant in the UK.

  • @keithlewis7205
    @keithlewis7205 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Please do more of these. So enjoy the logic and word play

  • @CaptainHandsome
    @CaptainHandsome 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    The Skinny revelation was wonderful

  • @Glasshousebc
    @Glasshousebc 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    That was awesome, thank you… the reaction to ‘skinny’ was superb, Simon. Thank you.

  • @th.nd.r
    @th.nd.r 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Wonderful puzzle and solve, especially loved the alternate definition of “skinny” and how quickly you got 9 down!

  • @darreljones8645
    @darreljones8645 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I knew the spelling, because "Harum Scarum" was the name of a 1965 Elvis Presley movie.
    And, as a holder of a college math degree, I can tell you Euler's last name is pronounced like "oiler".

  • @GordonjSmith1
    @GordonjSmith1 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    This was great! Fun and informing. 'Smashing' and 'Mess Tin' had me shouting at the computer screen!! Can't wait for the next one, really more fun than Suduko...

  • @stegra5960
    @stegra5960 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    ECT stands for electroconvulsive therapy. Many years ago I would take patients for their treatment. Under general anaesthetic, the charge was applied to the temples and an epileptic fit was induced.

  • @stephenjames2951
    @stephenjames2951 2 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    Got the meaning of skinny a fraction of a second before Simon and shared in the same chuckle. Don’t be so hard on yourself.

  • @nightwishlover8913
    @nightwishlover8913 2 ปีที่แล้ว +25

    PS Euler is pronounced "Oiler" - he was Swiss... apart from that, fun video.

    • @newplato5711
      @newplato5711 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      it is pronounced /ˈɔɪlər/ or /ˈɔɪlə/

    • @mvivian100
      @mvivian100 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      And Fermat I belive is pronounced "Furmar" fɛʁma

    • @tonyroberts3926
      @tonyroberts3926 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      The proper pronunciation of Euler fooled me for a long time - for many years I thought there were two different mathematicians: The one I read about a lot, and the the people talked abut a lot, until I was put right

    • @lewsouth1539
      @lewsouth1539 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@mvivian100 /fɛʁma/ ≈ 'fehr-mah'. (Of course, that's a French 'r', with no close English equivalent.)

  • @nickburton5871
    @nickburton5871 2 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    Great video, as always, Simon. I got about half, or so. But I knew you'd got the spelling wrong, because of an old limerick
    There was a young cleric from Salisbury
    Whose manners were all Halsbury-Scalsbury
    He walked around Hampshire
    Without any Pampshire
    Till the bishop compelled him to Walsbury.
    Tee hee! I never knew it would help with the Times crossword!

    • @craftsmanwoodturner
      @craftsmanwoodturner 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Yes! Love this limerick. For those struggling with it, you need to know that before Salisbury was a major tourist destination for Russian assassins, it was known as Old Sarum.

  • @easye9186
    @easye9186 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    These are awesome. Hope to see more

  • @lexyeevee
    @lexyeevee 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    not only did i not know how to spell the final word, but i've never heard it before in my life!

  • @DhansakPuzzles
    @DhansakPuzzles 2 ปีที่แล้ว +18

    Hadid is Zaha Hadid, the architect.

    • @bibliopolist
      @bibliopolist 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      Yes, one of the most famous of recent times. Wasn't there another video recently where Simon or Mark didn't recognize that famous architect either?

    • @kea2878
      @kea2878 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      That was in a Club Monthly clue for LAH-DI-DAH (also written by me).

  • @Adrian_Grey
    @Adrian_Grey 2 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    Saying Simon failed after solving the entire puzzle with a single misspelling of an obscure term is a little harsh I think....
    Hadid refers to Zaha Hadid, a British architect born in Iraq. I thought it was Gigi Hadid, a model, but apparently she's Palestinian and Jordanian. Maybe Zaha Hadid is better known in Britain.

    • @lewsouth1539
      @lewsouth1539 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      There's also (from wikipedia):
      Mohammed Hadid, Iraqi-British politician and father of Foulath Hadid and Zaha Hadid
      Foulath Hadid, Iraqi writer, accountant and expert on Arab affairs
      (Heh, I just noticed that they're all related.)
      Btw, Gigi has a sister named Bella, also a model, tho not nearly as pretty as Gigi.

  • @Corrupt-R
    @Corrupt-R 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    You did great despite the small troubles! Very difficult crossword

  • @DemolitionTurtle
    @DemolitionTurtle 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Loved the video! I'm just getting into cryptics so this was very enjoyable and informative. Happy I managed to solve a couple of them on pausing the video!
    My only question is what is the Chambers dictionary PC app Simon is using? I can't seem to find it anywhere online.

    • @highpath4776
      @highpath4776 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      Must be a subscription one ? Doesnt Simon sometimes set crosswords?

  • @sabinrawr
    @sabinrawr 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Great solve! Now for info.
    Euler's number, "e" is the one you learned about in school. It is used to calculate compounding interest. This works because if you take the derivative of e (e. g. To find the rate of change, as you might do when calculating interest), you get back e. That is, e is its own derivative, and is the only number in existence with that property.
    This property makes it the natural choice to be the base of the natural logarithm (ln) function.
    Finally, Euler's identity is the following true equation: e^(iπ)+1=0 where i is the imaginary unit (square root of -1). It comes up a lot in higher mathematics.

  • @RenameJames
    @RenameJames 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Watching your sudoku content makes me think you're quite intelligent. Watching you solve this monstrosity left me utterly flabbergasted. The breadth of your knowledge of trivia is astounding. How quickly you pull meaning out of gibberish clues is bewildering. Failure indeed! I tip my hat to you sir. You are, without a doubt, a genius.

  • @aaroncodes
    @aaroncodes 2 ปีที่แล้ว +14

    “e” is Euler’s number, approximately 2.718…. One reason it’s special is because it’s a “gradient fixed point” - the slope of the line y=e^x is y’=e^x!
    Also, Euler was Swiss, so his name is pronounced “Oil-er”, not “You-ler”.
    Also also, Zaha Hadid was a famous British-Iraqi architect, so perhaps that’s why Hadid implied Iraqi?

  • @insectbah
    @insectbah ปีที่แล้ว

    Skinny and cutaneous did make me smile. Thank you :)

  • @G.Aaron.Fisher
    @G.Aaron.Fisher 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    For 1 down, fans and public are synonyms for (e.g.) the attendants to a concert.

    • @nendwr
      @nendwr 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      Interesting how different events spring to mind. I was yelling "at a match" at Simon.

  • @andrewgrant6516
    @andrewgrant6516 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I was just waiting for Simon to remember what autopilot is short for.

  • @spreekstem
    @spreekstem 2 ปีที่แล้ว +71

    You didn’t fail, you just made a mistake. Good to know you’re human like the rest of us. 🤍

  • @helleye311
    @helleye311 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    I'm never not amazed by these crosswords. My dream is to one day have a vocabulary half as rich as some of the words that appear in here.

  • @Rybus1
    @Rybus1 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    For me as a non-English native speaker, this puzzle looks completely mind-blowing. And you, sir, have nailed it

  • @NoobixCube
    @NoobixCube 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    22:15 I haven't finished the video yet, so I could be wrong, but does anyone else hear Nigel Thornberry in their heads right now? SMASHING!

  • @aaronmorris1513
    @aaronmorris1513 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    That was brutal mainly because those two letters are unchecked… I doubt you were the only one

  • @peterbiddlecombe1939
    @peterbiddlecombe1939 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Henry B-W: never won the Times championship but IIRC was once in the lead with one puzzle to go, back in the old days when you did one at a time, and there was huge scope for feeling the pressure if you were in the lead with one puzzle left (ask Mark about the 2000 championship ...). In that last puzzle, Henry either made the one mistake that's always enough for someone else to win, or struggled too long to get one answer.

  • @gordonglenn2089
    @gordonglenn2089 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    I always enjoy watching you guys attack The Times, which are beyond my skills, even after 25 years of cryptic crossword solving. I am just not British enough and my education was lighter on "the classics" of Greek mythology and British literature.
    As a math(s)instructor, of course I know the proper (German-Swiss) pronunciation of Euler's name and the significance of the constant "e" ~ 2.718281828459045235360...

  • @SnugglesPlays
    @SnugglesPlays 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Hardly a fail Simon! You are a blooming genius with these! Can you come to my house and do all my cryptics which I just stare at for hours until I get really fed up with it all?!!

  • @j4v4x
    @j4v4x 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    I want to comment to support the channel, but all I can think of to say is "omg" and "wtf"... I thought I had a respectable IQ, but this is just beyond... The self-deprication is adorable. 👏

  • @perladel95
    @perladel95 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    26:00
    Is "public" somewhat related to "audience"?
    And you're being a "fan" of something you're interested in xD

  • @rungus24
    @rungus24 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Any idea what the history of cryptic crosswords is, or where I can learn about it?

  • @dsfjhkhbk5y7
    @dsfjhkhbk5y7 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    love watching you solve cryptic crosswords!!! thanks for the video :)

  • @lovelifetothefull1
    @lovelifetothefull1 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    It dosn’t matter Simon, you are still entertaining as ever. I learn so much from you about how to solve different crosswords. Mind you, I did get Automatic Pilot straight away, 😇

  • @davidblake6889
    @davidblake6889 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    That was a magnificent effort, Simon. Definitely not a fail in my book. Euler's number e is the base of natural logarithms. It is an irrational number like Pi and is approximately equal to 2.718

  • @TrekBeatTK
    @TrekBeatTK 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    It’s Naomi that’s Biblical. The name means joyous or something like that and she asked to be called Mara because she was bitter.

    • @abj136
      @abj136 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      because she was indeed a weeping mother, having lost her husband and sons after having moved out of the country and so was completely bereft. No idea why Niobe was sad.

  • @altreusplays
    @altreusplays 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

    I've seen that written down as harem-scarem. In the Beano, I think.

  • @HalcyonAcorn
    @HalcyonAcorn 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I've got to say, your spelling of harem-scarem is how I would have spelt it. Considering the placement of the apostrophes, hare'em (hare them) scar'em (scare them) make more sense than hare thum scare thum. Just my 2 penn'orth.

  • @bluerizlagirl
    @bluerizlagirl 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Place where you might find Solo on keyboards? (5, 3)

  • @bazcuda
    @bazcuda ปีที่แล้ว

    26ac may be referring to Dame Zaha Hadid the famous Pritzker Architecture Prize-winning Iraqi architect.
    Another excellent video!! Regarding 13ac, in my very humble opinion, having watched many of your videos recently, you seem to frequently ignore the significance of the question mark at the end of some clues (cf Tollbooth). Hence you ignored the significance of "dictator's". Might be worth considering. Keep the [cryptic crossword] videos coming 👍

  • @G4M1L
    @G4M1L 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Whenever i watch these cryptic crossword videos (which i do not do too often), I feel like I don't know English at all, although most of the time i consider myself rather fluent for a non-native speaker, just with a slighty limited vocabulary. On a completely different note, a listening recommendation triggered by "dorsum" - "O fortuna" from Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana". One line in the third or fourth verse is "dorum nudum" - I don't know why i know this, my Latin is definitely weaker than my English, but that's in the way how my brain works. I often associate words or short phrases with song lyrics.

  • @amysteele2488
    @amysteele2488 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I don't call that a fail - you got the right answer. Had either E intersected with another word you would have known they were Us

  • @air_rock
    @air_rock 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Ganymede is a moon of Jupiter, the largest in the solar system and is larger in size than Mercury (although I think Mercury more massive).

    • @highpath4776
      @highpath4776 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      I was thinking of the 4 phases of the moon,, no wonder it didnt fit !

  • @EnderSpy007
    @EnderSpy007 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    honestly i would never be able to complete this so many things that are british that completely went over my head lol

  • @goshok3149
    @goshok3149 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Little Fermat's theorem come from euler's phi function

  • @britlion
    @britlion 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    We are your public (fans) Simon.
    Please do keep doing these. I'm awful at crosswords, and keep hoping I'll learn how to do them. But I fear not. Never seem to be able to solve them. Someone did this in a minute and a half??

  • @williamvanduyn698
    @williamvanduyn698 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Smashing!

  • @TheMeanderingduck6
    @TheMeanderingduck6 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    I'd have thought the Nine in Saturnine would've been a reference to the Beatles "Revolution No. 9" but I guess Simon didn't know of it?

  • @tulkasnomin4991
    @tulkasnomin4991 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    never in a million years, would I have thought Herum-Scarum was spelled with u's.

    • @peterkelley6344
      @peterkelley6344 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I learned that when I accidentally had captions on a Bugs Bunny cartoon. For that split second there was the word.

  • @slurpcurry4253
    @slurpcurry4253 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Ganymede is a moon of Jupiter, you are correct sir.

  • @gregind01
    @gregind01 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    I'm surprised that nobody has picked up on the pronunciation of Euler's name yet! lol

  • @hayekianman
    @hayekianman 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Zaha Hadid - the late iraqi british architect and pritzker prize winner -

  • @gordonglenn2089
    @gordonglenn2089 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    As George Bernard Shaw said: "England and America are two countries separated by a common language," and he might well have added pronunciation of even the same words with the same meanings. I live in the Commonwealth country of Belize, formerly British Honduras, and frequently hear the British influence as an emphasis placed on a different syllable than I would. It is interesting to hear Simon and Mark speak The Queen's English and compare and contrast it with my Standard American English.

  • @Rubrickety
    @Rubrickety 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    If this were a main CtC video, surely you would have played Whiter Shade of Pale by Procol HARUM as the intro. 🙂

  • @user-yl3pp8fy9w
    @user-yl3pp8fy9w 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    'That's horrendously horrible'...that was the easiest one! xD

  • @Raven-Creations
    @Raven-Creations 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Euler's number is indeed e. For future reference, Euler is pronounced oiler, which may crop up as a homophone clue someday.
    That was very amusing the way the penny dropped as you asked what cutaneous had to do with skinny.

  • @bobblebardsley
    @bobblebardsley 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Me: "Ah yes, 1 across is [redacted] because of a PFI contract and... er... some other letters jumbled up."
    Got it correct, completely wrong reason.

  • @quantumfluffyflapjack
    @quantumfluffyflapjack 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    There's a Zaha Hadid who was an architect and Iraqi born, which seems a lot more to The Times' taste than the model sisters that came to my mind! But still rather obscure.

  • @bubbl3guy213
    @bubbl3guy213 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Ganymede is a Jupiter moon, so you guessed right! It’s actually the largest moon in our solar system :)

  • @TheDoctorIWho
    @TheDoctorIWho 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    For a newbie: Why is the "S" in flesh coloured?

    • @antliken7757
      @antliken7757 2 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      When you're doing the Times, the coloured square like that is like a cursor, so it would have been the last entry that Simon put in. As simple as that. It's not wrong, pink is wrong and green are right.

    • @TheDoctorIWho
      @TheDoctorIWho 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@antliken7757 Thanks

    • @cicilegue1965
      @cicilegue1965 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      glad someone asked this i was also confused about that

  • @logicmanc9570
    @logicmanc9570 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Remove the odd letters in "Misread quiz" and you get the nationality.

  • @Ruddigore
    @Ruddigore 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    I don't count spelling mistakes as errors (well I do but not as failures, just as a mild annoyance). Well done on a fantastic solve.

  • @newplato5711
    @newplato5711 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    There is Euler number and Euler constant.

  • @williamperez-hernandez3968
    @williamperez-hernandez3968 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Since there was no symbol for the base of natural log, Euler introduced the letter e. By using the initial of his surname, he assured to be remembered as a great mathematician.

    • @zmaj12321
      @zmaj12321 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      I think he would have been remembered as such anyways. I'm always amused by the fact that there are multiple formulas in math called "Euler's Formula," and that theorems have been named after different things just to make sure that "Euler" doesn't appear absolutely everywhere!

    • @stegra5960
      @stegra5960 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Slightly ironic then that, regardless of how you pronounce his name, it never begins with an 'e' sound, short or long.

  • @knives1395
    @knives1395 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    I have never been this early to a video before in my life

  • @juanfritze4808
    @juanfritze4808 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Why was the s red in the solution check?

    • @thescrewfly
      @thescrewfly ปีที่แล้ว

      It was the last letter he filled in, so his cursor was probably still on it.

  • @lewsouth1539
    @lewsouth1539 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    [8:02] “So 'saturnine' is the right answer-again, not straightforward.” Like they're supposed to be?
    I'm gonna guess that Simon already knows that Saturday is named after Saturn...? … I have rarely encountered the word 'saturnine', and couldn't have said what it meant. (Luckily, the clue as a whole was easy enough that that didn't matter.) It always reminds me of the Tears for Fears album *Saturnine Martial & Lunatic.*
    In common usage, the word 'day' usually refers to the (mean) solar day of 24 hours (± a few milliseconds), which is nearly 4 minutes longer than the earth's actual rotational period of ~23:56:04. This is due to the earth's orbital motion, which changes the earth-to-sun direction by about 1 degree each day, thus requiring about 1.002738 rotations for the sun to return to the same position in the sky.

  • @nathangray2833
    @nathangray2833 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Euler is pronounced oy-ler, not you-ler. Also so many mathematical concepts were discovered (or at least first written about by) Euler that there's a joke saying things in Math are named after the first person after Euler to discover them.

    • @lewsouth1539
      @lewsouth1539 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      It's ironic, then, that Euler neither discovered nor first wrote about Euler's number!

  • @mickeyjupp1
    @mickeyjupp1 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Harum-Scarum was not clued accurately for me as Harem does not sound like Harum?!

  • @justinpreston4152
    @justinpreston4152 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    re HarumScarum I'd actually say that the crossword setter made a mistake with the clue as the answers use 'e' and both e's are not in any other words, so not your fault

  • @theunwelcome
    @theunwelcome 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    fails, schmails, I wouldn't have understood a single clue and you got it all right with the exception of a spelling error in a very obscure word...

    • @theunwelcome
      @theunwelcome 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      oh, and Ganymede is the largest moon of Jupiter, and you're correct on the four abbreviated states: Georgia, New York, Maine, and Delaware are all along the east coast