The Times Crossword Masterclass: 27 December 2024: The Third Hardest Of 2024!

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  • Опубликовано: 14 янв 2025

Комментарии • 111

  • @Cthulhus_Mum
    @Cthulhus_Mum 18 дней назад +46

    My late father’s favourite insult was “Dr Spooner would describe him as a Shining Wit”

    • @danblankenship5744
      @danblankenship5744 18 дней назад +6

      When we went camping, my dad would say as we started the drive, "we're off like a turd of hurdles". Once camp was set up, he would direct us to "fart up a stire".

  • @A_CC_K
    @A_CC_K 18 дней назад +56

    Been looking forward to this all morning. I have now solved my first ever crossword thanks to this channel. It was a beginner crossword, thank you for giving me the confidence to try.

  • @vinyl1Earthlink
    @vinyl1Earthlink 18 дней назад +35

    The correct way to look at full stop is to think of a train station crowded with people. Train as a verb is given in dictionaries as a US usage.

    • @peterbiddlecombe1939
      @peterbiddlecombe1939 18 дней назад

      UK English certainly has "detrain" meaning to get off a train, so "train" meaning the opposite makes at least some logical sense. It's also in ODE as an old verb meaning travel by train.

  • @PotmosHetoimos
    @PotmosHetoimos 18 дней назад +17

    Simon didn’t notice the presence of QUICK CRYPTIC inside the Quick Cryptic! I thought that was a delightfully clever touch

  • @triciah566
    @triciah566 18 дней назад +13

    Simon and Mark
    Thank you so much for everything you do on this channel. I started watching during lockdown and have been solving variant sudokus on the discord channel since then. This year I decided to attempt to understand Cryptic crosswords. I still only try very basic and easy ones, but there has been a definite improvement through the year and these videos have contributed greatly to that. You have given me hours of frustration, but many, many more hours of fun. Best wishes to you and for the channel in 2025

  • @mussoletart8485
    @mussoletart8485 18 дней назад +12

    here to say i love simon's tangents, especially when he sings them :)
    edit: only know the word 'odium' from reading brandon sanderson. the vocabulary necessary for these is astonishing.

  • @jameshawkins9253
    @jameshawkins9253 17 дней назад +4

    I have only been doing cryptics for a few months and this was first time I got through a Times one without any reveals or check words. To hear it was the 3rd hardest of the year has made my 2024. Thanks for all the help this channel has provided.

  • @bebhinnnimheara3820
    @bebhinnnimheara3820 18 дней назад +7

    Love your solves Simon! And realising even someone as expert as you can hit a bump in the road is really heartening for those of us just beginning our cryptic crossword journey. Looking forward to seeing more videos from you in 2025.

  • @VonBlade
    @VonBlade 18 дней назад +7

    Wonderful. I've been refreshing since lunchtime. Thank you both for such a wonderful channel, and particularly for the Crossword solves, which are the juiciest morsel.

  • @stevehickman8441
    @stevehickman8441 16 дней назад +1

    Wonderfully entertaining as well as educational. What a gifted communicator. You deserve all of your success! I got about three quarters of the clues in a couple of hours. Thanks for explaining the ones that baffled me!

  • @shellmichael9665
    @shellmichael9665 13 дней назад

    I have taken to cryptic crosswords specifically due to these videos and have begun sharing them with my son who’s almost 10. Great stuff.

  • @adamusher468
    @adamusher468 18 дней назад +1

    Solved my first ever cryptic crossword without help! Admittedly it was the quick cryptic and it was the combined brains of myself, my wife and my dad! But if Simon found it tricky, I'll take some pride in the achievement!
    Relied on my dad for the boat quarters clue!
    Thanks Simon and Mark! Your inspiration and tutelage are much appreciated!!

  • @mgcamp85
    @mgcamp85 18 дней назад +2

    Thank you to you and Mark for the many hours fun, entertaining and educational content this year. All the best for 2025!

  • @CraigPTD
    @CraigPTD 18 дней назад +3

    This video notification is the only reason I know it's Friday today

  • @OUdarling
    @OUdarling 17 дней назад

    Thank you as always, Simon, for posting the weekly cryptic crossword masterclass! I’m in the States where these are seen very infrequently, but I’ve been trying the Guardian’s puzzles since they’re available without a paywall. I haven’t solved one without assistance yet, but I’m understanding more each week, thanks to you and Mark!

  • @waynethomas7406
    @waynethomas7406 17 дней назад

    As always, lovely way to spend an hour. Certainly 'never been lonely this christmas' for Simon.

  • @Donrafa189
    @Donrafa189 18 дней назад +2

    10:33 well that’s a new series for us. Simon’s cover poses.

  • @MrBigrig5
    @MrBigrig5 18 дней назад

    Thanks so much as always for these videos, Simon! Because of you and Mark, I - a Canadian - regularly solve (with an error sometimes) the Times crossword! Your working through each clue and explaining what you’re thinking are super helpful for my insight into what I should be looking for in a specific clue. Absolutely love your content!

  • @PassionPopsicle
    @PassionPopsicle 18 дней назад +6

    Yes, Simon, I will in fact believe how many times you've modelled 😂

  • @icecreamandsadness
    @icecreamandsadness 15 дней назад

    I always love watching the difficult ones ❤

  • @nsrikand1
    @nsrikand1 17 дней назад

    Very good learning for us, Simon. Pl keep going.

  • @debrabowen4276
    @debrabowen4276 18 дней назад +1

    Thank you Simon!

  • @creaghant
    @creaghant 18 дней назад

    Cheers Simon. Another great solve. thank you for all the solves this year. My cryptic solving skills have gotten so much better thanks to thesevideos and your clear explanations of the clues. Looking forward to many more Friday Cryptics in 2025

  • @nickr3115
    @nickr3115 18 дней назад

    Thank you Simon for another very entertaining solve!

  • @grenvillephillips6998
    @grenvillephillips6998 17 дней назад

    What a great puzzle and what an entertaining solve!

  • @jonathansavage8221
    @jonathansavage8221 17 дней назад

    Great work Simon! Really enjoyed your videos this year and you have got me well into the crossword bug.

  • @greekgodedess
    @greekgodedess 18 дней назад +3

    Hi Simon, just a quick one - Taoiseach is more pronounced like 'Tea-shock' - think of it like a very shocking cup of tea! 😝 these vids always make my friday!

    • @greekgodedess
      @greekgodedess 18 дней назад

      although you did a lot better than most British folk I know!!

  • @rhysbart
    @rhysbart 13 дней назад

    Loved the Cuick Qryptic ❤

  • @richardfarrer5616
    @richardfarrer5616 18 дней назад +2

    Can confirm 8 down has been used before. I have been doing some of the Times Jumbo Crosswords with my mother over Christmas and it appeared there.

    • @Antagony1960
      @Antagony1960 18 дней назад +1

      It's surprising how often an uncommon word or phrase appears in two or more crosswords at around the same time. I always wonder if it's the same setter doing different puzzles, or if it's just the frequency illusion - AKA the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon.

  • @MultiNacnud
    @MultiNacnud 18 дней назад +2

    Glad to see one clue was as clear as Mud (1970s Glam rock band).

    • @Tchakkazulu
      @Tchakkazulu 18 дней назад

      That's neat, that's neat, that's neat, that's neat.

  • @vickikaye2170
    @vickikaye2170 18 дней назад

    so good to see that even you can struggle at times!

  • @MarcMcMillin
    @MarcMcMillin 18 дней назад +2

    last masterclass of 2024. So looking forward to all these in 2025!

  • @RaveDJ-BigDave
    @RaveDJ-BigDave 18 дней назад +2

    "Is that Mud?" That's right, that's right, that's right, that's right...

  • @altreusplays
    @altreusplays 18 дней назад

    You can tell these videos are helping, Simon, because for once I was actually shouting the answer at you when you said I was probably shouting the answer at you!

  • @mitrisharaiha8916
    @mitrisharaiha8916 18 дней назад +2

    Can you make a video just going over the common synonyms that you see I think it would be so good as a reference video people can go to if they’re doing a cryptic crossword??

  • @andrewgrant6516
    @andrewgrant6516 18 дней назад +3

    Approach = Avenue
    Exposed = venu

  • @lynnfarmokie7553
    @lynnfarmokie7553 18 дней назад

    It was a great video

  • @Alloid-j1j
    @Alloid-j1j 12 дней назад

    Very much wanted to put in 'underwriter' for 17A but not enough letters.

  • @zorgus2002
    @zorgus2002 18 дней назад

    Come for "short synonym for conservative in disgrace" at 2:50, stay for the idle musing on "pervert in Bay Area" at 13:30. These videos have me rolling, Simon. Thank you!

  • @Frie_Jemi
    @Frie_Jemi 18 дней назад +1

    In 10 A, it seems to think that the term hatch references the way you shade a drawing in art class with progressively overlapping hatch marks
    17A could also be understrapper

  • @vk5ztv
    @vk5ztv 17 дней назад +3

    One might find “training” (as in “getting on a train”) difficult at a full (train) stop.

    • @kevinmartin7760
      @kevinmartin7760 16 дней назад

      Isn't the *only* time to get on a train when it is fully stopped?
      I was thinking more in the athletic sense of training... unless you're into isometric exercises it is difficult to do any athletic training when fully stopped.

    • @PeterMoore66
      @PeterMoore66 15 дней назад

      @@kevinmartin7760 no, the station is the stop, and that is what is full. If you arrive at the station and the platforms are full, you'd find it hard to get on the train.
      I wasn't sure about "stop" and "station" being synonymous, but then I remembered that the on-board announcements often say "the next station stop will be "

    • @RodneyBaker-m2i
      @RodneyBaker-m2i 15 дней назад

      @@kevinmartin7760 A "full stop" in the sense of a crowded station - lots of people wanting to get on.

  • @ServantOfSatania
    @ServantOfSatania 17 дней назад

    Spoonersims do seem hard to solve but they also seem fun to make :)
    Spooner's suggestion for dealing with water may not be enough to result in this? (3,5)

  • @n8style
    @n8style 17 дней назад

    Was joking with a friend coming up Spoonerisms, he started to Spoonerise "A bit of shopping" but had to quickly stop himself

  • @peterbiddlecombe1939
    @peterbiddlecombe1939 18 дней назад +8

    Two points about DOUREST:
    * if a clue has "extremely" followed by an adjective as the definition, it's at least "very", if not "extremely" likely that the answer ends in EST. Doubly so when you have the ending as E_T from checked letters. The S should have been put in and thought about.
    * if thinking about something like "public support" is leading nowhere, it's time to try a different grouping of words. Thinking of "support" alone could have pretty easily led to REST and then the realisation about what "snubbed" actually meant.

    • @PotmosHetoimos
      @PotmosHetoimos 17 дней назад

      I might've favored "most stubborn" over "extremely stubborn" because "extremely" doesn't inherently suggest superlative degree

  • @kurohone
    @kurohone 18 дней назад +1

    I'm sorry, I literally snorted beverage out of my nose when Simon said, 'you'll only see the more common abbreviations in the Times cryptic'.
    And I grew up on a hobby farm with horses, moved out to literal rodeo country where I've spent the rest of my life, and I've never heard the word pasturn before. Pretty sure we just call it a hitching post.

    • @peterbiddlecombe1939
      @peterbiddlecombe1939 18 дней назад

      PASTERN as the answer was famously misdefined by Samuel Johnson in his dictionary as "the knee of a horse". It's a different part, but he was close enough for "bay area" when "bay" = a kind of horse.

    • @dominicsymes9189
      @dominicsymes9189 18 дней назад

      I was also confused until I read the second, obsolete def. which is part of a horse's foot, so literally an area of a horse (bay).

    • @peterbiddlecombe1939
      @peterbiddlecombe1939 18 дней назад +1

      @ I’m no expert on horses, but I don’t think that meaning is marked as obsolete in dictionaries. There’s a technical alternative (phalanx), but that seems like shin and tibia in human anatomy.

    • @dominicsymes9189
      @dominicsymes9189 18 дней назад

      In Simon's edition of Chambers it was marked "(obs)", unless that was for the first definition of horse rope

  • @vinyl1Earthlink
    @vinyl1Earthlink 18 дней назад

    I did solve this puzzle without aids, but it was absolutely brutal. Fortunately, I saw tricky literals like bay area and hatch almost instantly, once I had a candidate answer from the wordplay. Otherwise, it would have taken all night - as it was, it was 62 minutes. If Simon and I were solving together, we could have whipped it off, because we each saw different answers quickly.

  • @andrewgrant6516
    @andrewgrant6516 18 дней назад +5

    Training isn't common usage because it's such a commonly used word in its regular meaning. But if you had to take people off a broken down train you would be detaining them. And during a train strike you might say right I'm bussing it to work tomorrow. So training in this sense means to get on a train, which you would struggle to do at London Bridge in rush hour because it's a full stop.

    • @andrewgrant6516
      @andrewgrant6516 18 дней назад +1

      Detraining. Bloody autocorrect is worse than Alexa.

    • @Kleyguerth
      @Kleyguerth 18 дней назад +1

      Wouldn't the opposite of "detrain" be "entrain" in that case? I couldn't find in a dictionary the word "train" used with that definition, but I could find "entrain" as an antonym for "detrain"...

  • @andrewgrant6516
    @andrewgrant6516 18 дней назад +8

    Cross hatching is when you shade in a pencil drawing.

  • @nooneinparticular4455
    @nooneinparticular4455 18 дней назад +1

    One thing I don't understand about these crosswords is that if you're expected to know the highfalutin and obscure terms and their synonyms, why are those words never part of the clues?

    • @DadgeCity
      @DadgeCity 18 дней назад

      You're not.

    • @peterbiddlecombe1939
      @peterbiddlecombe1939 18 дней назад

      One reason is that the clues are usually intended to deceive you by suggesting something that doesn't help. That's very difficult to do with words that you don't understand.

  • @ronniebrown
    @ronniebrown 17 дней назад

    "Lock" and "loch" only sound the same if you say "loch" incorrectly 😉
    Love the solve, as usual, though!

  • @michaelpdawson
    @michaelpdawson 18 дней назад +3

    Simon didn't read far enough into the definition of pastern, which also means a part of the horse itself, which is how "Bay Area" is the definition.

    • @mikechappell5849
      @mikechappell5849 18 дней назад

      It's a slightly annoying trait of Simon:s not to read far enough into dictionary entries. I couldn't help thinking of Dr Johnson, who when asked by a woman why in his dictionary he had defined pastern as 'the knee of a horse' (it's actually just above the hoof) replied "Ignorance, madam - sheer ignorance'.

  • @nathangrange8473
    @nathangrange8473 16 дней назад

    Some folks will never lose a toes and then again some folks'll...

  • @johnciolfi5085
    @johnciolfi5085 18 дней назад +1

    Funnily enough, I got 4-down almost immediately because I’d clued that word almost the exact same way in one of my puzzles: “Spooner’s bird could have a job on the side (9)”. If only the rest of the puzzle were that simple… haha

  • @ConManAU
    @ConManAU 9 дней назад

    I was just thinking of putting fo'c'sle into a puzzle just because of how silly a word it is, guess I'd better wait a while for it to drop out of everyone's memory first.

    • @ConManAU
      @ConManAU 9 дней назад

      Incidentally, it's usually spelled with two apostrophes even though it's an abbreviation of "forecastle" and so by all rights should be spelled fo'c's'le.

  • @katiemiaana
    @katiemiaana 17 дней назад

    That was brilliant any mistakes put down to Christmas brain, I feel like mine has given up the ghost

  • @yadt
    @yadt 18 дней назад +4

    Many thanks for all the videos, and have a Happy New Year!
    ...but i cannot accept that "loch" and "lock" "sound exactly the same"!

  • @robmcinroy480
    @robmcinroy480 18 дней назад +10

    As a Scot, I often have difficulty with alleged homophones that sound, to a non-English person, not even remotely alike. However, to suggest that loch and lock are homophones is just ridiculous. I've never understood why people who can quite easily say Johann Sebastian Bach cannot get their tongues around "loch".
    Very enjoyable puzzle otherwise.

  • @sh4dowchas3r
    @sh4dowchas3r 18 дней назад

    in 28 across Support = rest

  • @Gnalistair
    @Gnalistair 18 дней назад +12

    Homophones often frustrate me, because I find them to be very accent dependent. That said, this is probably the first time I've had an issue with one of these videos. As a Scot, I take issue with you claiming lock and loch sound exactly the same :P

    • @dominicsymes9189
      @dominicsymes9189 18 дней назад

      It's pretty much time-honoured to gripe about homophone accuracy haha. I always find myself scrunching my face and nitpicking 😅
      Edit: what's the difference in sounds of loch and lock?

  • @_pinkangels
    @_pinkangels 17 дней назад

    Taoiseach, pronounced tee-shuk😊

  • @andymoss
    @andymoss 18 дней назад

    Maybe public = our? As in public funds = our money.

  • @Kleyguerth
    @Kleyguerth 18 дней назад +1

    That Azure typo was painful!

  • @jammysmears4077
    @jammysmears4077 18 дней назад +2

    I love these solves, Simon, but if loch and lock sound the same then you're pronouncing loch wrong!

  • @DerekWoods-y3x
    @DerekWoods-y3x 18 дней назад

    In final clue i thought D-OUR-EST as in Democrat and "our esteem" ( public support) shortened!?

    • @peterbiddlecombe1939
      @peterbiddlecombe1939 18 дней назад

      Ingenious idea, but shortenings of words in wordplay are almost always by a single letter.

  • @annastevenson27
    @annastevenson27 18 дней назад

    I read FULL STOP as "Period/where one might find" as in, I would find a FULL STOP at the end of a sentence. And 'sentence' as in prison term, so it may be difficult to find training at the end of a prison sentence. Question marks always indicate something peculiar. Probably my explanation.

    • @peterbiddlecombe1939
      @peterbiddlecombe1939 18 дней назад +2

      If they expected you to come up with "sentence" and then reinterpret it as meaning something different, that would be classed as unfair.

  • @Ruddigore
    @Ruddigore 18 дней назад +3

    Nice solves but I really do think a few seconds quickly scanning your answers should be part of your routine.

  • @mbstart
    @mbstart 17 дней назад +1

    I suspect, like all regulars of the masterclass, that we are becoming aware that Simon delivers the same explanation/ methodology each time. As the vast majority are seasoned watchers, there is really no need to say that m can be the abbreviation for male and certainly there is no need to open the dictionary. Newcomers to cryptics wishing to learn would not pick the Friday Times as their start point, but might appreciate a slower explained go at the Quick Cryptic instead.

    • @yadiracamacho499
      @yadiracamacho499 14 дней назад

      I can't talk for everyone, but I'm a newcomer and I appreciate the full explanation on the crossword and then watching Simon race to finish the quick one.

  • @Swisswavey
    @Swisswavey 18 дней назад +1

    I've had to give up, it's too painful to watch. Please ask Mark to do the crossword stuff...

    • @PotmosHetoimos
      @PotmosHetoimos 18 дней назад +14

      No one’s forcing you to watch. Please allow Simon to continue entertaining the rest of us! 😊

    • @Swisswavey
      @Swisswavey 18 дней назад +1

      @PotmosHetoimos Simon is better at the hard sudokus, Mark is better at the crosswords. It's no criticism just simple fact.

    • @TPH250290
      @TPH250290 18 дней назад +6

      @@Swisswavey "It's too painful to watch" isn't a simple fact.

    • @CrackingTheCryptic
      @CrackingTheCryptic  18 дней назад +2

      Ouch. That told me. My apologies. I can only try to do better.

    • @thescrewfly
      @thescrewfly 18 дней назад +10

      @@CrackingTheCryptic There is always someone losing their gruntle. I think most of us are perfectly happy for you to continue with these Friday sessions.

  • @PassionPopsicle
    @PassionPopsicle 18 дней назад

    Another lovely San Francisco song, by French Maxime Le Forestier
    ruclips.net/video/9-XkBwoiAog/видео.htmlsi=df3OwlvJ97bYhyb5