Finished my first quick cryptic this week. Took about an hour and had to use chambers, but I understood all the wordplay of every clue even if I looked it up. Thanks for your masterclass, Simon!
Love Anthony Etherin. On that note, Simon, have you seen this sonnet from 1936 by David Shulman? Each line is an anagram of “Washington Crossing the Delaware.” It’s marvelous. A hard, howling, tossing water scene. Strong tide was washing hero clean. "How cold!" Weather stings as in anger. O Silent night shows war ace danger! The cold waters swashing on in rage. Redcoats warn slow his hint engage. When star general's action wish'd "Go!" He saw his ragged continentals row. Ah, he stands - sailor crew went going. And so this general watches rowing. He hastens - winter again grows cold. A wet crew gain Hessian stronghold. George can't lose war with's hands in; He's astern - so go alight, crew, and win!
Station Identification is the brief musical jingle between radio programs. Radio broadcasts often didn't have direct real time communication between the central broadcast location and their affiliates elsewhere. So they were designed to let the local affiliates know that the program was ending and to start the new one. It was also letting the listener know what station they are tuned to. Different networks have different tones, and as they were carried over to television some grew to become more like part of the brand as well. They're pretty ubiquitous in the US, since the FCC mandates a lot of requirements for them- played when broadcast begins, ends, and the top of every hour.
Gakh, Simon, seems you were not nearly as amused as I was about 'Overlap' being defined as drink[ing] too much :D Thanks as always for the stellar content, and of course thanks so much for mentioning the work of Anthony Etherin. He is really a gem.
Thank you very much for bringing these weekly solves to us! At around 7:55, I wonder if the clue "unrestricted" might be in the context of medicine. For example, one can generally purchase over-the-counter medications freely, whereas "behind-the-counter" medicines like pseudoephedrine require photo identification or some other criteria to purchase and prescription medications require a prescriber's order.
Correct, over the counter meds, very popular here in the US. As always also thank you for what you do for Sudoku!! Look forward to your setter interview coming up in the future! :)
It's funny: I don't do a lot of crosswords, and I do do a lot of sudoku, but when Friday comes round I always choose to watch the crossword video, and only take up the sudoku if time permits. These are just such fun to watch! 😺💙
You're setting a great example by continuing after solving to make sense of every piece of every clue. It's such a productive habit for those wanting to improve. I do more regular crosswords than cryptics, but like to do a scan afterward to remind myself of any new things I learned.
That anagram poem is an absolute wonder!! Thank you so much for sharing that with us, Simon. Always been a fan of words, always enjoyed writing--whether fiction or just writing replies to people. Words are just my friends. :)
Wow(-wow)! This solve was excellent! I learned so much, and was well entertained the whole time, as I always am with these special Friday videos. Thank you Simon!
I think “lighting-up time” has to do with when cars have to put their headlights on. I’m sure when streetlights were manually lighted, it was used for that previously. Thanks for your help as always, these are not just useful but entertaining. Also loved both Tim Vine (one of the sweetest men in the world) and the poem. Will look up both poets.
After a year of Simon saying how he started cryptics by looking for hiddens, there is some comedy to the final clue. At the start of my cryptic journey so maybe a bit rough to see it took Tim 15 years to fill one in.
Very informative and entertaining video. If I remember correctly “Lighting-up Time” was regularly listed in 1950s newspapers. It was the time when drivers and cyclists were required to turn on their lights.
It was definitely listed well into the 1980s, maybe even the 90s, as I'm too young to remember the 50s. I learned to drive in the 80s, so remember needing to spot lighting-up time in the paper when I was having lessons in the evening.
We also used to have lighting-down time, we probably still do! This was a published time that street lighting was turned off in the morning, and the earliest we could put boats on the water for rowing.
Thank you for this!! I did get some just before Simon today, but the setter really pulled a good trick with that Hidden (which was Excellent!! and devious). Instead of hiding it in the middle of the puzzle, putting it first where you would not expect to see it was wonderful (and Sneaky!! so great!). Love the Crosswords!
I've learnt so much from these masterclasses. I've been doing some easy cryptic crosswords with some success, but these Times ones are far too hard for me. It was interesting that Simon mentioned superfluous words in clues several times. It seems to me that 1 Across has a superfluous 'a' and that threw him off the right answer because he spent time trying to think of a 5 letter word meaning 'recite the rosary' which an 'a' could be injected into to make a word meaning rope. If the clue had been 'recite the rosary holding rope' I think he would have got it very quickly?
I put the word agile into a well-known search engine and it suggested the gibbon straight away!😂 Thank you for another excellent video, beating that tough S.O.B. in 40 minutes was a triumph.
Enjoyed this and I'm happy to have got within three of solving it. However, there are three clues (1A, 14A and 19D) with superfluous articles. Simon said in his commentary he thought you could justify this if it helped the surface of the clue and I can accept that, but not three times in the same puzzle. A bit unfair, in my view. Great viewing again, thanks Simon.
Lighting up time is the time by which you are required to have your car lights on if you're driving, at least here in the UK. It's something like half an hour after sunset.
I'm sure they used to announce lighting-up time for the following day in the local news each evening, but now I think of it I don't think Ive heard the expression used for many years. It's the time you are supposed to put on your car headlights.
Wonderful as always, thank you Simon, always a most enjoyable end to the week! Once you'd explained how to read two of the clues, I got the answers before you. Yeah!
Around here, "over-the-counter" refers to pharmaceuticals which do not require a prescription but are not out on the open shelves, so you must ask the pharmacist for them. Because you don't need a prescription, their purchase is "unrestricted". I think you're confounding the phrase with "under the table"...
This was a difficult puzzle! There all the ones you found simple were the same when I watched, but overall it was quite the challenge. 1 across I did get much more quickly than Simon, however. A cheeky one indeed
Loved the impromptu Tom Lehrer recital! You and Missing would have a great time at dinner :) Are you a Noel Coward fan as well? Or Flanders and Swann ("eating people is wrong!)? Or Jake Thackray?
My favourite crossword. The Cyclops puzzles are the funniest crosswords you'll find. There's always a few clues that are hilarious, with a mixture of satire and toilet humour. I'd love to see one snuck into the Times on Apr 1.
I’m trying to get involved in setting/solving cryptic crosswords but I cannot seem to find a dictionary that is as complete as the one Simon uses. The online version of the chambers is missing many of the abbreviations Simon uses in his solves. Does anyone have any good resources?
@mathguy_1243 I'm not 100% sure honestly. The Microsoft store has it for about $20. I figure it'll be close to the version that Simon uses, just more updated. I think his version is like 20 years old lol
How the hell did Anthony Etherin come up with that poem? It's remarkable, and possibly the most impressive recreational wordsmithing I've ever seen. This was certainly one of the tougher crosswords. I got lighting-up time and Catherine wheel quickly which helped a bit. Catherine is the martyr whom the Catherine wheel is named after because they tried to kill her on a breaking wheel covered in spikes. I think the agile gibbon was a tad unfair, because it's such niche knowledge. You shouldn't have to guess, or consult references to complete a puzzle. I love nature, and probably know of more obscure animals than most, but I wasn't sure about that one. In general it was just really well clued, so that they weren't easy to parse. I too missed the hidden clue. I was thinking it might be Bede's (a homophone of beads) with an a mixed in. Hidden clues are usually given away by an awkward choice of words, but this was such a natural phrase that it raised no flags. I think over the counter refers to chemists, where you have prescription only medicine (marked POM on the packaging) and unrestricted drugs which are available "over the counter", such as aspirin.
This puzzle certainly took me longer than average, but I didn't find it difficult, as the wordplay was fairly straightforward. The vocabulary certainly wasn't (PROTUBERANT = 'proud', for example), and I think that is what accounted for the extra time.
Tim Vine's post turned up on my feed this morning. I couldn't help wondering if it was the reply I posted with the @crypticcracking tag that brought it to your attention. Satisfying solve of some very tricky clues today. Maybe that primate was given its name to avoid confusion with a similar species known as the ungainly gibbon, which can be identified by the way it crashes into branches as it brachiates.
It may not be the quickest approach, but I tend to quickly go through all the clues in order, not spending much time on any of them but writing in all the write-ins, so I have as many letters as possible when it comes to thinking about the harder clues. Also, may I suggest not using that dictionary, which is now many years out of date, but using a combination of Wiktionary and Wikipedia - which will capture a lot of the very modern meanings of words, and also have entries for whatever famous people are referenced?
I thought 15 across was a reference to Cluedo.. so Mrs White came to mind. I thought maybe her name was Josephine White.. but it turns out her name is Blanche White. Who knew?!
Incidentally, Tom Lehrer officially relinquished all copyright to his songs and lyrics recently, meaning there is no longer any need to "clear it with the Pontiff" so to speak.
9 down made the song "Smoko" by The Chats pop into my head. LEAVE ME ALONE, IM ON SMOKO! i know that that's australian and the term in the clue is british but it's all the same to an american like me (or perhaps i should say "seppo")
Simon got off to a poor start - 1 across was a write-in for me. Not that it helped much, as there are plenty of tough clues in this puzzle. On the other hand, Simon quickly solved Bogota and one, which gave me a lot of trouble at the end of my solve. I was pretty pleased to finish in 33 minutes, which is about my average time.
So how many feet DOES a gossiped have? No wonder this was hard - all those non-standard spellings...perhaps the setter should be dragged screaming out of the 19th century...
Finished my first quick cryptic this week. Took about an hour and had to use chambers, but I understood all the wordplay of every clue even if I looked it up. Thanks for your masterclass, Simon!
Well done. You never forget your first 😉.
I'm sure there'll be many more.
Congratulations!
That’s great!!
Congrats on that!!
Love Anthony Etherin. On that note, Simon, have you seen this sonnet from 1936 by David Shulman? Each line is an anagram of “Washington Crossing the Delaware.” It’s marvelous.
A hard, howling, tossing water scene.
Strong tide was washing hero clean.
"How cold!" Weather stings as in anger.
O Silent night shows war ace danger!
The cold waters swashing on in rage.
Redcoats warn slow his hint engage.
When star general's action wish'd "Go!"
He saw his ragged continentals row.
Ah, he stands - sailor crew went going.
And so this general watches rowing.
He hastens - winter again grows cold.
A wet crew gain Hessian stronghold.
George can't lose war with's hands in;
He's astern - so go alight, crew, and win!
Greetings from Bogotá, Simon, following you and never missing the friday’s cryptic crosswords.
Station Identification is the brief musical jingle between radio programs. Radio broadcasts often didn't have direct real time communication between the central broadcast location and their affiliates elsewhere. So they were designed to let the local affiliates know that the program was ending and to start the new one. It was also letting the listener know what station they are tuned to. Different networks have different tones, and as they were carried over to television some grew to become more like part of the brand as well.
They're pretty ubiquitous in the US, since the FCC mandates a lot of requirements for them- played when broadcast begins, ends, and the top of every hour.
Gakh, Simon, seems you were not nearly as amused as I was about 'Overlap' being defined as drink[ing] too much :D
Thanks as always for the stellar content, and of course thanks so much for mentioning the work of Anthony Etherin. He is really a gem.
I simply cannot get enough of the very handsome Simon and his lovely smile. The clue solving is incredible and something I can never hope to achieve 😊
Thank you very much for bringing these weekly solves to us! At around 7:55, I wonder if the clue "unrestricted" might be in the context of medicine. For example, one can generally purchase over-the-counter medications freely, whereas "behind-the-counter" medicines like pseudoephedrine require photo identification or some other criteria to purchase and prescription medications require a prescriber's order.
Yes! In the USA we often hear of medications that are OTC - over the counter- no prescription necessary.
Correct, over the counter meds, very popular here in the US. As always also thank you for what you do for Sudoku!! Look forward to your setter interview coming up in the future! :)
It's funny: I don't do a lot of crosswords, and I do do a lot of sudoku, but when Friday comes round I always choose to watch the crossword video, and only take up the sudoku if time permits. These are just such fun to watch! 😺💙
I love the Tom Lehrer references!
Brilliant video Simon thank you. I'm slowly getting better at cryptic crosswords and these videos are a big part of it!
Constant appreciation Simon for your love and joy in solving these. Every Friday is such a magical treat for us!!
At 30 minutes in, I figured out 9 down... before Simon, but his "...-up time" really helped.
You're setting a great example by continuing after solving to make sense of every piece of every clue. It's such a productive habit for those wanting to improve. I do more regular crosswords than cryptics, but like to do a scan afterward to remind myself of any new things I learned.
That anagram poem is an absolute wonder!! Thank you so much for sharing that with us, Simon.
Always been a fan of words, always enjoyed writing--whether fiction or just writing replies to people. Words are just my friends. :)
I think Over The Counter refers to drugs (paracetamol, ibuprofen) that don't have to be sold in a pharmacy. Often referred to as OTC medications
Can someone explain what clued "counter"? I can't see it in the clue.
@@theadjectiveform shelf
@theadjectiveform Shelf I believe.
❤ the poem by Anthony Etherin! I started following Brian Bilston after you introduced his work to us!
Love when he shares things like this with us. 💜💙
@@davidrattner9 same! 🧡💜💚
Simon, “some kind of gibbon” my first thought, funky gibbon 😂 turns out that wasn’t the answer 😕
Electrical engineer here: A tailrace is the output channel from a hydroelectric dam as well
Wow(-wow)! This solve was excellent! I learned so much, and was well entertained the whole time, as I always am with these special Friday videos. Thank you Simon!
I think “lighting-up time” has to do with when cars have to put their headlights on. I’m sure when streetlights were manually lighted, it was used for that previously. Thanks for your help as always, these are not just useful but entertaining. Also loved both Tim Vine (one of the sweetest men in the world) and the poem. Will look up both poets.
After a year of Simon saying how he started cryptics by looking for hiddens, there is some comedy to the final clue.
At the start of my cryptic journey so maybe a bit rough to see it took Tim 15 years to fill one in.
Very informative and entertaining video. If I remember correctly “Lighting-up Time” was regularly listed in 1950s newspapers. It was the time when drivers and cyclists were required to turn on their lights.
It was definitely listed well into the 1980s, maybe even the 90s, as I'm too young to remember the 50s. I learned to drive in the 80s, so remember needing to spot lighting-up time in the paper when I was having lessons in the evening.
We also used to have lighting-down time, we probably still do! This was a published time that street lighting was turned off in the morning, and the earliest we could put boats on the water for rowing.
The lovely Tim Vine get's a CTC shout out. This is the best day ever!
Given his penchant for wordplay, Tim Vine loving cryptic crosswords is easy to believe. I'd imagine the same was true of Ronnie Barker.
I loved his tete-a-tetes with Lee Mack on Not Going Out. Best part of that show.
They are really cool, these crossword videos. I'm glad you (and Mark) do them weekly. I look forward to watching them every time!
I've added my like! I learn so much from this channel :)
Thank you, Simon! Fun as always!
Thank you for this!! I did get some just before Simon today, but the setter really pulled a good trick with that Hidden (which was Excellent!! and devious). Instead of hiding it in the middle of the puzzle, putting it first where you would not expect to see it was wonderful (and Sneaky!! so great!).
Love the Crosswords!
thank you for keeping this series going!😍
Lovely - a cosy friday night evening with the crossword. Just the ticket!
It must have been after Simon recorded this, but checking the Snitch as I watch the beginning, I see Magoo finishing in 5:13 😮
The man's a demon. 😮
That guy Magoo must be something special! 😸
Look forward to this every week! Thank you! ❤ this!
I've learnt so much from these masterclasses. I've been doing some easy cryptic crosswords with some success, but these Times ones are far too hard for me.
It was interesting that Simon mentioned superfluous words in clues several times. It seems to me that 1 Across has a superfluous 'a' and that threw him off the right answer because he spent time trying to think of a 5 letter word meaning 'recite the rosary' which an 'a' could be injected into to make a word meaning rope. If the clue had been 'recite the rosary holding rope' I think he would have got it very quickly?
I managed to get "lighting up time" before Simon. That is achievement for me.
Friday treat. A yummy snack video at the end of a hard day of work
I put the word agile into a well-known search engine and it suggested the gibbon straight away!😂
Thank you for another excellent video, beating that tough S.O.B. in 40 minutes was a triumph.
Enjoyed this and I'm happy to have got within three of solving it. However, there are three clues (1A, 14A and 19D) with superfluous articles. Simon said in his commentary he thought you could justify this if it helped the surface of the clue and I can accept that, but not three times in the same puzzle. A bit unfair, in my view. Great viewing again, thanks Simon.
Great solve as always!
As we all know from the channel, cryptic crossword fans also make great comedians!
Nice to see a reference to Tom Lehrer, who seems to be mainly forgotten now. I suspect he was a good crossword solver!
17:15 is that word not been phased out yet? I’m surprised to not see cigarette
Lighting up time is the time by which you are required to have your car lights on if you're driving, at least here in the UK. It's something like half an hour after sunset.
Love these!
I'm sure they used to announce lighting-up time for the following day in the local news each evening, but now I think of it I don't think Ive heard the expression used for many years. It's the time you are supposed to put on your car headlights.
So impressive, Simon!
Wonderful as always, thank you Simon, always a most enjoyable end to the week! Once you'd explained how to read two of the clues, I got the answers before you. Yeah!
Hi, could you please update the playlist for the friday crosswords with the missing videos? I enjoy binging them :)
Excellent, thank you
Around here, "over-the-counter" refers to pharmaceuticals which do not require a prescription but are not out on the open shelves, so you must ask the pharmacist for them. Because you don't need a prescription, their purchase is "unrestricted". I think you're confounding the phrase with "under the table"...
Love these videos!
That was monstrous!
Ret is a technical word! I use it fairly frequently, but that's because I spend a lot of my free time thinking about fiber preparation
If a fret is too high on your guitar, and needs to be ground down, it is described as proud.
Nice puzzle . . so interesting which ones trick SImon and which he sees so fast!
The answer to 24-across has now put the Goodies' 'Funky Gibbon' in my head, where it will probably stay all weekend.
This was a difficult puzzle! There all the ones you found simple were the same when I watched, but overall it was quite the challenge. 1 across I did get much more quickly than Simon, however. A cheeky one indeed
Great video as ever. Hard puzzle. Messed up the south west. Odd wasn’t a write in but tether was! Sorry is that unkind? 😊
I know that in fabrication, when you call something "proud," it refers to it being above or beyond a flat surface.
"Around sunset? Drinking-up time? " That's peak British... :-) I got it way before Simon, even if I didn't even know what it means...
🌱thank you 🌷
I think a radio station jingle includes its identifier which they’re required to broadcast periodically.
I thought it was hard, but not unreasonably so. I was laughing over "Pro-Tube rant" for ages though.
So I just learned that "Catherine Wheel' wasn't just some random name of the 90s band.
Simon needs to do more of the Guardian Everyman Crossword to practice his hidden answers! #defeatthealgorithm - enjoyed the ending to this one.
Loved the impromptu Tom Lehrer recital! You and Missing would have a great time at dinner :) Are you a Noel Coward fan as well? Or Flanders and Swann ("eating people is wrong!)? Or Jake Thackray?
Managed my best ever on the Private Eye crossword - thirteen clues completed compared to my normal three!
My favourite crossword. The Cyclops puzzles are the funniest crosswords you'll find. There's always a few clues that are hilarious, with a mixture of satire and toilet humour. I'd love to see one snuck into the Times on Apr 1.
@@Raven-Creations If you like that, try the cryptic crossword in Viz magazine. Lots of silly humour there!
I’m trying to get involved in setting/solving cryptic crosswords but I cannot seem to find a dictionary that is as complete as the one Simon uses. The online version of the chambers is missing many of the abbreviations Simon uses in his solves. Does anyone have any good resources?
The Mobile version of Chambers Dictionary is 10, and thesaurus is 5, worh the investment IMO
Yes, the Chambers Dictionary app is the complete 13th edition - great, and good value
@@LedSomeFlopsthanks for the advice, are they the same as the Microsoft app for a laptop? I’d rather have something usable on my computer if possible.
@mathguy_1243 I'm not 100% sure honestly. The Microsoft store has it for about $20. I figure it'll be close to the version that Simon uses, just more updated. I think his version is like 20 years old lol
I like these really cool videos, algorithm.
How the hell did Anthony Etherin come up with that poem? It's remarkable, and possibly the most impressive recreational wordsmithing I've ever seen.
This was certainly one of the tougher crosswords. I got lighting-up time and Catherine wheel quickly which helped a bit. Catherine is the martyr whom the Catherine wheel is named after because they tried to kill her on a breaking wheel covered in spikes.
I think the agile gibbon was a tad unfair, because it's such niche knowledge. You shouldn't have to guess, or consult references to complete a puzzle. I love nature, and probably know of more obscure animals than most, but I wasn't sure about that one.
In general it was just really well clued, so that they weren't easy to parse. I too missed the hidden clue. I was thinking it might be Bede's (a homophone of beads) with an a mixed in. Hidden clues are usually given away by an awkward choice of words, but this was such a natural phrase that it raised no flags.
I think over the counter refers to chemists, where you have prescription only medicine (marked POM on the packaging) and unrestricted drugs which are available "over the counter", such as aspirin.
Sounds like a millrace goes into the mill and a tailrace runs out.
This puzzle certainly took me longer than average, but I didn't find it difficult, as the wordplay was fairly straightforward. The vocabulary certainly wasn't (PROTUBERANT = 'proud', for example), and I think that is what accounted for the extra time.
On the other hand, Friday's Quick Cryptic was an absolute beast!
Tim Vine's post turned up on my feed this morning. I couldn't help wondering if it was the reply I posted with the @crypticcracking tag that brought it to your attention. Satisfying solve of some very tricky clues today. Maybe that primate was given its name to avoid confusion with a similar species known as the ungainly gibbon, which can be identified by the way it crashes into branches as it brachiates.
Would you say that tetrameter has a woody sound to it ?
It may not be the quickest approach, but I tend to quickly go through all the clues in order, not spending much time on any of them but writing in all the write-ins, so I have as many letters as possible when it comes to thinking about the harder clues.
Also, may I suggest not using that dictionary, which is now many years out of date, but using a combination of Wiktionary and Wikipedia - which will capture a lot of the very modern meanings of words, and also have entries for whatever famous people are referenced?
I thought I'd mention that Simon failed to look up 'sottish' (just for the algorithm)
I thought 15 across was a reference to Cluedo.. so Mrs White came to mind. I thought maybe her name was Josephine White.. but it turns out her name is Blanche White. Who knew?!
I'm proud that I thought of "pro-tube rant" immediately (although not in the sense of the lump you get when a wound is healing).
Simon though of one clue myself today, " criticize a performance" 7 letters.
I am terrible at spotting hiddens. Much better at anagrams, personally, though that Darwin sonnet is a masterpiece beyond my imagining.
Head on down to our old friend Wikipedia for details on St Catherine of Alexandria. Goes into wheel related pagan symbolism too.
I'm hoarse from shouting 'lighting up time' at the screen! Didn't get many others though.
Incidentally, Tom Lehrer officially relinquished all copyright to his songs and lyrics recently, meaning there is no longer any need to "clear it with the Pontiff" so to speak.
_sings_ Old Macdonald went extinct, D-O-D-O-S...
9 down made the song "Smoko" by The Chats pop into my head. LEAVE ME ALONE, IM ON SMOKO!
i know that that's australian and the term in the clue is british but it's all the same to an american like me (or perhaps i should say "seppo")
1 across is a hidden word Simon. Ypu were reading the clue wrogn! 9 nine, overthinking this one. What happens at sunset? The street lights go on!
Isn't "lighting-up time" related to Jewish candle lighting?
Catherine Wheel?
It's a type of spinning (revolving) firework often seen at bonfire night celebrations in the UK.
17:14
Simon got off to a poor start - 1 across was a write-in for me. Not that it helped much, as there are plenty of tough clues in this puzzle. On the other hand, Simon quickly solved Bogota and one, which gave me a lot of trouble at the end of my solve. I was pretty pleased to finish in 33 minutes, which is about my average time.
So how many feet DOES a gossiped have? No wonder this was hard - all those non-standard spellings...perhaps the setter should be dragged screaming out of the 19th century...
I think it was a bit long because you were a bit wordy at points.