A Madly Obscure Cryptic - The Times Monthly Special

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This puzzle series deliberately has the most implausible answers, and the hardest wordplay around.
▶FOLLOW US◀ Twitter: #crypticcracking
▶SUPPORT US + ACCESS CRACKING THE CRYPTIC PUZZLES/VIDEOS◀ Patreon: / crackingthecryptic
▶SEND US PUZZLES TO SOLVE/CONTACT US◀ crackingthecryptic@gmail.com
▶SOFTWARE◀ We mainly use some specialist software we are developing, but sometimes we use Duncan's Sudoku Solver, which is available at www.littlegogs.com/index.shtml
▶ABOUT US◀ Hi! We're Simon Anthony and Mark Goodliffe, two of the UK's most enthusiastic puzzle solvers. We have both represented the UK at the World Sudoku Championships and the World Puzzle Championships. We're also "cryptic crossword" aficionados. Mark is the eleven-time winner of The Times championship and Simon is the former record holder for most consecutive correct solutions to The Listener crossword. We hope we can help your puzzle solving while also introducing you to some of the world's best puzzles. Thank you for watching! Simon and Mark

Опубликовано:

11 авг 2019

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Комментарии : 26

@CrackingTheCryptic 4 года назад

Amusingly, I can explain both of the problem words :) Simon SPOILER ALERT!!!! (Scroll down for answers) NYC (Big Apple) + T (latter letter of CONTINGENT) + IN A STY (Pig's accommodation)BAN (Put an end to) + ANA (gossip) + QUIT (stop) = One tweeting (ie a bird..., which apparently a BANANAQUIT is!)

@richardfarrer5616 4 года назад

Just going to comment about "in a sty". Unsurprised to see a much fuller explanation already up though.

@davidbod 4 года назад

Worth noting that there are no E's in the finished puzzle.

@CrackingTheCryptic 4 года назад

Ooh, a lipogram! I didn't spot that. Obviously not fortuitous - thanks for pointing it out. Mark

@stichomythia3435 4 года назад

@@CrackingTheCryptic Many points for this - its phrasing is so natural. It's hard to spot your adoption of that constraint in your writing

@zamplify 4 года назад

Otaku is not someone who is good at computers, it's someone who spends all their time obsessing about any hobby, but it came from manga and anime.

@RandomBurfness 4 года назад

Not gonna lie, 'coxcombical' is the funniest word I've been taught by a cryptic crossword video on this channel. I want to start using it more often.

@williambarham3256 4 года назад

Nyctinasty = NY + CT (first and last of ‘contingent’) IN A STY (accommodation for Tamworth pigs)

@williambarham3256 4 года назад

Nyctinasty = NYC (New York City) + T (last letter of ‘ contingent’) IN A STY accommodation for Tamworth pig.

@lisagordon6355 4 года назад

How amazing! To be honest, I couldn’t even keep up! Thank you.

@Ruddigore 4 года назад

Wow, an insanely hard cryptic. 👍 I loved watching you solve it but the 'Times Monthly Special' is one that I will steer well clear of.

@cycklist 4 года назад

Goodness! It's a privilege to watch you tackle puzzles this hard.

@duanes.6090 4 года назад

Another great solve. Thank you.

@AllotmentFox 4 года назад

Amazing. More cryptics please,

@freddiehand6551 4 года назад

My question is, how in the world does Mark know so many insanely obscure words???

@Anonymouspock 4 года назад

Seems to be that he doesn't, and tries to make stuff that sounds like words and fit the word play. The success rate is very impressive.

@freddiehand6551 4 года назад

@@Anonymouspock What about otaku and trefa/trifa? Even urdy Mark seemed to have a recollection of, and a google search yields nothing on the word.

@ChrisSPCs 4 года назад

Otaku is an odd one, its a very modern word used by the Japanese to refer to nerds who are essentially loners. Very odd bit of knowledge for him to have, however not all too long ago where there was a case in Japan where a man murdered a child and another and injured I think like 13 others before killing himself was describes as an otaku in mass by the media, so perhaps that's why its knowledgeable.

@CrackingTheCryptic 4 года назад

Freddie, I come across a lot of the shorter odd words while solving advanced themed cryptics, like the Listener and the test-solving I do for the Magpie. Words like URDEE (I knew there were some variant spellings but not what they were) and OTAKU I have met a few times. KHANSAMAH was an odder one, right on the edge of my memory, and although I knew roughly what it meant and what sort of letters were in it, I wasn't entirely sure of it, which is where the wordplay comes in. The likely structure of words can be inferred often from similar loan-word constructions. The really interesting thing seems to be that pretty much any new word I come across in crosswords manages to get stored away somewhere in my head - which is clearly very useful in this situation. Mark

@vinyl1Earthlink 4 года назад

Knowing Greek is a big help. "Man is a political animal" is a famous sentence from Aristotle, and all you have to do is translate 'political animal' into Attic. And if you happen to know that the Attic for night is νύξ, then you will see nyct- as the proper first element right away. Too bad none of this helps with bananaquit!

@enochzenithimyuen575 4 года назад

Hi guys! What is the software that Mark used for searching the words with unknown letters?

@bristolrovers27 4 года назад

I don’t see what the problem is I did it in 15 minutes All right, the truth is I got none and have never heard of half the words. Good watch Well done for even trying

@GordonjSmith1 4 года назад

This was a crossword on the 'edge' of incomprehensible. Have just introduced a US Professor of AI to cryptic puzzles, but happy he didn't have to watch this! Despite previous posts I still don't 'get' the last two answers. What a shame the setter provides no explanation.