The Times Crossword Friday Masterclass: Episode 55

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** TODAY'S PUZZLE **
In the 55th edition of our attempts to solve a Friday Times crossword, Simon tackles today's puzzle which, unlike many Fridays, is of "only" average difficulty. See how you do!!
The puzzle is available to play on The Times crossword club website (which is behind their paywall):
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Опубликовано:

28 сен 2024

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Комментарии : 104

@st3phgr1ce 7 месяцев назад

I feel compelled this early morning to again express my admiration for Simon. You are such an excellent teacher and kind person. I look forward to your videos everyday no matter the puzzle type. It is amazing that this medium exists for kindred spirits to enjoy. Though we haven’t met you always feel like a dear friend to this Louisiana girl. Thank you Simon for just being you! I hope you have a wonderful weekend! ❤

@CrackingTheCryptic 7 месяцев назад

What a lovely comment, thank you :)

@longwaytotipperary 7 месяцев назад

@stphgr1ce wonderful comment! Totally agree!

@glum_hippo 7 месяцев назад

Yup, he's a good egg.

@davidrattner9 7 месяцев назад

Exceptionally written from you!! Love everything about it!

@davidrattner9 7 месяцев назад

@@longwaytotipperary ABSOLUTELY INFINITY PERCENT AGREE!! 🙂

@richardfarrer5616 7 месяцев назад

"Alea jacta est" was the phrase, meaning "the die is cast" on crossing the Rubicon, as Simon suggested.

@matthewjoyce1849 7 месяцев назад

A favourite comment of the elderly pirate in the Asterix comic books also, for obvious reasons

@altreusplays 7 месяцев назад

Until very recently, I thought this meant die as in mould, and therefore “the die is cast” means there’s no going back, our fate is sealed, this is permanent etc!

@richardfarrer5616 7 месяцев назад

@@altreusplays That's marvellous! It makes sense in the English translation and yet it is almost the opposite of the actual meaning - except for the "fate is sealed" part, which is exactly the same. I've thrown the die and no longer can control the results.

@Anne_Mahoney 7 месяцев назад

It's not in Caesar's own writing, though. Our source for the phrase is Suetonius's biography of him, specifically at 32.1. He writes "iacta alea est," fronting the participle. Plutarch also has it (Caesar 32.6); he's writing in Greek, but he has ἀνερρίφθω κύβος, with an imperative verb: "let the die be cast." (That would be something like iacta alea esto in Latin.)

@richardfarrer5616 7 месяцев назад

@@Anne_Mahoney Thank you. I've only got a passing familiarity with Latin and the phrase. It was the only way I've heard it but even as I wrote it recalled that word order in Latin was more flexible so I wondered if it made sense in other forms too. I certainly couldn't have quoted Suetonius on it.

@michaelpdawson 7 месяцев назад

"Is there a group of animals called the chordata?" Yes, and you're one of them!

@Anne_Mahoney 7 месяцев назад

Exactly what I'd been thinking! 😺

@d4r4butler74 7 месяцев назад

Wow! I love the Cryptic Crosswords when they are explained to me. I love the words and how the compilers make them play together. Learning the neat new words... or old words, it is all good stuff.

@arthurcharest9061 6 месяцев назад

Kept getting distracted but finally got to see this through, great job Simon!

@SnugglesPlays 6 месяцев назад

Brilliant as usual Simon. Love the Athens clue, very simple yet clever. 🙂

@mattkeen5296 7 месяцев назад

This one was the first Friday crossword I’ve been able to do and it’s all because I’ve been watching your videos. Thank you Simon!

@Donrafa189 7 месяцев назад

I so look forward to these Friday videos with Simon. Thanks for making this a part of the channel!

@DianaDeacon-z5g 7 месяцев назад

You’re the highlight of my Friday, Simon!

@longwaytotipperary 7 месяцев назад

So much good stuff from CTC!!! Another rainy day here - watching with hot chocolate!! 😋

@davidrattner9 7 месяцев назад

Save some hot chocolate for me. We have to get rid of the rain by you..give you some of my beaming sunshine and rays. :)

@longwaytotipperary 7 месяцев назад

@@davidrattner9 you got it - hot chocolate with lots of whipped cream is yummy! Yes, please send lots and lots of sunshine!! 🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞Starting to feel soggy! ☔️☔️☔️

@5t757 7 месяцев назад

I'm proudly able to say that I just managed to solve this crossword without any help from solvers or dictionaries. I think that's the first Friday Times for which that's true! 99 SNITCH rating be damned, I'm very happy about it and now look forward to seeing Simon tackle it!

@whirledpeas5717 7 месяцев назад

Congratulations!

@emilywilliams3237 6 месяцев назад

Absolutely fascinating as always, Simon. Thanks for keeping this particular Friday special video going - I love it!

@vinyl1Earthlink 7 месяцев назад

Originally, the gen was For The General Information of All Ranks, so it was not inside information - it was what the high-ranking officers thought it was safe to reveal to all soldiers. However, if you were a soldier at headquarters, working on forthcoming announcements, then you might have access to information that had not yet been announced - which might explain how it came to mean inside information.

@fuse625151 6 месяцев назад

Love the anecdotes, and also when you instantly get a clue and then say "that was really hard" 😂

@glum_hippo 7 месяцев назад

Yes indeed Caesar did say 'Alea iacta est' when he crossed the Rubicon, or at least he reported having said so in his own recounting 'De bello Gallico'

@glum_hippo 7 месяцев назад

Chordata is the latin name for the vertebrates.

@Anne_Mahoney 7 месяцев назад

That's an odd typo, though probably an easy one -- it would be "de bello civili," but in fact he hasn't got the phrase in there.

@zealot2147 7 месяцев назад

I still haven’t solved a puzzle, but I had a real fun solve I was happy of. The clue was Turncoat Yankee hides Poles for a short while. I thought turncoat at first would be the definition but realized the other end made no sense. Then I scrapped that and came up with Traitor for turncoat + Y, poles Simon helped with as NS. Putting it together you get transitory which is a short while. Felt amazing. I hope to get a solve one day but being from the US you can be disadvantaged with some UK terminology.

@Alex_Meadows 7 месяцев назад

You might enjoy the Quick Cryptic which appears every day except Sunday. Much more approachable (though today's was a monster and not representative of the norm). You can get access to the puzzles bit of the Times website for your local equivalent of £5.

@gordonglenn2089 7 месяцев назад

@@Alex_Meadows And you can buy books full of them, 8 editions available from your favorite bookseller!

@elemenopy7605 6 месяцев назад

very much enjoy these

@Raven-Creations 7 месяцев назад

I got 1A at the start, which made the top half a lot easier, giving emissary, which made case-sensitive easy to get (nice clue). I also got wainwright, which helped with the lower half. There were a few nice clues in this. I did like Athens, and case sensitive was a great way of confusing crossword afficionados. Our Latin teacher loved her subject so much, most of her vocabulary was derived from Latin. She'd say things like "stop acting in a pugnacious manner", and "act amicably". She wasn't the best teacher and the class wasn't exactly receptive, larking about when she was writing on the board. Nevertheless nearly half a century later I still remember chanting "amo amas amat amamus amatis amant amabo amabis amabit amabimus amabitis amabunt". She never did explain how "the masters will love tables" was meant to be useful in later life. At least the Eddie Izzard sketch about French lessons, and learning "le singe est dans l'arbre" could prove useful on a safari in Guinea.

@DarklordZagarna 6 месяцев назад

According to at least one account, "alea iacta est" is an anachronism, and Caesar actually said something like "let the dice fly high" in Greek, which was then retroactively translated back into a (much grimmer sounding, in truth) Latin phrase.

@jeanniegoldweddingplanner 3 месяца назад

For clue 25A the end of word solution can be carried on for the last two letters of the clue as well

@Frankacy40k 7 месяцев назад

In my mind, the top in « top of big » could be interpreted as the beginning, as in American baseball. Eg “top of the first inning”

@sdssda9587 6 месяцев назад

loved it

@oak3001 7 месяцев назад

I think that a down clue would definitely have a top (its first letter) I forgot to take my book of Telegraph crosswords to work today, so printed out The Guardian one. It was a MUCH harder puzzle, but I got a few answers 🙂

@bobblebardsley 6 месяцев назад

A lack of thiamine can lead to beriberi, and a lack of orthogonally connected dominoes can lead to a nasty case of norinori.

@williamperez-hernandez3968 7 месяцев назад

Clue 11. Besides the letters from "seven cities", the additional letters a and s are needed to form "case sensitive". Seems the phrase "Leaders of all sides ..." means initial letter of all (a) and sides(s).

@selenasilverstep7981 7 месяцев назад

Simon: "this one starts with a T hyphen..." me: tgirl! tgirl! Simon: "... T-bone steak, it must be." me: awww :(

@jackiechanface 7 месяцев назад

nobody cares

@trancemission5799 7 месяцев назад

Caff short for Cafe?

@erickehr4475 7 месяцев назад

Technically it’s short for cafeteria, as it’s the same length as cafe.

@gedsimpson9854 7 месяцев назад

slang, rather than short for

@mikechappell5849 7 месяцев назад

@@erickehr4475 caff is one syllable, cafe is two

@erickehr4475 7 месяцев назад

@@mikechappell5849 obviously you are right, and I was being somewhat facetious. Although in modern UK English (at least in the South East, where I live), ‘cafe’ and ‘cafeteria’ have different connotations. A cafeteria is generally a cheap restaurant, or the sort of dining area you have in a school, whereas a cafe is a coffee shop. And caff is definitely mostly used to refer to the former.

@archivist17 6 месяцев назад

Call me daft, but I still don't understand Mango. (I did get the sciency ones, though 😉) Can anyone elucidate, please?

@rainerzufall42 7 месяцев назад

alea = die, dice - alea iacta est!

@debrabowen4276 7 месяцев назад

Cryptic crossword video is my favorite part of Friday!

@bryanroland9402 7 месяцев назад

Maybe these crossword videos don't get so many views as the channel's sudoku output, but they are my favourites. Simon's analysis of a clue often allows me to get the answer when he has abandoned it and moved on to another clue to keep the pace up. E.g "nugget", which I only got because Simon mentioned "gun".

@benphelan88 7 месяцев назад

In music, you would say “take it from the top”, which is the beginning of the song.

@francesT5877 7 месяцев назад

Seriously, Simon, wanted to tell you what Chordata means in an easier way. Chordata is the phylum which includes all animals that have a vertebrate structure and some others that have a notochord in their developmental phase. We also, speaking for all vertebrates, have a notochord in our embryonic phase. In other words, Chordata comprises all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish, also some interesting things like sea squirts. Vertebrates are the subphylum. Fun fact: the superphylum is Deuterostomia, which means we have bilateral symmetry in at least some part of our lives. I would bet that will not come up in a crossword.

@DontMockMySmock 6 месяцев назад

Deuterostomia isn't about bilateral symmetry, it's about the embryonic development of the mouth. In protostomes (first-holes), the mouth is the first hole to appear in the blastocyst. In deuterostomes (second-holes), it's the second (the first is the anus). Bilateria (bilaterally symmetric animals) includes deuterostomes but also several other groups including the proper Protostomia branch (which has annelid worms, arthropods, etc in it)

@Ruddigore 7 месяцев назад

Another great solve by Simon. I subscribed to this channel way back when solving cryptic clues was the raison d'être for its existence. I'm thrilled that solving cryptic crosswords has been reintroduced to the site and I eagerly await each new solve.

@deniz5566 7 месяцев назад

Best part of friday!! Thank you Simon for keeping up the master classes ❤

@annastevenson27 7 месяцев назад

I've just become a Patreon member. This video is the highlight of my viewing week!

@CaptainHandsome 6 месяцев назад

Interestingly I got green without knowing Gen as an abbreviation for General Information, because I also saw "Place for putting" as a golf term, but read "last bits of ratheR sensitivE insidE informatioN" as a clue to the letters REEN. I thought there was some weird definition/wordplay overlap with "putting last" meaning G

@cameronwalter 7 месяцев назад

Hello Simon! I live where I have no wifi, so I watch these each week on my phone. It’s difficult to read the clues myself on such a small scale. You’ve inspired me to start doing cryptic crosswords and I really enjoy them. Is it possible that you could read each clue fully as you approach them? I don’t want to be a nag, and I know your brain is working 1000 times faster than your broadcast content, explaining everything, so if this is not possible, it’s ok. Mahalo, and I love the content no matter what!

@SvenBeh 7 месяцев назад

Is there any online community of crossword setters which publishes their puzzles for free (like there is for sudoku)? I would love to try my hands on some easier examples than Simon does on Fridays, but I would like to try some out first before paying for a subscription.

@EdKay-y4d 7 месяцев назад

Thanks as always, Simon, these are the only videos of yours that I have time to watch any more and I'm finding my solving improving over time. I'm not sure I understand how "in the main" anagrams to "thiamine"... Aren't we missing an extra "n" somewhere?

@francesT5877 7 месяцев назад

Is Chordata a group of animals? How bout all the animals. Not really, but what we tend to think of as animals.

@MultiNacnud 7 месяцев назад

Another Latin lesson for xiii across, sorry but it's all Greek to me.

@heatherallan9767 7 месяцев назад

🌱thank you.... thoroughly enjoyed "wainwright" ✨

@archivist17 6 месяцев назад

I was still trying to make Land-rover fit somehow 😂

@sebastienlecoq3956 7 месяцев назад

published two minutes ago. Was I F5ing like a mad man... may be..

@craftsmanwoodturner 7 месяцев назад

You got "galleon" within 15 seconds of looking at the clue, Simon, and you *still* beat yourself up for not getting the answer quicker. Never change!

@vanessaosborne3175 7 месяцев назад

Thiamin is Vitamin B1

@DontMockMySmock 6 месяцев назад

simon: "wagon-smith" me: but they're not called "wagon-smiths," they're wainwrights. . . me: holy shit, wane, right

@johnciolfi5085 7 месяцев назад

Re: word “tops” in cryptics, this subject actually came up on Twitter the other day in a clue-writing contest for “version”. I wrote “Model’s unwillingness to go topless (7)”, then specified that it would probably only work as a down clue, while others said that the first letter would work as the top, regardless of direction (since “from the top” could mean “from the start”). Ultimately, I think it comes down to the discretion of the editor.

@grenvillephillips6998 7 месяцев назад

For some reason I found Simon's joke about Coco Pops hilarious.

@mattevans2343 7 месяцев назад

Love these, please , please keep them coming, im always after cryptic crossword advice.

@risingxforce 7 месяцев назад

Most delightful part of this solve was finding out you're a Liverpool. YNWA

@Zihuatanejo- 7 месяцев назад

Tennis player is Arthur Ashe! I got that one! The "Ashes" is the series of (cricket) matches! And i hate cricket!

@francesT5877 7 месяцев назад

Case-sensitive was the first thing I put in but I went through all the same missteps as Simon.

@ColinStiles-o9r 7 месяцев назад

Great video. I carelessly fell for the “cash sensitive” trap though.

@davidrattner9 7 месяцев назад

Thank you Simon for kicking off March with another fabulous solve and explaining as only you and Mark can how you derive to that answer!

@nemuchan 6 месяцев назад

meanwhile, in France, the word "aleatoire" is the standard word for random

@sarabearyt 6 месяцев назад

came for the sudoku, stayed for the cryptic crossword

@edkillworth 7 месяцев назад

We love watching these videos every week, even if we are rubbish at solving them 🤣

@altreusplays 7 месяцев назад

“From the top” means “from the start”, therefore words have tops

@chitraagarwal8259 6 месяцев назад

They burnt the bails - not the stumps- for the Ashes urn

@henrymarkson3758 7 месяцев назад

"ani" is too much! I will write in to the editor and complain

@clara931 7 месяцев назад

The best part of a Friday!

@B1GB1RDB4G3L 7 месяцев назад

Thanks Simon :)

@mathguy_1243 7 месяцев назад

Does anyone know where to get the chambers dictionary application Simon uses? I’ve been trying to find that particular one and can’t.

@francesT5877 7 месяцев назад

Think he’s using an outdated format the current online version is very different but I see why he hangs on to his.

@hugodiazroa 7 месяцев назад

bobbins

@iwishexamsneverhappened 7 месяцев назад

Nice

@leco4529 7 месяцев назад

I’m glad you enjoy making these crossword videos Simon, because I enjoy watching them!

@inglotto 7 месяцев назад

Alea iacta est

@Anne_Mahoney 7 месяцев назад

Best part of the week! After a long morning of meetings I was delighted to have the usual Friday crossword to chill out with after dinner.

@gordonglenn2089 7 месяцев назад

Cracking a Cryptic is a highlight of my Fridays!

@oskarw2820 6 месяцев назад

Please don’t stop making these! They’re such a pleasure to watch and at such a good pace.

@damienknapman2308 7 месяцев назад

I like how you carefully explain how "a" and "the" are required parts of wordplay in two clues but "presented" seems entirely redundant in 13A

@Liamneedham29 7 месяцев назад

If I understand it, and I'm no expert, presented is redundant, but performs it's function anyway. You could write it "Nearly everything, each Politician is random" and get the same answer, for sure, but the sentence structure of the clue doesn't feel right that way. "Presented by" says to put "Nearly everything" alongside "each", which you would surely do naturally anyway. Yet it's the fact that its' redundant that means you can get away with coming up with that sentence for the clue, without actually ruining the answer. It's not useful to us, but it's useful to the setter. Whereas, a redundant "a" is neither useful to us nor the setter, so a good setter shouldn't put them in, because for what reason do they even want to besides being sloppy.

@DonMowbray 7 месяцев назад

I managed to solve most of this before watching the video, but struggled with 14d and a couple of others. Your teaching about short synonyms has helped my solving immensely, so thank you! Make sure you take your vitamin B and don't get your beri-beri! Hilarious!