For even when on holiday, giving us a cryptic crossword that we all love, along with pre recorded videos all week. You truly are special Simon!! Mark and you make this channel and community what it is!!
Thank you Simon for not forgetting us even on your Holiday. Have fun for us too... The Crosswords are an integral part of the Content here. The Sudokus have evolved since the beginning, but I think that is a symbiotic relationship with the Channel... Constructors have an avenue to a wider audience so they make more and varied puzzles which the Channel shows to a wider and wider audience. The Crosswords have rather stiff rules that govern them (because otherwise how would they be solved?!) but the sheer variety of clues (and the geniuses that come up with them) sometimes means that they can not be easily accessed by new people. I love this channel for it's anti gatekeeping ways. Secrets are discussed regularly, and working your way into answers because you have no idea what the word is the clue is hinting at is part and parcel of the learning experience.
I completed this crossword late last night and had been looking forward to watching this video all day. It was lovely to hear some of the clues explained, as I was unable to fully parse all of them. I managed to complete it using the crossing letters. I had also never heard of Hasdrubal. After watching an expert solver struggle with the name, I went to ask my husband (British, no interest whatsoever in cryptics) whether he knew who Hannibal's brother was? Without hesitation, he replied "Hasdrubal Barca" and started telling me all about Carthaginian history. I complimented him on his knowledge, which was my mistake, as he then proceeded to follow me around the house to tell me everything he knows about the Carthaginians, which sure is a lot. If only I could convince him to help me solve cryptic crosswords, we'd be a formidable team. I thought the "cadaverous" clue was defined as "not exactly a man", haha! Gosh, it was a very clever puzzle indeed, very enjoyable.
Don’t mind me, just picking a bone with the algorithm. Hey, algorithm. Remember me? I’ve been following this channel for years. I clicked the bell white to receive ALL notifications. I watch every video. I click Like on every video. I click the link under the video. I 💕the puzzles I manage to solve. I comment on videos. I Like some comments. I ask to be alerted for live streams. Witch I watch. And like. And comment. If I could sing to the videos, pat them on the head, or feed them cake (with the proper icing ratio), I would. So when Simon does cryptic crosswords, why on this green earth can’t I get an alert? He does them every Friday. At the same time. It’s not rocket science. It’s not even cryptic crosswords. As the memes say, you have one job. Algorithm, my fair-weather friend, I know you don’t care. You won’t read this message. You won’t alert me next Friday. You’ll keep pushing UFOs and nazis and other stuff I wouldn’t watch if you paid me. But you know what, Algorithm? You pissed off the wrong cookbook writer. I am making it my mission to get this channel more visibility and engagement and push. If nearly 600k subs aren’t enough for you, let’s see how you fare when I’m done with you. This is war.
The algorithm should be the easiest thing. 90% what I told it I want to watch, 10% similar stuff. Instead, when I subscribe to a channel there’s a 60% chance I’ll never see it again. AKA, I get it.
Did some extra research and learned new stuff. Thanks to Simon and Google I now know gam= school of whales, gamp = umbrella, Hannibal had a brother, Archimedes yelled eureka from his bathtub as he discovered buoyancy, and a version of parrot is a lorikeet!!
Archimedes combined displacement with weight to come to specific weight,. He was asked by the ruler to check that all the gold that was given to the jeweller was used.
I’ve learned that a lorikeet is a bird and not a set of tools to fix your truck, that a fillip is a tonic and not a queen’s husband, and that when I yell « Hasdrubal! » and « cadaverous! » at my screen, my cat looks at me weird. Thank you, Simon.
I like to attempt the crossword first and then watch Simon's solve. I got stuck on the two final clues Simon solved. It was very interesting to see how he went about solving them. I also initially put Camp! I learn something new everytime from these fantastic videos.
That was brutal! I've been watching your videos for a few weeks now, Simon and find them so helpful. From being a solver of redtop cryptics, your lucid tutelage has developed my solving capabilities significantly. I got within 4 today which, on a difficult puzzle, really is the stuff of dreams for me. Keep up the good work!
Interesting solve! For ASHORE, I think "to land" is not an infinitive so much as a prepositional phrase. So if I headed to (toward) land, I headed ashore. Also, when you mention "Do, Re, Mi, etc.", that's called the solfege. Just figured you might like to know!
Gamp is slang for an umbrella, from Sarah Gamp, a character in some book or play I can't recall. I did know Hasdrubal so I had to smile while Simon tried to talk himself out of it.
In particular, here the "temporarily put up" is an adjective describing a shelter, rather than a verb and adverb. An umbrella being a temporary shelter, to make it abundantly clear.
No Maverick this week, given you are not at home, but i was alarmed when I thought I heard a T Rex outside instead - ET is not always the movie reference in your crosswords it seems. Entertaining as ever, and congratulations for completing successfully.
Impressive work despite not knowing the person. I spent some time on an anagram once and convinced myself that Colsuriot was a famous (French) artist. The answer was COLOURIST. 😅
I believe the "... rout, not quite fully ..." may be hinting at the battle of cannae where the carthigians used an ordered withdrawal of their centre to flank the Romans - not sure if Hasdrubal was present for that though
My favourite thing about this one was Simon accepting he had zero knowledge of ancient generals, and then immediately dismissing Hasdrubal as it sounds crazy, even though he knows he doesn't know. (also Eddie Izzard fans know him from Hannibal, Hadrubal, Have-A-Banana)
Yes - Simon often claims they are picky about abbreviations. Butchering the title is outrageous!!!! I'll probably get over it, but it did make me squirm.
Unlike last week's, which I found very easy, I struggled a bit with this. Apparently a gamp is a large umbrella, and Hasdrubal was indeed a general. Other than that, the answers weren't particularly obscure, but some of the wordplay did involve some quite obscure words (or obscure uses of words). On top of that, the wordplay itself was very clever.
'Asdrubal was the brother of 'Annibal, and the son of 'Amilcar. My Grandfather, the world's greatest liar, had a long, convoluted story about 'Amilcar and the 1920s French automobile company Amilcar
In UK English if you're watching TV and you want to change the channel, some people might say "put the other channel on" and some people might say "put the other side on". Or "is that show on this channel? No, it's on the other side" for example. I think it probably counts as colloquial/slang but it's common, I grew up saying it. Not sure if there's a more formal definition that connects the two.
@@bibliopolist Probably. I would still say e.g. "what side is it on?" for "what channel is that show on?" but yeah, maybe the example of "the other side" is less common than it used to be.
1 across is a beautiful clue.. i got it straight away.. think homophone Answer below if you want to hear me out. Excellent work.. if you get an excellent score you might be TOP of the class Abbreviation for flourished FL. Then first letters if each word ITE Flite sounds like flight. So Top Flight is the answer.. Think Liverpool are in the top flight and it is tense on the 38th week 😂 🎉🎉🎉 Then again, think of when Blackburn Rovers won the Premier League. It was tense for the fans as Liverpool were beating them for sure and their only hope was if Man United failed to win. Then the guy in the crowd listening to the game on radio 5 live (probably) heard united failed to win so Blackburn won the league. Agony to Ecstasy within a second 😂😂
It's funny, considering how pedantic and precise cryptic crossword clues normally need to be in order to give the right answer, that 'film' is considered an acceptable way to indicate 'ET' and not 'E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'. EDIT: I've just seen the answer to 6 Across and that makes the ET thing pale into insignificance 😂
Cryptic clues do need to be precise, but they do not need to be pedantic. ET is what most people call the film, and is sufficient for even those who insist on using the full name themselves to identify it uniquely. Likewise Tristram Shandy, Roderick Random and Alice in Wonderland as book titles, and umpteen people known by informal or shortened names. DR WHO is not such a commonly used form, but has apparently been good enough for the BBC in at least one headline on their website.
the only thing i don't like about this channel is when simon talks himself down and i can't give him a hug. (oh and when i watch a solution only to discover that my 90minute struggle with a puzzle results from me not reading the rules properly.)
Thanks for keeping the crossword videos going. They gave become my favorite part of the channel and I look forward to them every week.
For even when on holiday, giving us a cryptic crossword that we all love, along with pre recorded videos all week. You truly are special Simon!! Mark and you make this channel and community what it is!!
That’s great, David!!
I could not agree more. Thanks for being such an encouraging and classy person, David.
@emilywilliams3237 means alot Emily..thank you so much!!
@@emilywilliams3237 ditto!
@longwaytotipperary Thank you my friend!! Constant appreciation for everything and everyone here!!
“I saved someone’s life in Bali, believe it or not…let’s move on”. Please expand, Simon!
Yeah, this "believe it or not" is normally reserved for gems like "ET is an acceptable solution for 'a movie'".
As always Simon, top-flight video!
I see what you did there. Lol
Thank you Simon for not forgetting us even on your Holiday. Have fun for us too...
The Crosswords are an integral part of the Content here. The Sudokus have evolved since the beginning, but I think that is a symbiotic relationship with the Channel... Constructors have an avenue to a wider audience so they make more and varied puzzles which the Channel shows to a wider and wider audience.
The Crosswords have rather stiff rules that govern them (because otherwise how would they be solved?!) but the sheer variety of clues (and the geniuses that come up with them) sometimes means that they can not be easily accessed by new people.
I love this channel for it's anti gatekeeping ways. Secrets are discussed regularly, and working your way into answers because you have no idea what the word is the clue is hinting at is part and parcel of the learning experience.
I completed this crossword late last night and had been looking forward to watching this video all day. It was lovely to hear some of the clues explained, as I was unable to fully parse all of them. I managed to complete it using the crossing letters.
I had also never heard of Hasdrubal. After watching an expert solver struggle with the name, I went to ask my husband (British, no interest whatsoever in cryptics) whether he knew who Hannibal's brother was? Without hesitation, he replied "Hasdrubal Barca" and started telling me all about Carthaginian history. I complimented him on his knowledge, which was my mistake, as he then proceeded to follow me around the house to tell me everything he knows about the Carthaginians, which sure is a lot. If only I could convince him to help me solve cryptic crosswords, we'd be a formidable team.
I thought the "cadaverous" clue was defined as "not exactly a man", haha! Gosh, it was a very clever puzzle indeed, very enjoyable.
According to wikipedia, that elusive general was the brother of the more famous Hannibal.. So you were close from the beginning.
Don’t mind me, just picking a bone with the algorithm. Hey, algorithm. Remember me? I’ve been following this channel for years. I clicked the bell white to receive ALL notifications. I watch every video. I click Like on every video. I click the link under the video. I 💕the puzzles I manage to solve. I comment on videos. I Like some comments. I ask to be alerted for live streams. Witch I watch. And like. And comment. If I could sing to the videos, pat them on the head, or feed them cake (with the proper icing ratio), I would.
So when Simon does cryptic crosswords, why on this green earth can’t I get an alert? He does them every Friday. At the same time. It’s not rocket science. It’s not even cryptic crosswords. As the memes say, you have one job.
Algorithm, my fair-weather friend, I know you don’t care. You won’t read this message. You won’t alert me next Friday. You’ll keep pushing UFOs and nazis and other stuff I wouldn’t watch if you paid me.
But you know what, Algorithm? You pissed off the wrong cookbook writer. I am making it my mission to get this channel more visibility and engagement and push. If nearly 600k subs aren’t enough for you, let’s see how you fare when I’m done with you.
This is war.
The algorithm should be the easiest thing. 90% what I told it I want to watch, 10% similar stuff. Instead, when I subscribe to a channel there’s a 60% chance I’ll never see it again.
AKA, I get it.
Give it a Drubbing from me too, please.
thanks for continuing this Simon & Mark! 😁
Lovely solve. “Temporarily put up shelter” meaning umbrella was another very clever misdirection.
Thanks for the fun and interesting Friday feature - even from your holiday location you bring this to us! I love it, Simon.
I've never wanted to hang out with someone as much as i want to hang out with Simon
Thank you once again for another hour's delight on Friday.
Did some extra research and learned new stuff. Thanks to Simon and Google I now know gam= school of whales, gamp = umbrella, Hannibal had a brother, Archimedes yelled eureka from his bathtub as he discovered buoyancy, and a version of parrot is a lorikeet!!
Archimedes combined displacement with weight to come to specific weight,. He was asked by the ruler to check that all the gold that was given to the jeweller was used.
I’ve learned that a lorikeet is a bird and not a set of tools to fix your truck, that a fillip is a tonic and not a queen’s husband, and that when I yell « Hasdrubal! » and « cadaverous! » at my screen, my cat looks at me weird. Thank you, Simon.
Working very well!! Hope you are having a relaxing holiday!!
I like to attempt the crossword first and then watch Simon's solve. I got stuck on the two final clues Simon solved. It was very interesting to see how he went about solving them. I also initially put Camp! I learn something new everytime from these fantastic videos.
Love the crosswords!!!
Simon, There's an old Eddie Izzard video where he talks about Cartheginian Generals Hannibal, Hasdrubal and Havabanana. Lovely solve though
The highlight of my Friday!
I absolutely love 23 across.
17 was very nice too
Great solve. Bis is what the French say for encore and biscuit means twice cooked (thanks QI)
Yes, despite 'encore' literally being the French for again!
That was brutal! I've been watching your videos for a few weeks now, Simon and find them so helpful. From being a solver of redtop cryptics, your lucid tutelage has developed my solving capabilities significantly. I got within 4 today which, on a difficult puzzle, really is the stuff of dreams for me. Keep up the good work!
I got three of them before Simon. I think that's a personal best!
Interesting solve! For ASHORE, I think "to land" is not an infinitive so much as a prepositional phrase. So if I headed to (toward) land, I headed ashore. Also, when you mention "Do, Re, Mi, etc.", that's called the solfege. Just figured you might like to know!
I would have thought 1A would be really easy for Simon: TopFlight is a brand of golf balls!
I thought that, too!
Gamp is slang for an umbrella, from Sarah Gamp, a character in some book or play I can't recall.
I did know Hasdrubal so I had to smile while Simon tried to talk himself out of it.
Thank you, v. obscure.
To save everyone else dashing off to Google, as I had to, she's in Martin Chuzzlewit, by Charles Dickens.
In particular, here the "temporarily put up" is an adjective describing a shelter, rather than a verb and adverb. An umbrella being a temporary shelter, to make it abundantly clear.
@@PeterMoore66 Which of course, everyone has read and remembers verbatim - thank you setter...
No Maverick this week, given you are not at home, but i was alarmed when I thought I heard a T Rex outside instead - ET is not always the movie reference in your crosswords it seems. Entertaining as ever, and congratulations for completing successfully.
Let's goooo!
Impressive work despite not knowing the person. I spent some time on an anagram once and convinced myself that Colsuriot was a famous (French) artist. The answer was COLOURIST. 😅
Everyone who knows who Hasdrubal is just *_screaming_* watching the last 10 minutes 😭
All four Punic War scholars who actually knew that answer were dying inside. Everyone else was just baffled.
I believe the "... rout, not quite fully ..." may be hinting at the battle of cannae where the carthigians used an ordered withdrawal of their centre to flank the Romans - not sure if Hasdrubal was present for that though
Someone told me bis was Latin for second - it’s used in the excellent roll and write board game “Welcome to…”
Brilliant
I was shouting Top-Flight and Gamp (slang for umbrella, a 'shelter') from the beginning until Simon put them in.
My favourite thing about this one was Simon accepting he had zero knowledge of ancient generals, and then immediately dismissing Hasdrubal as it sounds crazy, even though he knows he doesn't know. (also Eddie Izzard fans know him from Hannibal, Hadrubal, Have-A-Banana)
I object to "Dr Who" - the show is "Doctor Who"
That answer caused me physical pain 😂
Yes - Simon often claims they are picky about abbreviations. Butchering the title is outrageous!!!! I'll probably get over it, but it did make me squirm.
Strange - 1 Ac was a write-in for me...
Unlike last week's, which I found very easy, I struggled a bit with this. Apparently a gamp is a large umbrella, and Hasdrubal was indeed a general. Other than that, the answers weren't particularly obscure, but some of the wordplay did involve some quite obscure words (or obscure uses of words). On top of that, the wordplay itself was very clever.
Beware the Fishes of March! ... no, no, that's not quite it...
You never know where these videos will go do you 😂
'Asdrubal was the brother of 'Annibal, and the son of 'Amilcar. My Grandfather, the world's greatest liar, had a long, convoluted story about 'Amilcar and the 1920s French automobile company Amilcar
Could the tense environment in 1 across not be Tight and the rest of the clue is inside that
Yes it is.
I think 12d is an &lit!
I couldn't find the definition of "side" meaning "channel" in any dictionary. What is the definition exactly? What's the context?
In UK English if you're watching TV and you want to change the channel, some people might say "put the other channel on" and some people might say "put the other side on". Or "is that show on this channel? No, it's on the other side" for example. I think it probably counts as colloquial/slang but it's common, I grew up saying it. Not sure if there's a more formal definition that connects the two.
@@bobblebardsley Probably from times when there were only two programmes.
@@bibliopolist Probably. I would still say e.g. "what side is it on?" for "what channel is that show on?" but yeah, maybe the example of "the other side" is less common than it used to be.
I think Hasdrubal was a Carthaginian general.... maybe? I've definitely heard the name.
I didn't even know that Hannibal had a brother.
I await the day that a setter uses the synonym for unfashionable that is Simon-like (not sure if it would be hyphenated) 😂
1 across is a beautiful clue.. i got it straight away.. think homophone
Answer below if you want to hear me out.
Excellent work.. if you get an excellent score you might be TOP of the class
Abbreviation for flourished FL.
Then first letters if each word ITE Flite sounds like flight. So
Top Flight is the answer..
Think Liverpool are in the top flight and it is tense on the 38th week 😂 🎉🎉🎉
Then again, think of when Blackburn Rovers won the Premier League. It was tense for the fans as Liverpool were beating them for sure and their only hope was if Man United failed to win. Then the guy in the crowd listening to the game on radio 5 live (probably) heard united failed to win so Blackburn won the league.
Agony to Ecstasy within a second 😂😂
Has trouble with Hasdrubal.
So did the Iberian tribes.
help I can't find the NYT cryptic crossword I've been looking for quite a while and I simply cannot find it
It's not a cryptic, and it came out earlier this week -- definitely worth watching, because it's actually harder for Mark than a cryptic would be!
Hasrubbal, was Hannibal's brother I think.
More new words (4d)😁
It's funny, considering how pedantic and precise cryptic crossword clues normally need to be in order to give the right answer, that 'film' is considered an acceptable way to indicate 'ET' and not 'E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'.
EDIT: I've just seen the answer to 6 Across and that makes the ET thing pale into insignificance 😂
Yes, that was gruesome, wasn't it?
Cryptic clues do need to be precise, but they do not need to be pedantic. ET is what most people call the film, and is sufficient for even those who insist on using the full name themselves to identify it uniquely. Likewise Tristram Shandy, Roderick Random and Alice in Wonderland as book titles, and umpteen people known by informal or shortened names. DR WHO is not such a commonly used form, but has apparently been good enough for the BBC in at least one headline on their website.
Ancient general not Hannibal, but the Mesopotamian Hamurabai
the only thing i don't like about this channel is when simon talks himself down and i can't give him a hug. (oh and when i watch a solution only to discover that my 90minute struggle with a puzzle results from me not reading the rules properly.)
Why was the a red?
Because it's where his cursor was. If there's ever a wrong letter, it shows up pink -- this happened once when Simon made a typo and didn't catch it.
Apparently Hasdrubal was the brother of the Carthiginian general Hannibal....
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasdrubal_Barca
Wth Simon casually revealing he's an ordinary hero ?
Bis!
Simon would have got 1A quicker if he was at home and Maverick went past...
Having attempted this puzzle, my only comment is: "You'll be sorry!"
I agree! I thought I was doing well having completed last weeks bar 2. This threw me
Surely 13d belongs in a general knowledge crossword and not in a cryptic.
So the only question that arises today is... which Dr was Simon's favorite.
Hasdrubal was Hannibal's younger brother. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasdrubal_Barca