A Brilliant New Cryptic Crossword
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- Опубліковано 11 вер 2024
- ** Today's Puzzle **
In a bonus video, Simon attempts a recent Independent crossword by Filbert - this was recommended to us by the Independent crossword editor, Mike Hutchinson. And it is VERY clever!
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This puzzle appeared on 24 July 2022.
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Melvyn Mainini
That ‘inst’ clue is exactly the kind of thing that compels me to continue admiring cryptic crosswords from a safe distance
Whenever I see these cryptic crossword videos, I can’t help but think Simon is trolling us.
@@chris5619 I always watch these videos at home because I fear people will think I am watching some satanic initiation ceremony if I watch them in public. Seen from the outside a sentence like “Frameless spectacles, what a spectacle is a sight, and if you take sights, the plural of spectacles, and you remove its frame, you remove the outside, you get I G H T” could very well be interpreted as a mad man blabbering
I agree that these expert puzzles are beyond me, but do a search for Lovatt's daily cryptic crosswords and watch the examples on that - they really are of a level for us mere mortals. I do one a day and can take anything from under 10 minutes to maybe 40 if my mind isn't on it or I'm not seeing the answers.
They are definitely pitched at those just starting out in cryptic crosswords, and they get easier the more of them you have a go at.
They're based in Australia, and a new daily crossword appears every day at approximately 3pm BST.
Words like inst are kept alive purely for the benefit of crossword compilers
Couldn't have come at a better time for me -- I was wondering about this only the other day! I knew "ult(imo)" was last month and "prox(imo)" was next month, but I couldn't for the life of me remember what the abbreviation was for "this month".
Watching Simon solve one of these and explain how some of these answers tie fully into every little word of the clue is like watching the world's most deranged conspiracy theorist talk about how the illuminati is leaving hidden messages everywhere except actually correct for once.
1a - Doctor Doctor, I'm a photograph that needs processing to see
5a - Well then, cure is to be developed
Genius concept for a cryptic
First time I see this kind of cross word and I never felt this stupid before. I don't think I would have figured out even one of these. This needs some kind of dark magic to be solved XD
There's a Star Trek movie where they talk about "transparent aluminum" as a lightweight strong transparent material, which sounds ridiculous initially, but it turns out that corundum (which is what rubies and sapphires are) is a crystal of aluminum oxide (a.k.a. alumina), and is clear if it doesn't have any impurities, and synthetic corundum is used for exactly the applications Star Trek described. Anyway, because of the Star Trek reference, I knew the mineralogy trivia in that clue.
I think the 19 down confusion at 29:50 is that PLOY (wheeze) is underneath (lifting) ME backwards (up) to give EMPLOY. The ‘lifting’ and the ‘up’ are different instructions - more sneakiness from this crossword
Did anyone else spot how 5A is the punchline to the 1A Doctor, Doctor joke?
"Effing" and "blinding" are the two types of swearing in English: Effing (as in the F-word) refers to using those words that are biological in origin (think: body parts, natural functions), and blinding (as in "God blind me!" which became "Blimey!") is using words that are theological in origin (think: irreverent "instant prayer").
I couldn't remember this and I couldn't even Google it effectively, but I managed to find this comment again.
Here I am again
6:22 had me sweating
I was looking for this comment
And the way he didn't hesitate
I genuinely thought "Negro" at first, which is Spanish for black
Very happy to see more cryptic content on the channel! Thanks for a great video, Simon.
Regarding 19d, the wordplay arguably parses in a Times-worthy manner:
Wheeze (PLOY) is “lifting” (holding above it) “myself up” (ME reversed).
I read it as, if you are "up to" something, you are carrying out a "ploy".
Yes, that was how I read it. It's not an ordered charade, but the instruction is perfectly clear.
I often find these days that when my first instinct is that I'm not sure about the clue, on reflection it looks both fair and clever.
Yes, Chris Remo has it right
I lived in the US for a total of three years and am fluent in English (although no native speaker), but these puzzles are about as intuitive to me as a Phistomefel sudoku 🙂
I am a native English speaker, and I agree with you assessment
A lot of these seem to involve British references, so that may be an addition difficulty factor for those of us more used to American English
It's a British thing -- being fluent in American Englsh won't get you very far with cryptic crosswords. I'm a native speaker (American) and I grew up watching my father do cryptic crosswords (hard to find in the US in those days, too!) -- and I STILL can't make heads or tails of some of these clues. I was so proud of myself that I got "Pilates" in this puzzle, and that's about all I got independent of Simon.
I was worried at 6:18 not going to lie
19D Seems perfectly sensible. 'Wheeze' (ploy) is literally lifting 'myself up' (em) above its head.
10-across got me sweating
That "night" is deceiving.
I thought the same thing.
Preposterous as a reversal indicator is new to me, but lovely. Nice solve, some fantastically misleading surfaces in there.
Totally agree. And the Latin roots are really quite obvious. I'd just never thought about the etymology of that word.
One of my favorite words precisely because of its etymology. Also, if your cat is doing something silly, you can call him preposter-puss.
If you have an anagram indicator, is it allowed for the material to be just reversed rather than completely shuffled? What I'm getting at is, even if preposterous did not mean "inverted," could the "absurd, ridiculous" definition be used to indicate an anagram, and then the reversed letters are just one of the possible permutations?
As someone that learned English in school and not as my mother tongue, I can confirm this is hard to keep track of
I would add that it is not because of the way Simon explains the clues, but having a lack of knowledge about the, to us, obscure English words. I do really enjoy the word play that goes on in these puzzles, but I could never solve this one on my own.
Yeah there is absolutely no way I would have gotten even one of those words.
@RW couldn't agree more
As someone who isn't a cryptic crossword person I saw "tollbooth" almost instantly.
Never heard of effing and blinding? Also, that Rush/Aldridge reference is magnificent.
Clearly Simon doesn't swear enough. While he sticks to bobbins, the rest of us are effing and blinding.
Blinding, is that a writearound for bloody? Effing if clearly referring to the F-word, yes?
6:24 imma be honest,
I didn't think of night
I love the cryptic crossword vids! Would love to them regularly
Proud of myself for seeing alumina WAY before Simon not getting how it got into the clue
Yeah i got it as soon as i say the ruby clue. The sapphire clue is redundant since sapphire's are rubies of a different color.
I didn't know about rubies but when he said it must be a chemical it just looked like it had something to do with aluminum and then I saw it must be based on alumna.
@@MonkehBuns Rubies (sapphires are a type of ruby btw) are made from Aluminum Oxide also known as corundum due to the impurities that give it it's red color. Chromium, Iron, Titanium and Vanadium are the impurities. My youngest daughter and my wife both are into rock collecting (for different reasons. My wife makes jewelry and my daughter is a rock hound who likes to tumble them to set on a shelf) and i've gotten a side education in rocks because of it. :)
@@davidmiller9485 If you ever end up in prison, you can contrive somehow to order a geology starter kit, with a chisel (which you can use to tunnel out of your cell) and a "how to identify different minerals" poster (which you can tape to the wall directly over your tunnel entrance to hide it).
"inst" is a contraction of "instante mense" which is Latin for "current month". It's always worth having a list of the most common Latin phrases and abbreviations that English uses when doing cryptic crosswords 😜
I usually think too literally for most cryptic crossword clues, but 18 Down was the first time I've got a clue before you've started explaining how you get it (though the L helped)!
I agree, 14 across was my favorite as well! Brilliant crossword Filbert, brilliantly solved Simon, you and Mark blow me away with these cryptic solves! I for one would love to see more cryptics on the channel.
I could never have solved this myself, but I was very pleased that I figured out source and pilates slightly quicker than you did 😊
I love watching crosswords (cryptic or not) solved--more of this please! I enjoyed it so much!
Yay, I got "Toll booth" quite early (mostly by thinking what a lane for spending could be), and I also was not able to further justify it. That makes me as good at these as Simon, right?
Thank you for keeping on making these, it's like watching world class magic show, but the props are puns and the budget is infinite.
Seems like a nice trick really. It tries to lead you somewhere else if you try to be too clever, but you're supposed to take it literary.
Love this. Thanks a lot. Keep them coming!
Sydneysider is the word you're looking for, Simon.
What a delightful peek into the crossword world. I think I understand pretty well how the clues work, but I don't know if I know enough obscure definitions to be able to solve them xD
I regularly finish the Times, Guardian and Telegraph Toughie. The Times allows just one lurker, the Guardian can have multiple lurkers and the Telegraph maybe has one or two. Regarding your comment about solutions being the wrong way round, The Times mainly plays fair, but if you get the answer, then I suppose it’s acceptable. Setter Paul in the Guardian can be nice and tricky. Clue of the day = nemesis. Thanks for the vlog.
Just want you to know Simon, that the concept of "going steady" is not just an English thing, people said it in the US as well, but it is DEFINITELY an old thing
Ah! Always nice to get a morning video!
Here in the States we don't call a date "my steady," but we would say we were "going steady" with them.
You're seeing 19 down slightly wrong. "Myself up" is "em", and "ploy" is lifting it (holding it up), so the word order is fine
Fortunately Fosters doesn't qualify as a beer
Rubies (which sapphires are a form of) are made from the mineral corundum or aluminum oxide (yeah high school chem). If you have never played subnautica you might want to give it a shot since they tell you what rubies are made from. (plus it's fun)
Aluminium 😬
I sooo second your suggestion for Subnautica, it's one of my alltime favorites, although it's probably not puzzly enough for this channel I'd say.. 😢
@@elmoo88 :) he's been playing other games that aren't all that "puzzly" lately. Then again, that's why i said "you might want" instead of i would like to see and you're right, Subnautica is a wonderful game. Sometimes it's nice to just play for the atmosphere. :)
Always love the cryptic crosswords videos. They’re absolutely my favorite
I'm always in awe of constructors' skill, flexibility and playfulness with these clues, especially with ones like 12 across, 14 across or 24 down. Brilliant! Once the answer is found - everything falls into place, but, my dog, some of these are either super hard or simply unsolvable for me :D (I've been pausing the video for some trying to come up with the answer myself)
Effing and blinding! Thanks for the tip off, Simon ... must say that it's been a while since I've been so irritated by a crossword. Very good indeed in places, though, unlike that wretched website. 🙂
Baha just yelling ALUM at the screen
Medically, sleep and unconscious are totally different. Sleep is a state of rest from which a person may be roused. An unconscious person is a state of where someone is unusable to all standard stimuli. Therefore, either the setter made an unfortunate mistake, or the definition and answer have a different relationship to that which is medically correct. I am happy to learn the explanation. Thanks, Frank
Some amazing clues there 👏 I was shouting Alumina before the end, but there were a lot I would never have cracked.
The 'constant' in 7D is probably referring to that most famous of constants... c = speed of light... rather than c being an abbreviation for the word constant (when removing that letter from 'active'). Apologies if this has already been noted.
Could the reading of 19D be 'ploy' lifting 'me up', so 'ploy' would be below 'em'?
I watched this last night 20 minutes after I informed my friends "I'm abed". A form I've not used for probably over 40 years!
Others have commented about "effing and blinding" meaning to swear. The effing bit is obvious, but less so, the "blind" is short for "God blind me", nowadays invariably shortened to "blimey".
I was hoping there would be a cryptic puzzle sometime soon on the channel. Thanks, Simon! I really enjoy these, and appreciate your explanations. I am beginning, a tiny bit, to not be totally flummoxed by these sorts of crosswords, and seeing you and Mark do these is giving me more interest in American-style crosswords (which are generally much, much, much easier for me - apart from the many popular culture references which I simply don't know). A couple of notes: to "pay a penny" - I have heard of that meaning to take a wee, as you so charmingly put it. Maybe in some novel or other that I read? Not sure. "Going steady" is definitely in my vocabulary for having someone special that all dates happen with. I laughed at your discomfiture at "semen" and even "womb" figuring into this crossword. Well, maybe not total discomfiture, but a bit surprised, maybe, at having to explain that kind of thing on the channel? Again, kind of cute. Loved this video!
I knew "spend a penny" and for some reason I had the idea that it refers specifically to women. According to the OED it's a reference to pay toilets, and the first citation is only from 1945.
I do love watching Simon's cryptic solves. It's a different activity from Mark's monthly battle with the Times club special: Simon picks puzzles that he knows have clever features, maybe a theme, and they're usually not quite as crazy hard as the Times monthly.
@@Anne_Mahoney I agree. Simon and Mark approach so much of sudoku and crosswords with enough differences that it makes it a really well-rounded experience. Brilliant that they are friends and have partnered on this channel!
So much fun! Please keep doing these
This was crazy, never seen a crossword like this! I was proud and surprised when I figured out pilates almost right away.
Excellent puzzle. Interesting setter style. Loved it.
That Stripper clue is brilliant
So many super neat clues! Thanks for solving it for us so I could enjoy them :)
I find the Indy website hard going, but one advantage of the small number of visible clues at one time is that it helps to focus on the clue currently being discussed, without the distraction of "I can't do this, what's 26a?"
I can be guilty of this. ☺️
Simon, you might not think of “blind” meaning “swear” but I expect you’ve heard the expression “effing and blinding”.
Edit: also, I think it’s fair (somewhat at least) to describe toll booths as stops in lanes.
I briefly had Sobeit at 6 across. Great solve.
"wheeze" as a synonym for "trick"? Who knew?
For 18, I thought the reasoning was a pro being someone who gets paid and cure being the cooking technique that involves smoking. Like a lot of cured meats are smoked.
Might be wrong idk
Someone PLEASE take a clip of Simon saying "You're sexy. You're hot. Hot. Hot legs" at around 17:12 out of context
Melbournian here. A person from Sydney is a Sydneysider.
Thanks for the crossword. Love ‘em.
I feel pleased with myself (would this be "chuffed" in the UK?) that I interpreted "old girl" as "alumna" as soon as that clue was shown? It comes of reading Sayers and other mystery writers who set their stories in Oxford and refer to the "old girls" coming back for a visit or a Gaudy.
I understand about "inst" because it (along with "ult") comes up often in Victorian literature (like Dickens), when stuffy legal types write letters -- "Regarding yours of the 5th inst..."
preposterous from in pre- and -posterior. "End in the beginning"(you can see chambers notes this in the latin)
Even though SOURCE makes sense, I argue that SOBEIT can also be an answer to 5a. "Well then, cure is to be developed". "Developed" is an anagram indicator, "is to be" is an anagram and it can be written as "so be it". This alternative answer also matches the description. Well then = So be it.
Yesterday I was screaming clear at my phone. Today I was adamant that there were no words ending SK. Maybe I'm not as brilliant as I thought
42:00 The phrase "effing and blinding" is the clue
i think that the constant that is lacking in restorative is C for the speed of light e=mc2
I guess 'blind' for 'swear' is where we get 'effing and blinding'
Never heard that expression
I think "Wheeze lifting myself up" might work if you see it as "ploy" pushing up "em" from below.
Wheeze is lifting (supporting) "me" up, so it seems okay to me. There's both "lifting" and "up" in the clue.
30:10 the wording is much better as it is, the synonym of wheeze is lifting "me" up
Barings Bank went bust in 1995; so 27 years ago.
For employ, could it be that the word for wheeze is lifting (like, weight lifting pose, lifting something over your head) the word for myself (which is reverse with up)? Maybe it's not backwards viewed this way.
That's what I was thinking as well.
I thought tollbooth was straightforward - too much so. It was the first thing I thought of, because I have zero ability to read the cryptic parts of these clues. Literally reading the clue exactly as it is: a place on a road where you stop and pay money: tollbooth. There's nothing cryptic about it (that I can see). This could be a clue in a regular crossword puzzle, without the question mark, even.
Indeed, British cryptics sometimes have clues that are basically just puns with no wordplay (called "cryptic definitions"). As Simon explains, that clue is worded to sound like it involves urination.
Since you're talking about question marks in regular crosswords, I assume you're from the U.S.? In that case, I'll let you know that U.S. cryptics generally have no cryptic definitions, for the exact reason that they seem like normal clues from our perspective.
Yes, exactly what Zain said - plus more specifically, I think, the clue was intended to conjure up images of somebody finding a lane (or lane way, or discreet back alley) to stop and have a quick wee behind the buildings, but in fact the "lane" was really meaning one long, continuous section of a road, for vehicles. I think it was pretty good for one of those unexpected "cryptic definitions" which turns the ambiguous surface appearance into something completely unexpected; not having the usual format of a standard definition and cryptic definition hidden together, whilst still making perfect sense.
That definitely wasn't an easy one. I would rate my skills slightly lower than yours, although sometimes able to spot things easily that you struggle with. I did like the wombat clue. I think it was the way the at preposition's normal close affinity with the following word was subverted, so one is led to thinking of say "strine" dropping "at home", leaving "stre".
I got alumina quite early, because I knew rubies and sapphires were forms of alumina, but I struggled to see the alumna, because I was too busy looking for old girls' names (like Ada, Dinah, or Doris) or someone from the classics.
Tollbooth was an amusing double definition, a "stop in lane" for the normal definition, and a cryptic way to refer to a toilet booth with an entry toll.
Surely you've heard the tautological expression "effing and blinding", or "to eff and blind". Admittedly it's not the most obvious definition, but cryptic does mean hidden or obscured.
where can I get the chambers dictionary and thesaurus program that you're using? I can't seem to find anything official for Windows
Fascinating solution, well done Sir.
Hi Simon, effing and blinding is an expression.
Simon explains the trickery and makes it all look easy. Could I now solve one of these? 🤣 (but I do look up the words I don't know and therefore a little bit smarter than I was before.)
I read 19D as WHEEZE (ploy) lifting (as in holding up or bearing above it) MYSELF UP (EM) which works. :)
I was effing and blinding at the complexity
3 down was a genius clue
32:16 I took preposterous as an anagram indicator
If you scramble the words of “no” your only option is to reverse it
I know the dictionary supports reversal, but I thought it was a great anagram indicator instead
Re 25A, "spending a penny" is slang for going to the bathroom, so I think that's what the surface was going for.
Only one I got even marginally before Simon was SOURCE realising the def was 'Well' seconds before he did.
Preposterous
Pre: before
Post: after
Posterior: behind
-ous: abound
Preposterous: abound with Back-to-front
Last night, I was literally just wondering if you were going to do another cryptic crossword soon because I missed them.
Actually I guess that was about 9 hours ago for me; I’m in the US so you guys upload in the late afternoon and early evening usually for me.
Wheeze, lifting "myself up", maybe?
Very enjoyable watch, but some tough word plays there!
For those new to cryptic crosswords, what are sources of GAS equivalents?
Yay more cryptic content!
more failures at looking over his correct work than the work itself XD incredible stuff!
Well done i thought 5 across was sobeit at first
Please put the crosswords in a playlist for easier access.
English is not my first language, but I still really enjoyed watching this.
Love the dracula coat, by the way. 🧛♂️ 😉
5a. I was thinking SOURCE as in source code, which is "developed" by software engineers.
Pretty sure if you gave me both the clues and the answers, I would have a hell of a time justifying them as to why.
Talk about Crazed Obscurantism.
But well solved.