The Times Crossword Friday Masterclass: 2 August 2024

*** TODAY'S PUZZLE ***
In the latest edition of our attempts to solve a Friday Times crossword, Simon tackles today's puzzle from an unusual location!!

The puzzle is available to play on The Times crossword club website (which is behind their paywall):

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Joining us on Patreon costs as little as $2 a month and includes Mark's solve of The Times' Club Monthly special - a vicious cryptic!!

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Twitter: @Cracking The Cryptic

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Simon Anthony & Mark Goodliffe
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SW7 4UB

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[VonBlade]

My favourite part of the week. Crossword Friday. How wonderful. Let me thank the Sudoku viewers for subsidising this art. We who prefer words, salute you.

[Alex_Meadows]

The cockney impression at 09:00 was both unexpected and surprisingly decent, thank you Simon! 😆

[davidrattner]

Hope you been enjoying Philadelphia life Simon! Much appreciation for continuing to solve these for us!! Makes the start of the weekend that much better.

[SomeRandomGuyOnYouTube]

NAILED, DANIEL, LEAD-IN, DENIAL, in the Quick Cryptic

[Avenidaps]

Came for the sudoku, stayed for the crosswords! Can‘t wait for Fridays every week!

[creaghant]

Excellent Solve Simon - thank you. I am amazed at your ability (and speed) to resolve anagrams directly from the clue, without writing the letters down on paper and 'messing about' with them as I have to do, in order to get the answer !

[archivist]

Thanks Simon. That 'quick' was a real stinker!

[Antinomiste]

Yay, the weekly joy! This frankly never disappoints even in depression times

[bigjim]

Wonderful way to spend part of my birthday. Many thanks as always

[MattyBGAMINGUK]

I always look forward to these on a Friday. And this video was absolutely great!

[longwaytotipperary]

Very happy to have this to cheer me up!! Oh and welcome to USA!! We’re in the same time zone today!!

[Byron]

Love these cryptic crossword videos! 🎉

[Jax]

Hello from Philadelphia! I hope you're enjoying the city as much as I enjoy these videos 😊As a Philly native I want to offer some advice...definitely get a cheesesteak (if you haven't already) but NOT from Geno's or Pat's -- those are tourist traps. Also the weather here permits a trip to Rita's for a water ice, a local sweet treat helps beat the heat so definitely get one (and don't forget the pretzel) 😂

[jasminmai]

My favourite video to watch on a Friday night ❤

[icecreamandsadness]

Simon: Mark can be a punctuation mark...
Me: Yes. Yes! YES! ...No, not yet?
Always a little celebration on the one time in each video I get the answer before Simon.
Love these videos, please always keep doing them :)

[debrabowen]

Thank you Simon. We love cryptic crosswords!

[Raven-Creations]

You're right about "set up" - it's so easy if you're well versed in cryptic crosswords, but it's completely bonkers if you're not. The land of cryptic crosswords is surrounded by a high wall, but once you're in, you're there for life. Like you, I used to do them with my dad, so we both served a sort of apprenticeship. Without insider knowledge like you're providing, it must be very hard to stay motivated enough to get over that wall.
5A/5D was a nasty pair of clues (but perfectly fair). I got there in the end, but only after going through the alphabet for the common letter.
The "quick" crossword today didn't really live up to its name.
BTW, your mug was blocking the bottom of the grid.

[pjn]

In Philly? Welcome to my home country!

[MarcMcMillin]

Thank you Simon! Have a cheesesteak for me!

[thescrewfly]

Pity we can't let Simon know that his head is blocking the bottom two lines of the puzzle.