The Times Crossword Friday Masterclass: Episode 6

*** TODAY'S PUZZLE ***

In the sixth edition of our attempt to solve a Friday Times crossword, Mark takes on today's puzzle - which has some fantastic clues, and really elegant wordplay.

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

▶ Now available: GAS VOLUME 2! ◀
Now out, the second volume of GAS puzzles on our Cracking the Cryptic app. Brand new Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) puzzles by the channel’s GAS giants, has been released as an in-app purchase from our (free) app. In that app you also get a free pack of puzzles by Prasanna Seshadri (one puzzle of each variant of our existing apps), a FREE pack of 23 puzzles in celebration of our reaching 500k subscribers, and can purchase GAS Volume 1 (60 puzzles), and DOMINO SUDOKU, a pack of 100 handmade puzzles (40 available at launch, 5 added each month until it reaches 100) by some of the best constructors in the world. (Also coming soon is a pack themed around Lines!)

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On April 1 we will release another set of puzzles, this time created by Sudoku Skunkworks, a group of talented setters (they brought us Duality a few months ago). This pack, based on Knightmare constraint, looks fantastic – you won’t want to miss these (no fooling)! Join us on Patreon at the $2/month level or higher to try these puzzles, $3/month or higher to have access to solution videos. (Any Patreon member gets access to a Patreon-only discord channel to discuss the Patreon Reward puzzles and get help if you need it!)

* Lots of other content available, including past rewards, amazing crossword solves (including Mark’s latest wrestling match with the Times Monthly Club Special) and Simon and Mark engaging in a couple of collaborative sudoku solves. *

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▶Credits◀
Music: Tim McCaskey (Guitar) or Lucy Audrin (Piano) or Riffclown plays Mozart's Sonata no 16 ("Sonata Facile"), and Mark’s outro music by Riffclown.
SOFTWARE: Thanks to Sam Cappleman-Lynes and Sven Neumann
Logo: Melvyn Mainini
Opening Credits: Joel Blundell

▶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 twelve-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

[jonhansen]

Other top solvers are going to see Magoo 31 minutes and be very worried this is a tough puzzle!

[ranajamal]

Mark and Simon have totally different styles of solving sudoku or crossword puzzles. Simon focuses on the word play/definition etc. Mark simply knows the word. He doesn’t even need the damn clues. Impressive

[auximenes]

Thanks Mark. I really appreciate your compromising your ranking to entertain us.

[cloudbringer]

Thank you Mark for stepping in for Simon. I'm really enjoying the Friday solves. Especially if it's going to muck up your solve time. Much appreciated x

[leppyr]

Mark sabotaging the snitch rating just for us. 😂

[Goryus]

"Bronco, die later!" is absolutely absurd

[mitrisharaiha]

Honestly, Mark is actually insane and cryptic crosswords and I could watch him solve them in awe everyday its absolutely amazing

[th.nd.r]

Mark, if you have to film another like this, my advice in order to keep your leaderboard speed where you want it is to record yourself solving at pace and then film yourself afterwards going through your thought processes, pausing the recording when you need to. Very well solved, and I loved the clues!

[onion]

So excited for this episode! The cryptics are my favourite, and it's been a while since we had Mark do one!

[hollykid]

I’m sure it’s been mentioned already, but the whole bottom line of the puzzle is not visible. Other than that, well done and it was enjoyable. Thank you!

[TheKirbyness]

Loved seeing Mark solve a crossword!! You could always record a speed solve without commentary and add it in afterwards as an option

[GoldShockAttack]

Loving the weekly crosswords, and it was great to see Mark solve one. Nice explanations! Wouldn't mind Mark solving the occasional one of these for the channel going forward.

[widgetb]

Fantastic! Thanks for stepping in Mark! These Friday crosswords have become a real highlight at the end of the week.

[emilywilliams]

Mark, this was very, very fun video. I loved your explanations and your comments about what you enjoy about cryptic crosswords and the kinds of clues you admire. I love Simon's Friday cryptic crossword solves, too - the two of you are so brilliant at this! And I do think I'm learning! I may have to find some easier puzzles ... though I did actually know most of the words in this puzzle, just needed your explanations of how to get them from the clues. Thank you for this video. (And it may be odd to comment on "lovely vocabulary" in a cryptic crossword video - but I do like the word "forswear" that you used early on, saying that you would set aside your personal love of going as fast as possible in order to explain everything fully to us. Thanks for using that wonderful word, and for doing that!)

[orosma]

Absolutely wonderful! I hope Mark does some more of these, his style is completely different from Simon's so we get the best of both worlds.

[Gliperal]

Wonderful treat to see Mark do a cryptic every now and then, and I adored the little offhand tidbits about things like synonymous football team names and words that have 14 unique letters.

[IBAndreas]

I knew when I heard ”the definition of the word ’see’ which is the noun and the term for the land that a Bishop rules over” that this was way over my head.

[Donrafa]

Thank you so much Mark. Fun to see your genius on full display

[trainsinpoland]

Thank you Mark for making the extra effort to solve and explain the reasoning, it was a brilliant solve, just like all your crossword videos.

[martinwilson]

Thank you for doing this while Simon was away. I enjoyed the explanations