- So, tell us, what does it
take to be good at crosswords? - You know, it's actually
more of a computational skill than a verbal one. - [Keith] How do I spell cockapoo - [Zach] C O C - [Zach] He's done with it. - [Eugene] That's my mistake. - Your eyes are darting on other places. - [Host] Today we will
answer the question, can four average people beat,
a crossword puzzle master? [Zach] That's 35 across.
[Eugene] That's 35 across. (cheering loudly) - [Zach] I think I can
crush this by myself like 25, 30 minutes. Pretty good. How long does this take him? - Three or four minutes. - Shut the (beep) up,
three? (laughing loudly) - [Narrator] Can four
regular guys beat a master in their own craft? - Keith] All it takes
is for one of us to win. Oh wow. This is try guys four verses one. - Have you seen our new
movie: "Behind The Try"? It's out baby, right now. - Get an exclusive look at what it means to be a try guy on our official documentary - Oh we're revealing it. - Go get behind the try
at tryguys.com/movie - [Zach] Oh, I'm gonna
take my clothes off. - Zach! - Behind the try. More like, behind my (bleep). (laughter) - Crossword Puzzles. Today, four of us will
face an expert crossworder, crossword master, crossword man - Crosswords! We're doing 'em today and I'm Ned. - Ned is gone and so my
wife is here to replace him. You guys see bore? (laughs) Still funny. - A lot of people associate crosswords with newspapers or you
know, the New York Times. People do it in the morning while they're having their coffee. I enjoy crosswords. I only typically do them on planes now. If they're not already filled out. You know what I mean? - I am stoked today. It's taken six years but we're finally doing
competition videos, where I stand a chance. - [Keith] Becky's got
the books, the authors some of that kind of stuff. And Jean's gonna come in
with a lot of pop culture. Zach's gonna come in with a
little bit of that sports angle. - [Zach] You think I'm sports? - You know football! - Hi, I'm David Kwong. I am a New York Times
Crossword puzzle writer. The fancy word for that is cruciverbalist which is cruci meaning
cross, verbal meaning word. - Are you going to crucify us today? - Oh, I know who. I just figured out who our expert was. I just saw his face and we are... (beep) We are absolutely... (beep) I know who he is. And he is smarter than everyone
else in this room combined. - I assume he has a child
prodigy of some sort. I assume there's an NBC show
coming out at some point all about his life. And it'll kind of be like in the style of like Hannibal or like Dexter. And we like, here's in our
thoughts and we're like are you evil are you nice? I don't know. - I've seen a couple your videos. (bleep) Okay. - I'm a magician. And I write about the
principles of illusion. - [Man] David Kwong was
the lead magic consultant for the popular film: "Now you see me". - [Eugene] for someone to
stand in front of a group and create a crossword
in just a few minutes, is by itself amazing. - I also construct crossword puzzles for the New York times. Which basically means
I've taken the world's two nerdiest hobbies and
combine them into one career. What I'm gonna try to do today
is solve four Monday puzzles, while the guys do one of them. - One crossword puzzle in the time it takes for
him to complete four. - Monday is the easiest day of the week. Saturday is the hardest. It gets progressively harder. This is all new to me. I've never seen a hive
mine take on one person. So, we'll see if I can pull it off. - So we've got four brains
working against you today. How do you think we can
work together to beat you? - I'm not gonna answer that. (all laughing) - I do think I'm gonna need
all the help I can get. - There's something so uniquely flustering and exciting about a crossword puzzle. I don't remember important
things in my life. I don't know what I had
for dinner last night. But Random Mash Trivia,
it is deeply lodged. My neurons are firing in there. - So starting off with
the basic crossword rules, the long answers in the
crossword are the theme answers. If you can figure out what the theme is, that'll help you solve the rest. - I don't think that I ever realized that crosswords have themes. - I love language. I love trivia. So I hope that at the very least, I can be helpful when it
comes to defining words. - I know movies, I know random ass cities. I know characters from obscure books. - Zach is so good at sports. He's going to be our sports ringer. (chuckles) Zach loves sports. Everyone the thing to know about Zach, is Zach is our sports experts You mentioned there's trivia. What types of words do you classify? - It's just general vocab, yeah. There are no two letter words allowed. That's too easy. The black squares are
rotationally symmetric. So if you look at the board
and then you flip it 180, the black squares will be the same. - [Keith] How do you decide
how many black squares will be in each puzzle? - There's a limit. - [Keith] Oh! - Yeah. - What!?I thought that
was a throwaway question. Here we are. I don't like Sudoku. I don't like crosswords. I don't like word searches. They're all reminded me of homework. And really more substitute
teacher day busy work. They're not my thing. - So I actually, when I first moved to LA, I was a trivia host. I actually have done the
New York Times Crossword. Nice flux. - She's great at trivia. I'd say for every book Becky
reads, I don't read one. (orchestral music playing) - Keith could do music. Zach is obviously our sports guy. He (bleep) loves sports. (whistle blows) - I think between the four of us we should be able to finish it. I just don't know if we can do it in the time that he finishes four. - Everyone can do the Monday puzzle. It's... - You keep saying that... (all laughing) - It makes me feel like
you're setting this up. - It definitely makes you feel like it would be very
embarrassing when we don't. - I'm thinking about it
and I'm I'm wishing maybe I gave you guys a Wednesday
puzzle instead of a Monday but it's going to be close. - So he thought we were
really stupid coming in. (all laughing) and then he had a pre-thought, he said they're just moderately stupid. - He watched our old videos and was like give them Monday. - Yeah he probably watched our videos. - Give them Monday. - They try on thongs? Give them a Monday . (mystery music playing) - [Eugene] I don't know the best way to approach a crossword with four people. - [Keith] I think if you
divided it up, you'll beat me. I think. - Right. - I think that what, what keeps it the normal progression of
how one would solve it, is if you're all working
on the same thing. - [Eugene] Okay. Well
- [Keith] That's a fair point. - [David] They'll be on a big board. I'm gonna be doing it on the computer. I think the four of them together, should be able to figure everything out. - You make puzzles for the New York times. We're going against you today. If we beat you, can we get
a vow in the next 365 days, to put us in a puzzle? - I will try. - It's good enough for me. - I'm hoping we don't get into, you know,. but heads today. Me and Zach, I know we're
both very opinionated and like I'm usually correct. - So signal when you finished a puzzle, are you just gonna say, done
or is he gonna raise his hand? Just so we know... - I think he should scream yazi! - Cuckoo. - [[Eugene] Cuckoo, yeah Okay. - When the bird crows. - Any final fighting words? - Happy solving. - Happy solving. - [Becky] Happy Solving. (intense music playing) - Four. You Say three, you say two...
- [Becky] Oh I see it. Go again okay. - Four. - Three. - Two. - One. - [All] Go! - Okay, one across. Things with pads and claws - Cat. - Or paw. - Paw, Paw. (upbeat music) - We're gonna come back to it. - Those two options (all arguing) (upbeat music) - When you're tackling a
puzzle, what's your approach? Did you one across one down, or do you do all the across first? - If I'm going for speed, I'm
pretty much doing all across. If I need support by doing
the downs I'll hit those. - [Zach] One down is the
necessity for a teacher. - Wait, wait you're going for one down? You gotta keep it across - Chalk. - Wait, We were going down? - Well, I just wanted to
figure it out what one was. - Wait wait, so we're going one down now? - [Zach] that's my guess
is that his cat and chalk - Or paw. - But don't commit it yet. - But there are very clever puzzles that mislead you on purpose. - It could be paw and pupil - (Groans) Oh We're good! - [Zach] But it could be,
could be cat and chalk. - It cold be cat and
chalk or paw and pupil. - We try not to have two
pieces of trivia crossing, but if you don't know what it is, then you're gonna have to figure out how to get around that and fill it out. - Two down is Carne Asada. - Okay Asada
- Asada! - Yeah we know that Asada. - Okay, but that also
could still be paw or cat. So that would be help. Three down:home of Cardiff and Swansea. - [Eugene] Okay, that's
definitely some British shit. Wales - W AL E S. - [Becky] Yes cause that would be paw. - So meaning it's paw - I've been watching a lot of The Crown. - Here's some standard
tricks in the crossword. A quite common thing is,
a letter being pulled out or a letter added. You could be doing a puzzle and the letter V is missing
from a bunch of words, and you get to the reveler
and it's take five. You're like, what does that mean five? Oh V, is Roman numeral five. You're taking it out. - So that means all the answers are words where the V is missing? - Yes. - Some of them, some of the answers. - Except the long ones, the long ones. - Hilarious. Wow, this is so punny. - [Becky] Yeah.
- [David] Yes. It's wordplay. - Elon Musk. - Six down is at a snail's pace. - No that's actually a nine down. That's my mistake. - Your eyes are darting other places, aah - Cuckoo. (gunshot) - He's done with it. - (gasps) he's done the crossword. - [Cameraman] It was in three 42. Pretty good? - Pretty good. - It's already been almost four minutes? - [Cameraman] So he's finished
with this whole puzzle and he got it right. So we're gonna move on
to his second puzzle. - Okay, I got a sports one, 24 down big poppy name of David (scoffs) baseball David Ortis. - See you are the sports guy. (laughter)
(whistle blows) - Some people start at one across and they make their way through. But other people just hunt around for what are called gimmes. - My eye gets drawn to another clue that's out of order and there's
some real gimmes in here. - Well, did you just want
to do the puzzle by yourself And it'll just be one versus one Zach? - (Zach) No. - That's not how this works! - But I'm saying, I think we all have gimmes that we can do. That'll make it easier
to solve other ones. - And that could be a nice
fill in the blank answer what goes up must come blank . (overlapping chatter) - A long time blank in
a galaxy far far away. - Ago. - 11 down. - Word before mall or poker. - Strip, prefect. - Strip. - (laughing) me too. - 27 across, country
whose name becomes another country if you change
the last letter to Q. - What sorry, what?
- Iraq and Iran. - [Eugene] Iraq and Iran. - Yeah Iran oh, nice. Okay I get that that's a clever hint. - [Eugene] Iran. - 14 across, place in a Mausoleum. - A mausoleum? To grave... - Place in a mausoleum is in tomb. It's not a physical place. It's the verb place. - Oh you genius so (bleep) smart. - Thanks man. - Oh What a smarty boy. - The solvers like that compete
in the tournaments for time. They're like math and music people. And it's really, can you draw from this, like database of knowledge very fast? - 18 down is an elective eye surgery. It's LASIK, L A S I K. - [David] I think it's
pattern recognition. And knowing that if you see
the word cookie and the clue, it's probably Oreo. It's just like that quick, like recall. - Four down, If it's Rome's rebs. R E B S rebs. Rebels they were called
out during the Confederacy. - [Zach] I thought it
was like the red Sox. - It was snakers with sports. - It kind of sounds like
the more you do crosswords, the better you are at crosswords. - Oh, absolutely. - If I see the word hero and a clue, I'm already thinking sandwich. I'm not thinking Greek mythology. There's a lot of common
wordplay that comes up again. [Zach] Cry to a Torah door. - [Becky And Eugene] Ole. - Yeah, That's probably
in a lot of puzzles huh. - [David] You do have these
obscure words that are in there all the time because they have like a lot
of vowels in it and stuff. - [Zach] Financial aid for a college that doesn't need to be repaid. - I don't know what that's like. - Power gram? (all arguing) - Cuckoo, cuckoo cuckoo. [Becky] Oh man! - Is it pel or pol - It's a Pelgrant - [Keith] So how long was
that second one for you? - I think it was four 40. - [Zach] Oh he's slowing down. - Okay, but here's, what's exciting. We are here solving two puzzles. I say we're "halfway" through - We're neck and neck. - We're a little, little behind halfway because we haven't even,
we haven't even read any of this bullshit right. - Now. - If you don't finish
four, which is crazy, four in the time that we finish one, are you going to be
disappointed in yourself? - Oh... Yeah. - You're literally doing it. - So what's my next puzzle, Nick? - I think we got uh,
Zach stop looking close. - 51 across pledge drive giveaway. What is the one thing you see trips up, people trying to solve a crossword? Pledge drive giveaway. What's the one moment you
know, when someone gets stuck? - When it's a tough cross. - 16 across, I cannot pronounce blink. Tokara 2018 literature nobelist. - People are always citing this. They put down the crossword, and they come back to it 10 hours later. And they, they know the answer. - 51 across pledge drive giveaway. - And that's a real thing. It's called "the tip
of the tongue memory". It's like, you know, you know what it is and your brain is actually
working on it throughout the day. - We don't have the 10 hours to walk away. - No way
- No. - [Eugene] Unstable chemical compound E N - Where's Ned when you need him. - Keith, what's an
unstable chemical compound? - No! - Yeah try 31 across. - It might take, it can take all day. That's all right. But the best thing is like, can you finish it and understand
the trick and be like, ah, that's cool, that's clever. - Pledge drive giveaway, - Tote! T O T E. - [Keith] Where? - Pledge drive giveaways. This shit you get in every giveaway. - [Zach] Nice. - Okay. This is the most famous
crossword ever created. I did not make it. - People know like, oh November 5th, 1996 that shit had slapped. - [David] Yep. This is...
- Oh wow. - This is, this is unanimously held as
the most famous puzzle ever. So it was done on election day in 1996. And that was when Bill Clinton
was running against Bob Dole. And you can see that at 39 across lead story in tomorrow's newspaper. And the answer was Clinton elected. And people were furious, and
they called into the Times how dare you call the election we don't know the results yet. And what Jeremiah Feral did, is he made it so that both Clinton and Bob Dole worked in that space. - [Eugene] Wow. - [David] So you could see for cat and bat it was clued as black Halloween animal. And every single one of
those letters worked twice. - Ah, Jeremiah, you
tricky, little minx you. - I had no idea this existed. - Are there tricks in Mondays? - There is a theme in Monday yes. But it's not as diabolical. - Oh, anthropoids that
can roll into a ball. - Pill bug. - Yeah! Keith got it. - I was like, I know what that is. It's a Pill bug! - What's an arthropod? - An arthropod is a buggy. It's got, it's got.. - Okay just write that down. - This third puzzle I'm doing is so much easier than the last. - So I was wondering if 49 across.. this is 49 across is a busy
person just before the election. - [Zach] What step? - Poster - [Zach] Poster but then
we're missing P-S-T-E-R - A pole, come back to it. Its not a Poster. - Pole maker, Pole keeper.
- Poll worker? - Pole worker no. - Poll taker. poll taker. - Nice. - Yeah. - [Zach] Did you figure
out what the theme was? - [Eugene] Oh, it's words that
have double L's Pella grant. - We call that the aha moment. Two things happen at the same time. You feel smart about yourself because you've cracked the puzzle. - Pellgrant, pillbug, pullquotes,
polltaker, pallbearer. - [Zach] Double L's. - And you also respect the constructor for having come up with a
clever thing to begin with. - Guys I'm on(bleep) my..
I'm so alive right now. - Cuckoo. - [Zach] Okay it's calf
but we got to pause. So that was slower. That was just now for four
minutes and something. - This is all... - [Eugene] We're gonna get you. - We're coming for you. We are coming. - Nobody look anything anymore. - Okay okay. - We gotta make it fair. - We're gonna, we're gonna like just miss. And this is going to drive me crazy. Where do you guys see as
our most attackable area? - Hey let's just get going. Turn off your brain right now. - All right you (bleep) ready? You (bleep) ready? - I'm ready. - Four, three, two, one go! - [Keith] Put these kelps down. - Alternative to Venmo - [Zach] Cash. - [Eugene] yeah - Insects that love Warmth - [All] Moths. - Start of a newspaper article. - Led L E D. - Wow Minneapolis' twin city. - St. Paul. - (Bleep)Yeah guys, we're so close. - [Keith] Okay up here, up here 30 down. - Grand blank national park. - What does it start with? - T-E something something N - [Eugene] I have no idea. - Trending hashtag beginning in 2017. - [Eugene] Oh, metoo M E T O O - Nice. - Whoa. - That's heavy. - Does anyone know madam butterfly dress? I'm not getting any help. - [Zach] We have 35 Across. - [Becky] Guys we're so close. Oh my God! - Exclamation point. (all chatting excitedly) - I have a square that's
off that I have to look for. - [Unanimously] Oh no! (indistinct chatter) - [Becky] 45 is...melted chocolate. (robotic) melted chocolate. (cheering) - [Eugene] Wait, are we sure?. - (groans) - [Nick] Wait, wait, wait, I don't know what tetanus, but that's probably the national park that I have no idea what that is. (incoherent speech) - Ladies, do I have all letters? (drum rolls) [all] Yes! (cheering loudly) ♪ Well done, congratulations to you ♪ - [Eugene] How far are you in right now? - I have three quarters of it done. - [Keith] I feel great right now. - This would've taken
me six hours by myself. I'm just going to throw that out there. I just want everybody to know. I don't know half of the words that are on this board. I don't know what they are. - [Keith] (Clapping) Wow
that was what a close finish. I mean, in terms of how
long it took us to do one and you to finish four. (laughter) - And we did have an extra thing. We didn't foresee you. Which is we had you playing on
a computer that wasn't yours. So you had a lot of typographical errors. - I'm way too competitive
not to point that out. - I think that's fair. - This is a real, like
a feather in your cap. When you're in the Times crossword. - As the champions we now, perhaps will appear in the
New York Times Crossword. - I will, I will put you in a puzzle and we'll see what happens. (cheering and laughter) - [David] It's not up to me. - [Keith] I'll accept try guys. I would greatly accept Keith,
Zach, Eugene and Becky. I think that this is becoming an addiction immediately for me. I'm going to be doing
this every single day. I feel like our eyes have been opened to the world of fun puzzles. That like you can really just drown in. I hope everybody who
watched this is inspired to try their hand at a Monday puzzle. We were able to do it all
together in 15 minutes. So... - Beat that! - Beat that! (upbeat music) - No matter what goes down today. I hope somebody fills up my space. (chuckles) It sounds like I want
somebody to (bleep) me. I don't think I want that, but stay tuned. I didn't think it happened as far as mine.
This was such a good video, I enjoyed it immensely, and I loved Becky being there to add a really nice balance. Her outfit was super cute too!
This was very enjoyable ! I'm proud of them for winning, even if they clearly weren't on the same level as the expert
Yayyy they won! And that too without Ned whose forte is smart stuff. Also I never knew Zach was so into sports but damn. It felt so good to see Zach feel this comfortable with the challenge. All of them did so good!
The expert was really cool too. He was so sweet and obviously, super intelligent. This seemed a little impossible to win anyway because when he completed, they abandoned and moved on to the next but that’s the format of the show lol. They did acknowledge that in the end though. He was still seriously impressive
Does anybody have a link to the crossword puzzle they played?
I love the 4 vs 1 videos they're so much fun