Times 29175 – more Americana

87 comments on “Times 29175 – more Americana”

1. I finished 1 minute under an hour so this was way more difficult for me than our blogger.

   A CAT is a jazz fan or jazz musician so is clued in 1ac by ‘Louis Armstrong perhaps’.

   I don’t recall seeing Y clued as ‘Wye’ before, but it’s in the dictionaries. Collins has it as American but Chambers doesn’t specify.

   I’m not sure about the tenses in WASH.

   I missed the parsing of ROTTEN ROW, so thanks for that, Pip.

   1. I was relieved when I discerned that there was cryptic parsing for what appeared at first to be a straight-as-they-come clue, since Armstrong was known to break into scat on occasion. In fact, he has often been regarded (erroneously) as the originator of the style.

      1. True … but the story that Armstrong invented scatting when his lyric sheet fell off the music stand is too good not to believe.

2. I took WASH as the definition, and ‘Is it that Henry could have been?’ as the wordplay WAS H?

   1. Me too. Flush as the definition.

   2. Me too.

   3. Me too. But flush=wash is a bit random.

      1. It has a question mark, doesn’t that imply a DBE? To flush something could be to wash it, e.g. Flush your eye with saline?

         1. The question mark here is just because the clue is in the form of a question.
            For me ‘flush away’ and ‘wash away’ are sufficiently close.

      2. But if you add ‘it out’ it works. Flush it out, wash it out! Hercules and the stables, no?

      3. You wash the toilet bowl when you flush. You wash away the water and contents but also wash the toilet bowl of any matter. That is why you put blocks (detergent and other chemical cleaners) in the cistern or hanging in the side of the bowl.

   4. This was how I read it.

   5. I couldn’t parse it, but now I see how it works, so thank you.

3. 36m 01s
   10ac shouldn’t there have been some indication that only one L should be deleted?
   and in 8d I would like to have seen some sort of indication that Y was a soundalike for Wye.
   With SCAT, I agree with Jack.
   Thanks, Pip.

   1. I had the same reservation regarding HALS. Wye is the dictionary spelling of the letter Y hence no homophone indicator needed.

      1. Ah, thanks for that about Wye!

      2. Me too. ‘Rooms, but not large’ = HAS!

         1. But wouldn’t that be “Rooms but not larges?”

            1. Not necessarily. To me ‘not large’ indicates an absence of large.

4. I found this a struggle and was quite surprised to see all green squares. An awful lot went in unparsed so I have made use of the blog today. Only BRITISH, WILDEBEEST (COD) and STORM went in on a poor first pass. NHO ROTTEN ROW although my office is just off Hyde Park. TWO-FISTED was somewhere in my memory and sounded plausible.

   I solved 1a as a straight definition so will be keeping an eye on the comments for a bit of enlightenment on how the clue was intended.

   Thanks blogger and setter

5. 26:03
   I made rather heavy weather of some of the easier clues so it took a while to gain a foothold. I gradually worked my way through with all but SST parsed.

   A bit of a step up from the last couple of days but nothing to scare the horses.

   Thanks to both.

6. 53 minutes with LOI PEELER. I liked POTSHOT but COD to TIPSTER. I doubt I’d have got that though without having done a bit of business in LA, not available to most British solvers. I’ve no better explanation for SCAT than Jack’s but it’s messy. I always associate two-fisted with Rocky Marciano after he beat our brave contender Don Cockell, a fight I nagged my Dad to get me up for to listen to on the radio. A tough puzzle. Oh, and shoot me if I ever say PSST.

7. 57:19. I enjoyed working away at this one, but I was very slow, with the northwest quadrant the last to fall. I never did quite figure out PSST or TIPSTER and I missed the anagram for WAGON TRAIN having ON TRAIN from the wordplay which forced me to assume that there is a nation that abbreviates to WAG. I liked ODDISH and PEELER

8. Finished in about half an hour with SCAT and MARATHONER unparsed so thanks for those. Didn’t like the Americanisms, of course.
   A minor typo in 3 down: TWISTED has OF inserted.

9. 17:18. Several unknowns held me up, including that Y is spelt Wye, BONNE for a maid, SST for SuperSonic Transport and what TWO-FISTED meant. I failed to parse PEELER my LOI after an alphabet trawl, although I should have realised that beat reference. I liked the Tories pretending to be sober and the second rate pudding. Thanks Pip and setter.

10. 13:43. Submitted with some trepidation with ENNOBLE not fully parsed (didn’t know the French).

    Thanks setter and Pip.

    1. Impressive!

11. That was made easier by having recently seen PSST clued in much the same way, but more difficult by interpreting 23a as COPPER – same idea as PEELER, of course, but I suppose that it is a long time since people had a kitchen copper.

12. Just under half an hour.

    – Not familiar with the SST abbreviation, but PSST had to be right
    – Hadn’t heard of TWO-FISTED, but worked it out once I’d stopped trying to make an anagram of ‘outside of’
    – Didn’t know bonne as a housemaid for ENNOBLE
    – Thought 19d might have a double containment, with ‘lta’ (T=time in LA) inside tier=bank, until I thought of TIPSTER

    Thanks piquet and setter.

    FOI Tuck
    LOI Toiletries
    COD Peeler

13. 11:56. Nicely tricky one. DNK SST, TWO-FISTED, that ROTTEN ROW was associated with riding, WYE=Y.

14. Can never see 17a without thinking of this. (It’s The Big Yin, so be prepared for a bit of language.)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBInfo-Nk-8

    1. 😁

15. DNF. Threw the towel in on 45 mins with TWO-FISTED and PSST missing. The former did occur to me but failed to parse and was unlikely ever to suss the latter.
    Also looked up whether ROTTEN ROW was a real thing so would not have submitted anyway.
    Very slow to get started and to work out the easy WAGON TRAIN. Not in my hitting zone this one but no complaints. Thanks both.

16. I found this really difficult, slumping over the line after close to 30 minutes. The two crossing pairs of PEELER/ROTTEN ROW and TWO-FISTED/PSST were responsible for a lot of that. In each pair was an answer I didn’t know, and another I wasn’t quite convinced by, plus I sent myself down some unfruitful rabbit-holes, but I eventually got them out.

    Thanks both.

17. 10a He was Frans Hals, not Franz.
    14a Psst, biffed, never noticed the supersonic SST bit.
    3d NHO Two Fisted in that sense. Twisted needs Of to be added (as Jeffrey said above). Not biffed as the def eluded me but not much would fit.
    6d Ennoble, surprised Bonne is a nursemaid, thought it was housemaid, but I was wrong.
    16d Rotten row half parsed; I saw the WORN bit but missed the rotation.
    19d Tipster, oh, PST Pacific time. DOH!
    Thanks piquet (I needed you) & setter.

    1. I only knew « bonne » from the rooms on the top floor of the grander residences in Paris which are known as « Chambres de bonnes » which can be either housemaids or nursemaids.

18. 24’01”, pleased to finish accurately. No idea re the parsing of PSST.

    Thanks pip and setter.

19. Also NHO SST

    1. It crops up frequently in the New York Times puzzle but I don’t think I’ve ever seen it in a UK one before – other than a Mephisto from a couple of weeks ago.

       1. Was it you that has won the Feb. Club monthly? If so, congratulations!
          Try not to let it change your life 🙂

          1. Hi Jerry, it was indeed me so thanks for the congratulations. I also won £250 on the Premium Bonds so it was looking like a lucky week – until I got a £650 repair bill for my car. Even so, there’s still a bit of a thrill to be had in opening an unexpected letter to be told that you’ve won something. Hope all’s well.

    2. Jack – years ago in the 70s when the ill-fated Concorde first sought landing permission at JFK airport in NY a group on Long Island – afraid of the sonic boom – got together to try to stop it. It called itself the Emergency Coalition to Stop the SST. Informed opinion (including me I’m sorry to add) looked upon them as ignorant Nimbys but it turned out they were right even if it was for the wrong reasons. That’s how I know SST.

20. 42 two mins and pretty enjoyable. PSST unparsed and only got LOI PEELER once I saw the reference to beat.

    I liked IDIOT-PROOF AND ROTTEN ROW. Way back in the fifties I was photographed, age three, with a family friend, James, on a horse in Rotten Row which appeared on the front page of Tatler. My only claim to fame unless you count my brilliant winemaking, of course, but you’ll have to take my word for it!

    Thanks Pip and setter.

21. I thought WASH was weak, with ‘wash’ being a poor synonym for ‘flush’ , and I didn’t know ROTTEN ROW. Failed on both of those, also didn’t get PEELER or TIPSTER and didn’t parse PSST or ENNOBLE (didn’t know either SST or BONNE, which is surely never actually used in English). Fun and educational though all the same.

22. 23:33

    I found this heavy going and can’t say I enjoyed it. I biffed a fair bit. MARATHONER was a new word for me despite being one. I I had the same MER about HALS. I took SCAT to be S + CAT and I needed PIP to explain SST.
    I did like PEELER, TOILETRIES and SOBRIETY

    Thanks to Pip and the setter.

23. I found this a lot tougher than our esteemed blogger. PEELER/ROTTEN ROW, TOILETRIES, TESTY/PUTRESCENT all held me up, but the main sticking points were SCAT/PSST/TWO FISTED. I wasn’t sure of the parsing of SCAT, had NHO SST, so was unsure of that and only spotted the parsing of LOI, TWO-FISTED, after hoping SCAT and PSST were correct, and typing it in. Surprised to get an all green grid. 39:36. Thanks setter and Pip.

24. My recorded time of 22.42 includes a couple of interruptions, though there was also plenty of bemused thinking time to include too. So SCAT took awhile: I think it’s actually quite a decent &lit on the S/jazzman parsing. TWO FISTED I resisted until I couldn’t see anything else, entered it and then saw the parsing. I still ignored (as does Chambers) the American connection. TIPSTER resisted because I couldn’t get the LA reference, until light dawned a metaphorical 7 hours after GMT. PEELER was very clever, and I liked the TOILE TRIES. I’m not convinced MARATHONER should exist if it does.
    An enjoyable, teasing challenge.

    1. In these parts Z I’ve only ever heard the term TWO+FISTED with the word drinker so tough guy didn’t immediately ring a bell. As for MARATHONER – tried that out on husband who ran several and he said expletive deleted. It’s runner, that’s all.

       1. Always good to have one’s instincts confirmed!

25. 14:34 Nice puzzle. I think the Route du Roi is a classic bit of folk etymology, as there were Rotten Rows all over the UK, and I’m not sure why a French name would have been used in the late 17th century. COD to BREXIT for the poignancy.

26. Wasn’t mad about PSST or WASH, but hey. Like ROTTEN ROW.

27. 21 – I thought this was a fab puzzle which was hard to get a toehold in. TWO-FISTED was unknown and I wrestled with trying to derive it from “outside of” before moving on with a shrug.

28. 35 mins.
    Tricky but fun.
    Thanks, p.

29. Too hard for me, slogged it out in just under the hour at 58.23. NHO of Hals or PST or SST, dunno how IF got into TWO-FISTED, or what that even means, a lot of clever clues and just pleased to finish. Surprised by the many speedy times including Nelson’s, thanks btw.

    From Narrow Way:
    Ever since the BRITISH burned the White House down
    There’s a bleeding wound in the heart of town
    I saw you drinking from an empty cup
    I saw you buried and I saw you dug up
    It’s a long road, it’s a long and narrow way…

30. Several unknowns which I looked up to be sure of them and what things like SST meant. Not all that easy but I just about managed to get there, with a little help. Don’t see the American-ness of TWO-FISTED, but missed the clever construction, as I did with the rotte of ROTTEN ROW. Lots of setters wouldn’t indicate that only one l is omitted in halls, although in my opinion they should and many have rightly pointed out the setter’s slackness. But so many good clues that he/she is excused. 53 minutes.

31. I enjoyed this one. My LOI was PEELER and was the only one I didn’t parse. I was wondering if a PEELER was to do with ringing (beating?) bells. Disappointed I didn’t get to the police slang. COD was ROTTEN ROW for me. Loved it. I used to regularly run or ride my bike along it or alongside it, so knew it was for horses so it came straight to mind when I had the second R.

    I had heard “Rue de roi” (or Route) as the explanation previously but, like Stavrolex says, above, I have read that there are a lot of Rotten Rows around so the explanation seems unlikely.

32. 33:35

    A few unconvincing clues today – NHO TWO-FISTED for tough American – saw the parsing but don’t understand the definition; NHO supersonic transport abbreviated to SST (got the supersonic part); WASH was not up to scratch at all. On the other hand, there were some decent clues for ODDISH, TUCK, PEELER, ROTTEN ROW and OILY.

    Thanks P and setter

33. I found this one a little strange, but biffed my way through it. I never saw the parsings for marathoner, two-fisted, sobriety, and semolina, but they weren’t really needed. I was surprised to see PST, but US time zones might start to appear now that the ice has been broken; I would think EST would be the most useful.

    Time: 28:15

34. 3d – I think should be TWISTED (corrupted) has OF (not IF) inserted.

    1. sorry, fat finger typo, corrected. P

35. Not a clue, first time in ages I’ve given up with 6 or 7 to go. I’ve finished much “harder” (per SNITCH) puzzles but wavelength is a curious thing – I had no idea what the setter was driving at, or just couldn’t pull the synonyms required from my mind – or didn’t know them.

    DNF

    1. Your thoughts are mine also. Didn’t get on the wavelength today, and finished several clues short.

36. 6m 50s with a few answers not entirely certain. I smiled at 14a, as I solved sitting in Aerospace Bristol, next to the last Concorde that ever flew.

37. We are reasonably new to 15×15 having finally found our feet (even if they plod slowly) in QC world.
    Here we ‘check’ a lot (as we did, though no longer do, in the QC).
    Yesterday we were delighted with 15 x15 effort.
    Today very slow.
    NHO TUCK
    Biffed SEMOLINA then daunted by the parsing.
    Happy to have completed over half within 50 or so minutes before revealing.
    We started this way with QC. Hope it works with this, too.
    Thank you Setter, Blogger and all who contribute. Invaluable and encouraging – and vital.

    1. A cheeky check is definitely the way to maximise your time, rather than staring at a few tough clues. I used it today.

    2. The 15 x 15 relies a lot more on cultural knowledge, much of it rather old-fashioned. I would associate a tuck box with Billy Bunter – how long ago was that? As a US solver, I’d be in trouble if these puzzles were full of references to contemporary UK culture.

    3. Keep going. If you can do half you can definitely do it all.

       I’m very much of the opinion that when you’re still learning (do we ever stop?) a check word, a glance in the dictionary and the occasional reveal is more fruitful than staring at a some blank squares going “what could you be?”

38. One of those ‘wavelength’ things for me – I’m usually nothing like as quick as many on here, but this one done and dusted in 21:15. DNK BONNE, SST or TWO-FISTED, but they didn’t cause a problem. MARATHONER also took a while ;-). Nice crossword.

39. I was pleased, not to say surprised to finish with all correct in 54.04. Surprised because I couldn’t parse my last two in PSST and TWO FISTED, and I normally find that because I fail to parse something they are invariably wrong. Although I thought of ROTTEN ROW relatively quickly, it took me some time to parse it, but I got there in the end.

40. 43:01
    Last two in were TWO FISTED (NHO) and PEELER (obvious with hindsight, but almost impossible to see with foresight).
    SCAT went straight in, since my meagre knowledge of jazz terminology included CAT and SCAT, whilst my ignorance prevented the doubts of the better informed as to whether these could apply specifically to Louis Armstrong.

    Thanks piquet and setter

41. Not too bad, just a few missing in the NE.
    NHO BONNE, which was a shame as I saw how the clue would work. And missed the anagram for SOBRIETY. With those I probably could have finished.

    Several I didn’t parse such as MARATHONER (even though Marat is currently starring in The Rest is History podcasts).

    COD WASH

42. 31.40 . Very lucky with two fisted. For ages I thought the answer was an anagram of outside of but eventually decided the crosser was psst which meant two Ts and bingo.

    COD to Hals.

43. I got home in 22 mins, but with a lot of unparsed biffing. NHO TWO-FISTED, guessed SST for Concorde, had forgotten all about MARAT, know less than nothing about horses or the ‘sport of kings’ and I suspect here I’ve missed a few more cases of personal ignorance. So not satisfying overall, sadly. But thanks to our setter for a noble effort at entertaining me and to our blogger and other contributors for all the explanations. FWIW, I had a hopeless failure with The Grauniad today. So it’s almost certainly down to me.

44. 37 mins for me with the only unknown being that I didn’t really know what TWO-FISTED meant, but it seemed plausible that in the US it means tough, although I have lived here for decades and never heard anyone use the phrase. I filled 1A SCAT in immediately since I know people involved in jazz are called cats, at least in crossword land, and I know what style of singing SCAT is. I just took Louis Armstrong to be a random jazz musician. I didn’t have any problem with WASH, I knew ROTTEN ROW, and generally had a steady solve.

45. I enjoy reading all the comments, having only recently found this website, although I’ve been successfully completing the puzzle most days for about 4 years. However, I find it sticks in my craw when the commentators brag about their completion time. It reminds me of all the big heads I sat too close to in my grammar school classroom. Is it really necessary to know finishing times?

    1. As a fully paid up member of the Slow Solvers Club I rather like seeing comments like; ‘I really struggled with this and only managed a miserable 8:50’ after I have laboured over the problem for a full hour or more. It makes me think how much more satisfaction I must get from a successful solve than those poor souls for whom this is such a fleeting diversion ;).

    2. Couldn’t agree more with the previous comment. Can the experts amongst us please tone down their achievements ( and stop using the expression relating to horses and scaring).

       1. To be clear, I genuinely like to see how well people have done. I wouldn’t change a thing about this excellent blog.

    3. Short answer is that the blog was set up specifically so folks could compare times. Hence the name. I think for lots of people they like to see how they do against solvers of similar ability. Others don’t care about times and both are fine.

    4. The blog was originally set up (in 2006!) for exactly that purpose. Most of the earliest bloggers and commenters were elite solvers who competed in the Times solving Championships. This is our heritage, and this is what we do.

       Over at Fifteensquared, they have a different ethos. If you post your time, they’ll kick you out.

    5. I only started the QC three years ago and always made a point of posting all my times – especially the slow ones (e.g. DNF after 2hr30) of which there were many and still are as today’s 40min disaster over there shows. I suspect if more slow solvers did that, it would feel less bothersome.

       I’d add that the QUITCH picks up my time from the blog – so if I stop posting it, I won’t be contributing to its indication of difficulty.

46. DNF in 30

    Two letters short – the F and S in FISTED. Have been caught out by the “outside of” thing before and it didn’t stick so had no idea how the parsing worked, nor knew the word. Otherwise knew most of the GK – co-incidentally was reading about the French Revolution the other day and was in the Hals museum in Haarlem in Jan. Didnt know SST but assumed it had to be something along those lines. Ditto BONNE.

    I quite like these ones and no complaints about the one I didn’t get

    Thanks setter and nice time/blog Pip

47. I have really struggled this week so far. My total time for three quicks and three 15×15 is 2 hours 37 mins. That was my best London Marathon time; but never, ever was I a marathoner.

48. 1hr02 but had to correct PUTRESCENT. Thought that was the word but POT=plant because I assume I know less. Real grind down in the SE where I have heard of ROTTEN-ROW once before but couldn’t remember it and didn’t really know what was going on with the clue. TUCK obvious now but I haven’t been to school in over 35yrs. Couldn’t parse TWO-FISTED because I didn’t know what it means or ENNOBLE as NHO the maid

49. Oh dear, 1 hour seven minutes, albeit following a tough day at work and a fair amount of wine. All parsed, more or less, with some guessing involved in the abbreviations in 14 and 19.

50. Confused (anagram) OUTSIDE OF gives FOO SUITED – a plausible solution to 3d but renders 1 a & 11a impossible.

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