Times 24548 – Rock n Roll

46 comments on “Times 24548 – Rock n Roll”

1. ….so took 45 minutes instead of the 25 I should have taken. Most of it was fairly easy, although witty clues like ‘pictorial’ and ‘signature tune’ should have warned me.

   My downfall was ‘spreadsheets’, ‘sisyphean’, ‘fraternity’, and that elusive ‘lay off’. The last should not have been difficult, but so many words fit _A_ – either you think of it right away, or you struggle.

2. 16m and quite enjoyable. Good mix of the techno (database, spreadsheets) with the musical (rock ‘n’ roll, signature tune). I took the “pair” in 1ac to be a cricket reference: that’s what it’s called when you get out without scoring in both innings. So, one of a pair is a duck. Probably wrong as usual though.
   1. Certainly right, I’d say!
3. I must have been dozing at the back of the class when the story of Sisyphus was being told, because i’ve never heard of him – and if you’ve never heard of him, you’re not going to get the answer. Unless you resort to the dictionary, like I did. Otherwise an enjoyable 45 minutes. COD to either of the two long across words – didn’t get the bursary reference until I read Uncle Y’s explanation.
4. Started well but then got bogged down in the middle around SPREADSHEETS and NURSERY RYHME. As Yap Suk points out, ‘programs’ is a giveaway, but I was diverted onto STREAM- by ‘beds’. COD to SISYPHEAN among a raft of nice clues. Despite my cricketing background, I missed the reference to a pair in 1ac (I remember Graham Goock starting his Test career with one against the Aussies in ’75), and plumped for DUCE, not knowing ‘duck’ as a fabric.
5. 18 min. with two to solve, going for an under-twenty … stuck on 23 and 25 … get mansion … stuck … helplessly throw in camet for 22 min. and one wrong. I know, I know, it doesn’t matter. One day I’ll grow up.
6. 25 minutes for all but three. I thought DUCK at 1ac but didn’t know the reference so there was no way to be sure. I couldn’t begin to guess SISYPHEAN; again if you don’t know it there’s no way in. I’ve heard the story but didn’t know his name. NURSERY RHYME was a Doh moment having cheated on 15dn and got the last checking letter. I had tried going through the alphabet on the second word but had never considered H as the second letter.

   It’s a shame things went off at the end as I have had a run of bad finishes recently and I really thought my luck had changed this morning.

   For all that it was a very lively and entertaining puzzle.

7. 1ac is definitely cricket: Mct is spot on.
   12 minutes for me today, so a relative canter. Absolutely loved SISYPHEAN as a clue, except that it didn’t help with spelling and where you put the Y, more critical if you’ve not got access to references.
   I thought LAY OFF was a bit iffy: I tried pay off first, but decided it didn’t quite work, with too much of a stretch to make it give up. It might be another of those clues where, in a speed setting, the wrong answer feels right enough.
   1. Seems fine to me as ‘quit’ (‘he needs to lay off the booze’) and ‘release employees’, respectively.
8. As per Vinyl’s problem I impatiently entered PAY OFF for LAY OFF knowing it was wrong. My last in was DUCK thinking it must be cricket, but if so I think it is a weak clue not helped by the obscure fabric. Would somebody provide a fuller explanation of SIGNATURE TUNE?
   Steady solve after slow start but very enjoyable puzzle. Liked NURSERY RHYME but COD to SIESTA on the basis that clues don’t have to be difficult to be good and I loved its economy and elegance.
   1. Number defines, in rather Classic FM terms, the whole as some kind of tune. The subscription bit gives you the “signature”, usually written underneath the text of your letter. Subscription concerts are paid for in advance by a group of like minded contributors and are a more reliable way of having your efforts funded than just waiting for the public to turn up.
      1. I am much obliged for your efforts but I still don’t get it. I know the terms signature tune and subscription concert but the whole thing doesn’t seem to come together. This may well be the consequence of Sainsbury’s currently having a very nice Nottage Hill Shiraz on special offer.
         1. I think subscription is the key; the concert is only there for the surface of the clue, and perhaps to make sure we are in a musical frame of mind when contemplating number. I think subscription is to be taken simply as “to write underneath”, i.e. to provide one’s signature. You do, of course also “sign up for” the concert.
            I like Shiraz, I may try it, even if it does run the risk of slowing down the solving speed!
9. not sure the duck is a cricket reference here, i went with the bingo caller’s two little ducks, 22, and a brace of things tends to be typically birds.
   1. > a brace of things tends to be typically birds.
      Indeed. But why ducks in particular?
      (NB: The shift key is to your left.)
10. devastated – four left after 20mins, just 19d left after 25mins – complete blank. went through alphabet twice for first letter once for third letter, still no joy. once i passed 30 mins my quickest time, i cheated. cod 15d but i agree if you dont know you are unlikely to crack it.
11. First 1a – thought cricket pair and historic fabric (for sailors’ trousers I think). Then steady top left towards bottom right, but last in 14a (I am not very computer savvy, 18a – come in the homophone police, I say nursery with 2 syllables, bursary with 3 – and 21/19 because they are small and in a corner. But only 16 m so happy. Liked 15 – recalled Saki quote about car they called the envy of Sisyphus “because it goes quite nicely uphill if you push it”.
12. The shift key is to your left.
    It’s polite to use it.
    1. I’m kind of hoping someone else does it, so that you have an excuse to write “THE SHIFT KEY…”
       1. THAT’S THE CAPS LOCK.
          Sorry to shout.
13. Under 30 minuts for this one. Lots of nice stuff. SIGNATURE TUNE last in; I’m not sure I get it either, except that you have to sign up for the series. COD to FRATERNITY.
14. “Duct tape” started life as “duck tape” being made from cotton duck with a layer of adhesive applied. It changed name only when our American cousins used it for air-conditioning repairs and ran the words together.
    1. It was in this connection that I nearly put DUCT. Would still have been wrong, though …
    2. You can still buy duck tape. To my eye the split in DIY shops is about 50:50 between duck and duct
15. In what’s becoming a discouragingly familiar pattern I whizzed through almost all of this in 10 minutes and then got completely stuck.
    15dn yielded after about another 10, leading to a Doh! moment (I’ve certainly seen something similar before).
    1ac and 14ac refused to yield though, and whilst I’m kicking myself for 14, 1ac is another of those clues I’d never have got in a million years, never having heard of the fabric. I remember references to players being “on a pair” from test match coverage now but it didn’t occur to me.
    Some nice stuff in here though. I liked 15 very much… once I’d got over myself.
16. 20 mins, last in was DUCK where I wasn’t sure about the fabric. I took it as a ref. to ‘duck and drake’ but now think the cricketing ‘pair’ is what was intended. Also took a while to twig the nursery/bursary device.

    Tom B.

17. 6:23, my quickest for some time, so it can’t have been that taxing. One of those serendipitous puzzles where all first thoughts turned out to be correct, as though one’s seen it before. They don’t come around often. Like many, my COD to SISYPHEAN.
18. Witty and enjoyable puzzle. The clue definition for SISYPHEAN (my COD) at 15dn was brilliantly off-the-wall and quirky, though I can sympathise a little with the purist objection that if you’ve never heard of Sisyphus’s uphill task, then there’s no alternative way into the solution via the wordplay. NURSERY RHYME at 18ac was also clever and unusual, and held me up for a good while
19. This was enjoyable and not too difficult until I came to the Sisyphean spreadsheet. In both clues I was looking for anagrams and charades rather than a CD and a DD. Sisyphean gave the additional problem of is it sysi or sisy? I got spreadsheets by working out that the compound word had to split at 6-6 making sheets favourite for the second part.

    I’m probably being thick but I can’t see base=post at 1D.

    It’s a good job e e cummings is not posting today.

    1. The Philippine poet ric s bastasa was blessed in the same way as e e cummings. Here’s a snatch of one of his, with an Jungian co-incidence quotient of about a million:

       sisyphus my friend
       what rock shall we roll
       tonight
       on this hilltop?

       tell me, what size of rock
       fits my size today,
       i am big and my shoulders are broad
       i have a happy disposition
       i am used to all these
       burdens and they all seem the same to me
       i get used to rolling rocks
       and i like them all
       they all feel the same to me

    2. I also wondered but I think it may be a military thing.
20. Anyone judging the clue for 15d as anything other than completely and utterly unfair must be bonkers in the nut! As richnorth said, if you don’t know the word there is no chance whatsoever of getting it. Cryptic defs are all very well for words in common usage, but to use one here is just absurd.
    About 6 mins to get all but 1a and 15d, desperately threw in DUCK at 1a then did a Onelook for the rubbish SISYPHEAN.
21. Very frustrating! Went great guns on this, filling in most of the grid in a fast (for me!) twenty minutes, leaving 18, 15, 16, 17 and 1ac. Persevered for what felt like an age after (well, half an hour), leaving only 15 which I had to cheat to get, annoyingly because I came across Sisyphus very recently in a crossword, and swore to remember him! COD 18ac for me, for a nice laugh / groan moment.
22. 13:40 .. with a mental rolling of the dice at the last as I’m never sure if it’s Sysiphus or Sisyphus. A little unfair, for sure (and presumably this wouldn’t be used in a competition puzzle) but personally I like to be reminded of this sort of thing from time to time. The Greeks don’t just have a word for it – they invariably seem to have a story for it, too, and I’m very envious of people who can always bring the most pertinent tale to mind (step forward Boris Johnson).

    I’m not sure it’s polite to point out other people’s shortcomings in respect of punctuation. Talking of which, is shortcomings e e’s kid brother?

23. Fun – about 20 mins
24. About 30 minutes, last in SPREADSHEETS/SISYPHEAN. Once I realized the spreadsheet answer, the Sisyphus reference came immediately, but, yes, if you don’t know of him there’s no way to get there. Didn’t know the ‘duck’/cricket reference, but I knew the fabric, so I wasn’t held up for long there. For those who’ve heard of Sisyphus, he’s clearly the COD. Regards.
25. An enjoyable puzzle today. Just over 45 minutes. I liked SPREADSHEETS and NURSERY RHYME! Last in was 15dn, took a while to get away from endless rocks and rolls!
26. 18 min, but with the inevitable onset of brain death on approach to the last fence. Not being able to spot SPREADSHEET is little short of criminal. Like others, not happy with post = base in 1 dn. Indeed, toyed for some time with databank (which predates database with the same meaning, while a database was a single file). Can understand the grumpiness engendered by Sisypheus, but he is something of a crossword cliche by now. Nice puzzle, COD 50:50 NURSERY RHYME:FRATERNITY.
27. 16mins. The only problem I had was trying to remember how to spell sisyphean.. the i and y being hard to pin down. It does not seem unfair to me that the Times should assume some general knowledge of mythology. Damocles, Sisyphus, Fates, Hercules’ labours, Muses, and similar. They used to assume a great deal more knowledge than they do nowadays.

    I agree with duck = half of a cricketing pair, and I think that military base can = military post.

28. apart from sisyphean but you can kind of see it couldnt be anything else!

    HHAH

29. The Myth of Sisyphus isn’t arcane knowledge. Certainly no more than the computer program references. If these crosswords are only compiled within a limited frame they will become the essence of banality. I have had problems with botanical and natural history references. So, I read about them and remembered previous defeats. Ta
30. 6:50 for this. I learned enough about Sisyphus from long-ago bookshop browsing or ownership of the Albert Camus “Myth of Sisyphus”. I’m not certain that this clue would have been avoided in a competition context – I’m sure similar spelling posers have helped me in the past.

    Base=post felt a bit odd but the military explanation seems correct.

31. I thought 1 across was a cricket reference: getting a pair is two ducks
    Also I thought19 down could be Pay Off; it seems to fit just as well as Lay Off which I thought of and rejected
    1. I also had “pay off” – I’m not sure whether you could get acceptance for it as an alternative under competition conditions – there are defs in Collins which are in the same ball park as “give up” but not quite as strong as for “lay off” = to stop doing something.
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