Times 27916 – roll roll roll your boat

Author   glhPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic

Time taken: 8:12.  Judging by the other early times, I think I was very much on the setter’s wavelength today, since my time is a bit under my average, but the other early bird are having a tougher go of it.

Some tricky definitions here, I think the wordplay is straightforward.  I tend to do better on puzzles with really clear wordplay.

I wonder if the setter was trying for something here, with multiples of GO and ROLL in the grid.

Away we go…

Blog update: Wow – I don’r think I have ever blogged a puzzle that has neared 100 comments where I didn’t get something outrageously incorrect in the write-up. Between Greek being an offensive or racist term, Greenhouse being obscure slang (I’ll admit, I put it in from wordplay, and before writitng it up looked up both Collins and Chambers which have that a main definition) and the possibility of slab (I solved relief on the first pass so it didn’t enter my mind) there’s a lot of opinoins on this crossword.

Since I am on the East Coast of the USA, and work early on Thursdays, I am usually asleep when most of the comments come in and cannot be an active participant in the conversation, so I add a blog update in my lunch break.

Across
1 Whizz kid‘s very curious message, never opened (2-6)
GO-GETTER – AGOG(very curious) and LETTER(message) both mising the first letter
5 State Senate extremely reluctant (6)
AVERSE – AVER(state) and the outside letters of SenatE
9 Simplicity of sense is a hit (8)
EASINESS – anagram of SENSE,IS,A
10 Born with ancient Greek accent (6)
BROGUE – B(born) and ROGUE – Greek is an old slang term for a rogue
12 Never off for Yule I suspect (3,2,4,4)
NOT ON YOUR LIFE – NOT ON(off) and then an anagram of FOR,YULE
15 Gutted officials cover up US university fails (5)
OMITS – outside letters in OfficialS surrounding MIT(US University)
16 Air foul footwear after short time (3,3,3)
TEA FOR TWO – anagram of FOOTWEAR after T(time)
17 Hard work securing support for backing mass confection (9)
SWEETMEAT – SWEAT(hard work) containing TEE(support) reversed and M(mass)
19 Custom somewhat hard at first (5)
HABIT – A BIT(somewhat) after H(hard)
20 Willing girlfriend coming to game — it’s a start (5,6,2)
READY STEADY GO – READY(willing), STEADY(girlfriend) and the game of GO
22 Aid learner, one cutting the knot? (6)
RELIEF – L(learner) and I(one) inside a REEF knot
23 Impressive flower up for arrangement (8)
POWERFUL – anagram of FLOWER,UP
25 Hamper opinion surrounding request (6)
BASKET – BET(opinion) surrounding ASK(request)
26 Hack back old-fashioned, short frizzy hairdo (8)
REPORTER – RETRO (old fashioned) and PERM(frizzy hairdo) missing the last letter, all reversed
Down
1 Immature group of pupils in cockpit (10)
GREENHOUSE –  GREEN(immature) and HOUSE(group of pupils)
2 Vapid chatter to flag up (3)
GAS – SAG(flag) reversed
3 Occupants in temporary shelters want at heart to be housed (7)
TENANTS – TENTS(temporary shelters) containing the middle letters of wANt
4 Nice to see moderate article embracing acceptable opinion (4,2,3,3)
EASY ON THE EYE – EASY(moderate) and THE(article) containing ON(acceptable) then EYE(judgement, opinion)
6 Initially en route today to block Spanish port, causing complaint (7)
VERTIGO – first letters of En Route Today inside of VIGO(Spanish port)
7 Unfortunately, woman prematurely cancelled bill in bank (11)
REGRETTABLY – the woman is GRETA, missing her last letter, then TAB(bill) inside RELY(bank)
8 Jacob’s missus maybe runs vessel (4)
EWER – EWE(a Jacob is a kind of sheep), then R(runs)
11 Swimming right into animal, getting hit (12)
BREASTSTROKE – R(right) inside BEAST(animal), then STROKE(hit)
13 Tissue of lies to troll about (6-5)
TOILET-ROLLS – anagram of LIES,TO,TROLL
14 Regulator of company books a posh car (10)
CONTROLLER – CO(company), NT(New Testament, books), ROLLER(Rolls Royce, posh car)
18 Swing music introduced by kid on the radio (7)
TRAPEZE – RAP(music?) inside what sounds like TEASE(kid)
19 Notice call to effort (5-2)
HEAVE-HO – double definition, notice meaning firing, or giving the old heave-ho
21 Bed made of mostly turned wood (4)
CRIB – BIRCH(wood), missing the last letter, reversed
24 Thick offender having stumbled in seconds (3)
FAT – second letters of oFfender hAving sTumbled

105 comments on “Times 27916 – roll roll roll your boat”

  1. Three fine times this week so far — but this is the only one that counts for a score!

    A lot of hit and hopes here: AGOG = curious, ROGUE = greek, HOUSE = pupils, GREENHOUSE = cockpit, ROLLER, etc. But everything seemed plausible.

    On the other hand, plenty went in almost from enumeration alone: EASY ON THE EYE, NOT ON YOUR LIFE, READY STEADY GO, etc.

    Thank you for parsing everything for me… some of this was tricky!

    PS. You’re missing the S in EASY.

    Edited at 2021-03-04 01:34 am (UTC)

      1. Initially, for 21d I had SLAB for bed as a shortened reversed form of balsa. Eventually I found relief (22a)
  3. Never finished, because Balsa backwards is Slab, also a kind of a bed, and with the confirmation of ending in a crossing B. Uff.
    I squinted at Breaststroke not matching the gerund or participle form, but send thanks to the setter and ed for “university” instead of “college”
  4. 25 minutes but I just this minute noticed an error at 19dn where I had HEAVE-TO instead of HEAVE-HO. I wasn’t happy with my answer and intended to return to it later, but forgot.

    The rest of it was easy apart from not knowing the Greek / ROGUE thing and wondering what Vincent Youmans and Irving Caesar would have made of their 1924 song ‘Tea for Two’ being described as an AIR!

  5. Like Paul, I put in SLAB, although with some hesitation about SLAB=layer. The L_L_E_ of 22ac forced me to reconsider, but not before some time was wasted. DNK Greek in the required sense–and why, might I ask, are we using words for nationality or ethnicity in a derogatory sense?–, DNK cockpit ditto. Biffed REPORTER; is a PERM frizzy? he asked rhetorically.

    Edited at 2021-03-04 06:56 am (UTC)

      1. I guess it depends on what one thinks is frizzy. To me, it’s close to ODE’s definition, ‘formed of a mass of small, tight curls’. An Afro is frizzy. A perm–not that I’ve ever had one, or could–curls straight hair; it’s short, after all, for ‘permanent wave’, which hardly suggests small tight curls.
  6. Didn’t enjoy that at all. Too many obscure definitions for me. e.g. Greek = rogue.
    I can’t see how you can get BREASTSTROKE from just ‘swimming’. I don’t like ‘hit’ as an anagram indicator and ‘cockpit’ = GREENHOUSE? Where does that come from? If it’s meant to relate to aviation, I worked in aviation for 47 years, mostly in direct contact with planes and I NEVER heard a cockpit referred to as a greenhouse.
    I also didn’t help myself by putting in TWO FOR TEA. No wonder I couldn’t make sense of 11d and 14d for ages. And, thus, no wonder I took well over an hour.
    That forced me to pause the puzzle so I could watch the pre-lunch session in the Test.
    Thanks for explaining the many clues I couldn’t parse, George, but this puzzle hasn’t put me in a good mood for the afternoon session in the Test.
      1. Thanks. it just adds to my feeling that there are too many obscure definitions today.
        In this case, obscure RAF slang reminds me of the Monty Python sketch – “cabbage crates over the briny” etc. “Sorry, Squiffy”. Don’t get your banter!”
          2. The Armstrong and Miller sketches are similar characters but speaking (in posh accents) like obnoxious South London teenagers. Very funny.
          3. I’ve since found out that Armstrong & Miller did do a sketch like that but the one I referred to was definitely by the Pythons.
  7. A DNF in 40 minutes, with another ‘heave-to’ for 19d. Still, first pink square for a while so no complaints.

    Couldn’t parse EASY ON THE EYE and I was unaware of the GREENHOUSE and ‘Greek’ for ROGUE slang. I liked VERTIGO – learnt a new ‘Spanish port’ along the way – and REPORTER.

    Thank to setter and blogger

  8. …And I am sick at heart.

    30 mins pre-brekker, but the last 5 were spent trying to justify Greenhouse.
    I had initially put Greenhorns, thinking they must be cockerels or something. But Sweetmeat killed that idea.
    MERs at the two ‘opinions’ today. I guess they are ok but a bit of a stretch: ‘bet’ and ‘eye’.
    Thanks setter and G.

  9. Despite the SNITCH currently rating yesterday’s and today’s crosswords as being of equal difficulty , today’s took me about half the time of yesterday’s. I was going to say it’s nice to be on the wavelength but then I thought often it’s more satisfying to be off it and have to work harder.
    I finished with an unparsed REPORTER and had a minor panic as I submitted and thought maybe I was meant to get “Afro” into the answer somehow.
    Like George I’m not overkeen on rap but I do like some, particularly the early stuff. Grandmaster Flash anyone?
    1. I am very fond of old-school hip-hop, and 1ac immediately reminded me of something I was listening to over the weekend:

      When I dream of fairytales I think of me and Shelly
      See she’s my type of hype and I can’t stand when brothers tell me
      That I should quit chasin’ and look for something better
      But the smile that she shows makes me a go-getter

      So that’s my current earworm, which I don’t mind at all.

      Edited at 2021-03-04 08:53 am (UTC)

      1. I dislike all the self-aggrandisement in rap/hip hop so humility always stands out. I love I Wish by Skee-Lo.
        1. Self-aggrandisement is quite hard to avoid: I think of it as a stylistic convention. I struggle more with the glorification of violence, sexism and homophobia tbh.
      2. I am curiously impressed by anyone who can quote the actual words of a rap. My granddaughter can do it even with the very fast ones, but I generally fail to recognise the beauty of the poetry, or indeed any of the words except the occasional urgh urgh.
        2. Well I confess I googled those ones to get them right, but there is real poetry in some of it.
      3. I loved Run DMC’s “Walk This Way”, but everything else in that genre seems like shallow plagiarism. The “c” in “crap” is silent — if only the “vocalists” were too !
        1. Walk This Way was originally an Aerosmith song, as I’m sure you knew. The band feature on the Run-DMC version of course but they are far from my favourite hip-hop outfit and I confess I prefer the original. The whole album it comes from (Toys in the Attic, 1975) is great.
          Hip-hop is an incredibly rich, diverse and influential genre. People often use samples as a basis of course but calling that plagiarism is like saying BB King was a plagiarist because he didn’t invent the 8-bar blues.

          Edited at 2021-03-04 03:40 pm (UTC)

  10. Yup, another HEAVE-TO and SLAB, which made me put in LOLLED, god knows why. Shame, as the week was going so well…..
    Thank you G and setter.
  11. 12:55 DNK Greek=ROGUE or cockpit=GREENHOUSE or get EYE for opinion. LOI CRIB when the R for RELIEF helped me find the tree. Like Pootle I managed this a lot faster than yesterday’s. Maybe I’m more alert after my 11 mile walk yesterday.
    1. I’d still be in bed after 11 miles, John. But good to know you’re keeping in shape.
  12. Not exactly eezy peezy but not too hard I thought and the various echoes in the answers seemed to provide helpful suggestions here and there. The couple of slang terms I’d not met before but didn’t need to have done.
  13. Carelessly entered EASY ON THE EYES which became EASY ON THE EYS so a dreaded pink square. Otherwise steady going if a bit slow so I ‘finished’ in about 21 minutes.
  14. 17:10
    Zipped through this pretty quickly, biffing like mad. Thanks george.
  15. Several incompletely parsed or understood — ROGUE, GREENHOUSE, HEAVE-HO, FAT — but all correct in 14′ 31″.

    I agree with Kevin re ‘Greek’ now I know the meaning.

    Thanks george and setter.

    Edited at 2021-03-04 08:50 am (UTC)

  17. 14:55, taken over my average time by have SLAB, which made 22ac difficult. Eventually I decided to question every checking letter, which fortunately led me to RELIEF reasonably quickly.
    Some obscure stuff in here, but more importantly Greek=rogue is outrageously offensive. I don’t know what the setter or editor were thinking.
  18. Mostly easyish, but held up towards the end with GREENHOUSE, SWEETMEAT (which I couldn’t parse properly), REPORTER and LOI BREASTSTROKE.

    Didn’t bother parsing EASY ON THE EYE, and DNK ROGUE as a greek.

  19. ‘Jacobs missus’ refers to Jacob’s favourite wife, Rachel, literally ‘ewe’. Hence EWER.
    1. If that were the setter’s intention then the “maybe” wouldn’t be required.
      1. “Maybe” might still be required, since you have a choice of at least four wives/concubines for Jacob
        1. That’s the wrong way round isn’t it? Rachel, maybe would be an indicated DBE for Jacob’s missus.
    2. Nice spot: I had forgotten that bit of my Hebrew. George is also correct in identifying a Jacob as a kind of sheep, so that works too. I wonder if the setter knew?
  20. 30m and a bit of change today. Started very slowly, with only a few clues done after 20m. But then seemed to hit the wavelength and the rest fell into place. Quite a few I didn’t or couldn’t fully parse, so thank you for the blog. Of course once explained, they seem quite obvious! Thank you, setter, for the entertainment.
  21. I made hard work of this because of some tricky definitions – Greenhouse, Brogue, and Heave-Ho. I liked Vertigo, Jacobs’ missus the willing girlfriend.

    Ready Steady Go on TV used to mean “the weekend starts here”. Now the weekend is undistinguishable from the rest of the week; what they refer to here as “Lundimanche”.

    Thank you setter and blogger.

  22. BIFFS for ROGUE, E on the E, REGRETTABLY and TRAPEZE so thanks for those. Fortunately SLAB never occurred to me. FAT took a while to justify at the end.

    The leaderboard is showing 9 sub-15 times with one or two errors. I wonder what has caught people.

  23. 17.48 so definitely not on the same wavelength as glheard. Couple of biffs saw me home, fat and trapeze. Seemed reasonable enough guesses but nice to see the explanation to remind me of my ineptitude!

    Foi Go Getter. LOI Trapeze. NHO Rogue as being Greek so another good guess there. Lots to like relief, crib and vertigo – after eventually realising that via wasn’t the en route connection.

    My COD nomination is Ewer. Best bah none.

  24. I too thought a greenhorn was a breed of chicken, perhaps a variety of leghorn, but finally twigged. Wiki says greenhouse refers to the type of multi-windowed cockpit you see on Flying Fortresses and Lancasters.
  25. I’m not sure I liked this one either (see yesterday) with its rather extreme old fashioned-ness. Most of it was easy enough, and when I finally twigged GREENHOUSE I remembered my (Biggles?) RAF slang.
    Greek for ROGUE is absurd: can anyone come up with an example of this archaism? As for offence, I see Chambers lists it also as old slang for an Irishman, which may be achieving some sort of double hit.
    The old HEAVE HO is decidedly Woosterish, adding to the dated feel.
    So anyway, just under 20 minutes, with BROGUE entered on fit and definition alone.
    1. See my comment below .. the OED has eight example sentences, dated between 1528 and 1884. So it might be fair to say it is no longer in frequent use.. it sounds a little Heyerish to me, she frequented gaming clubs etc quite a lot, but I don’t remember it from there. I notice that Chambers manages to work Jews in, as well as the Greek and the Irish, so a pretty thorough job..
    2. Beware of Greeks bearing gifts? The implication that the gift bearer is a rogue?
  26. I was held up by two. Fat and Reporter.

    COD: Controller.

    Fat Controller in there. Thomas The Tank Engine reference?

  27. Curious crossword today, definitely a little out of the common run. All solvable but several raised eyebrows, mostly mentioned already..
    I think it most likely that the setter was referring to sheep in 8dn but maybe s/he is patting self on head for having it covered two ways..
    Greek = rogue was new to me and even though I am as thick-skinned as they come it does feel rather out of place in this sensitive age. The meaning is not mentioned at all in Lexico or Collins online; in Chambers it is marked as archaic – but not derogatory or offensive – and in the OED it is none of those, though it does helpfully enlarge on the definition: “A cunning or wily person; a cheat, sharper, esp. one who cheats at cards.” Most curious. I won’t be adding it to my vocab. any time soon
  28. 56:51 so quite a slow slog with many words (as above) feeling precariously unparsed. So, many thanks to the blogger today for much-needed explanation.

    Edited at 2021-03-04 11:26 am (UTC)

  29. Some odd stuff here, to be sure. Various things which had to be what they were, most notably BROGUE, which was “it has to be this and I am clearly short of some important knowledge here”. Seeing the parsing, I think it belongs in a Mephisto (if, indeed, it belongs anywhere)…

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