Times 28983 – Baroque and roll.

53 comments on “Times 28983 – Baroque and roll.”

1. 8:49. I found no major holdups today, finishing with a hesitant THEORBO, having assumed that to be the answer early on but waiting for checkers to confirm. I thought it was a new word to me, but I see it has appeared before – last time the clue was not quite so helpful and I managed to come up with THEBROO.

   It was a nice coincidence to see Bude get referenced today – I will be going there for the first time tomorrow.

   1. That’s funny, I’m going down there a week tomorrow – enjoy!

      1. My son and his hyperactive daughters going down there today. I apologise in advance…

         1. Lol

2. 34 minutes with TERTIARY as my LOI. TUVALU was unknown and arrived at via wordplay.

   I knew THEORBO and what it is, but had a MER whilst solving at the definition with reference to Baroque music as I’d have associated it more with the Renaissance or Elizabethan eras. However a glance at Wiki has put me right as it says it became particularly associated with the continuo section of the Baroque orchestra. I’d have to add that I never came across one being used in that context in a concert environment and if it was played on any of my many recordings of Baroque music I never noticed.

3. Not particularly hard. Did East side fully then later the West side. Solving was broken up because of side effects of an anti viral I am taken because of COVID. Early on I was shaking all over and feeling very second hand. Then I also got diarrhoea which meant I spent a lot of time away from solving. Don’t really know my time.
   FOI WORSHIP NHO THEORBO BUT easy to get from the wordplay.
   LOI TERTIARY
   Thanks Piquet for the parsing

4. 29:24

   FOI: TELEPATH
   LOI: UPSTREAM

   THEORBO was not known but constructed.

   Thank you to piquet and the setter.

5. Much have I traveled in the realms of gold
   And many goodly states and kingdoms seen;
   Round many Western islands have I been
   Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold.
   (On first looking into Chapman’s Homer, Keats)

   After 30 mins mis-brekker, I just needed a couple to decide how to construct the lute.
   My MER was whether ‘nearer the mountains’ is a fair definition for Upstream. On balance, after deep reflection and contemplation of streams I have known (with regard to their proximity to mountains), I think not.
   Ta setter and Pip.

   1. One if my favourite short poems.

6. 13:43
   Biffs abounding, some (like AMPLITUDE) never parsed (DNK BUDE), IN SYNC parsed after reading the clue. I knew THEORBO from here, may have known TUVALU from somewhere, but the clue (with the checkers) was helpful. Something of a Myrtilusian MER, but didn’t give it much thought.

7. 31.01, quietly chuffed at being able to figure out THEORBO. I lost count of the number of times variations on the theme of insert appeared in piquet’s blog, but it was plenty. I got most of this in less than 20 but UPSTREAM and the entire NW corner held out for another 10. Good puzzle, thanks both.

   From Talkin’ New York:
   So one morning when the sun was warm I rambled out of New York town
   Pulled my cap down over my eyes and headed out for WESTERN skies
   So long, New York
   Howdy, East Orange

8. 22:43

   Nothing unknown apart from THEORBO however the wordplay was very clear. No major hold-ups either, answers arriving in a regular fashion throughout the solve. Last four in were all in the SE corner: UNDERARM, UPSTREAM, WORSHIP and WESTERN in that order.

   Thanks P and setter

9. 17:39
   Nothing to scare the horses with most of the hold-ups purely of my own making.

   THEORBO was the only unknown, and the cluing on that one was kind.

   Thanks to both.

10. 19:36 with LOI TUVALU
    NHO a theorbo but the clue was pretty clear
    Tuvalu I have vaguely heard of, no idea where it is though (apart from the Pacific obvs)
    Thanks blogger and setter

11. 41 minutes with LOI THEORBO. Water usually flows with gravity, I guess, apart from when the moon takes an interest, but surely the high ground doesn’t have to be mountain-high? It hardly ever is in England. COD to REFRESHER COURSE. I could do with one for my Physics. Quite tricky for me. Thank you Pip and setter.

12. 7:31. Another no-problems solve. I had all the knowledge including the obscure musical instrument, which has come up before.
    You might argue that 17dn needs a question mark, since not all streams flow from mountains, but this seems a excessively purist to me. Really what would it add? The meaning is perfectly clear.

13. 11:50, no real hold-ups, THEORBO taken on trust.

    Thanks both.

14. No time as too many interruptions, but around my standard time of 40 mins I would guess. Didn’t help myself by banging in a clumsy ARABIA which held up the NE for some time. Once I saw the error, the rest went in quickly.

    I got the two long clues early, which helped. THEORBO obviously unknown but as others, worked out easily enough.

    Thanks pip and setter.

15. Just under 20 minutes. INDIAN ROPE-TRICK was the only unknown, but it came together bit by bit: the trick, then the rope, then writing out the remaining letters of the anagrist to get Indian.

    No problems with THEORBO; can’t recall seeing TELEPATH as a noun before but it makes perfect sense and I eventually parsed it after I wrote it in; and dimly remembered that you can CODDLE eggs.

    Thanks piquet and setter.

    FOI Ruing
    LOI Tertiary
    COD Theorbo

16. INDIAN ROPE TRICK very quickly in, remembered from boyhood stories. Nho THEORBO, went in on trust. No other issues.

    15’02”, thanks pip and setter.

17. I’m not sure I follow the explanation for THEORBO here, “THEORBO – ‘on the contrary’ means ‘The’ hosts ‘globe’, so THE ORB, add O for ring”.

    is it not the contrary of The Globe hosts ring (which would be THE O ORB), the contrary is The ring hosts globe, THE ORB O? Sorry if that is what you are saying but it is unclear at least to me 🤣

    1. I was about to point out to Pip that his explanation of THEORBO isn’t quite right. The contrary of globe hosting the ring is the ring (THE O) hosting GLOBE (ORB). Pip’s parsing of THE hosting GLOBE + O would give you THORBEO or TORBHEO.

    2. That is what I was trying to say, yes, but I agree it could have been better said. Once you see ORB for globe, and know the word, the construction mechanism sort of got treated as obvious.

18. 46:08
    LOI THEORBO. Really doesn’t look like a word. Played with “earth” for something like “theatro”

    DNK Cole=cabbage, and yet again failed with tum=corporation ( I really dislike this device)

    COD INDIAN ROPE TRICK

    1. Coleslaw? Cabbage salad.

19. 10:49

    Pretty straightforward, the instrument had to be what it was.

    As Pip points out TUVALU is one of those countries that seems to come up regularly as a pointless answer on Pointless (not that I watch it much). It’s also one of a handful of countries with the “union jack” in its flag.

20. THEORBO was a write-in for me. As noted above, it is a baroque instrument, but really from the first half of the Baroque. It only survived in the second half in the hands of specialists like Robert de Visee. Jack doesn’t remember hearing it used as a continuo instrument, but that’s possibly because it’s very quiet! Or, more likely, it’s because basso continuo parts weren’t fully written out, and the performer was expected to improvise, and there weren’t – or aren’t – many musicians with the knowledge and skill to be able to do this. (Though it is making a bit of a comeback in this context, with players like Kristina Watt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-wvxy121mk&list=RDQ-wvxy121mk&start_radio=1&t=1800s

21. About 35′ having initally assumed “hot video” was anagram fodder and “knowing what you’re thinking” referred to something naughty. In other words I fell for it…

    NHO THEORBO but clueing and crossers made it obvious. Other than that fairly straightforward and probably should have been faster, though not by much!

    Thanks Piquet and setter

22. Bude is a pleasant spot, only just over the border from Devon, on the North coast. It has what the Times called perhaps the prettiest cricket pitch in the country featured in a photo, yesterday I think.
    For those of you not accustomed to Rugby Limericks:

    There was a young lady of Bude
    Who danced on the stage in the nude
    One night from the front
    A man shouted c***
    Right out loud, just like that, bloody rude.

    So funny that even my Mum and my wife forgave me the C word when I sang it.

    1. A variant on the version I knew, which was slightly ruder… “a man down the front, shouted “I s**ll c***. …” “There was a young lady from Leeds…” and so on until the coach stopped.
       I’ll get me coat.

23. I’m not sure I can follow that!

24. I’m loving these click-and-connect clues. Even produced THEORBO and TUVALU.

    Thanks setter and P

25. 26:51

    A very satisfying solve having fallen for every misdirection.
    NW held out for a long time, with LOI PAGEANTRY after the instrument stopped me looking for an anagram of HOT VIDEO.

    Thanks all.

26. 23 mins. My attempt at preempting the answer by putting in CARD TRICK held me up somewhat, otherwise a nice steady solve.

27. 14:05 – might have been faster not struggling with an iphone, but no grumbles about the puzzle itself, which was unusually straightforward.

28. 31.13 but almost messed up cohort by putting in cohere . Not very clever. Not sure if I would have got tertiary without reading Mandelson’s piece on further education in today’s time.

    Good puzzle thanks setter and blogger.

29. 27 minutes. I’d heard of THEORBO but found EPISCOPAL and my LOI TERTIARY quite difficult to work out. I agree about TUVALU being a questionable ‘holiday spot’.

30. I knew a different version of the Bude limerick, about the vicar slapping a bottom. Although it seemed quite OK to a small boy in the 1950s, it nowadays would be looked on as more risqué than the c*** version. I think.

    39 minutes, no particular problems, just general slowness. Tuvalu looks from Google to be a miserable place and I have no wish to go there. Apparently it won’t last long before being submerged, so the Pointless people won’t be able to score well with it.

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