Times 29217 – rock and rock and roll.

69 comments on “Times 29217 – rock and rock and roll.”

1. 40 minutes with several not fully parsed as I stopped the clock, but I think I have them all now.

   Like Pip, I was baffled by EASTER and wondered if ‘clip’ might be some sort of wind. The answer came when I referred to Chambers Crossword Dictionary where the entry for ‘clip’ begins, tail deletion indicator. So ‘Clip from one direction’ = EASTER{n}.

   At 7ac I would class ‘What may go with nail’ as a cryptic hint rather than a second definition because ‘biter’ and the tooth in ‘tooth and nail’ are the same thing.

   At 23ac ‘boring’ can be a noun meaning ‘something that’s been bored’ to correspond with WELL. It’s in Collins.

   Surely TARZAN hung around in the jungle rather than woods?

   I was not aware until today that GREAT SCOTT required an extra T. Its origin is in doubt, but a leading theory is a reference to General Winfield Scott, a prominent American military figure who stood tall at 6’5”. Another idea is it’s a minced oath from ‘Great God!’ or ‘Great Satan!’.

   NHO Smoke on the Water (of course) or NEW SPAIN.

   1. I was intrigued so went to my usual source of authoritative etymology, World wide Words, which says: https://www.worldwidewords.org/qa-gre4.html
      .. so Gen. Scott, it most likely is

   2. Regarding 4d I parsed it (probably wrongly) as a clipping from “onE ASTERn” where astern is substituted for Direction. Oh well, I got the right answer.

2. 6:41. My sixth fastest time as recorded by the SNITCH, slowed slightly at the end by GREAT SCOTT and JOSE which I thought had pushed my time out further. I liked SMOKE ON THE WATER, and thought the definition very well disguised given that I had S___E ON THE WATER and still wasn’t sure of the answer at first. I owned it as a charity single by Rock Aid Armenia.

3. Fastest ever around 25 minutes. Knew them all.
   Thanks P. Needed parsing for some.

4. Aaaargghh – that riff in my head! Either that was great misdirection, or I was being particularly dozy today – because my LOI was 5d. Don’t even have a decent excuse, because big bruv bought a copy of Made in Japan when it was released in ’72 – and he played it endlessly.

   Apart from that, I had no idea how to parse TAHITI, and only realised “key” = ALT (how many more times till I learn?) after completion. 27:22.

5. Very fast, breaks into my top three times.

   The only part of EASTER I can make out is east is a direction otherwise I am just as baffled as the blogger. I left it until last as I sensed a trap.

   The right half flew in but a bit slower on the left. GIFT SHOP took longer than it should have. A failure to lift and seperate.

   I thought SMOKE ON THE WATER fitted there after just a few letters, for a nice ear worm to accompany the solve, but it took me a second sweep to realise it was actually the answer. I will give that COD.

   Guess I will be refreshing the blog today to get that final parse.

   Thanks blogger and setter.

   1. EASTER is an instruction to clip (remove the last letter of, as Jack says) EASTERN, which can mean ‘from the East’ (or ‘from one direction’) in winds.

      1. Thanks Amoeba and Jackkt. A bit too keen with the scrolling today and missed the first comment.

         Seems straightforward in hindsight but as usual I read the clue the wrong way.

6. I assumed TAHITI was the island nation (I’m not sure it really is a nation since it is technically part of France, the nation with the most time zones in the world). Anyway, that made disentangling the wordplay impossible. I would bet that those of you who don’t “know” SMOKE ON THE WATER would recognize the opening few seconds anyway, even if just from elevators or supermarkets of the last five decades, or in a movie, or an ad, or a TV show. However, I was sure early in the solve that “single” was going to be something like “left on the shelf” and it ended up being my LOI.

7. 26 minutes, which would have been halved if not for ALL THERE and SMOKE ON THE WATER. Great Scott! It’s Maynard was more my period than Deep Purple. Enjoyable. Thank you Pip and setter.

   1. Ah, yes, Terry Scott, and that gives us a loose connection to another clue as he played a TARZAN-like character in the film Carry On Up The Jungle (note, not Carry On In The Woods!)

8. 15:30

   No major hold-ups but I dithered in places and was careful not to fall to another typo. I think this is one where the biffers will have a field day.

   Thanks to both.

9. DNK ‘SMOKE …’, and don’t recognize the opening either; my LOI. I also didn’t work out the parsing of EASTER (I thought of ‘astern’ but not ‘eastern’, go figure) or TAHITI. Did finally get NIGH after a long wait for the PDM. I remember a parody, “Barthelme the Scrivener”, where instead of “I would prefer not to”, he said, “No way, Jose”. My COD among some very good clues.

10. A steady solve this, SMOKE ON THE WATER taking a long time to fall, after I eventually realised it was an anagram. (I much prefer ‘Child in Time’).

    Surely EASTER is a cut version of ‘Easterly’, a word which describes a wind, and is an example of ‘from one direction’.

    15’00”, thanks pip and setter

    1. I think there’s a convention (maybe even a rule?) that only one letter is removed from a longer word unless there’s something else in the clue to indicate more. Eastern means in or from the east, which would seem to cover ‘from one direction’.

11. I was on the slow side today apparently at 31:34 held up at the end by old hat and hotchpotch. But no real problems and an enjoyable puzzle.
    Thanks setter and blogger

12. I enjoyed this but there were 12 letter selection/deletion clues. I don’t believe this was our setter of old as it had a fresh feel to it. Thanks all.

13. 8:46. No major problems today but it took me a long time to see ACQUIT at the end for some strange reason.
    SMOKE ON THE WATER will be familiar to anyone who has learned or tried to learn rock guitar. The opening riff is the easiest recognisable thing you can play, so at some point you will do so. My son discovered it a year or two ago.
    GREAT SCOTT (Marty) is forever associated with Doc in Back to the Future for me and I’m sure many of my generation.

    1. If you have to play it in a guitar shop make sure you play it using the economical power chords so that you hardly need to move your fingers. Most beginners play it using barre chords and that will get you thrown out of the shop. Actually, playing it at all will probably get you thrown out of the shop but less violently if you at least play it correctly.

    2. Louie Louie? Or is that too basic to qualify as a riff?

       1. You have to be able to play three chords to do Louie Louie. Much more advanced!

14. About 10 minutes.

    – Like Jack above, hadn’t realised GREAT SCOTT needs two Ts at the end
    – Not sure I could have told you Muscat is in OMAN
    – Parsed NEW SPAIN slightly differently: ‘latest’ = news, then ‘source of irritation’ = pain
    – Needed most of the checkers before I saw which meaning of single the clue for SMOKE ON THE WATER was getting at

    Thanks Jack and setter.

    FOI Opaque
    LOI Tooth
    COD Pinot noir

15. 38:12 LOI HOTCHPOTCH, thought the “another” was going to end with CE.

    Didn’t see the anagram for SMOKE ON THE WATER, thought it must be some kind of cryptic definition.

    Vegetable starting with A, ends with E, eight letters. Has to be AUBERGINE, “I’ll parse that later…” And “house in Russia” had to be DUMA, but no.

    COD No Way, Man!

16. Second DNF in a row for me, after failing to work out the not-particularly-difficult ACQUIT I threw in the towel at about 28 because I had to be somewhere else. Annoying. I thought ‘single’ was a bit of a definitional stretch but I assume SOTW was one. Do you kNOw the WAY to San JOSE is how I got there, I know it’s weird. Thanks piquet.

    From Outlaw Blues:
    I got my dark sunglasses, I got for good luck my black TOOTH
    I got my dark sunglasses, I’m carrying for good luck my black tooth
    Don’t ask me nothing about nothing, I just might tell you the truth

    1. A few months ago, as part of the wordplay, ‘pop song’ gave RIO in a Jumbo (with only the I crossed). It could be worse!

17. Knew the old fogeys would be chuntering about SOTW (even though it’s their era not mine) but I solved it fairly early and quickly with SIGHTING my FOI Failed with 1A, 3D and 13A unsolved in the end.

    1. Who are you calling an old fogey (chunter chunter)?

    2. I was complaining it’s after my time.

18. Quick today, no undue problems. Nice to see the Deep Purple reference. Top class rock music that is.

19. 30:49
    I’m with Funky Claude on 5dn.
    Thanks, p.

20. 45 mins with LOI JOSÉ. Smoke on the water is probably the first riff any young guitar player learns early. Along with Stairway to heaven it’s banned in most guitar shops!

    I liked PINOT NOIR of course, and HOTCHPOTCH was clever too.

    My old nemesis of deletions/inclusions rears its ugly head again, as Sawbill mentions.

    Thanks pip and setter.

    1. Just read this after posting earlier about getting thrown out of guitar shops! (Reply to keriothe above).

21. Several of these went in without full understanding – TAHITI, EASTER and WELL-TO-DO among them. Muscat and OMAN is how I know it, two distinct places, but I let that pass and assumed that times have changed. I once downloaded SMOKE- as a ringtone for a colleague, not as good a riff as mine of course, which is Johnnie B Goode (GREAT SCOTT, it’s Marty McFly!).
    Didn’t really get in the groove with this, and pushed the edge of 25 minutes.

22. Jolly puzzle. Mainly easy but some tricky bits.
    5a Sighting. I misread this and went for reciting, which delayed me a bit.
    9a Great Scott, not an expression I have heard inside the last 50 years, but I dug it up from somewhere.
    12a Tahiti. I was surprised the clue didn’t mention that you need a second island nation. Actually we don’t need any as the answer is an island and the nation is Haiti, coincidentally also half an island.
    15a New Spain, added to Cheating Machine. I think I HHO but not recently.
    24a Acquit. Didn’t think of rock band ACDC and don’t think I’ve ever seen it written down.
    4d Eastern. I parsed it (probably wrongly) as a clipping from “onE ASTERn” where astern is substituted for Direction. Oh well, I got the right answer.
    5d Smoke etc. NHO but not a difficult anagram. I am old enough, the record was from 1972, I was born 1949, but don’t remember Deep Purple. I recognise the tune though; I’ve just heard it on youtube.
    8d Near Thing biffed, thanks for the explanation piquet.
    Thanks piquet & setter.

23. Boring as a noun and the clipped eastern not fantastic, but no problems. Do like Smoke on the Water. It used to be the go-to air guitar song, but apparently 20-odd years ago a Guns’n’Roses song overtook it.
    Liked the unexpected OPAQUE, NHO New Spain – Mexico, northern parts of South America and sundry parts of the Caribbean it seems.
    My companion (one of them) is Toto. Pictured in avatar, in standard position.

24. 17,40 but I carelessly decided “with” was part of the anagrist and put SMOKE IN THE WATER. Eeejit! FOI OPAQUE, LOI NEW SPAIN. Thanks setter and Pip.

25. 19:08

    Worked my way through this without too many difficulties, though there were bits missed. Some thoughts:

    TAHITI – from checkers, didn’t spot HAITI with it’s head moved to the right
    STEEPISH – in flight, I had minor eyebrow raise for definition ‘rather high’ as descents can be STEEPISH as well. However, in terms of a price being high, one might say ‘That’s a bit steep’, so guess ‘rather high’ = STEEPISH
    NHO NEW SPAIN
    EASTER – no I didn’t get the parsing in flight either, very good in retrospect
    SMOKE ON THE WATER – my LOI as I didn’t spot the definition. Like RobR, I think ‘Child In Time’ is better

    COD to JOSE

    Thanks P and setter

26. Lots of good clues here, but I found it all very difficult and took 53 minutes. Never heard of SMOKE ON THE WATER of course and indeed I only discovered how the clue worked when I came here. Thought it was something about a wallflower or a spinster or something like that, but no complaints. After all we had assai recently and a long discussion on that and I bet some were unfamiliar with that. And I didn’t help myself by going down wrong paths: I was sure FELDSPAR began with lead, and that HOTCHPOTCH ended … ce.

    There were so many qs and zs that I expected at least a pangram, possibly a double one. But this was quickly answered by the absence of b.

27. Nice puzzle, but I failed to spot the anagram for 5 dn so a DNF.
    24 ac would have been a subtler clue had it been ‘The Russia House’ (a well-enough known novel) as a red herring, instead of the rather obvious ‘House in Russia’ which surely everybody knows by now is a dacha. One could also argue that the second ‘in Russia’ was otiose.
    Enjoyed it all nonetheless.

28. Incidentally thanks to all those who answered my cris-de-coeur on Monday. I shall now ever be wary of ‘W’ for ‘women’!

29. 18.59

    Roadtrip to Knebworth with my two brothers in the 80’s to see Deep Purple. Their choice not mine (I preferred Abba). Only track I liked was Child in Time. They didn’t play it. Got back to the tent to find it had been run over so the three of us slept in the mini (when they were proper mini). Great memories.

    As for the puzzle that clue was vg as were a few others.

    Thanks all

30. Good puzzle but stymied at the end by the mineral, as I thought box came before the meadow and couldn’t think of the right words for either, since I assumed I wouldn’t have heard of it. Stupid, really.

31. 23:14, 3 errors: QUARTIZITE, TAXI, FELDSPAR (NHO).

    TAXI seems obvious now, but I just couldn’t get it. Convinced myself it was IAMB, which in turn rather squashed my hopes of getting the latter half of QUARTIZITE.

    Similarly got stuck with LEAD in 27a.

32. From The Times Top Ten Riffs Of All Time (25 April 2008):

    1. Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple
    This is the biggest, the simplest and the best. It’s the backbone of heavy metal.

    1. Close, but no cigar. It has to be ‘Black Sabbath’ on the album ‘Black Sabbath’ by – you’ve guessed it – Black Sabbath.

33. SMOKE ON THE WATER is the tune that accompanies Leicester Tigers onto the rugby pitch. Apparently Martin Johnson was a big fan of the song.

34. I solved this pretty well, but I had to use the anagram to get Smoke on the Water, and still couldn’t see the literal. Here in the US, we often say hodgepodge rather than hotchpotch, so that took a minute to figure out. I did like no way Jose and Great Scott. My LOI was acquit, as I am always foxed by Q when it appears.

    Time: 21:32

    1. My wife calls her stew hodgepodge (usually spiced and slightly curried, baked with sliced potato on top). She’s Glaswegian though, and got the name and recipe from her mum who is part French, part Northumbrian. So I checked and it is North American; now I’m confused!

35. A fairly quick 22′ for me. LOI Smoke, great track and thought about it early on, but not seeing the literal and anagram (and actually not realising it was a single!). But my COD goes to JOSE. Thanks Piquet and setter

36. 20:44
    Tough but fun. Couldn’t parse TAHITI and hadn’t heard of QUARTZITE. Although I knew of it I struggled with SMOKE IN THE WATER, making me the weakest moron.

    Thanks to Pip and the setter.

37. 51.51, no errors, this time. Couldn’t work out the TAHITI wordplay. Thought mistakenly it was NOR EASTER shortened, like the wind!? one or two others held me up but about average time for this level of difficulty for me.

38. 36:10 Dramatically slowed towards the end having thought it would be a biff-fest initially. some quite intricate wordplay to work through, and I very much enjoyed the puzzle. thank you both!

39. Just under 30 minutes which is good for this old fogey. Am now going to have to wait until the neighbours are out before digging out my Deep Purple vinyl and warming up the old 150 Watt Hi-Fi . . .

    BTW, does anybody know if the online Times Quick Cryptic on Saturdays actually appears in the paper itself? I tend to buy the actual newspaper on that day but have yet to find it.

    1. No, it doesn’t.

       1. Does it appear on any days in print?

          1. Yes, Monday to Friday.

40. Some biffed and not parsed (TAHITI, EASTER and GIFT SHOP – thanks P) and one sneaky reveal (LOI HOTCHPOTCH), otherwise the grid filled slowly but surely. Smiled when I realised what was going on with SOTW and ALL THERE. Really liked GREAT SCOTT. NHO FIELDSPAR but wordplay kind. Thanks all.

41. 37 minutes. This was mostly OK but the last three – SMOKE ON THE WATER, PERIL and GREAT SCOTT added fifteen minutes at the end. It shouldn’t have taken so long to figure out which words went into the long anagram. It was the only combination that had fifteen letters. Thanks piquet.

42. I liked some definitions (no way man, present location), thought some were a bit shy of the mark (single), and would have liked Tarzan a lot if only he’d swungled in the jungle. Another who stared at the Acquit crossers until I almost quit.

43. We all went down to Montreux on the Lake Geneva shore … Frank Zappa and the Mothers had the best place around … Swiss time was running out, it seemed that we would lose the …. sorry memory ran out. Many a time and oft I have placed the needle on a worn-out copy of Made in Japan, waiting for Richie Blackmore’s bum note half way through. Happy days. Hasten to add that I stopped listening to D.P. in about 1978. But at the time they were wonderful. The song was all about a fire messing up their recording arrangements at Montreux. 14’29 COD JOSE. Great puzzle.
    P.S. It was Ian Gillan who elucidated the EASTER story for me, when he took the lead in Jesus Christ Superstar (the album that preceded the show). Up till then I quite honestly had no idea what Easter was about. The church should have been grateful!

44. Enjoyable, and had to wait until I had all the checkers to get the Deep Purple (I preferred Pink Floyd, and later, The Smiths). I liked the nice hidden at 1ac.
    Thanks Pip and Setter.

45. Took a while to get there, but I made it in 47.14. Two I failed to parse were EASTER and my LOI SMOKE ON THE WATER. I have never heard of the single, and wouldn’t know a Deep Purple number if I heard it. Although I was an avid listener of pop in the sixties, they seem somehow to have bypassed me.

46. I was so held up by ACQUIT, which I so wanted to be EXEUNT (definition being ‘leave’, with ‘ex’ being half of T-Rex, although I knew ARTICHOKE must be right – despite ‘choke’ being an odd synonym for ‘bottle it’) that this took me more than an hour and a quarter. NHO SMOKE etc. Had always assumed GREAT SCOTT was folk etymology, derived from German ‘Gruss Gott’.

47. Two pink squares, having biffed LEADSPAR for the mineral.. It is a mineral, had LEA for meadow, and SPAR for box, but otherwise does not fit the wordplay.
    COD to SMOKE ON THE WATER.

    Thanks Piquet and setter

48. 26.35. Just completed before nodding off. Distinctively tricky in parts- guessed Easter, and NHO New Spain.

    LOIs gift shop and the delightful hotchpotch. Nice to finish a Wednesday without too much fuss, been getting harder in recent times.

49. I came in at 28:41 which is decent for me, with (seemingly shared with many) bafflement over the parsing of EASTER. Thanks for the explanations.

    Loved JOSE.

50. Couldn’t get ACQUIT for some reason, or OPAQUE ( those dratted Qs again!), and had forgotten HOTCHPOTCH. HNHH SMOKE ON THE WATER – though doubtless I’ve heard the opening riff sometime without knowing where it came from – so that held up SIGHTING. Liked JOSE, but GREAT SCOTT is surely archaic by now ( more Bunter’s generation?); that’s my excuse anyway. Generally enjoyed, but the few NHOs were annoying.

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