ST 3013 (Hints) – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
View closed comments 

ST 3013 (Hints)

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3013 (Hints)

Hints and tips by Senf

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg, from where I understand that there is some fine (not in the meteorological sense) Irish weather forecast for Royal Portrush this afternoon.

Dada benevolently quirky or quirkily benevoent this week – 6 anagrams, one lurker, and no homophones.

Candidates for favourite – 15a, 17a, and 14d.

Don’t forget to follow BD’s instructions in red at the bottom of the hints!

As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, a number of the more difficult clues have been selected and hints provided for them.

Most of the terms used in these hints are explained in the Glossary and examples are available by clicking on the entry under “See also”. Where the hint describes a construct as “usual” this means that more help can be found in The Usual Suspects, which gives a number of the elements commonly used in the wordplay. Another useful page is Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing, which features words with meanings that are not always immediately obvious.

A full review of this puzzle will be published after the closing date for submissions.

Some hints follow:

Across

7a Bully taking battle-axe around head of opponent (7)
A synonym of battle-axe, when unkindly applied to one’s better half, containing (around) the first letter (head) of Opponent.

12a Force isn’t weak (5)
The single letter for force followed by an informal equivalent of isn’t.

15a Typical example ending in Bible, good book (7)
The last letter (ending in) of biblE, the shortened form of a word frequently used as a synonym for good, and a type of book.

17a Gosh, it was meant to be: a Mediterranean island! (7)
A synonym of gosh, the Latin term for it was meant to be, and A from the clue.

20a Choral piece starts from music of the Eighties, tragically (5)
The first letters (starts) from the rest of the words in the clue.

21a Old Scottish landowner putting one article inside another (5)
Place one of the indefinite articles inside a definite article.

24a Bunk or beds I strip (7)
An anagram (bunk) of OR BEDS I.

25a Crossword writer’s job disappearing over the horizon! (7)
A double definition – check the illustration for the second.

Down

1d Keen to get under catch, very anxious (4-6)
A (meteorological) synonym of keen after (to get under) a synonym of catch.

2d Ice ball with hardened coating (6)
A type of ball inserted into (with . . . coating) a synonym of hardened.

5d Morning sickness good in George III’s house (8)
The single letter for good contained by (in) George III’s (royal) house.

6d Divers coming up, one’s a seabird (4)
Some (illustrated) divers reversed (coming up).

7d As is a less stimulating cup defeat, faced in a bad way (13)
An anagram (a bad way) of DEFEAT, FACED IN.

14d Still unsure where to look for helicopter, for example? (2,2,3,3)
One of the options for viewing a helicopter, or any other type of aircraft.

19d Respond to all points covered by extreme characters in anger (6)
All the cardinal points contained (covered) by the outer (extreme) characters of AngeR.

22d Area in church, part perhaps extended (4))
The lurker (part) found in the rest of the clue.


Could new readers please read the Welcome post and the FAQ before posting comments or asking questions about the site.

As this is a Prize crossword, please don’t put any ANSWERS, whether WHOLE, PARTIAL or INCORRECT, or any ALTERNATIVE CLUES in your comment.

Please read these instructions carefully – they are not subject to debate or discussion. Offending comments may be redacted or, in extreme cases, deleted. In all cases the administrator’s decision is final.


Steven Demetre Georgiou, a.k.a. Cat Stevens, a.k.a. Yusuf Islam, 71 today – this was released in late 1966 and reached Number Two in early 1967:

 


 

32 comments on “ST 3013 (Hints)

  1. Enjoyable with NW corner holding out the longest ( due to 10A , unknown to me but not to my wife ! ) .

    My COTD 7D .

    Thanks to all

  2. 3*/4*. This was a most enjoyable puzzle with the NW corner taking me longer than the rest put together.

    I am not too keen on “bunk” as an anagram indicator in 24a, and I’m not sure why “then?” is needed in 20d.

    Other than those two minor points, there was a lot to like here with 5d my favourite and 7d in second place.

    Many thanks to Dada and to Senf.

    1. RD I took the word ‘then’ in 20d as a tongue-in-cheek nod to the second definition – the setter showing his humour. Hope this doesn’t get me sent down.

    2. Yes, bunk is definitely a quirky anagram indicator. I took it to be the shortened formed of bunkum, which is not much better, and that Dada used it to provide some confusion with beds in the clue.

  3. This was quite pleasant and straightforward and weent quite quickly, until I got to the NW corner. Like Rabbit Da ve, I took longer over this than the rest of the puzzle, particularly 2d. So 3* for difficulty and enjoyment today. Thank you to Dada and to Senf for confirming that my answer to 2d was correct (it wouldn’t frighten the horses but it might baffle a waiter). Favourites were 15a, 21aand 7d.

  4. This puzzle fairly fizzed for me – packed with humour eg 8&25a and penny-drop moments eg 2&7d.
    Can’t believe that I’ve never spotted the obvious in 6d before today!

    Impossible to isolate a favourite so I’ll just say thank you very much to Dada for all the fun and many thanks to Senf for the blog.
    Cat Stevens – umm, he really was an unlikely chart topper!

  5. Thoroughly enjoyed this and had no major hold ups. With all the checkers in place I thought 7d had to be what it was but it took me ages to work out why. If I might quote Kath – dim.

    That became my favourite but I also liked a few others, 13a being one of them.

    Many thanks to all.

  6. All came together quite quickly. Great fun and impossible to pick a favourite as I liked every clue! Thanks to Dada and Senf.

  7. A second brew of Un7d required today. I struggled with a wrong island in 17a but the hint showed my faulty parsing. Thanks to Senf. 9d and 21a were faves. 21a was not a tricky clue but reminded me of a trip to Cawdor where the current 21a of that ilk was most entertaining.
    Thanks to Senf and Dada.
    Cat Stevens had/has a wonderful voice.

  8. Good workout with the NW corner giving some problems late on.
    Lots of nice anagrams and a lurker, what more could one ask for :-)
    Thx for the hints although not really needed today and to DADA for the puzzle.
    ***/*** (the 3 star for difficulty was due to 1d and 15a)

  9. A great ST Puzzle today. I was stumped by 15a for a long time until I discovered I had spelled 7d incorrectly (duh)! As for favourites, these are 7a, 17a and 14d.

    Many thanks to all.

  10. A very enjoyable puzzle today and like others on the site it was the NW corner that held out the longest. Puzzles must have been easier on several days this week as I managed to finish four of the seven without help.

    Thanks to Dada and Senf for their part in the pleasure.

  11. Splendid puzzle which needed a bit lateral thinking. 15a was my favourite. Thanks to all.

  12. Was more in tune than usual with Dada this week but did struggle a bit in the NW as per several commentators above. Last to go in was 2d – d’oh – but it probably then became Fav for its surface. 12d stupidly didn’t occur to me. Not too keen on 24a, 1d or 20d. Thanks Dada and Senf.

  13. Another very good crossword this weekend; we are blessed!
    Some excellent clues of which for me 7d was the best. It took a while for the penny to drop I have to admit. From then on everything was fairly straightforward.
    Thanks to Dada, and to Senf for the hints.

  14. Well wasn’t that another absolute cracker from Dada. A puzzle to get you thinking on different wavelengths , humorous & challenging without leaving you baffled. Like most fellow bloggers NW held out the longest to the point where I needed a strong 7d without the beginning!
    3*/4.5*
    Favs 15ac, 13ac & 7d
    Many thanks to Dada & Senf for his review

  15. Another enjoyable (translation: I was able to solve it) puzzle from Dada. I’ve been able to solve two weeks in a row, I must be getting on wavelength. Like others, even a pro like RD, I found the NW to be tricky and needed electronic help to get going again.
    My fave was 9d, remember ******? As a young girl I was given a **** bracelet, the clanking is deafening. In Jamaica we used to have a “quattie” worth 1-1/4d, now defunct.
    Thanks to Dada and to Senf for unravelling a couple for me.

    1. Oh dear, just realised what I’ve done but can’t go back and correct it. Where are you red-pencil police, please save me!

  16. Fine then I got stuck in the NW corner.
    Kept coming back to it but remained thick-headed for quite a long time.
    Pennies eventually dropped
    So, **** and a half for difficulty for me.
    Great challenge, pleased I completed unaided except for experimenting with 10a.
    Many thanks Dada and Senf for the review.

  17. 7d – my anagram indicator was “ in a bad way”

    The “in” seems to be doing double duty.

    1. I wasn’t sure about the anagram indicator. So after going cross-eyed counting up to 13 several times to identify the anagram material I was happy to go for just ‘a bad way.’

  18. It seems a while since I’ve done a Sunday crossword but I didn’t have too much trouble today.
    Very enjoyable.
    It’s too late now to go on at length which must be a first for me.
    My favourite was 7d but, out of loyalty to the most beautiful island, 17a is joint favourite.
    Thanks to Dada and to Senf.

  19. Many thanks to Dada and Senf for the setting and unravelling of today’s wonderful challenge. My biggest difficulty was in trying to forget a ski resort for 14ac and find the correct answer. My greatest joy of the puzzle was listening to that simply gorgeous piece of Bach while I read the comments. It made my evening!

    1. Hear hear for the ‘Komm Jesu Komm’ motet – quite beautiful and I was later led to listen to several more motets on YouTube – thank you Senf.

  20. Woo, the first‘Sunday Telegraph’ cryptic crossword I’ve ever managed to finish by myself without needing to come here for hints! Thanks, Dada.

    And thanks Senf for explaining the couple that I’d got without quite understanding.

    Lots of fun clues. My favourites included 25a, 4d, and 5d, with my top clue being the ‘Plain English’ of 23a.

    (And I’ve a comment on 6d which I’ll try to remember for the full review after the closing date.)

Comments are closed.