ST 3029 (Hints) – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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ST 3029 (Hints)

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3029 (Hints)

Hints and tips by Senf

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg on this Remembrance Sunday.

Dada continues to be quirky this week and, perhaps, is bordering on 23a – I counted five anagrams, one lurker (reversed), and no homophones – with 30 clues and 17 hints you should be able to get the checkers to enable the solving of the unhinted clues.

Candidates for favourite – 9a, 15a, and 18d.

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

1a Definitely not smart to cross river in wood (6,6)
An informal (2,3) synonymic phrase for definitely not and a synonym of smart containing (to cross) the single letter for river.

10a Reminiscent of the past, inferior terraced houses, west-facing (5)
The reversed lurker (houses, west facing) found in the rest of the clue.

12a Cheese poor, nice crackers (8)
An anagram (crackers) of POOR, NICE gives a term for all Italian cheeses made from sheep’s milk.

15a Making tuneful sound, flashy armour? (8)
Written (3,4) this could be flashy armour.

18a Veterans maintaining good condition in horse (8)
A synonym of veterans, often combined with old, containing (maintaining) the single letter for good.

23a Quite strange sending back party food (6)
The two letter synonym for party reversed (sending back) and a descriptive term for (prepared) food.

26a Cushion trimmed at the front in many cases (5)
A synonym of cushion with the first letter removed (trimmed at the front).

28a Italian team calling for half-time? (12)
The short (informal) form of an Italian (round ball game) team and a synonym of calling.

Down

1d Squeezed between poles, shaft becomes smaller (7)
A type of shaft inserted into (squeezed between) two geographic poles.

3d Showing up late in the evening perhaps, lot of noise generated at first (9)
Late in the evening perhaps (2,3) followed by a lot of noise and the initial letter (at first) of generated – thanks to BD for putting me straight on this one.

5d Rocky mineral broken by fine soldier (8)
An anagram (rocky) of MINERAL containing (broken by) the single letter for fine.

8d Food centre stretched to provide tea (6)
The centre letters of fOOd and a synonym of stretched gives a variety of black tea with the flavor of green.

14d Sergeant doctored substances found in laboratory (8)
An anagram (doctored) of SERGEANT.

17d Flower border: tedious stuff written about that (8)
A type of border with a term for tedious stuff written about it – I did suggest in my preamble that Dada was a little 23a today.

18d Perfect prize scooped by boy (4,2)
An informal synonym of a type of prize contained (scooped) by a type of boy.

22d What’s carried by responsible type on principle (5)
An item that is said to be carried when declaring responsibility followed by ON from the clue.

2d Stop NY baseball team going up (4)
There are two (major league) baseball teams in NY – this is the other, perhaps lesser known, one reversed (going up).


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For Remembrance Sunday:


 

46 comments on “ST 3029 (Hints)

  1. A bit quirky sums up this puzzle. I liked 15a, 18a, 5d and 17d. Many thanks to Senf for the hints and to Dada. I gave it ** for difficulty and *** for enjoyment.

  2. Some awkward surface reading (eg 6D, 10A) in my opinion, reduced some of the fun, but some enjoyable clues nevertheless (15A, 28A, 8D). Leant a new cheese today, but on looking it up I don’t think I will buy any, give me Gouda anyday. Off to the cenotaph…

  3. Greetings from a cold, wet Mallorca. Cracked off most of this before going off to meet some friends of Bill, and the final three slotted into place easily on my return. Funny how the brain continues to play with the puzzles when one thinks one’s switched it off!
    Wasn’t sure about 18a though – don’t get the horse connection. Ready to send off my email entry – it’s proving a hard bug to fix.
    **/****

    1. It’s a disease of horses!
      I agree about the bug problem, I am doing the photo trick and email but all a bit of a bother.

  4. This was a slow burner for me today, but once it got a bit of momentum, it all went in apart from the cheese. From the fodder and the checkers, I can see 24 possible answers!

    Completed in *** time.

    Thanks to the setter and Senf.

  5. Very tricky even for a Sunday Prize. Couple of nice clues inc 8a but also a couple of really poor ones esp 3d but also 18d.
    Satisfying to finish but a slog and little real enjoyment.
    ****/**
    Thx for the hints

  6. Certainly a **** for difficulty for me.
    Learnt a new cheese and a new drink.
    Crafty clueing.
    Many thanks to the setter and to Senf for the review.

  7. My first comment seems to have disappeared, so I’ll just say that I was stuck on 18a. New word. Thanks Dada and Senf.

  8. 3*/3.5*. The bottom half went in easily enough but the top half put up quite a fight with 4d, one of those pesky four letter answers, causing me the most grief.

    12a & 18a were new for me and needed to be looked up. There were a few iffy surfaces today, but overall this was good fun. I’ll pick 15a as my favourite despite the strange surface as it made me laugh out loud .

    Many thanks to Dada and to Senf.

  9. Definitely quirky but that’s what we’ve come to expect on a Sunday – still very enjoyable.
    Thought 23a was perhaps a grid filler and wasn’t bowled over by 24d but no other complaints!

    Podium places went to 15,18,19&28a.

    Thanks to Dada and to Senf for the blog and the glorious rendition of the Evening Hymn from the RAF Central Band – so moving no matter how many times I listen to it.

    1. Oh Jane, I so agree re the Evening Hymn, it’s one of my favourite hymns, so moving and I’ve listened to it more than once!

      1. It certainly makes me pause for thought on Remembrance Sunday.

        Keep trying to figure out the boat on your current avatar – do you have a story to tell?

        1. The only thing I know is that it was Grandpa Andrews boat, called the Zingara, apparently a popular name for boats as it came up often when googled. He sailed around Europe hauling cargo, small shipments of course. He brought back little things for Gran, they’ve been shared out among various children/grandchildren. I’ve got a German clock and an Italian cameo brooch. That’s all I know.

          1. What wonderful mementos to have, Merusa. I hope you’ve written notes about them for those who eventually inherit them from you.

            1. I’ve got some memories cobbled together, mostly about growing up in Jamaica, in my case mostly during the war. Every now and again I’ll indulge in “remember when” with fellow Jamaicans and it’ll trigger a memory, so I’ll add to it.

              There’s an author called Alexandra Fuller, her books about growing up in Africa, I think one of the Rhodesias. “Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness” and “Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight” are the two I particularly remember, were similar to ours, but a little more colourful!

  10. An enjoyable offering today once I managed to get on the right wavelength.

    My COTD was 9a.

    Many thanks to the setter and to Senf for the great hints.

  11. A good brain teaser, had to really struggle to finish it without recourse to the blog. However, I did need the parsing of 22d – I did a bung in but could not see why. Glorious day here in Cambridge and we had a very moving service at 11 am in our village. Thank you all.

  12. Anyone else think that if the first two words of 16d had been swapped, you’d have had a much better surface reading, if not a tabloid headline? :D

      1. 4d: A type of basic building OR synonym for dropped.

        Thanks to Dad and five bandages for a delightful morning of martial bliss.

        Mr and Mrs T

  13. Hard slog for me. 1a very clever, wouldn’t have got it without the excellent hint. Liked 28a. 4d just a bung in for me, don’t really understand it. Thanks to Senf for his excellent hints and setter.

    1. 4d is a double definition of a word that is rapidly becoming an oldie but goodie, if it isn’t already.

  14. Too quirky for me, a difficult puzzle to finish so little enjoyment. If Dada had referenced the New Statesman 18a would have been easy. Thanks to Dada and to Senf for very helpful hints..

  15. Thanks to Dada and to Senf for the hints. A very enjoyable puzzle, but quite tricky. I had 3d wrong, so made 1a impossible. Managed to get 4d from reading the blog. Still stuck on 19a, any help would be welcome. Favourite was 15a. Was 3*/4* for me.

  16. South went in first, then NE, then NW was a long, hard struggle with many visits to the thesaurus and dictionary. I was just about to go to Senf’s hints when it all fell into place. Funny how that happens.
    There was nothing really esoteric here, knew the horse ailment and the cheese, but had a couple of bung ins, 5d for one, missed the anagram.
    I liked a lot here, hard to choose a fave but 15a was pretty amusing, so was 6d.
    Thanks to Dada for the fun and to Senf for unravelling a few for me.

  17. Slow but steady did it but needed confirmation from the hints for 1a and 3D. Thanks for them. Favorite 15a.

  18. 19a held me up for ages too. Altogether a good fun puzzle. Thanks to all. Now rewatching Seven Worlds, one Planet. Fantastic photography. The snake eating the bird still horrified me! Those poor walruses, or should that be walrusae?

  19. **/**. A bit clunky for me (e.g. 3&6d). Liked 9a & 12a for their brevity. Thanks to the setter and Senf.

  20. Yes – definitely a touch on the quirky side – I love a bit of quirk and things that make me laugh.
    Not easy by any means but ‘doable’ – it has taken me quite a long time.
    My last answer was 24d and I couldn’t sort it out for ages – it would take too long to explain why but, basically, I was wrong!
    I missed the anagram indicator in 5d which wasn’t helpful.
    So many good clues including 1 and 9a and 6d. My favourite was either 15a or 6d.
    With thanks to Dada and to Senf.
    Went to London yesterday to celebrate the Elder Lamb’s birthday, which was Bonfire Night, with the rest of the family – they’re all brilliant – we’re very lucky! We came home this afternoon – knackered now and need supper and wine!

    1. I still can’t get 24d … or at least I’ve got a possible answer but can’t understand why, so I expect it’s wrong. I’m probably too late now for anyone to come to my rescue. Enjoyed the rest very much.

  21. Certainly much more enjoyable than yesterday’s. Thanks to Dada, and to Senf for several needed hints. Still didn’t understand the answer to 18a until I read the comments above. And not sure about 17d. But rest fell I to place over lunch, so a good day overall.

  22. Oh dear, cruciverbally speaking this has been for me a very unfriendly weekend. As usual, I found it tricky to get onto Dada’s wavelength and the solve proved to be one long slog which was not helped by numerous flimsy pointers in the clues. However, brief moments of light relief came via such as 1a and 15a. Nevertheless I certainly don’t envy the setter’s task so thanks go to Dada and also of course to Senf.

  23. Finished this over my morning coffee. Glad of a couple of hints. Didn’t help that I was sure the meat xxxxxxxxxxxx but 1d proved me wrong.
    Another damp morning but at least we have not got Canadian snow – yet!

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