Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3193 (Hints)
Hints and tips by Senf
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A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg – a very Happy New Year to all and, with a variation on ‘it’s five o’clock somewhere,’ I raised my glass of Glenlivet to everyone a few seconds after 6:00pm my time yesterday evening.
After on-line only last week, back to normal for the first Sunday PP of 2023 – dead tree, old web site, new web site, everywhere else.
For me, and I stress for me, Dada more friendly than he was for most of December but not as friendly he was last week with six anagrams (four partials), two lurkers, and one homophone, all in a slightly asymmetric 30 clues; with 15 hints ‘sprinkled’ throughout the grid you should be able to get the checkers to enable the solving of the unhinted clues.
Candidates for favourite – 1a, 24a, 29a, 4d, 7d, 14d, and 17d.
As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, a number of the more difficult clues have been selected and hints provided for them.
Don’t forget to follow BD’s instructions in RED at the bottom of the hints!
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 Over that one cannot take stock (6,4)
A fixture in a road that only wheeled vehicles can pass over.
9a Yours truly has played clarinet in commercial (10)
The first person objective pronoun that can represent yours truly and an anagram (has played) of CLARINET.
15a Cry of exasperation, a nation having failed to invest capital in growth (3,5)
The initial (capital) letter of Growth inserted in (to invest) in an anagram (having failed) of A NATION.
18a That man has check enclosed (6)
The masculine form of the third person pronoun that represents that man followed by (has) a synonym of check (when horse riding?) – the BRB classifies the answer as ‘formal’.
20a European celebrity, 3 down? (4,4)
One of our favourite four letter Europeans and a synonym of celebrity – a bung-in for this may help you solve 3d.
24a Briefly, do bit (4)
A perfect example of ‘ignore the punctuation in a clue’ – a synonym of do (that we often see this way round or as often the other way round) with the last letter deleted (briefly).
27a Something melted when angel I saw transported by kiss (7,3)
An anagram (when . . . transported) of ANGEL I SAW placed before (by) the letter that can be used to represent a kiss.
29a Third masseur less hot for life in the tropics (6,4)
A (6,5) slang(?) or informal(?) or somewhat crude(?) term for third masseur with the single letter for Hot deleted (less).
Down
1d Side with rogue having toppled leader (4)
A synonym of (a perhaps young) rogue with the first letter deleted (having toppled leader).
4d Hold on, calm down! (3,1,4)
A double definition – the first might be an exhortation to grasp an item.
7d Further remark about two riders initially on horseback? (7)
A remark that is not supposed to be heard by all in attendance containing (about) the first letters (initially) of Two Riders.
14d Where satellite dish might be free (2,3,5)
A double definition – the first is a suggestion for mounting a satellite dish for best reception.
17d Reserve staff gathering in library? (4,4)
A synonym of reserve (as in pay in advance?) and a synonym of staff (as a weapon?).
22d Cake scoffed in old European region, unfinished (6)
A synonym of scoffed inserted into (in) an old European region (which Julius Caesar told us was divided into three parts) with the last letter removed (unfinished).
25d Drop round line for rod (4)
A synonym of drop (as in delete from programme?) and the single letter for Line.
Quick Crossword Pun (with a groan and having to withdraw to the smallest room in the house for inspiration):
WALTER + WALKER + PETTING = WALL-TO-WALL CARPETING
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From 1980:
Good fun crossword today with some very clever clueing, particularly liked 1a and the very funny 29a, with 21d also getting a mention as my third favourite of the day.
Easily the best puzzle this year!
I have three bung-ins where the parsing eluded me so I hope they are correct. Maybe the hints will help but, if not, I will await the review. I have submitted it though because I’m fairly confident they are correct – I just can’t see why. As ever with Dada, I began slowly but it soon began to fall into place and became a satisfying solve. I had the wrong method of putting on a pedestal in 13a so that held me up a while. My COTD is the simple and neat 23a.
Many thanks to Dada for the fun and Senf for the hints. At the risk of repeating myself, A Happy New Year to all.
Woke up in The Marches this morning to thunder and a strange dark grey and yellowish cloudy sky. It looked like it was going to snow but of course it rained.
The Quickie pun caused a huge groan!
Dada getting 2023 up and running with a peach of a puzzle. Slow(ish) start, fast finish with smiles throughout the grid.
Though I thought 5d smart, I must be missing something as I can see the homophone but I can’t see how the second word is clued?
Really difficult to choose a podium but I’ll go with 1&15a with top spot going to the super-clever 21d.
Many thanks and HNY to Dada (for consistently excellent puzzles here and in the Tuesday Toughie spot), Senf and all on the blog past and present
The second word of 5d tells us that the first word is a homophone.
I see! “for the audience” is part of the definition….how clever as I had it as the homophone indicator and “gangway” only as the definition, the second word being redundant 🙈 Thanks Gazza
Makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to me! Bit like most of the rest of this crossword. For me not a great puzzle weekend, far too difficult.
*****/*
Dada still in festive mood as unlike other Sundays I finished this in two star time with no use of electronics or hints. Liked the anagrams at 9, 13, and 15a. I also liked 23a.
Thanks to Senf and Dada with best wishes for 2023 which will be worse than 2022 for most of us. The same to anyone who bothers to read this post.
Oh Corky, lighten up, it’s not that bad. I wish you a happy new year!
Hi Corky, all the best to you and yours. I tend to agree that this year will be no better than last for the vast majority of the population of the UK…if that is what you allude to? As a semi-retired teacher of 30 years, now working on band 2 in the NHS I can testify that there is a lot needs changing in the UK. This ,I beleive is a non political forum; so I shall type no further! If it is other things you reference, my apologies and support if accepted.
A super puzzle to start the New Year – thanks to Dada and Senf.
On my podium are 24a, 5d and 21d but several others almost made it.
2.5*/4.5*. A lot of fun to start the New Year. It was just a pity that one word of one of the answers appeared in a crossing clue. 5d was my favourite.
Many thanks to Dada and to Senf, and a Happy New Year to everyone.
Super puzzle, brilliant surfaces.
The very clever 1a, for example.
Of special note, 28 and 29a and 5d.
The second my last in after much head scratching.
Many thanks for the enjoyment, Dada, and thanks to Senf, especially for Abba.
They seem timeless.
I enjoyed this Dada puzzle, the first one I have done for a month. It was mostly straightforward, with a few that required some thought for the parsing. I liked 1a, 27a, 19d and14d. Many thahks to Senf for the hints, to Dada andvto all those who recordwd messages of support and offers of help during my husband, Jim’s recent health crisis. After just over a fortnight in hospital and treatment with asteroids, he was well enough to spend Christmas day with my son, his wife and in-laws and our two grandchildren. It was a lovely day for us all i hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas as much. Happy NewYear everyone.
Wonderful news, Chriscross! I hope Jim continues to improve and that you have a good 2023.
Lovely news Chris. All the very best to you and your family.
Very good news, Chriscross! So good to hear from you. Best wishes to all!
Some good news among the gloom of 2022. Great news and I hope you and he will be well in 2023.
So pleased for you and Jim. Here’s wishing you both a Very Happy New Year and of course a Healthy one,
Happy New Year, BusyLizzie. Miss you.
Delighted to hear Chriscross. Happy new year to you both.
And all of the above from me too. So pleased you had a lovely Christmas.
So nice to see you back ChrisCross with such good news of Jim. Here’s hoping the improvements continue into 2023! Thanks
What a terrific start to the new crosswording year, completed at a crawl while we watch the New Year’s Day concert from Vienna. It is hard to look beyond the excellent 5d for a favourite.
My thanks to Dada and Senf.
It was a good concert as usual, I thought and a cheeringstart tothe New Year, YS.
I look forward to watching the repeat of the Vienna Phil concert on BBC 4 tonight as I was hooked from crack of dawn on the tennis United Cup in Australia in which GB are doing well.
This week’s Toughie setters – Robyn today then:
Tuesday – 2985 Robyn
Wednesday – 2986 Hudson
Thursday – 2987 Firefly
Friday – 2988 Osmosis
Dada, as we say over here, IN top form, with 5d, 29a, 9a, the 3d/20a combo, & 21d earning top accolades. 1a made me laugh and 8d made me smile. Thoroughly enjoyable start to a new year. Best wishes to all and thanks to Send and Dada. 2*/5*
Senf!
I struggled at first but the bung-ins and (particularly) the anagrams gave me enough checking letters to reach the summit. As so often a teeny word (24a) was my last one in.
Thank you very much for the kind wishes expressed yesterday after I revealed our virus-ridden Christmas. I’m pleased to say we three have tested negative for the dreaded C*v*d and so it is seems to be the flu-like affair that most of the country seems to be enduring at the moment.
I had C*v*d last year, which took about three months to shake off and followed that with another three months of bronchial pneumonia so you may understand my wariness when coughs and sneezes appear!
However, I am very aware that there are people far, far, worse off than me and so I am happy with my lot.
Thanks to Dada for the hearty challenge and to The Man From Manitoba.
I had a phone call from DD2 this morning to say she and her husband had tested positive yesterday and they had had to cancel
their NYE party. We were with her in the car on the ill fated attempt to visit DD1 on Thursday so we are holding our breath.
Grrrrr.
For me, a real tussle with a tough puzzle from my favourite setter…as usual, some v offbeat clues requiring lateral thought….
A great fun puzzle to kick off the New Year, lots of smiles and penny-drops throughout. For far longer than I wish to admit I had the same answer in for both 24a and 26a causing plenty of issues in the SW until I realised my error… ***/****
Plenty of COTD candidates: 1a, 13a, 15a, 23a, 4d, 21d with the winner being the frustrating but hilarious 29a
TY to Dada and Senf
For those who are at a loss at the moment, today’s puzzle by Raich in the Independent is fun.
Completed a Dada without assistance ! A red letter day for me. Hurrah!
Thanks to Senf and to Dada and a Happy New Year to all.
Very snowy here in Trondheim, though not actually snowing at the moment. Some good spectator sport moments watching a couple try and fail to get their car out from between mounds of snow caused by the snowploughs. Surprised that they gave up…not a Norwegian characteristic..but maybe they were foreigners like us. We await their return.
Then we watched four lads trying and eventually succeeding to get their car up a slope to their parking space…..they took several tries, disappeared for a time then returned all clutching cans of beer then managed to get it up to the space …..clearly the beer was what they needed.
Most enjoyable and some of the clues took some thinking about. A number of candidates for favourite but we’ll go with 1a. Thanks to Dada and Senf.
Found this puzzle on the tougher end of Dada’s repertoire today. Solved half on NYE and the balance after the dog walk on NYD.
3*/4* for me
Favourites include 1a, 20a, 23a, 4d, 5d & 14d with 1a my winner but could have been any of them.
Thanks to Dada and to Senf
Took a while longer than yesterday’s puzzle but got there in the end.
Back home from a cold & very wet Trossachs but at least no heavy snowfall to disrupt travel. I had worried at one stage last year that Dada had gone off the boil a wee bit but he’s on a cracking run of good form & this one kicks 2023 off in fine fashion. The top 3 for me were 5&21d with last in 29a my favourite & 1a just missing out. Back in my crossword solving chair cruciverbal faculties seem restored & gentle though it was it was nice to breeze through in sub ** time. Let’s see if it extends to Robyn’s Toughie – probably not.
Thanks to D&S. HNY to all.
Great puzzle thanks to the setter and to Senf for the hints.
Pondered over 5d for a while as the lack of punctuation in the first word threw me.
We enjoyed this at lunchtime – but I’ve only just got down to the computer having had a short nap
and then been working on the invitations for George’s birthday bash at the end of the month. I smiled at
27a as I remember being fascinated by the answer on my grandfather’s desk! How many children would
see it now? I hope that is not naughty step territory, but there are plenty of Christmas chocolates to sit and
eat if I am banished. Thanks to Dada and Senf for a sparkly puzzle and best wishes for health, wealth, happiness
or whatever else you desire in 2023.
I thought this was tough. I was not happy with the answer I had for 24a. However, I have just looked again and got the parsing! Favourites 8 14 and 17d. I would have been quicker with 13a had I spotted the anagram. I was along the right track but two letters short. Once you have an idea it’s hard to shake off. Thanks Dada and Senf and Happy New Year to all.
Slow out of the starting blocks again but softly, softly catchee monkee. I finally just needed a bit of backup in the NE. The 20a European seems to be rather a bad penny recently. 29a rather wide-ranging. Thank you Dada and Senf for both your substantial contributions to 2023 cruciverbal fun including today and all good wishes for a very Happy New Year.
I was obviously too late with my edit. So sorry I obviously meant to thank you both, Dada and Senf, for your past contributions to 2022 (not 2023) cruciverbal fun plus today.
I worked slowly through this today, I kept persevering and eventually had success. 5d had me foxed for the longest.
I hope everyone keeps healthy in this new year and we enjoy many more crosswords by our great setters, also our often needed, in my case hinters.
5D clue of the day …. Last one in … When the penny finally dropped 😂
This cheered me up considerably after a miserable 2 hours of supposed football.
I’m not greedy, just a couple of masseurs would probably sort out my back/shoulder/hip just now.
Thanks Senf and Dada and HNY to everyone.
29a got my COTD but the 20a/3d interplay was very cute.
I was so glad to get this friendly puzzle from Dada, even though it was a DNF. I had two choices for 1a, chose the correct one, but couldn’t think of the word for 5d. Now that I’ve got it from the hints, I think it’s probably my fave. Isn’t that clever? So much to like here, 29a was a guffaw, clever or what? Just enough brain twisters to make me think, more of this please.
Thanks to Dada for starting the year right, and to our very busy Senf who is always so willing to help the tiny brains and his choice of music, ABBA never gets stale, does it?
Good health and happiness to everyone for 2023. I wish we could get an update on BD. If you’re reading the blog, best wishes for a healthy and happy 2023.
Happy New Year all. Still not got an answer for 5d. Can anyone provide a hint – within the rules of course. Thanks.
Got it. Had the wrong answer for 1a. Phew!
The exclamation mark at the end of the clue is very important
Hurray – 2 days running I have managed to complete, although with electronic assistance both times, 29a is still a complete mystery to me, although it had to be what it had to be. Perhaps someone can explain in simple terms. Many thanks to Dada and Senf, and a happy New year to all.
The pem
nny has at last dropped re 29a – perhaps a late breakfast helped. Like yesterday, this puzzle was a lot of hard work for me, but succeeding in both was well worth the effort. However that doesn’t mean I’m encouraging the backpager to become a toughie!