ST 3217 (Hints) – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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ST 3217 (Hints)

by Senf  

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3217 (Hints)

Hints and tips by Senf

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg, where we have had a smattering of cool bordering on chilly days – I am not sure if they can be attributed to the effect of drifting wild fire smoke or not – but we are forecast to be in the high 20s/low 30s, plus any ‘feels like,’ for the next couple of weeks.

For me, etc, a real anagram fest from Dada; although helped by four long ‘uns, it took a while to get going – with nine anagrams (four partials), two lurkers, and no homophones – don’t be fooled by the clue that might read like a homophone it is actually one of the anagrams, all in a symmetric 28 clues; with 14 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, 13a, 15a, 22a, 6d, 7d, 11d,  17d, and 21d.

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 the 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 Crate in dock transported by bird (6)
A synonym of dock (as in cut) contained (transported) by a bird.

10a Role exists with an adherent to the cause (8)
A synonym of role (for an actor), a two letter synonym of exists, and (with) AN from the clue.

15a Wonderful, not that then? (9,4)
A double definition(?) – the first might be an interjection, the second an answer to the question ‘not that then?).

18a The way said to incur pain, on being given treatment (13)
An anagram (being given treatment) of TO INCUR PAIN, ON.

20a Old units, pieces of copper? (6)
A synonym of pieces preceded by the chemical symbol for copper (~ 18 – 22 inches).

24a Garment in a fashionable company stolen by cad (8)
A from the clue, a two letter synonym for fashionable, and the abbreviated form of company all contained (stolen) by a synonym of cad.

27a Sorrowful whistler secured by stake (6)
The abbreviated form of a whistler (in a sporting event) contained (secured) by a synonym of stake (as in wager).

Down

1d Tool that’s pieced together? (6)
The name of a tool that is also something that is pieced together.

3d Little hairy feature bothered the masculine cop (6,9)
An anagram (bothered) of THE MASCULINE COP.

6d Romantic movie opening in part of London (7,4,4)
A romantic movie (Grant/Roberts) and a type of opening.

7d Old relative defending a group (5)
The single letter for Old and the abbreviated form of a (sibling) relative containing (defending) A from the clue.

11d Northbound English ship shortly heading for Latvia, leaves (7)
The reversal (northbound) of all of the single letter for English, a type of ship with the last letter removed (shortly), and the first letter of (heading for) Latvia.

17d Entire distribution of power in cult, strange (8)
The single letter for Power inserted into (in) a synonym of cult and a three letter synonym of strange.

23d Gathered by seamstress, a ripped Indian dress (4)
One of the lurkers (gathered by) found in three words in the clue.

Quick Crossword Pun:

CELL + FEES + TICK = SELFIE STICK

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Sir James Paul McCartney CH MBE is 81 years young today. The Long and Winding Road is a song, written by Sir Paul, from the Beatles’ 1970 album Let It Be. It was also issued as a single in May 1970, a month after the Beatles’ break-up. This is from a concert at The Olympia in Paris in (I think) late 2007:

62 comments on “ST 3217 (Hints)”

  1. Excellent! Not many in on first read through but with the benefit of a few checkers and Dada being one of those setters whose wavelength I find relatively simple to tune into it all went in quite smoothly if not rapidly.
    Lots of PDMs and laughs, I’ll single out 1,9,15&22a plus 3(lol)&7d.
    Many thanks to Dada and Senf

  2. Very hard today that needed the hints and a little help from Google.
    I liked 1a but 21d (didn’t know that was even a word), and don’t understand the ‘cut’ in 19d and the relevance of the first part of 25a eludes me.
    Def not my favourite Dada, far too hard for my level.
    *****/*
    Thx for the hints

    1. To get 19d, you cut or remove the last letter of an informal word for a very little sum of money

      We quite often have it as a euphemism for a particular ‘activity’. The first two letters of the solution to 25a are another one

      1. Thanks CS, like Brian I was baffled by the start of 25a, I have never come across that abbreviation before and had to check my Chambers app to confirm

        1. I’ve obviously got both 19d and 25a wrong! The first 2 letters of 25 are not in my BRB – back to the drawing board!

          1. My 19 is definitely right, and can only think of one word for 25 but cannot see the bit about the first two letters

              1. Although my book looks brand new it’s dated 2007 and mine only goes up to 971!

      3. Thx for explanation but 25a still eludes me, it’s not in my copy of the BRB. Are you saying that the first two letters mean ‘it’ which then precedes the synonym for GO? I’m afraid I really don’t follow your explanation but that may be due to the restriction of it being a Prize puzzle.
        Thx for trying.

        1. Find the first letter of 25a in the dictionary. Start at the beginning and you won’t have to go far before you see the relevant definition

    2. Re 21d – when Zebedee lost his spring in the Magic Roundabout Dougal & Florence eventually find Brian naughtily playing on it

    4. Hi Brian. I’m not familiar with that explanation either. You might be interested to know that when I googled it you came up as a result from 2013 when you asked Gazza about it (presuming that was you)! I’m not being critical btw; I can’t remember specifics from last weekend. Google has immortalised you!

  3. A very slow start with the North proving trickier than the South. There was a lot of misdirection, which made getting the long anagrams more difficult. I felt some of the clues were a little less polished than Dada’s usual fare but it was a moderately enjoyable guzzle.18a was my COTD, with the runners-up 1a, 20a and 16d. Thanks to Senf for the hints and to Dada cfor the SPP.

  4. An excellent puzzle, in spite of the excessive number of anagrams, with many sneaky definitions – thanks to Dada and Senf.
    Top clues for me were 1a, 15a, 25a, 1d and 19d.

  5. 2.5*/4*. I thought this was very enjoyable and relatively straightforward apart from 27a & 19d. These were my last two in and stretched my time above 2*.

    My podium selection is 1a, 12a, 15a & 3s.

    Many thanks to Dada and to Senf.

    1. I’m with RD, a steady and relatively quick solve, except 19d held me up for a while and was my LOI. My favourites were 1a, 15a and 20a.
      Regarding the first part of the solution for 25a, it’s been a long while since I’ve seen that abbreviation. **/****

  6. For Everyone’s Information – Cephas has belatedly (his term) claimed ownership of the SPP (Comment 34).

    And, for fans of Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club series, Amazon is taking pre-orders for the fourth book in the series – The Last Devil to Die – being published in September.

  7. A bit too hard for me, being quite obscure in places, from my point of view. I cannot make up my mind about the fifth letter in 13a but I think I have picked the correct one. Like others, 25a baffled me but it had to be that answer given that nothing else would make a planet. My favourite is 20a.

    Thank you, Dada but I could not get into your offering today. Many thanks, Senf for the much needed help.

    We had a Skype chat with our daughter and son-in-law, who live in Melbourne, this morning. The first thing she did was wish me a Happy Father’s Day. I had no idea it was Father’s Day! There’s no hope for me, I think! :eek:

    1. Another Hallmark Holiday but do Father’s get chocolates and flowers to go with the card or something else? :wink:

      2. My son-in-law is apparently getting a tee-shirt lovingly tie-dyed by his two youngsters!

      3. Definitely, both our daughters like to treat us on the two “parent” days, despite us frequently telling them we don’t need anything. Today they have planned a pool party at our elder daughter’s house, so the real treat is time spent with them and our grandkids, and for me, no dinner to cook tonight 😊.

          1. I spoke too soon. Event cancelled as thunderstorms forecast for mid afternoon, and hopefully rescheduled. Disappointing, but not unexpected in this part of the world. So I’ve pulled something out of the freezer for dinner instead. Not the Father’s Day I would have liked for Peter. It’s probably going to be a lovely day anyway, as the weather forecasts are notoriously wrong. They used to get it so right when we were first here in the 1980s, but since computers arrived, it is always questionable. Need to bring the old guys back out of retirement 😊.

            1. You mean the likes of Michael Fish who declared “Madam, I can tell you there is not going to be a hurricane” ? 🤣

              1. Not quite. They overhype and always claim it is going to be hotter than what actually happens, and then try to make us all excited by throwing in “feels like 105F”.

  8. Think I must have left the old grey matter snoozing in bed this morning – took me a long time to make any headway with this one.
    When I finally got on track I found plenty to make me smile in the likes of 12,15,20&25a plus 1,7&21d(lol).
    Thanks to Dada for the challenge and to Senf for the hints, the very smart bird at 1a and the music clip – must take years of practise to appear so laid-back when performing in such a large venue.

    In other news, I received an email from Robert C last night. He tells me that he’s coping well enough with all the medical matters that he’s currently having to deal with but says that he’s sorely missing his daily cryptic thrills. I think some big decisions regarding his treatment are being taken by the end of the coming week and he’s promised to let me know how the medics intend to proceed from then on.
    I’ll let you all know as soon as I have any further news.

    1. Thank you for letting us know about Robert, Jane. Please give him my best wishes when you are next in touch.

    2. Thank you for the update, Jane. I do look forward to and miss Robert’s contributions to this blog. My best wishes to him.

    4. Thank you Jane, I had been wondering. We miss him a lot, I just hope all goes well.

      1. Thanks Jane, , I hope his treatment goes well and send giood wishes and positive thoughts.

    5. Thank you very much for keeping us up-to-date with how Robert is getting on. All the people I like seem to be ill at the moment. I am sure you will pass on our best wishes to him.

      Once again many thanks Jane for your message.

  9. Took a while to get started & then it was more of a toe rather than foothold. A rather scatter gun approach ensued helped by the number of anagrams dotted around the grid with the SE holding out the longest.

    3*/4*

    Fav the 😂 21d LOI 25a.

    Thanks to Dada and Senf.

  10. We found this tricky in parts but on completion it was hard to see why. We enjoyed though. Favourite was 27a. Thanks to Dada and Senf.

  11. Good fun as ever from our regular Sunday setter with just a couple of hold ups already mentioned by earlier commentators, including my final entry, 25a. Unusually, I liked the anagram at 3d as my favourite.

    My thanks to Dada and Senf.

  12. Very enjoyable (would have been excellent but for the 9 full or partial anagrams: that’s an absurd proportion) puzzle, nice and ‘chewy’, lots of oblique/lateral thinking required, and well judged level of difficulty for a prize puzzle. Ticks all over the place – 1a, 20a, 25a, 27a, 2d, 6d & 11d, but for me COTD to the wonderful 22a.

    3.5* / 4*

    Many thanks indeed to Dada, and of course to Senf

    1. To some if us,cMustafa, the anagrams were the best part of the puzzle, and so cleverly cloaked and camouflaged too!

  13. Found this quite mind-stretching.
    Unaided apart from one spelling check.
    Guessed correctly 25a, could it be
    Anything else? but first two letters
    Were a new meaning for me.
    Thought 15a brilliant and
    1 and 19d brought big smiles.
    My COTD in agreement with Mustafa G, 22a.
    Many thanks Dada and Senf.

    1. PS
      Cancel latter part of line 4 and
      Line 5.
      Great big penny just dropped!!
      LOL.

  14. Great guzzle. Enjoyed it so much can’t say I even noticed the high anagram count. Like RD 18d&27a the two head scratchers with a bit of a ponder over the parsing of the first bit of 25a but the pennies all dropped. I assume the definition at 4a (unhinted) has a sporting context. My fav was 21d as I immediately thought Magic Roundabout
    Thanks to D&S

    2. 4a Huntsman, I didn’t fully understand it, so thanks for the “sporting” hint. Barry John and Phil Bennett, perhaps?

  15. Another day of hard pounding – but this is a prize crossword after all! Thanks for Senf’s offhand remark about 21d (not a homophone) in his introductory remarks which helped me complete the puzzle. I too was puzzled by 25a, so thanks to the contributors at the beginning of the blog. All in all Dada has taught me another couple of tricks and, together with Senf’s hints and the bloggers I have learnt how to unravel them. ***/***

  16. Late start on this puzzle today. Took a while to get it going, then it flowed pretty smoothly. A little quirkiness from Dada today, but nothing that wasn’t gettable.

    1.5*/4.5* today

    Favourites included 1a, 15a, 20a, 6d, 11d & 21d with winners 1a & 21d! Great words!
    Didn’t know the word in 2d so a learning point today.

    Thanks to Dada and Senf for blog/hints

  17. I realise I often complain when a puzzle is above my pay grade, but I am ecstatic to report that I finished this excellent Dada offering with just two clues requiring help, 11d where I went in search of the wrong type of leaves (clever), and 19d which totally eluded me. Although 21d did put up a fight and was my LI. 1d is my COTD as I was a big fan, at least until my back stopped that, closely followed by 12a. Thanks to Dada for a puzzle which was my perfect cup of tea, and to Senf.

  18. I’m in the very tricky club. I solved none on first read through of the acrosses, I was so disappointed and nearly gave up. Fortunately the downs saved me, 1d went in immediately and I thought I was away. I had some incorrect, which didn’t help, a couple of others I’m not sure about and they haven’t been hinted, eg 8d. I thought 11d and 25a clever, but fave was 1d.
    Thanks Dada for the workout, and to CS for the much needed hints.

  19. Excellent Sunday afternoon stroll through today’s crossword. Like others I was stumped by 25a – thanks all for the explanation. Faves 6d and 15a. Thanks

  20. We tuned up on yesterday’s puzzle first and then found today’s relatively straightforward.

  21. Finally got to this after a very hectic day. Tougher than some but I have finally got there with a peek at the comments. I enjoyed the anagrams and 22a was my favourite.
    Many thanks to the setter and to Senf.

  22. Quite hard. I can guess that xx is a synonym for xx which is in turn a euphemism for something xxxx xxxxxxxx xxxx xx. Thanks Dada and CS.LOI 11d. Glad Cephas revealed himself. That one was top class.

  23. 4*/4*
    liked 3D ” Little hairy feature bothered the masculine cop (6,9)” …. HP’s perhaps.

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