ST 3237 (Hints)

69 comments on “ST 3237 (Hints)”

1. Fine weather here in Sandhurst today, so the bike may come out later if the roads are relatively dry. Wizard Sunday offering today, not easy by any means, but ultimately gettable.
   Can’t see how 15d is arrived at, but can’t be much else from the letters already in it.
   Favourites today were 17d and the very clever 17a.
   Many thanks to our setter today, great fun.

   1. Reviewing the hints before commenting can be beneficial

      1. 🤣

2. Very enjoyable indeed
   I have several podium contenders but I’ll mention the succinct 13a along with 21&24a plus 17(lol)&22d with an acknowledgement that 17a is clever.
   Many thanks to Dada and Senf

3. 4*/4*. This was the Dada Toughie that escaped from the Toughie slot on Tuesday, but I did enjoy the challenge.

   Many thanks to Dada and to Senf.

4. Finished this in the wee small hours as sleep is elusive once again. Had a giggle at the “Flexible Masseur” but the winner and last one in for me was 16D. Couldn’t see what was cryptic about 2D, but it had to be that once the checkers came in.

   I did the puzzle on the new website and submitted it. I went back in just now to check some of the clues and it’s showing as not completed. Does this mean if I complete it again and submit, I have two shots at the mythical?

   1. Hi Ciaran. I don’t think 2d is intended to be cryptic, rather it is a double definition, where each word gives the solution but having completely different meanings.

      1. Agreed.

         1. Ahhh…now I see it. Still learning to consider double definitions where there is a short clue.

            Thanks

   2. Please, please DT keep the old site. Thank you DT..

      1. Pretty please!

         1. I agree, the new is buggy and crashes randomly.

            I moved to the new site as the Saturday Giant GK went there and I used the old for the daily cryptics. However, the old site has stopped working on my iPad so I’ve been forced over to the new. I’ll try a different browser on the old to see if that resolves my issues.

      2. Yes please DT. I think I will throw in the towel and cancel my sub if it disappears. I find the new site anything but brilliant. Another case of don’t fit what ain’t broke.

5. Solid if unexceptional Sunday fare, marred by the high anagram count. Reasonably straightforward and would have been more so for not writing the answer to 25d in the space for 23d. Hon Mentions to 11a & 26a.

   2* / 2*

   Thanks to the setter (really didn’t feel Dada-esque) and Senf.

6. Once again we have an anagram glut – whatever happened to the old ‘maximum of 6 per puzzle’ rule? Anyway, rant over, I did enjoy the puzzle – thanks to Dada and Senf.
   The clues gracing my podium are 11a, 17a and 26a.

7. As is often the case with Dada it took a while to find the wavelength but once on stream this turned out unusually to be a thoroughly enjoyable solve. Anagrams not really my kind of thing but today it was fun to cotton on to some uncommon indicators. Joint Favs 11a and 17d both of which raised a laugh. Special thanks Dada and Senf.

8. I’ll buck the trend and say that I found this much easier than the toughie during the week.
   I’m sure that 22d appeared a few days ago as a very similar clue.
   Very enjoyable. Many thanks to Dada and to Senf.
   1*/3.5*

   1. Perhaps it’s the 2d season! I thought the same thing too.

9. Tough today esp in the top right so I thought I would have to resort to the hints, fat chance!
   On the whole very enjoyable as Dada puzzles usually are. My fav was 17a.
   Thx to all
   ****/***

10. I found this tough but I managed to get there in the end. I can’t say I found it satisfying after I had finished because it was too much like hard work for me. I’m still unsure about some of my answers but I’ll send it off for The Mythical anyway. I liked 11a but I don’t have a COTD today – just happy to finish.

    Thank you Dada for the brain wrangling. Thank you Senf for the hints, which I will now read to see if you have explained those I could not parse.

    Enjoy Guy Fawkes day all! 👍

    1. I forgot it was Guy Fawkes, you have fun too! Do you have a guy?

11. A Toughie in all
    But name.
    Took an absolute
    Age.
    11 and 17a being the prime
    Culprits until resounding descent
    Of pennies
    Thanks Dada for the terrific challenge
    And thanks Senf.

12. An enjoyable Sunday romp with Dada accompanied by the sound of the excellent Mr Adams and his choir of thousands. Top two for me were 11a & 17d.

    Many thanks to our setter and also to Senf for the hints and the music I could sing along to for once!

    1. I liked 17d too as my Dad used to joke about “xxxxxxxx”, trying to teach Britspeak to two little Jamaicans!

13. This was a good challenge.

    Fell into the trap of looking for the more usual crossword porridge for 25d until I realised the error of my ways.

    Enjoyed untangling 17d to join the others who made it their COTD.

    Bright but chilly here in NE Scotland. Emmy the Dog enjoyed her walk along the esplanade without struggling to stay on her feet like last week.

    Thanks to Dada and Senf.

    1. Agreed about 25d!

    2. Give Emmy a pat for me, I’m glad she’s doing well.

       1. I will 🙂

14. A nice breakfast guzzle with two standouts, the 17s across and down.

    Thanks Dada and best wishes to Senf. Wrap up well whatever is coming!

15. Good fun while it lasted, but not particularly taxing. Wasn’t 22d the same or very similar to a clue in a last Saturday or Sunday puzzle and in very much the same place in the grid? My favourite was 17d, closely followed by 16d, if only for it’s clever construction. Whilst unravelling 3d, I noticed that the answer was only one letter different from someone else, probably just as well known. Thanks to Dada and Senf

    1. 22d – very recent but not in a PP and I am saying no more, and no-one else should say any more, because this is a PP and my blue pencil has just been sharpened!

       Perhaps the Reviewer (Rahmat Ali?) will comment on it in ten days time.

       1. Fairynuff Senf, my typing fingers will be employed elsewhere 👍😂😂

       2. I’d marked a big cross next to that to ask the same question, but I don’t want that blue pencil jabbing my backside again like last week ✏️💥😂

16. For me, and I stress for me, { ™ Senf } this was rather a gratifying guzzle but then I like a glut of ganagrams which we certainly were gifted today.

    Lovely walk postponed until tomorrow as I am now going up to the loft to ‘repair’ some ductwork. If I am never heard from again, let those words be my epitaph.

    Thanks to Da-doo-ron-ron and The Man From Manitoba.

17. Great puzzle.
    I enjoyed the humour in three clues, masseur, save more, and expression of puzzlement. We need more humour these days.
    Appreciated Senf’s research for the last one, so much so I purchased the iPad version just now. (£9.99 well spent)
    This indeed confirms the acceptable usage. It’s all matter of intonation (high low high), and facial expression, either frown or raised eyebrow. 🤨
    Good shout, Dada. Thanks Senf and commentariat community.
    Now for the Toughie…

18. Tough but ultimately doable with a bit of guesswork and then reverse engineering the parsing. I thoroughly enjoyed the anagrams and don’t really understand why some people are so disparaging about them. 4d, with the GK element as well was particularly good. There were some great lego clues too, notably 26a 16d and 17d . Thanks to Senf for the hints and to Dada for a challenging but appealing puzzle.

19. Hrothgar – I agree – The new site is awful. Really hope the DT doesn’t do away with the old site.

    1. Your comment went into moderation because you changed your alias (again) by shortening it.

       But what did you think of the puzzle?

    2. Thanks John G

20. Pleasingly awkward in places, this puzzle was perfect for a sunny Sunday morning. Yes, it was anagram heavy, but when you have one of the quality of 17a the setter can be forgiven. Quite brilliant.

    My thanks to Dada and Senf.

21. Hello, all. I really struggled with this, on first pass getting to the bottom of the grid before I filled in a single answer. I thought that was because of the high number of anagrams (which I almost never manage until there are some crossing letters in place), but I see several others also found it harder than usual.

    Thank you to Dada for the challenge and Senf for explaining the ones I didn’t understand. My favourites were 17d (“ear”), 11a (“downtrodden”), and 9d (“stick”).

    And, controversially, I prefer the ‘new’ Telegraph Puzzles site; I find it an improvement in several ways over the old one.

    1. What on earth was happening in Ilkley today?
       Henrietta the navigator (Sat-Nav) sent me on a wild goose chase to get through town but whatever was happening outside Betty’s was beyond Henrietta! But we had a great couple of days in the Dales eating cheese and avoiding fireworks with Niece’s dogs

       1. First Sunday-of-the-month food market on The Grove (the road Bettys is on), meaning it’s closed to traffic all day. We got some delicious brioche pies from the Scandinavian bakery stall, and some apple crumble blondies from a stall with so much cake it was really quite hard to decide. Sadly the arancini stall wasn’t there this month, but will be back in December — the 9-year-old recommends the 4 cheese arancini!

          (Also today, The Grove Bookshop held its annual 20%-off-everything sale. We were very restrained and managed to restrict ourselves to only 16 books.)

          In general Ilkley’s been busier recently from the Skipton–Harrogate road being closed, with traffic from there getting diverted along the A65 and clogging things up a bit.

22. Not much to choose between this & his midweek Toughie for me in terms of difficulty – his midweek Graun guzzle utterly impenetrable. Anagram heavy (17a the best of them) but still enjoyable. 17d my clear fav with ticks also for 11&26a + last in 16d.
    Thanks to D&S

23. Another great Dada puzzle for this Sunday again. Nothing really quirky today and seems like his personal thesaurus was left on the shelf again this week. Enjoyable solve for me this today and no issues. I found it went in from bottom to top with 8a last in.

    1*/4.5* for me

    Favourites include 11a, 14a, 17a, 6d, 15d & 17d — with winner being 17a

    Chuckles elicited from 8a, 14a, 19a & 15d
    I also liked 17a
    There was so much to like about this puzzle.

    Thanks to Dada & Senf for hints/blog

24. Very enjoyable and, I thought, of average difficulty for a Dada Sunday puzzle. You would expect me to comment about the deluge of anagrams being not to my taste, but I thought 17a was brilliant in its surface read. Podium places today for 11a, my favourite type of clue, 26a and 17d for the LOL moment. I also liked the clever quickie pun. Thanks to Dada and Senf.

25. Enjoyable. 17a and 17d my favs.

26. This fairly rattled in. No particular favorite.

27. Initially I thought I would never get going with this but finally I got on wavelength and after many visits, whilst cooking the roast, I got there. Certainly on the tougher side in my opinion. There were some great clues and I particularly liked 11a and 17d but 17a was my favourite.

    Many thanks to Dads for the challenge and to Senf for the hints.

28. I finished, but only with the hints and other help. The most unenjoyable puzzle this year IMHO. Very little enjoyment, and clues that seemed unnecessarily obscure. Didn’t even seem like a Dada to me. There’s a lot old sad faces in my margin and not a single smiley one. But the only way from here has to be up, so hoping for something more doable tomorrow. Thanks to Dada and Senf.
    Hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable Bonfire Night tonight. Just a distant memory for us. It always seemed to herald the arrival of the cold weather when I was a child, standing outside waving my sparkler.

29. This turned out to be not as hard as we first thought it was going to be. Clues were solved all over the oche which provided a good spread of checking letters. Favourite was 11a. Thanks to Dada and Senf.

30. 2d my last one in and my COTD

31. Even though the clocks went back last night, I still managed to sleep until after 8 o’clock, so I’ll read the hints and comments later. I must get into the pool for my routine! I was disappointed, we’d been having such enjoyable Dada’s recently, I suppose it was about time for a brain mangler. I did finish but with copious help of word search, having enough gimmes for checkers. It’s not Dada’s fault that I know nothing about 17a, presume it’s football, everything sporty seems to be soccer. I’ll need the hints to parse some, eg 26a and 16d, but don’t have time to do it now.
    Thanks Dada, can you wear your other hat next week? I’ll get your unravelling later, Senf, thanks.

32. Enjoyed this after a night of cheese dreams caused by dining at the new cheese restaurant near Settle
    Over Breakfast I tried to explain cryptic crosswords to a sceptical Niece and her BF just glad that Dada hadn’t made excessive use of his personal thesaurus
    As an English teacher who spent a couple of years in China, 2d was her favourite but bf and I went for 17d
    Thanks to Senf and Dada, I will convert them to cryptics eventually

    1. Cheese restaurant?!! 😋😋🤤🤤

       1. Very good and highly recommended A selection of different cheeses each served with a suitable accompaniment. Smashing pizzas too each with different cheeses one had A Lancashire cheese and a Yorkshire cheese with cranberries for the red rose colour like a War of the Roses on a plate

          1. Delightful we ate way too much cheese but so much variety of taste and texture
             Great views of the Dales too and Storm Ciarán came nowhere near us with glorious sunshine

             

             1. All of storm Ciarán’s rainclouds have nothing on how much I’m drooling at this prospect! Looks and sounds amazing. Glad you had a good time and will pencil in a visit 😋🧀🍕

             2. “we ate way too much cheese”

                Not something I’ve ever found possible, however much cheese I’ve eaten, and indeed how much wine, port and even coffee I’ve consumed in the attempt!

                1. Try my local Baron Bigot, sumptious!

                   1. I’m just happy to get genuine Stilton over here!

                      1. Thoroughly recommend Tuxford & Tebbutt Stilton if you can find it anywhere 😋

                   2. Baron Bigot was one on the cheese board Truffle shavings (nay chunks) sandwiched in a gooey cheese magnificent They had a Leeds Blue every bit as good as the Stichelton we also tried
                      Each cheese was paired with an accompaniment that matched fromginger parkin or roast hazel and walnuts but the highlight for me was the balsamic pickled onions not forgetting the fruitcake with the Wensleydales

                      1. Please please for the love of God, stop 🤤🤤🤤

                      2. It was worth coming back to the blog and checking for new comments just to read your cheese exploits.

                         Hmmm, Settle appears to be only 20 minutes past Skipton on the train …

                         1. Bring a bike! The train stops at Giggleswick (opp Craven Arms where we stayed) but is still 2 and a bit miles up A65 to the Dairy

                   3. My Stilton is from the Long Clawson Dairy about 10 miles North of Melton Mowbray.

33. Tough but brilliant in equal measure!
    Thanks to Dada for another enjoyable challenge and, as ever, to Senf for the blog ‘n hints👍
    Cheers!

34. Most enjoyable, bit of a tussle to begin with but pace picked up after halfway point. Lots of ticks, faves were 11a, 17a, 19a, 27a (very good). 17d gets the 🏅

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