Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3256 (Hints)
Hints and tips by Senf
Top of the morning to you on this Sunday morning from Winnipeg where, at the beginning of the week, we had some early Spring-like days but then Mother Nature remembered that it was still Winter and reinstated appropriate weather!
For me, and I stress for me, Dada quite friendly, six anagrams (three partials), two lurkers, and no homophones, all in a slightly asymmetric 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. And, remember, the Naughty Step is OPEN!
Candidates for favourite – 10a, 20a, 25a, 6d, 13d, and 18d.
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
7a Bag snatched by wild thing, dark-haired girl (8)
A type of bag contained (snatched) by a single word for wild thing – the definition makes it fairly obvious.
9a Public school trouble! (6)
A double definition – the second is a verbal synonym (as in harass?).
12a Fool, man with piece of dialogue cut, his films were silent (7,7)
A term for a fool which is also a man’s name, a synonym of man, and a piece of dialogue (in a film or a play?) with the last letter removed (cut).
17a A girl in the wrong place (5)
Not guess a girl – A from the clue and generic form of address for a girl.
20a Flute changes a psalm remarkably, trilling finally coming in (9,5)
The last letter (finally) of trillinG inserted into (coming in) an anagram (remarkably) of CHANGES A PSALM.
25a Devastated when stuffing knocked out? (6)
A double definition (?) – the second might relate to having prepared a fish that has just been caught for cooking.
28a Little girl and niece played card game (8)
Now we do have guess a girl – the abbreviated form of a girl’s name and an anagram (played) of NIECE.
Down
1d A song coming up — operatic piece (4)
A from the clue and a type of song, played on a G-string perhaps, reversed (coming up).
5d Traditionalist sad after withdrawal of Conservative from temporary peace agreement (4,4)
A colour used to indicate being sad placed after a single word for temporary peace agreement with the single letter for (politically) Conservative removed (withdrawal) – this must be the first time that I have seen a Dada clue that is close to being of the ‘War and Peace’ variety.
6d Not going anywhere without a proposal? (10)
As a (6, 4) phrase that indicates the lack of (without) a proposal (in a political environment?).
13d Unlucky, that dairy product’s not spreadable! (4,6)
A slang term, used as an interjection, based on an unspreadable type of dairy product.
16d Windy plain in which anything’s sheltered (8)
A three letter synonym of plain containing (in which . . . ‘s sheltered) a synonym of anything derived from an Old English word.
18d Trick with void serial number (7)
SeriaL with the interior letters removed (void) and guess a number between seven and nine.
26d Mark‘s call to dog having released lead (4)
A call to a dog (to retrieve an object) with the first letter deleted (having released lead).
Quick Crossword Pun:
TERM + MARROW + MORNING = TOMORROW MORNING
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Something to dance around the kitchen to while preparing the Sunday roast. American singer Gloria Gaynor, remember her, started four weeks at Number One on this day in 1979; the microphone being held suggests a live performance but it might just be a prop:
2*/3*. A light and pleasant Sunday puzzle although I think that 25a is a bit “same-sidey” as the informal meaning is derived from the conventional definition. Also it was a pity to have to guess a girl in 28a (which in fact can be a shortened version of the answer).
Thanks to Dada and to Senf.
P.S. Not that I mind, but it seems that a couple of the Quickie clues are mildly cryptic which is unusual.
I too have noticed that about the Quickie, RD.
Excellent puzzle. Lots of favorites.
Oooh. That will be a rap on the knuckles from Kath! You are only allowed one favourite.
Quite right too!! Can’t allow standards to slip . . .
Yes Sister
Mainly plain sailing until a couple of stinkers appeared. 18d was one and, to my chagrin, 25a. The rest was a delight and a great accompaniment to the morning coffee. I did like the rather neat 26d but I have to award the honours to 11a.
Thank you Dada for a fun workout and a chance at The Mythical. Thank you, Senf for the hints.
Happy St Patrick’s day to all our Irish members! ☘️☘️
A bit of an odd one for me, I felt some of the answers were so obvious that you did not have to bother with the rest if the clue other than for parsing – sorry that’s not very clear but I mean 12a for example. There were also some teasers in the mix
I did enjoy a number including 16d and 20a.
Thanks to Dada and Senf
Not one of Dada’s best but a pleasant puzzle – thanks to the setter and Senf.
I liked 11a and 6d.
An amusing SPP although I hope someone pointed out to the random girl and niece that the card game is intended for a single participant!
Rosettes handed out to 11&25a plus 6,13&18a.
Thanks to Dada and to Senf for the hints – good to know that Gaynor is still surviving!
Good spot, Jane, one that could have been easily remedied – “Little girl, niece, played card game”.
What a relief after yesterday, a setter who knows what he is doing. Definitely on Dadas more benevolent wavelength and much appreciated for that. My only remaining issues are to parse my answers to 16d and 2d both of which have me foxed!
Enjoyable and elegant.
***/*****
Thx to all
16d is hinted and 2d is the combination of two three letter synonyms both of which I found in Chambers Crossword Dictionary.
Thank you for explaining 2d, I couldn’t work that out!
Altogether that was a gentle exercise with a cakewalk in the South but rather more complexity in the North however toppling 12a early helped. Not sure about 2d. Thought you might comment on 28a RD. Particularly liked the parsing of 13d. Thank you Dada for one of your gentler challenges and Senf for being there in case of need.
Dada in benevolent mood, and happily he kept his anagram mountain under control this time, not letting it spread over this puzzle like an avalanche. Enjoyable while it lasted, but not one of his wittiest, I thought. Podium places to 11a, 16d & COTD 18d.
1.5 / 2.5
Thank you to Dada and to Senf.
PS – today’s Toughie is well worth a shot: amusing and accessible.
Thanks for the plug – hints in an hour. I found it a bit tough last night until some trademark proXimalisms identified the setter – Telegraph Towers being a bit remiss in updating the Setters page I hope this isn’t the beginning of the end of the old puzzles site
My subscription to the old site was automatically renewed at the end of last month, so I sincerely hope not
Is there a problem at your end, SJB, I can’t access either your hints or the 2 comments that have been left.
It seems to have been duplicated – I have deleted one does it work now?
Many thanks – that did the trick!
A Paddy’s Day Leprechaun, ALP has commented so I appear to have eliminated the gremlin
Pretty straightforward & perfectly pleasant without being one of his better puzzles. 6d&12a my top two.
Thanks to D&S
Ps I’m out of phone charge so the Toughie & Gazza’s NTSPP will have to wait until later.
I fairly flew through this only to come to a grinding halt with five short ‘uns left to complete which took as long as the rest of this pleasant if undemanding puzzle. 11a and 18d share top spot.
Thanks to Dada for the fun and to Senf.
Completed after trying and failing to complete an on-line immigration form to be able to go on holiday on Tuesday. The form took longer to complete and tell me it’s submission was unsuccessful than this offering from Dada. Additionally, Dada was far more enjoyable. Thanks to him and Senf. I’m going to do battle again. Groan.
An enjoyable and straightforward solve today . 8d was a new word for me once I’d twigged, having made some assumptions about what letters could go where. Good to see 27a pop up again as not seen for a while. Thanks to Dada and Senf. Hope you all have an enjoyable Sunday.
Perhaps we will start seeing 27a as often as we were seeing the African plain!
Indeed, it used to be a regular!
Dada a little more quirky and convoluted in this Sunday puzzle with some good use of his thesaurus which put it a little more along the difficulty spectrum
2*/4* for me
Favourites include 9a, 10a, 11a, 20a, 5d & 18d — with winner 18d
Smiles came with 10a, 11a, 28a, 13d & 22d
Thanks to Dada & Senf for blog/hints
Just finished and will read the comments later. I did not find it as easy to get going today but rather enjoyed the sense of achievement in finishing. The north east took me ages to solve but in the end 11 a became my favourite.
Many thanks to Dada and to Senf for the hints
All done and, as ever, I thoroughly enjoyed Dada’s Sunday offering 👍.
A few ‘head-scratchers’ along the way but a couple of ‘Doh!’ moments as the penny dropped eg 11A & 18D ensured a steady solve.
Thanks to our setter and to Senf for the blog ‘n hints 😃
Cheers!
A very accessible Dada, wotta treat. I was about to bemoan the fact that 11a hadn’t been hinted and I couldn’t see the “why”, then I had my epiphany! Isn’t that clever? I enjoyed this a lot, so much good stuff here, lots of smilers along the way. I’m going to choose 13d for fave, memories of the delightful Terry Thomas.
Thank you Dada for all the fun, and Senf for his unravelling a couple. Thanks too for the music clip, takes me back a bit!
It was reasonably enjoyable. Got stuck on the traditionalist (why are they called that) and the proposal. Finally got 5d and was looking at the hints for 6d when it came to me. All fair except the windy clue. The synonym for plain does not fit in my book. Chambers has so many synonyms it would seem every word is a synonym of another, and the middle word is a week synonym for anything.
Thanks both.
**/***
All went in pretty easily, except for 2d which I hadn’t got the faintest idea about. In the end had to resort to my ancient Franklin Crossword Solver and that came up with the only word that fitted.
Can see why it works now, but I still reckon the second three letter bit is somewhat stretched.
2d was my last one in and 20a was going to be my favourite, of course, until I saw 6d which rather tickled my fancy. Oh dear, another pen coming. Many thanks to the Setter & mustard man.
2/4. Very enjoyable puzzle. An old chestnut at 27a but enjoyed 11&20a and my favourite 18d. Thanks to Dada and Senf.
A delicious puzzle for a Sunday morning, and no complaints here about Dada being benevolent. COTD for me is 10a, and I know we’ve seen it before, but I still like it. But then I was happy to see the old chestnut in 27a. Simple things please simple minds I guess 😊. Thanks to Dada and Senf.
A couple of bung ins that were too obvious to need parsing (12a and 20a)
I’m tempted to raise a 20a later!
A benevolent Dada.
Nonetheless enjoyable.
Pondered for a while in
The SE corner, eventually
The proverbial pennies.
Many thanks Dada and Senf.
Good steady solve.
I enjoyed today’s puzzle with top picks being 10a, 11a and 18d.
Thanks to Dada and Senf.
Thanks to Dada and Senf, that was a bit of a tussle but on reflection, it seems any trouble was of my own making.
Thanks too to Jane for pointing out the Leprechaun that had made a mess of my blog, does she get a mention in row 15?
13d did it for me as I nibbled on a piece of Yarg
Nice gentle breakfast guzzle today from Dada. Helped by my (redhead) wife getting 7a when I read it to her…making a nice start!
Liked 16d, really for the anything synonym, what a lovely word, which the wife had forgotten! Also 18d, what a lovely clue, and my fave du jour.
Many thanks to Dada and sending warm thoughts to Senf!
Jolly good. Most of it whizzed in but came unstuck in the SE. Stupidly missed the character part of 22d which caused me to put I. The wrong synonym for 18d. Guessed 18d which then caused me to correct the other two. I like 11 and 20a and 5 8 and 13d. Thanks to Dada and SJB.
Quickest ever Dada solve for me….pleasant, but imho not one of his best….
I am new. Straightforward except for 16d which I think I have now solved thanks to various comments. Niggling doubt about whether it ends in a y or an s. Think an s! Grey matter working thank you. Alan