Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3259 (Hints)
Hints and tips by Senf
A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg where, with rising temperatures and some trepidation, I have put my heavy winter coat into the back of the wardrobe for six months or so.
For me, and I stress for me, quite a challenge from Dada today – six anagrams (one partial), two lurkers, and no homophones, all in a symmetric 26 clues; with 13 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 – 7a, 15a, 23a, 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 Each on journey, energetically ambitious (2-5)
A (1,4) phrase equivalent to each placed after (on) a verbal synonym of journey.
14a Mother’s back pecked by animal — some chicken? (6)
The last letter of motheR (‘s back) contained (pecked) by a generic synonym of animal.
15a Onion on stick for monkey (11)
A type of onion (used in salads?) placed after (on) a three letter synonym of stick.
19a Ring, where that woman enters fight (6)
That woman expressed as the nominative form of the third person singular feminine pronoun inserted into (enters) a type of fight.
20a Complete appendage I got rid of (8)
Here’s a new one – guess an appendage (on an aquatic animal), I from the clue, and a single word for got rid of.
26a Smudge with slime smeared in empty bath (7)
An anagram (smeared) of SLIME inserted into (in) BatH with the interior letters removed (empty).
Down
1d Chief having broken eggs leaves (7)
An adjectival synonym of chief inserted into (having broken) a type of eggs.
4d Might one have you in a stew? (8)
The best I can suggest is see the illustration.
5d Loud sound hurt ears, initially shocking (10)
An anagram (shocking) SOUND HURT and the first letter (initially) of Ears
9d Updated draft of Lord’s cricket ground (3,8)
An anagram (updated) of DRAFT OF LORD.
13d Editor with stash of grass — one’s hooked! (10)
A synonym of editor (as in one who makes alterations) containing (with stash of) a type of grass (not wacky baccy but cereal).
17d Horse carrying short playwright (7)
A female horse containing (carrying) a synonym of short (perhaps in quantity rather than measurement).
24d Large number describing a limb? (4)
A Dada made-up adjective(?) that could describe a limb (of a body).
Quick Crossword Pun:
CLOCK + URNS + PEEL = GLOCKENSPIEL
Could new readers please read the Welcome post and the FAQ before posting comments or asking questions about the site.
As this is a Prize crossword, please don’t put any ANSWERS, whether WHOLE, PARTIAL or INCORRECT, or any ALTERNATIVE CLUES OR HINTS in your comment.
Please read these instructions carefully – they are not subject to debate or discussion. Offending comments may be redacted or, in extreme cases, deleted. In all cases the administrator’s decision is final.
If you don’t understand, or don’t wish to comply with, the conventions for commenting on weekend prize puzzles then save yourself a lot of trouble and don’t leave a comment.
Canadian–American bandleader, orchestrator, composer and conductor, known for his lush arrangements of instrumental ballads and Christmas standards, Percy Faith was born in Toronto on this day in 1908. He is often credited with popularizing the easy listening or mood music format. One of the most well known pieces played by his orchestra is the Theme from A Summer Place, composed by Max Steiner, for the 1959 film. Two of the actors in the film, Sandra Dee and Troy Donahue, feature in the accompanying video:
That was a poser and no mistake. I didn’t get the parsing of quite a few so many thanks to Senf for explanations. I did have a loud laugh at 4d and this is my COTD but I didn’t care for the puzzle that much.
Thank you, Dada for bamboozling me thoroughly and thank you, Senf for making sense of it.
The Marches get a mention in the Toughie today and you get a mention in the preamble
So they do and many thanks for the mention in the preamble, SJB.
As for The Mythical, I fear it will remain so for me. After fifty years of submitting I doubt it will appear now.
Agree, a bit of a let down after last Sunday.
Me too. Then I got to thinking, maybe if they keep up this level of difficulty, then I won’t miss the puzzles so much when they discontinue the old system and I can’t print them off any more. Every cloud … etc.
Dada has upped his game and given us a proper prize puzzle with some tricky clues today – thanks to him and Senf.
Amongst others I enjoyed 7a, 4d, 9d and 13d.
I agree – very tough, but all the more satisfying for that! Took me a loooong time to pick the 19a,13d,17d combo – as an engineer my knowledge of old playwrights is very limited. Though, all forgiven for 4d – great clue! Thanks to Senf for the hints – I was not convinced I had correctly parsed 1a, and huge thanks to Dada for the workout. More like that please!
Good day. I cannot access the old puzzles site. Does anyone know if it has finally closed?
As you were. Just tried it on my computer instead of Ipad and it worked.
I printed from it this morning so it was up and running about 8 AM.
A great puzzle today. It wasn’t a walk in the park for me but gave great satisfaction once I completed it.
Top picks for me were 1d, 4d, 20a and 13d.
Thanks to Dada and Senf.
This one took a little longer to complete than recent Sunday puzzles, but then again I did solve it at the same time as I was watching the Japanese F1.
Thanks to Dada for the tougher challenge today, which I enjoyed.
Trickier than most Sundays, not helped by the grid. 53 per cent of the solutions start with an unchecked letter
A grid that is ideal for a Nina, but Dada didn’t take up the challenge!
Wow, very tough. Some clues were I thought dreadful (15a & 17d) but I did like 25a.
Really far too difficult for a non Toughie audience and not up to Dadas usual high standard.
Thx for the hints without which I would not have completed this one.
*****/**
Now, that really was a proper puzzle. Glorious stuff from Dada. He’s back! 9d was incredibly pleasing and 13d was just genius. So what if 4d’s a chestnut and 24d’s a groaner? Pure gold, I thought. Huge thanks to Dada and Senf.
Couldn’t agree more… excellent puzzle!
A very tough Dada and a dnf for me as I needed too much e-help and the hints to get me over the line. Notwithstanding the help I can’t say I enjoyed it overly much with the possible exception of the stew which did raise a smile. Thanks to Dada for the challenge and Senf for the hints.
I have not done the cryptic yet but was pleased to find it and all the usual puzzles back in the puzzle section of the digital edition of the paper today…..is this just because it’s Sunday or has there been a change of heart?
Sadly I think it’s just Sunday, but hopefully not a one off.
That came as something of a shock to the system, Dada certainly not being very friendly! Battled my way through but can’t say that the puzzle held much appeal for me. The updated draft probably amused the most with a nod to the Editor and his stash of grass.
Thanks to Dada for the wake-up call and to Senf for the hints – can’t say that I ever saw the film but the theme from Percy Faith came with the portable Dansette record player my parents gave me for Christmas many moons ago!
Percy Faith! Now that’s a name from the antediluvian past!
Gosh, I remember the Dansette record player! When my parents left India and bought a house in the UK at the beginning the 60s, they left behind thfor enormous polished wood radiogram and swapped it for a Dansette!
Struggled.
A good and appropriately testing Sunday prize back page puzzle, even if 6 anagrams in a rather mean and niggardly serving of only 26 clues is far too many.
All scrupulously fair, well disguised in the main, but a couple of odd surfaces. Slow to get into, swift to finish, but the last mouthful of coffee was tepid verging on cool!
Podium places to 20a, 6d & 4d, with runner-up 23a.
3* / 3*
Many thanks to Dada and Senf
I agree MG, 6: 26 is a high-ish anagram count, but may I ask a quick self-serving question, please? Would 5/6: 32 also be too many, do you think?
I am sure there is guidance in the DT setters’ manual on number of anagrams. But, there are some setters who can ‘get away’ with ignoring the manual – Ray T and his ‘sweetheart’ and Dada and his anagram counts. Something us mere mortal solvers will have to put up with.
Quite! Only Ray T could get away with “sweetheart”. If I remember rightly, the guide “allows” up to seven. But papers/setters differ, course. The Times only allows a max of four I think. Personally, I thought the anagrams were very welcome today. Would have been even tougher without them..
5/6 anagrams in 32 clues seems fine to me. That’s in line with the guide and Chris Lancaster’s book. I think you are right – lots of people like anagrams. If I recall correctly Chris Lancaster says there are web sites dedicated to the best of them.
Music to my ears! Ta lots, Mark.
As I noted to one of the back page puzzles last week, 1 : 8 was to me the perfect ratio.
No puzzle with fewer than 32 clues should have more than 4 anagrams. 26 or 28 clues should have no more than 3, and that’s pushing it!
No more than four? Ooh, that’s harsh. You’re a true Times man!
Yup. Much better newspaper, far better journalism, much more balanced, but 35 years on and off of tackling the DT puzzle means this crossword has a “comfy armchair by the fire” sort of feel. Even if the new puzzles site is the apotheosis of incompetent website design.
More than 4 anagrams restricts the scope for variety in clueing. You wouldn’t have more than 2 or 3 lurkers at the very most, or a single Spoonerism, so why permit more than 4 anagrams?
Very fair point. And I totally agree re Times.
The current Times guide is for a normal maximum of five anagrams, but six ‘at a pinch’ if one or two of those are partials. The number of clues in the puzzle is immaterial.
The Telegraph allows six as standard, but is less strict on exceeding that amount occasionally.
Just completed this challenging puzzle, on the old site, after a lot of head-scratching and a bit of electronic help. Now the blessed thing refuses to let us send our entry. Grrr. Why do the Telegraph keep messing about with things? No doubt they just want to make more money out of us by making us join the new ‘all bells and whistles’ puzzle site — in which we are simply not interested. We only do the daily cryptic, occasionally the Toughie and the Saturday quizzes. The wretched newspaper costs enough in the first place, without charging more for a load of stuff we don’t want and which should in any case be part of the digital subscription. Thanks to Dada and Senf for the workout and hints.
4*/2.5*. This was a complete contrast to last Sunday’s straightforward offering from Dada. I found the bottom half today almost impenetrable but, after several sittings, I eventually managed to come up with a full grid.
Thanks to the setter and hinter.
Ah, what would we do without our honest RD! No wonder I love you so.
For me, and I stress for me (™ Senf) this was rather tricky with some old-fashioned use of language – but I enjoyed the challenge.
No football at Stamford Bridge for us this weekend as we are away to Sheffield United. However, we are still recovering from Thursday’s whizz-bang match against Manchester United; and H is still in reverie as she met Raheem Sterling last week.
Thanks to Da-doo-ron-ron and The Man From Manitoba
Yes, quite a challenge, but got there in the end.
Enjoyed the smile at 4d. Favourite probably the updated draft.
Last one in was 13d, which took a while for the penny to drop even with all the checkers in place.
Well for this Sunday puzzle I thought Dada had stepped up the difficulty spectrum and the quirkiness somewhat with several clues/answers out of his own personal thesaurus today. Quite the head scratcher for me.
2.5*/3.5*
Favourites include 15a, 19a, 1d, 4d & 9d — with winner 1d
Smile & chuckles for 15a, 4d, 9d & 16d.
Unusually for me there were several clues/answers that for the life of me I could not work out the parsing … and that just doesn’t happen with Dada.
Thanks to Dada for the challenge this week & Senf for hints/blog
Made a complete Horlicks of 14a by reversing MA after B and ant.
13d completley fooled me.
Thanks for the much needed hints.
That was indeed a bit tougher than many a Dada of yore, but with Senf’s help, I got there in the end. I would recommend the Sunday Toughie but that was even tougher, so much so I didn’t take a tincture of my new bottle of Yorkshire Whisky to bed, I will makeup for that by taking a large one tonight
filey-bay-moscatel-cask-finish-batch-4-whiskies-100399
A tricky one. But at least the ST’s puzzles haven’t moved to the abortion that is the new app. And surprise, surprise, I received an apologetic email following my complaints and bug reports on the puzzles app. It’s not idea for those with visual acuity challenges and there are several elementary bugs.
Anyone else getting an error message when trying to submit the prize crossword yesterday and today? Frustrating.
Yup. 😤
Yes
Me too
Intermediate difficulty for me, the main stickler being the parochial knowledge required for 9d which sent me to Google. Excellent puzzle. Favourite was 13d.
What a slog! However, for 4d it was worth it🤣 I am wondering though in today’s wokeness whether this is acceptable?
Thanks to setter and Senf.
I find it increasingly difficult these days to get onto the DT/ST cruciverbal wavelength and am not enjoying their challenges and today was an instance of that. Managed the South with a bit of help but North was almost completely a non-starter apart from a couple like the nicely uncomplicated 1d. Hoping for a return to more agreeable offerings. Sort of thank you to Dada and to Senf for saving the day.
See my reply to Steve at comment 1.
🙂
A tough one for me too. And as at now I have 2 still to complete – hoping later I’ll get a lightbulb moment and finish. Needed a hint for 13d – brilliant clue. Thanks to Dada and Senf.
So a dog walking moment yielded the playwright – 🙄always obvious in hindsight , and then got the last one 25a too from the letters. The ‘back’ part of the answer was a new one for me – a very neat clue have to say. Good to have at least finished it.
This was very tricky! Despite the hints I don’t have an answer for 1d. Can anyone help within the rules. Many thanks
You would probably find the leaves in a salad.
Got it! I had two other possible answers but not that one. Many thanks. Really tough one
Ah! Thank you.
Thanks from me too. So obvious when the penny drops.
Welcome to the blog
Is this the same Dada that I loved last Sunday? Too tricky by half, and even for someone like me who loves anagrams, just too many today. The same in the Quick today. I couldn’t even understand 17a with Senf’s hint. Where is the horse? Always called 15a by their other name, so was never going to get that answer. Sorry, didn’t get much enjoyment from this one. Except I did have a laugh at 11a. Thanks to Dada and Senf. As you put away your heavy winter coat Senf, we here in South Florida have put away our long sleeved T shirts 😊. We are enjoying a lovely respite right now, but the steamy months are not far away.
Not sure what you mean by ‘Where is the horse?’ but the ‘key’ to the same is the second word of the hint.
Sorry Senf, lightbulb just went off. I was fixated on another name for a female horse, my bad.
A bit tricky today. Finished but no joy.
I’m really struggling with the new puzzle bit in the ipad version. Every time I leave the site it adds a letter to the square I was in. If I leave the number puzzles it loses all the little numbers and I’ve just found out hat if I complete a puzzle my husband can’t do it as it won’t reset. Why do they never test anything properly. I do the puzzles in the i newspaper and they are rock solid.
Rant over.
Thanks to Dada and Senf for some much needed hints. Even had to go to Danword for 2 of the clues!
Oh dear Toni, as someone who is still using the old site, and prints up the puzzles for us both to do independently, your comment fills me with dread. So do the DT imagine that couples will be paying for two separate subscriptions for the pleasure of doing the crosswords? Not in our house.
My idea is to do all of the crossword but delete one word, then reset it so he can do it.
Toni, as this site has nowt to do with the Telegraph and we can never be certain that every blog is read by someone from the cryptic corner of Telegraph Towers, why not email the Editor with your concerns? Addresses (certainly used to be): puzzleseditor@telegraph.co.uk and chris.lancaster@telegraph.co.uk
I already did! But it was before I realised about the fact that only one of you can do each puzzle. I also mentioned that the changing from big numbers to small numbers should be at the bottom of the page, ie with the numbers.
They won’t take any notice anyway. We will cancel our subscription when it’s due for renewal and I’ll just do the i newspaper puzzles. I only pay £2.99 per moth for the ipad version of that and it has the same news. We’ve kept the telegraph for the puzzles but if they carry on being rubbish there’s no point.
They should put it back to how it was until they sort out all the problems. I don’t like the timer on either and you can’t switch it off. Grr!
The only comment I make about today’s crossword is thank goodness for Senf.
Ditto
Quite agree.
Very difficult in both solving and parsing despite starting off fairly well but we stuck at it and got there eventually. Personally I’m not sure I liked it that much. Favourite was 16d. Thanks to Dada and Senf.
Well, that’s my last DT prize cryptic after more than twenty years. The new puzzles page hasn’t worked once and I object to their arm twisting. The only bits of the paper I ever read are the obituaries (in case there is a colleague in there) and the crossword. Bye Bye Telegraph, Hello Times.
Ian – as I’ve just suggested to Toni in her post above, why not email the Puzzles Editor with your concerns? Addresses (certainly used to be): puzzleseditor@telegraph.co.uk and chris.lancaster@telegraph.co.uk
Just about had it today, I think – really had it!!
I don’t mind “difficult” when it’s fun too but this wasn’t, not to me anyway.
I’ve got so many that I can’t sort out at all – hints, or otherwise!
I did like 4d and also 24d – if my answer is right then it’s the kind of thing that makes me laugh which I could do with today!
Thanks to Dada and Senf.
You said a mouthful.
Well said Kath. And with little time we have left to enjoy the old site you would think they would at least spoil us by giving us friendly puzzles. Said it before, and I’ll say it again, there is the Toughie if anyone finds the regular Cryptic too easy.
you certainly have said it before .
Certainly the hardest Sunday puzzle for some time, not helped by attempting to fill the difficult grid whilst watching the rugby from Toulouse. Finally got there though, but it was a fair old tussle with many hold-ups. 1d was my final entry and favourite.
Thanks to Dada for the fight and to Senf.
I normally eagerly anticipate Dada’s Sunday back page offerings.
This one, to me, was totally devoid of any wit or humour.
Just a slog from beginning to unassisted end. Just my 2D’s worth.
Nick.
I only finished this tricky little number with the help of Senf for the last 2, even a gap to paint the front gate didn’t help! I am used to finding Sunday a bit tricky but today was more than that. Thank goodness that there were anagrams and the hints. I would not have submitted this one as I needed help but I checked the submit button today as it did not work yesterday and I find it still has an error message, so they will be saving money by not having any prize entries from the digital subscribers!
Many thanks to Dada for the challenge and to Senf for the essential and helpful hints
I’m joining the disgruntled commentariat. I didn’t even finished half before resorting to ehelp, even that failed me and I had to beg Senf for help. If it weren’t for 4d, this would have been a washout, though I did like a few others, 17d for one. Far too much like hard work, I do these puzzles for the fun and there wasn’t much of that today. Are you listening Mr. Editor?
Pull your socks up Dada, remember what I said about taking your foot off the pedal. Obviously, you’re the most popular person today, Senf, what would we do without you.
Having had a quick peek at the comments earlier in the day, I approached this puzzle with some trepidation…but I actually quite enjoyed it, trickier than recent Dada’s but not too bad. Obviously on the right wavelength today. One or two parsings I didn’t understand, so thanks to Senf for the enlightenment. Thanks also to Dada.
The latest No News Newsletter has just arrived in my email inbox and I’m sure nobody will be surprised to learn that there is no mention whatsoever of the imminent end of the world as we know it
You beat me to it!
(But, I still haven’t received the ‘Doomsday’ e-mail!)
I didn’t realised that the term No News Newsletter had been so widely adopted – sad that the description is only too true.
For me, just too difficult to be enjoyable sadly.
Thanks to Senf and Dada
The moment when the penny isn’t dropping I thought that’s when I would be following in Nan’s footsteps. Then I get so much encouragement seeing all these comments.
Thanks for BD starting this site. I’ve been following for years and enjoy the banter of all the contributors.
Welcome to the blog Hughie.
Now that you have de-lurked keep on contributing!
Good puzzle. Difficulty level certainly upped & by a margin too but enjoyable nonetheless. 1&17d were the 2 big head scratchers for me. With the former I was stupidly messing about trying to put my eggs in the chief & simply no excuse (given I did him at A Level) for taking so long to think of the playwright for the latter or the required synonym for short.15a was my favourite as it’s such a great word.
Thanks to D&S – whose review I’ll now read along with the comments.
Ps – I see codewords, sudoku, the prize & quickie all in the digital paper today – it’s like the Hokey Cokey without the shake it all about…..
It is nearly bed time and I think with three to go I shall call it a day. Maybe tomorrow I shall wake up with inspiration – it’s been a busy day. I like the word 15a it makes me smile but I think 26a is my favourite. Many thanks to Dada for the headache ( never too many anagrams for me – can one be an anagramophile?) and to Senf.
This was indeed a challenging crossword, thanks to Dada and Senf (from whom help was required), it must be very difficult to compile a crossword grid and clue it, let alone clue it in an always entertaining and humorous manner, so from me le chapeau’s off! I would not even be able to begin to create these cruciverbal masterpieces, let alone always do so in an amusing way. Much respect to all the compilers who challenge and entertain us.
The subject of the “new” website is gnarly, and, I suspect, the result of left brain thinkers, not knowing what they don’t know. The old saying “if it ‘ain’t broke, don’t fix it” seems apposite.
4*/3* …
liked 4D “Might one have you in a stew ? (8)”