Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3264 (Hints)
Hints and tips by Senf
A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg where, yesterday afternoon, we had a Spring thunder storm which included a brief electrical power outage!
For me, and I stress for me, Dada still quite friendly, except for two clues which added considerably to my completion time, with six anagrams (two partials), two lurkers (one reversed), and no homophones all in a symmetric 32 clues; with 16 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 – 28a, 29a, 30a, 1d, 2d, 5d, 19d, 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 The promise I give you, great Scott! (2,4)
A two word interjection that can be considered equivalent to great Scott!
9a Spot melted, it seems? (6)
Written (3,3) two words that may (it seems) describe something that has melted.
14a Gas on in this place (4)
The chemical symbol for a (noble) gas and the Latin based prepositional synonym for on.
17a Leader of party stymied, great wishes cast aside (5,7)
The first letter (leader) of Party blocked (as in inserted into – stymied) an anagram (cast) of GREAT WISHES.
25a Popular image yours truly replicated (4)
The objective pronoun equivalent to yours truly repeated (replicated).
28a Devil’s Island? (8)
The island of the illustrated ‘devil.’
30a Colleague in knockout, cry of pain suppressed (2-6)
A two letter cry of pain contained (suppressed) by a slang synonym of an informal use of knockout.
31a Intelligent boy’s first with the correct answer (6)
The first letter of Boy and (with) a single word for the correct answer.
Down
1d Plain piece provided, set to play (8)
Another term for piece on an 8 x 8 board, a two letter synonym of provided, and, oh dear, an anagram (to play – move one letter) of SET.
5d Changing bags at exchange (12)
A (nounal?) synonym of changing (be careful with the ending) contains (bags) AT from the clue.
6d Area covered by bulldozer carved up (4)
The reversed lurker (covered by . . . up) found in the words sandwiched by the indicator.
15d My foot in cowboy boot (5)
A synonym of my (as an interjection) and the last letter (foot in) cowboY.
19d Gala showcasing cheese? Most fleeting (8)
Written as (4,4), a type of cheese which is being shown (showcasing) at the informal shortened form of a synonym of gala.
21d Sea cold, something hot further north? (6)
The single letter for Cold preceded by (further north – it’s a Down clue remember) something hot which may be named for what it is cooked in.
22d 9 Across, now and then, something for the kids (6)
The present tense (now) of the 9 Across answer followed by the past tense of the same (and then).
27d Leading actor in Betelgeuse, say? (4)
A double definition – the second is what Betelgeuse is an example of (say) – I toyed with the idea of this being a homophone (say) but, as shown in the hint, I decided that say was being used to indicate definition by example.
Quick Crossword Pun:
DOUGHNUT + HEIFER + GIVE UP = DO NOT EVER GIVE UP
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Tony Hancock was born on this day 100 years ago. He is probably most famous for his eponymous Radio and TV shows – <em>Hancock’s Half Hour</em> – which was broadcast from 1954 to 1961. At the time it was common for small mistakes to be kept in the recording, due to the cost of production and the lack of time for editing. So here is a selection of <em>Fluffs and Ad Libs</em> from the TV show:
A couple of the long ones held me up for a while but once they fell it all came together. I entered an answer into 12a but I don’t see what it has to with “duck”. Lots to like but my COTD is the gala at 19d.
Thank you, Dada for being kind to us today. Thank you, Senf for the hints. I believe we are due thunder storms ourselves this after noon. I’ll see those but I missed the Northern Lights.
You may find the word initially is significant in 12a ;)
DOH!!! Of course – how could I miss that? 😳😳
Thank you, CS 👍
“Initially”, as in the first letters of the preceding four words.
Thanks, madmanmoon – I saw Sue’s post and went no further down. 😳
Just stopped by to say thanks to Dada for the enjoyable solve today – went down well with the morning cuppa.
The anagrams on the long clues helped enormously. I really liked 5D but I think I have seen it before so my personal COTD goes to 22D – very clever.
I counted 3 lurkers myself, though I regard 12A as a type of lurker too (if that helps, Steve).
Last in was 15D which took me an appallingly long time to parse but I think that is just me getting old!
Thanks to Senf for the blog.
This one beat me all ends up. Far above my level I’m afraid.
Dada at his most fiendish.
*****/0
2*/4*. This was Dada at his Sunday best with 28a my favourite.
Many thanks to him and to Senf.
I thought this was a little tricky in places, but many thanks to Dada for an excellent puzzle.
The two 5-letter down clues, 15 and 16 took the longest to crack and they also get my vote in joint podium position.
Enjoyable and not too tricky – thanks to Dada and Senf.
I liked 29a, 30a and 21d but favourite has to be the clever 22d.
I found this a uncomfortable mix of half a dozen write-in in the NE with quite a struggle thereafter. One or two took ages to parse (15d and 22d). I got the wrong sea in 21 d and therefore couldn’t complete 23a. So a satisfying puzzle eventually but uneven difficulty for me. 9a and 22d my CODs. Thanks as always to setter and blogger.
For me, and I stress for me (™ Senf), this was no summer breeze. I had to pop in and trust in Senf to get me rebooted (the hints for 30a and 21d got me motoring along again).
We have a born again Christian painter from Azerbaijan here today. He keeps saying “Bless you” when we take him cups of coffee. Therefore I am convinced we are both going straight to heaven without all that purgatory business when our time comes. In addition, I am now in a position to give lectures on the detail of the war between Azerbaijan and Armenia, due to the lengthy description he gave me at about 8:15 this morning.
Thanks to Da-doo-ron-ron and The Man From Manitoba
Perhaps rather surprising that a born again Christian is working for anyone other than the Lord on a Sunday – not that I’m suggesting you mention it to him.
Jane – do you know, that crossed my mind too! I won’t mention it as we want him to get on with painting the log cabin we’ve had built in the garden.
He told me that ‘Jesus told him to leave Azerbaijan and come to England to spread the word’. I just want hime to spread the paint in the right places…
Did he come in one of those small boats, I wonder?
You lead such an exciting life, Terence. Your painter would do better in America … maybe not, that would be singing to the choir.
Ho hum – comment floated off into the ether again…….
As I was saying – this was friendly Sunday fare from our setter with just the parsing of 15d causing a bit of trouble – see that I wasn’t alone there. Podium places handed out to 14&28a plus 1&19d.
Thanks to Dada and to Senf for the hints – fairly ancient myself but it still came as a shock to learn that Tony Hancock was born 100yrs ago!
Good one today tricky but solvable except I’m stumped by 26 down. Must be obvious i suppose but I’ve drawn a complete blank.
Oh-blimey I’v just fallen in about 26D. Amazing how the obvious doesn’t come sometimes
Once the 12 letter across clues in the middle were solved, the grid unlocked. Had forgotten about that particular noble gas. Yes, it’s in the table. Had to ask Ross for a nudge for 15d. Indicators not always obvious eg. stymied Enjoyed the two eight letter down clues sharing the last four.
A good challenge on the whole
Thanks to all on this great site. Tonight, looking 👀 again ‘sailors aura bore’
Tony
Should be auras bore sailor
Sir John Lubbock, later Lord Avebury who bought this site
Phew, my faith restored. I enjoyed this fun exercise much more than recent days. SW delayed things a bit but all in all it was a smooth ride. 27d betelgeuse is a new one on me but it had to be. My Fav was 17a due to clever cast aside. Thank you to the 2 x 4-letter combo of Dada and Senf.
This a well balanced and enjoyable guzzle on tge whole, with a few head-scratchers in the centrak part of the grid, which lengthened my solvung time. 17a across was well misdirected and there was a loud penny drop moment. There were two excellent geographical clues at 11d and 28a too. Thanks to Senf for the hints and to Dada for a well- clued SPP.
I enjoyed this but for a while I thought it was going to be a DNF. Got there in the end though once I’d managed to parse 15d. Good to see that Senf’s hint matched my own thinking. 16d took far too long to get with me kicking myself once the penny dropped.
Top picks for me were 17a, 5d and 21d.
Thanks to Senf and Dada.
Like T no summer breeze for me either in fact the longest I’ve spent on a Dada prize puzzle for quite some time. Brain fog in the NW plus an embarrassingly slow penny drop at 15d. Despite my labours thought it the best Sunday PP in a while. 22d my favourite with 19d in the runner up spot.
Thanks to D&S
We made harder work of this than perhaps we should have but got there in the end. An enjoyable and entertaining crossword and satisfying to finish. Favourite was 22d. Thanks to Dada and Senf.
I have to say that the parsing of 5D escaped me until I read the hints.
Thanks to Dada for the entertainment and Senf for the hints.
For some reason, the locals are celebrating Easter today rather than last Sunday which was the official Orthodox Easter. Their habit of throwing home made firecrackers around is not good for the nerves!
Found this to be very challenging today but got there…eventually! My last one in was 15D which I just couldn’t parse until I saw Senf’s hint above…doh!! 😩
Thanks, as ever, to Dada for the ‘brain workout’ and of course to Senf for the blog ‘n hints.
Cheers!
I didn’t think this was that friendly, Senf, but hugely enjoyable. Unlike others, I had no problem with 15d, but was almost DNF with 16d. I thought it odd that I was the only one missing that so revisited it, wotta clang when it hit me! I must truly be dim today. Thanks for explaining 21d, clever that. I’ve never really understood 25a, but I’ve seen it often enough; like “woke”. I have honourable mentions all over the place, the best are 17a, 28a, 19d and 22d, toss a coin for fave.
Thank you Dada for the fun, and muchas gracias Senf for explaining so much.
Enjoyable guzzle so thanks. Did anyone else also google ‘cowboy boots’? The answer suddenly dawned on me and is my COTD. Lovely hot day here so what’s not to like. Thanks setter and Senf.
Yes Manders I certainly did mainly, I suppose, because I don’t think of my foot in that context!
22d the favourite for so many here. Even with the help of Senf I still don’t see it. 🤦♀️
Think present and past AG.
Thank you so much.
Stupidly, I’d put the wrong answer in 28a. Didn’t think my answer was an island, but didn’t realise I’d mis-remembered the word. Again doh. 🤦♀️. Once that was corrected it all makes perfect sense.
Lovely crossword overall.
I took way too long finishing the last 4 clues which included 5,15 and 16 d. I did not find this very straightforward but probably just having an off day. Even the anagrams took me longer than usual, particularly 17a. I am glad I persisted, my favourite was 19d.
Many thanks to Dada and to Senf for the hints
I’ve been off grid for a few days and I found this a tricky little devil on my return. It’s amazing how quickly you lose the rhythm of solving when you haven’t done it for a few days. 15d was my final entry and my favourite this evening was 28a.
Thanks Dada for an excellent puzzle, and to Senf.
Struggled but got
There in the end.
Of special note
17 and 28a and
22d
Many misdirections.
Thanks Dada for the
Challenge and thanks
Senf.
Late start today due to a neighbourhood get together Saturday night. Good fun.
Found this to be a little up the difficulty level this week for Dada along with a little of his quirkiness thrown in.
In the end, shouldn’t have been a hard as I found it.
2.5*/3.5*
Favourites 4a, 24a, 28a, 8d, 15d & 19d — with winner 15d
Thanks to Dada & Senf for blog/hints
I managed to complete this today and always feel happy if I have managed to do a prize or a Friday crossword without recourse to the hints or electronic help.
But less happy with the quick crossword as I feel i had a legitimate answer to 3d which the DT says is not correct.
Waterfowl is both singular and plural. Geese are waterfowl – hence a legitimate answer that fits with the checkers. Is there a flaw in my logic?
The only flaw is that there is more than one type of waterfowl that fits G _ E _ E and the setter chose the other one. It doesn’t help that the three checking letters are the same in both words.
Fairly steady solve – last one 15d, which took a while until all became clear.