ST 3267 (Hints) – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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ST 3267 (Hints)

by Senf  

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3267 (Hints)

Hints and tips by Senf

A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg where we have been enjoying early summer conditions with high temperatures in the low 20s and overnight low temperatures in double figures.

For me, and I stress for me, Dada not very friendly, with seven anagrams (three partials), two lurkers (one reversed), and one homophone all in a slightly asymmetric 30 clues; with 15 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 – 16a, 26a, 1d, and 16d.

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 Fascinating time legally recognised (12)
A term for a period of time of undetermined length and a term used to mean legally recognised.

9a See one mat and another mat turned on the same side (4,5)
An anagram (turned) of SEE one MAT and another MAT.

12a A cold, cold ebbing river into which ship entered (8)
The two letters frequently used for a (large) ship inserted into (into which) A from the clue, the single letter for Cold repeated and the reversal (ebbing) of a three letter river.

13a Bacon, say, as rasher that is sizzling there, first of all (6)
Remember what I said last week about one of Dada’s favourite clue constructions and having to look for the indicator, well here it is again – the initial letters (first of all) of six words in the clue.

19a Short song about US soldier, very sad (6)
A song (from an album?) with the last letter removed (short) containing (about) the two letters for a US soldier.

21a European raincoat in a storm? (8)
An anagram (in a storm) of RAINCOAT.

28a Girl wanting dog, reportedly – one unlikely to buy it? (5-7)
Guess a girl, this one is the familiar form of another one and might be a coin, followed by (wanting) a homophone (reportedly) of a breed of dog.

Down

1d Planted whole, a fruit (7)
Two Dada synonyms – the first of planted and the second of whole and A from the clue.

3d Red meat American company packed with last of flour (9)
A type of meat (often used for Sunday roast), the two letters for American, and the two letter abbreviated form of company containing (packed with) the last letter of flourR.

6d Fibre in sauce? (5)
A double definition – the second is not a ‘food enhancer.’

8d Union member has kept line in check (6)
The single letter for Line contained (has kept) by one half of two in union.

16d A canister destroyed using axes? (9)
An anagram (destroyed) of A CANISTER for (graphical) axes.

18d Photograph animal that climbs, little monkey (6)
The abbreviated form of a synonym of photograph and the reversal (that climbs) of the illustrated animal.

22d Little piggies perhaps run into you (5)
The single letter for crickety Run inserted into the archaic dative and accusative form of the second person singular pronoun.

25d Twenty per cent off bird, bargain! (4)
Guess a five letter (wading) bird and remove the last (fifth) letter (twenty per cent off).

Quick Crossword Pun:

IRON + NAPPER + CYPRESS = AYIA NAPA CYPRUS – Thanks to CS and Gazza for unscrambling that for me, I would never have got it in the proverbial month of Sundays.

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.

Pop duo Wham reached Number One for the first of six times on this day in 1984; amazingly all these actors/dancers are dancing to a song that wasn’t even written yet:

73 comments on “ST 3267 (Hints)”

  2. Less friendly indeed… definitely 2 cuppa territory today! Some tough clues to crack. I liked 1d, 3d, 17d but my COTD is 22d – simple but with a crafty bit of misdirection. I spent quite a while trying to make toes out of little piggies (sigh). Thanks to Senf for the blog and Dada for the Sunday morning wake up call.

  3. Ouch. Not even close today. Out of my league, sadly. *****/**

    (I don’t understand where the first two letters of 23a come from, if anyone can help while avoiding a flogging from the mods)

    1. It’s the first 3 letters you should be interested in, and they are part of the whole clue reversal

      1. I’m not convinced that the three letters are a valid abbreviation (it doesn’t appear in Collins or Chambers as far as I can see).

        1. A quick Google search and I found numerous different online dictionaries where the 3 letters were an abbreviation of the word in question, Collins included.

          1. Jezza, I should have said it only appears in Collins as an Americanism! 👎

            1. Ah! It doesn’t matter as I see from Senf’s comment that it also works as a reverse lurker. 👍

    2. 23a, is that the clue number you meant, is the reversed lurker (in . . . though left-leaning?) of the name of a country that is no longer used.

      1. Interesting!
        The clue works as a hidden reverse lurker or a 3 part composition reversal.
        I think your suggestion works better although I cannot see why the other option is not viable.

    3. Thanks all. Got it now, I was building reverse lego, not reverse lurking. I see they both work, which is, frankly, amazing!

  5. Dada giving us a thrashing today starting with a totally ungettable (for me) Quickie Pun. I got there in the end but not accompanied by the usual joy that Dada tends to bring. Never heard of a little monkey called 18d. No COTD but 23a came close.

    Thank you, Dada for the brain mangling. Thank you, Senf for making sense of some of it for me.

    Happy Birthday, Kath! I hope you have a great day. 🎂🎂🍹

    1. Little monkey as in [redacted – alternative clue – it’s a prize puzzle]. Dated but in the book.

  6. An off and on guzzle. I left it and came back toit twice bwfore complleting it with difficulty and the aid of the Thesaurus. Nevertheless, I did enjoy the challenge and it got a whole lot easier as the checker went in . Favourite clues were the lego clues art 1a and 3d and the anagrams at 16d abd 21a. Thanks to Dada and to Senf for rge hints

  7. I thought thus was slightly trickier than recent Sunday puzzles, but not by much.
    I’m not overly keen on the anagram construction in 9a, with “one and another” in the middle of the fodder, and I’m not keen on the contracted synonym of “but” in 14d.
    Anyway, thanks to Dada for an enjoyable puzzle. 2*/3.5*

  8. I am so sorry to ask but is there a solution to the printing with the old rather than awful new format? Not a regular reader of the blog (although still very appreciative of the lovely community and hard work) so apologies if this has been dealt with previously but a Google search hasn’t revealed any easy answers. Thanks!

    1. Your comment went into moderation because you used a different alias from the last time you commented some time ago both should work from now on.

      To answer your question, if by ‘old’ and ‘new’ formats you mean websites then the answer is no. The old web site is no more and the new web site is all there is.

    2. James b,

      I have found a way to do this but it is a bit convoluted…

      I print the crossword to a pdf file.
      Then I open the pdf in Adobe Photoshop.
      I select the grid and create a new adjustment layer.
      The adjustment layer (hue/saturation – lightness) then reduces the ‘blackness’ of the grid to make it a paler grey.
      Then I save the file and print it out.

      …but it works.

      I only print the toughies as I do the standard cryptics online. I like to have scribble room for the toughie.

    3. James , try the app rather than the website. it works fine and prints easily if you want to

  9. Dada in a very bad mood today but with the help of the invaluable hints and considerable perseverance it was completed. Some very clever clues esp 8d and a new word for me in 16d and a new meaning in 18d.
    Strangely satisfying but very tough.
    Thx to all
    ****/****

  10. 3*/3*. Quite tough for a Sunday, but enjoyable apart from the awful 28a.

    Many thanks to Dada and to Senf.

    Most importantly, a very Happy Birthday to Kath. :rose:

    1. Ha! I loved 28a and it was my COTD, but I had a mental fiver on you feeling the opposite, RD.

  11. Not one of Dada’s finest efforts but a pleasant start to the day. Thanks to the setter and Senf.
    My ticks went to 1a, 7d and 24d.

    Happy Birthday to Kath – you have a lovely day for it.

  12. Happy Birthday to Kath. Always very kind to me when I first turned up here, and I looked forward to her Thursday hints ‘n’ tips. I still enjoy her contributions to this day. Kath is a gem.

    For me, and I stress for me (™ Senf), Dada very difficult today. Many were beyond my grasp. However, thanks for the challenge (™ Steve Cowling).

    Supermarket delivery taken in; a light luncheon beckons before a lovely walk. The latter was decided upon when we took in the delivery and found a warm, sunny day outside. Quite a shock to the system.

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

  13. Who has upset Dada today? I’ve run up the white flag on this offering. Even with Senf’s hints I’ve failed to get any traction. The sun is shining so the garden beckons whilst I lick my wounds in defeat. Thanks to Dada for the thrashing and Senf for the hints.

  14. Going, I think, slightly against the trend of the comments so far, I enjoyed this offering from Dada. A little more difficult than his norm but very rewarding to work through. Good job 16d was an anagram as it was a new word for me. I liked 14d although I can see it might not work for the purists. Top marks go to 3d 22d and 28a. Thanks Dada for the challenge. Thanks too to Senf for the review and for providing me with an earworm of the Wham song! I’ll now continue my struggle with yesterday’s NTSPP.

  15. Wishing Kath a very happy birthday, no doubt she’s got plenty going on today so will be able to avoid Dada in a grumpy mood! I sometimes wonder how he satisfies himself with clues like 28a……..
    Easy to make choices for the rosettes today – 1a for the smile it produced, 18d – one of my dear old dad’s pet names for me, and 25d, which I’m sure counts as a chestnut but still makes me laugh. Thanks’ish to Dada and to Senf for the hints – bet someone had fun putting that glorious Wham compilation together, the Yellow Brick Road sequence was my favourite.

  16. Well in my opinion, Dada upped the difficulty this week compared to the last few Sunday offerings. It certainly took some more time due to his quirkiness and personal thesaurus usage this week. Yikes!

    3*/4* for me

    Favourites include 9a, 13a, 18a, 28a, 5d & 20d — with winner 18a, but with 5d such a close second!
    Smiles from 28a, 5d & 14d
    3d was an unknown word to me but figured it out with cross check letters.

    Thanks to Dada for another excellent puzzle and to Senf for hints/blog

    Expecting 3-4 days of ugly rainy weather here on the West Coast of BC …. just horrible for dog walks. My dog, Tucker, likes snow and wind … but not rain.

    1. Wow! Move over George Clooney! Wotta piece of gorgeousness, I think I’m in love.

    2. Lovely dog. We had a big yellow lab, a real softie, who was terrified of water, especially rain and would not go out for a walk. Always a struggle to get him outside for that last walk of the evening. Whenever we were in the swimming pool he would run alongside barking furiously. Would not have made much of a gun dog 😊

  17. Rather oddly (as I do often struggle with Dada) I managed this unaided. There were definitely a couple of guesses and in time I may find the error of my ways! Having completed it there is an error which is stopping me upload the puzzle for the prize……Steve it seems your voodoo abilities extend across the internet! I particularly liked 3d.

    Many thanks to Dada and to Senf for the hints.

      1. I am amazed that with such great powers you have not succeeded in getting a mythical….

  18. First things first, happy, happy, happiest of birthdays to our Kath. I always look forward to you popping in.
    I did finish, but I’d be fibbing if I said it was all on my ownsome. I needed copious ehelp and a couple of visits for Senf’s hints to keep going. Way above my solving comfort zone. The eastern side went in first, not easy, just first, it was west that had me in a stranglehold. I had to look up 16d, after using an anagram solver, but I still don’t know where “axes” come in, I suspect the tiny brain might have something to do with it. I liked 15a, 26a and 1d.
    Thank you Dada, take that foot off the pedal. Thank you Senf for your help, I’d be a DNF without you.

    1. Hi M.

      ‘axes’ is the plural of axis. Rene Des(clue answer minus -ian) was a philosopher/mathematician who is credited with creating a graphing system using these axes.

      1. As this is a Prize Puzzle, I consider that your comment should be redacted in accordance with ‘one of the instructions in RED at the bottom of the hints.’ However, by the time the redaction would be completed there would be nothing left other than ‘Hi M.’

        Please follow ‘the instructions in RED at the bottom of the hints’ in the future especially as, in this case, I had already put a ‘key’ word in parantheses in the hint.

        1. I did look at your hints, Senf, but I’m so far off the chart when it comes to things like that … oh, you mean THAT graphical? Nothing wrong with the clue or the hint, nobody can help my ignorance of things mathematical.

  19. Happy birthday Kath. Hope you are having a lovely day.

    As Senf says “not very friendly”, in fact a bit of an understatement. I struggled to get a few answers at first pass and quickly moved on to the hints. Doubt if I would have been back if this was my first impression of cryptics. Thanks Dada but way above my pay grade, and hat’s off to Senf for making sense of this.

  20. We found this very this very tough but managed to stumble over the line eventually. Favourite was 1a. Thanks to Dada and Senf.

  21. I together with others found Dada very unfriendly today and am not motivated to persevere so have thrown in the towel in favour of tennis from Paris where unfortunately they have had a week of ghastly (wet/cold) weather. Sort of thank you (!) to Dada and more so to Senf although today I have merely read your opening comments. I join with so many others in wishing Kath 💐a very Happy Birthday and many Happy Returns of the day 💐

    1. They’ve had rotten luck with the weather. I’m watching it now. I fancy Sinner’s chances, though I do like Alcaraz as well. I can’t believe the Joker is still #1, talk about longevity!

      1. I too admire the three people you mention but continue to find Casper Ruud the pick of the bunch and would so like him to trump his previous finals appearances. Yes it was great to see a sea change to warm sunshine yesterday and it’s forecast to last until the end of the tournament.

  22. On a different subject, I usually access the app through DuckDuckGo but have been unable to do so for the past 3 days. I tried rebooting my phone and that didn’t work, however, I’ve managed to get in through Google Chrome so I thought I’d install the app but I can’t find it, I can follow but that doesn’t install the app. Any thoughts anyone?

      1. What happens is it brings the site up but with a DT ‘X’word number usually months or years out of date. I’ll try reinstalling it.

  23. Quite a challenge but got there eventually!
    Thanks Dada and, as ever, to Senf for the blog ‘n hints.
    Cheers!

  24. Initially slow, but after a pleasant doze outdoors for an hour or so the second half went in fairly straightforwardly. It would have helped had I worn my reading glasses – I had been looking for something that used axLes… COTD 28a with runners-up 11a & 16d.

    2.5* / 4*

    Many thanks to Dada and Senf

    PS – sorry Mods, I see I mistyped my name!

  25. Needed help with the convention clue so a *** for me … and somehow today’s challenge lacks Dada’s usual good humour. Thank you anyway

  26. Needed lots of help with this one, both from Senf and from the electronic gizmos….so not much fun.

    Thanks to Dada and to Senf.

    Distinctly cooler here today and not a lot of sun…..but at least it is not raining.

  27. Hello everyone,
    I’ve had a lovely birthday – thanks so much with your messages – really appreciated.
    Think I’ll give today’s crossword a miss – probably a bit tricky and I’m worn out – that excuse will do for today anyway . . .
    Thanks to Dada for the crossword and for Senf for the hints.

    4. Happy birthday Kath. Sure you would have managed today’s little teaser, some damned clever clues there were in it as well. But great that you had a super day.

  28. I cannot submit solutions online for the Sat/Sun prize puzzles. Just get an error message?

      1. I am still doing the cryptic in the digital paper rather than on the puzzle site, I wonder if they are trying to push us onto the puzzle site by not letting us submit. I have been resisting! However I prefer my theory that Steve has taken control of the world with his spells in a dastardly attempt to prevent anyone winning a prize!

        1. You misunderstand me, MTF! My spells and incantations are designed to summon The Mythical for myself. I don’t use them to prevent others from acquiring it.
          Ish! 👹

          1. Steve, I now cannot blame you at all as it appears it was the final day of the digital edition crosswords as they have disappeared today. So I will now have to use the dreaded puzzle site, I had hoped the DT had reconsidered but clearly not. I do hope your quest for the mythical is eventually successful!

  29. Definitely much trickier than of late. Figured it wasn’t one for dipping into on the mobile in between teeing golfers off in today’s comp so have just got round to it this evening. Like MG I rather liked 28a – probably my favourite too.
    Thanks to D &S

  30. Sorry, folks but one of my “random jottings” is coming up.
    I’ve just rediscovered and am listening to a delight from my childhood. The BBC radio series “Journey into Space”.
    I used to listen to it in bed through Bakelite headphones on a crystal set my dad made for me.
    Wonderful memories are flooding back!
    Goodnight, my friends.

    1. Isn’t it lovely to rediscover childhood favourites! I love when I revisit books I read as a youngster and find that I’ve enjoyed them the second time round. I read one recently called “The Egg and I”, just delightful.

  31. 5/0. A nightmare for me. I gave it several goes with little or no progress. Not enjoyable in the slightest. Thanks to Dada and Senf.

  32. Once we got into the mindset, it was relatively straightforward.

    Managed to submit from the digital paper, unlike Saturday’s.

  33. 3*/4* ….
    liked 28A “Girl wanting dog, reportedly -one unlikely to buy it ? (5-7)”

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