Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3276 (Hints)
Hints and tips by Senf
A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg where the weather forecast is predicting a week of cooler temperatures, all relative of course, of low to middle 20s with ‘feels likes’ not over 30.
For me, and I stress for me, Dada reasonably friendly again – four long ‘uns, eight anagrams (six partials), two lurkers (both 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 – 9a, 10a, 15a, 28a, 1d, 5d, 7d, 8d, and, begrudgingly, the pun.
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 In front of church, arrangement of bars in place for security force (7,6)
An anagram (arrangement) of BARS IN PLACE placed before (in front of) the familiar two letter abbreviation of church.
11a Teacher whipping back, time to stop that! (5)
The single letter for time inserted into (to stop that) a synonym of whipping (as in loss in a battle?) reversed (back).
13a Last of all, from serene water, the lake (4)
Dada’s favourite clue construction, but not in its most usual place – final letters (last of all) of four words in the clue.
15a Incarceration saucy, did you say? (7)
The homophone (did you say?) of a synonym of saucy (when considering a pudding accompaniment?).
17a Nick‘s cold and quiet between operations (7)
The single letter for Cold and a two letter interjection for (be) quiet inserted into two of the abbreviated form of operation.
21a Scruff with raised hairs back on settee (4)
A term for raised ‘hairs’ (on woollen cloth?) and the last letter (back on) of setteE.
26a Thin on liquid dye (5)
The usual two letters equivalent to on and, oh dear, a three letter anagram (liquid) of DYE.
28a Stick on grammatical term in ruling (13)
A synonym of stick placed after (on) a grammatical term used as a dummy subject or object with little or no meaning – I presume that the people at Chambers know what they are talking about but I am not sure that I do.
Down
1d Ignored, as envelope marked with CV would be? (4,2,8)
Where an item of mail (envelope) would be delivered if the last line of the address started with CV.
4d Calmer in knocking up of volleyball, ultimately (7)
The first reversed lurker (in knocking up of) found in the last two words of the clue.
5d Old boy tucked into bread and cheese, primarily – without thinking? (7)
The two letter abbreviation for Old Boy inserted (tucked) into a type of (unleavened) bread and the first letter (primarily) of Cheese – and if you are thinking of a bread that begins with N that is leavened!
7d Bend in pipes about right, turn over ground (9)
Flexible pipes containing (about) the single letter for Right and a term for turn over ground (in the garden with a three letter hand tool?).
14d Explorer finds spring mushroom on cape (5,5)
A three letter (watery) spring and a three letter mushroom placed on a synonym of cape (as an item of clothing).
16d A ‘C’ perhaps failing – refuse place? (9)
An anagram (failing) of A ‘C’ PERHAPS.
25d Error in copy tidied up (4)
The second reversed lurker (in . . . up) found in the words ‘sandwiched’ by the indicator.
Quick Crossword Pun:
WARREN + PEAS + TOLSTOY = WAR AND PEACE – TOLSTOY
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Because it’s the Olympics, something to do with the Paris Olympics of 1924 portrayed in the film Chariots of Fire:
Tough as one of Mrs TC’s steaks, but doable in a little over a normal Sunday puzzle’s time.
Never heard of 18a, but couldn’t be much else from the letters already in it.
Last one in was 7d, didn’t see that one for ages.
Really liked all the long ones, which got me off to a good start.
Still no idea how 11a works, and a little puzzled over 6d, will have to see the hints for enlightenment.
Many thanks to our setter today, great fun.
Oh boy, if I were Mrs TC you’d be told to buy and cook your own steaks in future! 😄
I do! 🤣
Yes, nothing like living dangerously.
Only joking, I do all the shopping and cooking as the Mem Sahib still works full time.
She’s a vegetarian as well, so wouldn’t touch a steak.
Shan’t mention her custard though…….
I really enjoyed today’s medium difficulty crossword. My Across favourite was 27a and the splendid 1d was my Down favourite
Thanks to Dada and Senf
Not crossword related, but I hope people are looking at the Olympic themed cartoon thingies on the Google homepage. They change every day and today’s made us laugh out loud 😊
https://g.co/doodle/bpczep3
I must go check out the others – TYVM Sue
Thanks for the pointer CS. Today’s Google thingy certainly raised a giggle in our household too!
Dada offering something chewy today, I thought but enjoyable nevertheless. One of those guzzles in which I had answers but not completely convinced they were correct. I had to work to understand some of the parsing but that is no bad thing. This led to many wonderful dropping pennies and slapping of the forehead. Favourites include the dance venue at 9a, the difficult jacket at 27a and letting the spirit go at 8d. COTD is awarded to the cold and quiet operations at 17a.
Many thanks, Dada for the fun challenge. Thank you, Senf for the hints.
I loved the Quickie pun today. 👍
Happy Birthday, Jane. I hope you have a great day. 🎂🍹🌹
I think the pen could be yours today as I messed up and entered 8d in the 2d slot. A piece of white label cut and stuck over the error just might get by but then I managed to drop a bit of George’s Amazing Salad Dressing on it and the guzzle is not fit for purpose. How’s the foot?
The pen is a myth, DG! No good showing me a picture because, these days, cameras can lie. 😁😁
My foot is still the same, thanks. I’m hoping for an appointment soon.
Quirky and enjoyable with an overgenerous supply of anagrams (including 3 in consecutive down clues) – thanks to Dada and Senf.
I made a right mess to start with by writing the 11a answer in the 10a space but getting 8d soon sorted me out.
For my podium I’ve selected 11a, 27a and 1d.
Happy Birthday to Jane.
Sorting out the four long clues certainly helped completion. Must have been on Dada’s wavelength as this all went in fairly smoothly. My podium comprises 4d, 28a and in gold medal position, 16d. Great Sunday fun. Thanks to Dada and Senf
Dada in a most benevolent mood today.
1d was my favourite in this excellent puzzle.
1*/4.5* for me.
Many thanks to Dada, and Happy Birthday to Jane.
15a’s a bit of a groaner, but very Dada. 1d’s great fun – a lovely use of (another) CV. But I’d be happy never to see 10a clued ever again as it’s rapidly becoming my new Serengeti. 27a’s very chucklesome. I rather liked 5d and 7d too. Most enjoyable. Ta lots to Dada and Senf.
Well I thought this was a brilliant Dada! Not easy I grant you but every clue was logical (if sometimes the logic was a little twisted). Best clue by far for me was 25a, a real LOL with MiD for 27a. Still puzzling a little over the parsing of 24d but a very minor point.
Thoroughly enjoyable.
Thx to all
****/*****
PS Thx to Tony for helping with parsing one of yesterdays answers in case he doesn’t see my reply in the blog.
I made hard work of this, possibly due to lack of sleep lately. I spent far to long assuming that CV referred to the fairy stories prospective employees write. 8D held out for a long time but landed with a thud eventually. I failed to parse a couple so thanks to Senf for the explanations.
****/*** 1D and 8D get a joint first place for me.
Well I managed to finish it but for a long while I thought it was going to defeat me.
Top picks for me were 1d, 17a, 16d and 4d.
Thanks to Senf and Dada.
My comment has vanished! It was at #3. 🥺
Mind you, our internet connection is dodgy at the moment.
I’ll try again———
Dada offering something chewy today, I thought but enjoyable nevertheless. One of those guzzles in which I had answers but not completely convinced they were correct. I had to work to understand some of the parsing but that is no bad thing. This led to many wonderful dropping pennies and slapping of the forehead. Favourites include the dance venue at 9a, the difficult jacket at 27a and letting the spirit go at 8d. COTD is awarded to the cold and quiet operations at 17a.
Many thanks, Dada for the fun challenge. Thank you, Senf for the hints.
Happy Birthday, Jane. I hope you have a great day.
Strange – it’s returned!
I have no idea why you vanished but I’ve put you back
Thank you, CS and apologies to all for now having posted twice.
Not sure if I like 15a but 1d more than compensated for it.
Off to Glenbervie House where the gardens are open today so no time for the Toughie today.
Thanks to Dada and Senf
Good afternoon
Just one parsing issue, and that is 21a.
Some clever clueing; anagrams, misdirection, etc – good, solid Sunday fare from Dada.
17a is runner-up for COTD, with 1d the definite winner.
Many thanks to Dada and to Senf.
Top notch & it’s rounded off a terrific week of Telegraph guzzles. Must say I found it a tad chewier than our reviewer evidently did. Among a host of ticks 1d has to be my pick as it’s where I hail from.
Thanks to D & S
Ps birthday wishes to Jane & hopes that Steve’s poorly foot is soon on the mend.
Thank you, Hintsman. I collect antibiotics tomorrow. It’s not infected but my GP wants me to have them as a standby. Any sign of the ulcer – that is what it is now – becoming infected I can start taking them straight away. Hopefully, I will have an appointment soon because of my immunosuppression.
I thought this Dada puzzle this week was definitely at the harder end of his spectrum, along with copious use of his own thesaurus and some of his quirky clues.
2.5*/4* today for me
Favourites include 1a, 10a, 20a, 1d & 20d — with winner 1d
Smiles from 9a, 15a, 27a & 8d
Thanks to Dada & Senf for blog/hints
A nicely testing puzzle for a Sunday afternoon, with the excellent 1d taking my top spot. The clever reverse lurker at 4d was my final entry.
My thanks to Dada and Sue.
2.5*/4*. I really enjoyed this with the splendid 1d my favourite.
Many thanks to Dada and to Senf, and a very Happy Birthday to Jane :rose:
I missed out on crosswords completely yesterday courtesy of the NHS. On Friday afternoon I rang 111 to check on some minor symptoms, and got the advice either to make a appointment to see my GP or else 111 could book me an “out of hours GP appointment” at our local hospital. I took the latter option, and turned up at the appointment time of 9.30 pm confidently expecting that I might see a doctor either then or reasonably soon after. Silly me. At 11:30 I got to see the triage nurse who asked me the same questions that 111 had done several hours earlier and then carried out some basic tests telling me that I would see a doctor “in due course” but she didn’t have any idea when that would be. I politely enquired what was the point of making an appointment only to be treated as if I had just turned up to ER (oops, no we call it A&E over here but I’m getting brainwashed). The nurse replied that having an appointment time simply leads to being treated as a priority after the triage!
That was just the start of my problems. One of the triage tests is heart rate and my result was 44, which doubtless some manual somewhere says is too low. As someone who has played sport all my life, my heart rate has been below 50 for as long as I can remember – at least 50 years but, despite my protestations, I was wired up to a heart and blood pressure monitoring machine for several hours. The figures varied from 42-45 during that time, and then I was whisked off out of A&E and given a bed that I didn’t want in one of the wards. I was told that during the morning I would be able to see a specialist about my original symptoms (which were in no way connected to heart rate). By then it was after 5 am and I was too tired to argue about being given a nice bed to sleep in.
The finale on Saturday was I did get to see the specialist (early afternoon, not in the morning). He was very helpful and we have a plan to investigate my symptoms. I guess one positive out of this is that I wouldn’t otherwise have got to see a specialist within 24 hours for a relatively minor complaint! I would have seen a GP in A&E and then been given a specialist appointment weeks or even months in the future.
Even after that I couldn’t leave, as I needed to wait for a prescription item, which took over two hours to get to me, and they wanted me to see a senior doctor from A&E about the heart rate issue. He said that as long as I had no other heart-related symptoms, a heart rate of under 50 is perfectly fine for someone who has played a lot of sport over many years. D’oh! (A very useful American expression!)
My overall conclusion, is that I got to meet a lot of very nice, diligent, helpful and friendly people in the NHS who are locked into a system that is not fit for purpose.
Bother! The :rose: shortcut for Jane hasn’t worked.
Sorry to hear of your travails, RD and I hope all turns out right for you. You are spot on, it is the system that is at fault not the people.
Let me try to give you a rose so you can present it to Jane. 🌹
How did you create that rose, Steve?
It’s in the emojis on my laptop. There are hundreds –
🤣😣🍹🐈🍺🦑😱🤔 etc
Great!
Jane, here is my birthday rose for you! 🌹
Oh dear – poor you – if in doubt clear well of any hospital or doctor (or nurse!) for the foreseeable future – they’re nothing but trouble!
Oh dear, enough to give you a heart attack, and I sympathise. I also was surprised when, after being taken to the hospital by ambulance, after a cursory chat with a triage nurse (who had no interest in anything I had to say) I was then parked out in the waiting room for about 5 hours. I saw people who walked in be seen and leave while I sat there.
As someone who unfortunately has to have a lot of NHS appointments across a few departments that conclusion is today’s reality & it’s getting worse not better sadly. I recently completed a 50 mile round trip to attend a 19 times rescheduled rheumatology out patients appointment that ran 2 hrs late & lasted under 4 mins – it could (& should) have been comfortably & sensibly conducted over the phone but I felt obliged to attend to ensure I got a bone density scan & infusion date booked in. The consultant is superb but the clinic is hopelessly over-booked so it makes speed dating look like an extended courtship
Oh RD, I’m so sorry you had all that trouble in the ER, it seems that a small problem can mushroom into a major one just by visiting a hospital. I hope all is well now.
Hugs and get well soon!
What a palaver but hopefully a satisfactory overall solution will eventually result from it 🤞
Oh dear oh dear. But Mr Starmer is going to sort it all out so everything will be tickety boo in two shakes of a lamb’s tail.
I seldom think to look at the top banner – but Happy Birthday Jane! Thoroughly enjoyed this guzzle – some great clues. 1d was brilliant and has to be favourite but 15,17,27a and 14,16 &19d all merit applause. Thanks as usual to Messrs Setter and Senf.
Thanks to everyone who’s left birthday wishes for me – it’s been a hectic morning between Skype and phone calls.
Found this one to be at the trickier end of our setter’s repertoire but perhaps I simply had other things on my mind!
The saucy incarceration made me smile and I really enjoyed the long 1&8d.
Thanks to Dada and to Senf for the hints & music clip – something very stirring about that Vangelis track.
Happy Birthday, Jane!🎂
💐 Jane, I’m afraid I hadn’t seen the banner but hopefully there’s still time to send bestest birthday greetings and wishes for many happy returns of the day 💐
Travelling in Maine so we did this with just these hints, but without the grid ! We had to cross the words to make some level of symmetry. A real challenge that created quite some complexity. We now call it the Wordcross and will create an empty 17×17 grid to help our placements.
Thanks to Grateful Dead Fans
Mr & Mrs T
Yarmouth ME
And yes, we had to just guess words where there were no hints.
The mind boggles must try your wordcross method!
Oh – just wrote a long(ish) comment and then it disappeared and my laptop battery seemed to die. Damn – then had to wait.
Today’s crossword may not be as difficult as some but it’s hard enough for me these days.
I admit to a few hints – quite a few!
All the long answers round the outside helped to make it ‘doable’, as did all the large number of anagrams.
I had a spot of trouble (and still have) with 6d – it’s one of those “yes, but why”! Oh well . . . .
I particularly appreciated 9 and 15a and 5 and 16d. My favourite was 19d (I think)!
Thanks to Dada for today’s crossword and to Senf for his hints that I needed.
A very Happy Birthday, Jane – hope you’re having a good day and here’s a little flower for you :rose:
Oh – not a little flower then by the look of it!
Give this to Jane, Kath. 🌹
Well we made hard work of this, wrong wavelength I suspect, but enjoyed it anyway with lots to like. Favourite was 1d. Thanks to Dada and Senf.
At first I thought this was yet another stinker, but I persevered and it gradually all began to make sense, mostly. I agree with CS, with COTD going to both 27a and 1d. Also smiled at 8d. Wasn’t a fan of 15a, nor 23a. Thanks to Dada and Senf.
Thankfully we are on the fringes of Tropical Storm Debby, and just getting occasional heavy rain, and very windy. But the west coast of Florida is another story.
Not easy but very satisfying to complete, so I agree with the friendly rating. I did need ehelp for some, eg 17a and 14d, never heard of 17a. I thought 28a was fun to work out, and 15a amused, but lots more to like. The force in 1a is well known but not sure what they do, I’ll google. I have to get in the pool to exercise my aching back, I’ll read the comments later.
Thank you Dada for being kind to us, many thanks Senf for your help unravelling a lot.
A special happy birthday wish to Jane, May you have many more!
I enjoyed this but a few kept me busy for a very long time. 1d was my favourite and I enjoyed all the long ones and the anagrams.
Many thanks to Dada and to Senf for the hints.
1D the standout in an excellent puzzle. Thank you Dada and Senf.
Completely defeated by this one. Have no idea what the answers to 23a and 24d are. Maybe I should take up something easier… 😊
Lolled at 10a. Now I have Terry Scott in my head. 😆 🤣 😂
I take it we haven’t heard from Jean-Luc because it’s his busy season?
Late in the day to this as have just said goodbye to our two sons and their families which include our 5 grandchildren (whose initials incidentally spell my pseudonym). An hilarious exhausting day as Mrs J and I were entertained by all their antics. Just dropped in really to wish you Jane, a happy birthday and to offer commiserations to RD for such a trying day at the hands of the NHS. Now to the crossword if I can stay awake long enough!
Let me guess, Zoe is one of them. There are too many names for the other letters!
Hi Merusa, it’s Jack Ella Eva Max and Zachary. All the right names but not necessarily in the right order!
V straightforward for Dada.