Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3289 (Hints)
Hints and tips by Senf
A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg where I am safely returned from my expedition to the old country and, with DST ending at zero dark thirty, I had an extra hours sleep for the second Sunday in a row! Many thanks to Shabbo for sitting in the Sunday chair last week.
In my preamble two weeks ago (ST 3287), I explained how plans for celebrating my Big Sister’s 80th birthday, on October 26th, had been turned completely upside down as she was admitted to hospital at the end of August and is still there although she has changed hospitals twice. Big Sister is doing as well as can be expected – two surgeries so far and a third to come, probably in January.
By a remarkable coincidence, on reading that preamble and after discussions with Mrs P, Prolixic concluded that my Big Sister was probably a friend of theirs. So Prolixic sent me an e-mail asking me if my Big Sister was J*** F****** and, of course he and his good lady were 100% correct (would Prolixic be anything else?). So, after a few more e-mails we agreed to meet for lunch last Sunday. If you are ever in the Egham and Staines area of Surrey, a perfect Sunday Roast, with an appropriate libation, can be enjoyed at The Red Lion in Thorpe which is where the photo Prolixic posted last Sunday was taken, with a quick reminder here, me on the right. And please, no comments about us being in ‘uniform,’ my Big Sister and niece have already done that!
For me, and I stress for me, Dada somewhat tricky today although when I finished I couldn’t really understand why – four long ‘uns and eight almost long ‘uns, seven anagrams (three partials), two lurkers (one reversed), and no homophones all in a symmetric 28 clues; with 14 hints, ‘sprinkled’ throughout the grid, plus a ‘bonus’ hint in the Downs that I am not entirely certain of, 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 – 1a, 12a, 15a, 21a, and 2d.
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 Red and blue housing or a research facility (10)
The abbreviated and/or familiar names of political parties represented by red and blue containing OR A from the clue.
9a Seaside toy tampered with – be careful! (4,4,2)
An anagram (tampered with) of SEASIDE TOY.
12a Substantial rope’s held on bank, right? (12)
A synonym of rope containing (‘s held) all of ON from the clue, a synonym of bank, and the single letter for Right – thanks to Prolixic for advising me of the revised clue – adding ‘, right?’ at the end (which wasn’t there in the early on-line version).
16a Repeater’s funny funny conversation (8)
An anagram (‘s funny) of REPEATER.
21a A prescription for fitness fanatics? (8,4)
An item of fitness equipment that includes a prescribed item in its name.
25a A few drunken ultras flip! (10)
A single word equivalent to a few and an anagram (drunken) of ULTRAS.
27a Clear sheet awfully coarse (3-7)
An anagram (awfully) of SHEET and a synonym of coarse.
Down
1d Vegetable in bottom of boat brought up (4)
The technical term for bottom of boat reversed (brought up).
3d Surprising lack of communication from Icelander, so I gathered (5,7)
An anagram (gathered) of ICELANDER, SO I.
4d Fly goes down into middle of gateau (6)
A single word term for goes down (in reference to the sun?) inserted into the middle letters of gaTEau.
7d Getting to squeeze part – very tight? (4-6)
An informal, perhaps slang, synonym of getting contains (to squeeze) a three letter synonym of part.
8d Sour thing sandwiched by cupcake and sweetie? (10)
The Bonus Hint I mentioned in the preamble – a term for an unwanted third person when cupcake and sweetie are considered as terms of endearment? – that’s the best I can come up with and IMHO there should be more than one ? at the end of the clue.
13d Old mathematician God claims rang a bell (10)
The capital G in god is misleading (to me at least) – a Greek god (of war) contains (claims) a single word for rang a bell.
17d Where runner observed, tall thin person (8)
A double definition – the first is what you might see supporting a type of vegetable when it is growing.
23d Church overcome by film score (4)
The two letter abbreviation for CHurch placed after (overcome by) our favourite two letter film.
Quick Crossword Pun:
BAROQUE + CURLY = BROCCOLI – Hmm! With thanks to Cryptic Sue and Gazza for their help.
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.
A random selection which ‘popped up’ on YouTube – Lonnie Donegan, Joe Brown, and his late first wife Vicki Brown, who had been a member of all female singing groups The Vernons Girls and The Breakaways, singing Wasn’t That A Party, written by American folk singer-songwriter Tom Paxton, on the Central Television show Starburst (never heard of it!) in 1981:
Everything went swimmingly until the mid section of the puzzle. I was held up by 15a, 16a and 18a. I got the answer to 8a fairly early on, but still struggling to understand it even after reading the hints. I liked 12a and 15a. Many thanks for the hints and to the setter.
i think it’s a double definition of something sour and what you would be if you were sandwiched between two people calling one another by terms of endearment. I only got it after the hint too. Thank you cryptic sue and setter
2*/3*
Fairly gentle for a Sunday I though although I was almost undone in the NW by 8d which just didn’t work for me. Thanks to senf for confirming the answer and to dada for the workout.
There were a couple where the parsing eluded me (4d for example) but, otherwise, a typical Dada offering. There seemed to be more anagrams that usual but I haven’t counted them. I liked Edward cleaning the house at 18a and the red animal at 5d. Whenever I see the word at 17d I am reminded of a certain TV series back in the 80s. I can’t say which one because I gather there is no cake on the step. My COTD is the housing facility at 1a.
Thank you, Dada for the challenge. Thank you, Senf for the hints and I hope your sister is soon better.
I thought this was a great just tricky enough puzzle though I found the parsing of some of the clues quite difficult even when I was sure they were correct. The explanation for 8d eluded me as I didn’t know cupcake was a term of endearment, If i’ve understood correctly it’s a double definition with the first definition being something sour and the rest of the clue as cryptic definition??
Both the edible items in 8d can be defined as people you love and care for romantically. Two of such people together wouldn’t want the sour thing to be in the middle of their sandwich
Thanks, I get it now. I didn’t know that the first item could mean that.
Thank you 😀
If RD was back home from his holiday in Crete he would almost certainly be telling us that the BRB indicates that ‘cupcake’ is a North American term.
Some tricky passing in this. I too thought 8d was a double definition. My problem with with 12a as there seemed to be an extraneous ‘r’ in the solution. Dada being a bit too quirky for me, today. Lots of nice clues as usual – I liked 1a, 27a, 3d and 13d, but my personal COTD went to 14d, a great cryptic clue, even though it has been seen a few times before.
Thanks to Dada and Senf.
Re 12a … seems to be a “right” missing from the clue in some editions. So above hints. It’s also missing from my “dead tree” version.
8d .. despite the conversation and hints I still think it “sour”.
Apart from that a good challenge.
Bit of an oddball today. The left was excellent but the right side contained two dreadful clues in 7d and 8d, both very very poor IMHO. I always think it’s a real shame when the setter spoils an otherwise good puzzle by dropping these sort of clues.
****/**
Thx for the hints.
Was it the cupcake that pushed you over the edge?
A pleasant puzzle except for 8d which still leaves a slight niggle even after reviewing hints and comments here. The term “sandwiched” somehow not ringing right for me.
Many thanks to Dada and Senf
Dada maybe not at his best but fairly enjoyable – thanks to him and Senf.
I was going to point out the error in 12a but I see that it’s now been fixed on the Puzzles Site.
For my podium I’ve picked 2d, 7d and 14d.
Like others, the parsing of some of the answers was very tricky and one or two escaped me completely. I made life difficult at first my confidently inserting a large yellow citrus in 8D but when I could get nothing across to fit with the checkers, I had to have a rethink.
I’ll plump for 11D as my favourite, I love a long anagram.
Thanks to Dada and Senf.
For me, and I stress for me, (™ Senf) it is several decades since I last visited the Red Lion in Thorpe. I recall taking my late* mother there for luncheon, probably in the last century. I see they have vegetarian options, and so the Sunday luncheon will almost certainly tempt us.
We went for a lovely walk in the Surrey Hills yesterday, and then to a pub for an anticipated luncheon**. “Sorry, the kitchen is closed. Staff shortage.”
So that was the end of that.
Really enjoyable guzzle.
Thanks to Da-doo-ron-ron, and The Man From Manitoba (I hope your sister continues to improve. As I know, sisters are very precious).
*My mother wasn’t late when I took her to luncheon. That would have been awkward. She died thirty years later.
**Three luncheons in four sentences, but one can never have enough luncheons.
As a lady who does little else there days but lunch, I couldn’t agree more. I do like living near Cambridge – but do miss Surrey where I grew up.
Similar question mark over 8d like most other people. Also printed the puzzle too early for the amended 12a.
Big tick for 2d.
Must get out and enjoy the autumn sunshine again. Think every dog owner in the Aberdeen area must have been down at the beach earlier this morning.
Thanks to Dada and Senf.
I like to think the ghost of LROK was with you
Hear hear. 👍
I really didn’t find this particularly entertaining thanks mainly to several IMHO iffy clues including 21a, 7d, 8d and 17d. SE presented the most resistance. Thanks anyway to Dada (you obviously can’t please all of the people all of the time so for me here’s to the next time) and thanks too to Senf for faithfully being there for us.
Not one of his best or most challenging, but sound Sunday fare this morning from Dada, to whom thanks, likewise Senf.
Au contraire, I found it to be one of his most enjoyable. Proving they don’t have to be taxing to be fun.
Some of the parsing took me an age to sort out, many through reverse engineering. Maybe I should just 9a it and not worry too much, it’s Dada after all. Completion was with a feeling of relief rather than great enjoyment. I enjoyed the flipping ultras and Edwards house, but cotd for me was 16a. Thanks to Dada and Senf.
8d definitely went in as a ‘nothing else will fit’ but, apart from that, this flowed quite smoothly. Top clues for me concerned the red and blue housing and the old timer.
Thanks to Dada and to Senf for the hints – like you, I’d never heard of the Central TV show but it was nice to see Joe Brown again, he always struck me as being a clean-cut young man back in the day!
I got there in the end, but several were not parsed until I saw the hints eg 8d. The anagrams were very helpful in getting some checkers. Pleased to have finished as ai think this was trickier than some.
Many thanks to Dada and to Senf for the hints, I am glad you had a successful trip.
I really enjoyed this puzzle and groaned out loud when I finally parsed 8d.
Top picks for me were 8d, 7d, 17d and 23d (not that I had anything against the across clues!).
Thanks to Senf and Dada.
8d last in & sort of along the right lines parsing it though wouldn’t have cared for having to write a hint for it. 12a the other brief parsing head scratch. Not my fav Sunday puzzle but enjoyed it nevertheless. Liked the fodder spot at 11d so that one can have my vote as pick of the clues.
Thanks to D & a returning S
Meant to say – you & me too re the Quickie pun
This Sunday Dada offering is definitely at the easier end of his spectrum IMHO. He seemed to leave his personal thesaurus untouched this week and left the quirkiness out too. A fun puzzle with clues that were fun to solve and made good sense.
2*/4* for me
Favourites abound today but top five were 1a, 15a, 19a, 18a & 17d — with winner 18a
Smiles from 27a, 11d, 22d & 28d
Any of them could qualify as favourites too.
An excellent puzzle that was a great follow up to Saturday’s too.
Thanks to Dada & a welcome back to Senf from his trip to Blighty
Confidently finished this only to discover that I had the wrong answer (‘absent’ ) for the mind item clue once I revisited the puzzle after sending it in … doh! Thanks Dada and Senf
Filled in the top quickly enough with some easy and obvious answers. Got held up on 14d. 12a and 8d. I could only think of Wallflower. Unfortunately as yesterday, I had a spelling mistake inserted by this wretched crossword programme. If you hover your finger over a letter it sometimes puts it in without actually touching the screen. Deletes letters you don’t want it to, moves to the next clue when you want a different clue. The old version was so much better. So that’s another prize I won’t get.
For me a chewy enough puzzle with some lovely clues. I was held up at the end with a few in the SW until penny dropped on 13d and the rest fell into place. I loved 8d my favourite . Thanks to Dada and Senf.
About the same difficulty as the Toughie IMO both were enjoyable and nice to see the first part of 21a again so soon
Thanks to Dada and welcome home to Senf
If you pop back to blighty to see your Big Sis in January you may want to consider the Big Dave Birthday Bash – I must do another post to remind people and call for Rookies and Setters to set some puzzles. Watch this Space…
And what a coincidence that Prolific knows your Sister
As Grandad Emm would say…
It’s a small world but I wouldn’t want to paint it
As I said above, a remarkable coincidence. When I phoned my sister and asked her “do you know someone named . . .?” She said “Yes, but how do you know them?” I explained the ‘Crossword Connection’ and then the story spread around my family members in the UK rapidly and all were amazed.
Right wasn’t in the paper version making 12a an unparsed bung-in. We particularly didn’t like 8d and weren’t overly keen on 21a or 14d either. Not many contenders for favourite but will settle for 13d. Thanks to Dada anyway and Senf.
Merusa update: just wanted to let everyone know that they are finally doing her surgery today, and she hopes to go home tomorrow. Two weeks away from Sadie has been tough.
That’s great to know. Good luck and bestest warm wishes to Merusa. Do we know what the surgery is?
Thank you BL for the update on Merusa. I shall keep everything crossed that she is home with Sadie tomorrow and back to her swim and crosswords .
For Dada this was a fairly vanilla production that didn’t tax the grey matter greatly. It may have lacked his customary sparkle but it was still enjoyable enough to pass some time this grey afternoon. There were a few very good clues that made it for me, best of which were 18a and 14d.
My thanks to the aforementioned and Senf. I sincerely hope your sister makes a full recovery.
For me, one of the most enjoyable Dada puzzles for a while, with the top half going in fairly quickly, but requiring more thought in the south. I’m not a fan of partial anagrams, but I survived those with the checkers. Lots of clues with smiley faces in the margin, but 1a gets the prize today. LI was 12a. Thanks to Dada and Senf. Now you’ve got us all wondering who your sister is… That’s an awfully long time to be in hospital, and I do hope the January surgery gets her back home.
Sorry, you will have to keep on wondering. I decided that anonymity was appropriate.
☺️ Anonymity is to be treasured. I can appreciate that.
Thinking about your comment, BL I think I am the only member of this blog who uses his given name. I have only used a pseudonym twice in my life. The first was when I used the, then illegal, CB radio and I chose the handle Shadow Dancer. The second was when I wrote a series for local radio about a feral cat that adopted Lesley and I when we were first married. Then, I was J C Stevens.
Other than those, I always use my real name.
Steve – there might be one or two other, perhaps more, infrequent commenters, who use their ‘complete’ names but there are several who use their ‘real’ first name, jane for example, or ‘real’ first name and an initial, StephenL for example .
However, I consider that anonymity for my Big Sister is important as she is not a blog participant and that might have been what BusyLizzie was referring to.
Sorry, Senf – I was in no way suggesting that the anonymity of your sister was irrelevant. Of course it is. I fear my random jottings may have been inappropriate here and, for which, please accept my apologies.
I was ‘outed’ by a woman (completely unknown to me) who lives just down the road from me and guessed my identity from comments about the village!
I got along fairly quickly today except for a couple of delays over 8d but it couldn’t be anything else given the checkers and 21a as I couldn’t get the second word until just looking at the hint. Both new expressions to me. Thank you for an enjoyable puzzle Dada and to Senf. What an amazing coincidence Senf and pleased you enjoyed a traditional Sunday roast with Prolixic on your recent trip. I do hope that your sister recovers well before the next op and gets the essential back-up care when finally back home.
I know I’m a day late but life sometimes gets in the way of guzzling. Enjoyed the workout, done mostly at breakfast before yoga and just finished. Many thanks to the Setter and to Senf for the clue to 36a my last one in. I was in the wrong ‘clear’. Best wishes to sister x.
3*/4* ….
liked 4D “Fly goes down into middle of gateau (6)”