Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3302 (Hints)
Hints and tips by Senf
Another very good Sunday morning from Staines-Upon-Thames in Surrey, after a most enjoyable Saturday evening with my favourite niece, her husband, and a very pleasant claret, and now it’s almost time to pack my bags for my return trip to Winnipeg.
For me, and I stress for me, Dada reasonably friendly. Six anagrams (three partials), two lurkers (one of which RD won’t like), and no homophones, all in a symmetric, not much value for money, 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 – 8a, 10a, 19a, 22a, 4d, 13d, and 17d.
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 and the blog’s Comment Etiquette – Big Dave’s Crossword Blog!
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 Jetty inspiring individual developer (7)
A synonym of jetty containing (inspiring) a synonym of individual.
10a King entertained by drunken fop, male perhaps (3,7)
The Latin term for king inserted into (entertained by) an anagram (drunken) of FOP MALE.
14a Canine dentist originally found in Dorset town (6)
The first letter (originally) of Dentist inserted into (found in) a Dorset town (a little West of Bournemouth).
15a One playing in bold team, never going to lose (11)
The Roman numeral for one followed by an anagram (playing) of IN BOLD TEAM.
22a God suffering reverses (4)
The reversal (reverses) of a synonym of suffering.
26a Peach biscuit (7)
A double definition – the first might be a choice example of its kind.
Down
1d Prejudice important Tory moves (7)
A (three letter) synonym of important and an anagram (moves – oh dear, move one letter) of TORY.
4d Clean round summit in Tibet, each climber (5,3)
A synonym of clean (with a broom?) containing (round) the first letter of (summit in) Tibet, followed by the abbreviated form of each.
5d Miserable before arrest, as manual worker (4-6)
A colourful synonym of miserable placed before a slang synonym of arrest.
9d Magic buzzer for children’s competition (8,3)
A synonym of magic and a buzzing insect – could this be the new ‘Serengeti’?
13d Cause of embarrassment, loopy family (6,4)
A slang synonym of loopy and a three letter synonym of family – what is illustrated can be found in Melita, Manitoba.
16d Cleric blowing top about pious Greek god (8)
A (4,3) cleric with the first letter removed (blowing top) containing (about) the abbreviated form of pious – the answer is generic rather than specific.
24d Cooler chip (4)
A double definition – the first relates to detention.
Quick Crossword Pun:
FIRE + GNAWED = FEYENOORD – a Dutch football club, unless anyone can come up with a better answer.
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After quite a turbulent life, singer and actress Marianne Faithfull passed away on Thursday, at the age of 78. This is a more modern version of her first single originally released in 1964:
A thoroughly enjoyable puzzle from Dada with just the right balance of easy and ponderers. I think 9d made an appearance earlier this week but today’s is, in my opinion, clued better. The modest bottles at 19a raised a smile and so did the important Tory at 1d. My COTD is the loopy family living in 13d.
Thank you, Dada for the fun challenge. Thank you, Senf for the hints. Have a good flight.
2.5*/2.5*. This was a remarkably brief compilation with an average of just a whisker over 5 words per clue.
It was a bit of a giveaway for the answer for one of the clues to appear elsewhere close by on the page, and, Senf is absolutely correct, 11a is a vulgarism which sets my teeth on edge.
13a was my favourite.
Many thanks to the setter and to Senf.
I’m with you on 11a, dreadful expression.
And me!
Count me in
I’m totally with you there.
Me too!
I loathe it too!
We suspect we are either on a different clue or a different planet… we do not understand how “Food served in brasserie at seven” is vulgar.
Or maybe we are too American?
Loved the puzzle, crumbs and tea in bed – 10F outside – brrrrrr.
Mr & Mrs T
Boston
Here is our 11a:
It’s a lurker…
It is indeed a lurker, which to many of us, American or not is a complete anathema. A horrible word !
After finally completing this puzzle, I will need to have a wee lie down before tackling the Toughie.
Everything was fairly clued but the unfriendly grid (16 answers without an initial checker) made solving a degree harder.
Liked the 18d Huge battle but my favourite and last one in is the 25a Break I fancy.
Thanks to Dada and Senf.
Thought it was going to be tough, but it seemed to get easier the further you got into it.
A few had to be reverse engineered to find the why of them, but nothing really held it up for too long.
6d was very clever, I had the ‘way’ as something else for a while, and wondered how field got into it, but the penny dropped in the end.
All in all a very well put together puzzle, take a bow Mr Setter.
Perfect Sunday fare, and a relief after yesterday’s horror. **/****
Like DP, when I saw this grid, I thought it would be a battle. But, it ended up being a fairly gentle stroll through crosswordland as the constructions were neat with not a word wasted.
I know RD and others hate 11a but I’ve got no problem with it as I lump it in with other nouns like the munchies, scoff, nibbles and bite. Maybe he and others don’t like these too? If so, then fairy nuff.
My podium is 20a, 13d and 16d.
Many thanks to ‘De Do Do Do’ and the Manitoban Mountie.
2*/4*
11 across always gets complaints. It’s certainly not a vulgarism – Chambers labels it informal – and it goes back a long, long way. One of Wilfred Owen’s letters has “I must thank you for the ____”.
It is an interesting one and clearly grates some of the punters in a big way.
Talking of the most excellent war poet, I spotted this….
‘WW One’ is an anagram of ‘W Owen’.
Well spotted Tom
Thank you, Crazy River.
I’m always looking for these things.
That makes me sound like a native American Indian (if we are still allowed to use that term).
Native American is the official term these days.
Thanks for correcting me Tom. I hope it didn’t offend anyone.
Instead of crazy river perhaps it should have been Aster La Vista 😃
You love it!
Or….La’vender’ Loca
Oh, that’ll do, Tom.
Who knows anymore? Maybe Trump will revise some of our “sensibilities”.
God help us all.
Hoo nose, Tants.
Re 11a, it’s the answer they find vulgar.
Fairly gentle and enjoyable – thanks to Dada and Senf.
My top picks are all clustered together – 13d, 16d, 17d and 18d.
Leaving aside the dreadful 11a, this was an enjoyable Sunday solve with little in the way of potential pitfalls. Podium places awarded to 15a plus 17&21d.
Poor Ms Faithfull, her lifestyle did nothing for her singing voice.
Thanks to Dada and our diligent reviewer who has to be in danger of meeting himself coming backwards after this whistle-stop tour!
I made heavy weather of this overall. Not sure why. I have a couple of answers that I can’t readily parse, but fit the checkers. I’m going to have to wait for the mid-week review to check. Cotd for me is the groan worthy 14a. Thanks to Dada and safe journey to Senf.
It is bitterly cold outside but here in the conservatory it is positively tropical. Taking the opportunity of getting the guzzle done before going to a birthday lunch with DD2 – George has requested LMP. We had two 14s at the same time as the girls were born – my word, were they intelligent! Both were with us for 18 years and it broke my heart when they died, so that has to be my favourite but much else to like, the drunken fop and the embarrassing family for example. Many thanks to the setter and God Speed to Senf on his journey home, it was a great pleasure to meet you last week.
P S Lemon Meringue Pie.
Where are you to be bitterly cold Daisy? It was so sunny here in Sandhurst that I went to Wokingham on the motorbike, wasn’t even a bit chilly.
‘Twas gorgeous but pretty chilly on the first tee at Centurion at 8am
Just a wee bit south of Cambridge Tipcat. It has been sunny but frost on the ground.
25a last one in. Give me a break. Cannot comment due to house rules Even AI missed the parsing, with three letters in, but got there once the penny dropped.
Like last week, I enjoyed the snappy four letter clues; cooler, queen and God
Hope travel arrangements work out for Senf. ✈️
Keep setting, hinting, solving, and hoping for that elusive prize from the DT….
All completed with a few needing a lot more thought today. Very enjoyable. Clear blue sky and sunshine here after a frosty start.
Many thanks to Dada and to Senf for the hints, have a safe journey home.
An enjoyable puzzle although I got bogged down in the SW. It fell eventually though and now looking at I can’t see why I struggled but that’s often the way.
Top picks for me were 26a, 10a and 16d.
Thanks and safe travels to Senf and thank you Dada for the mental workout.
Far less demanding than Donny yesterday & very enjoyable too. My picks were all to found in the downs with ticks against 1,13&18d. Like Tom I can’t say 11a particularly annoys me.
Thanks to D&S – safe trip home.
If it’s good enough for wordsmith Wilfred….
I found this Dada puzzle hard to get going this week. When all done I would say this was mid range of his spectrum. Some use of his personal thesaurus with a touch of quirkiness tossed in.
2.5*/4*
Favourites 10a, 14a, 25a, 1d, 3d & 24d – with winner 14a
Smiles elicited from 12a, 5d & 24d
Thanks to Dada & Senf
Tricky, quirky, head-scratching at times…but thoroughly enjoyable Sunday Dada fare.
Took some time to get going, but once a few (like 15A) had dropped into place it was a fairly steady solve with a few ‘Aha’ and ‘Doh’ moments along the way.
My favourite (amongst several good ‘uns) was the loopy family at 13D 👍
Thanks to Dada for the challenge and, as ever, to Senf for another excellent blog ‘n hints. Safe travels.
Cheers!
Good afternoon
I’ve not attempted a crozzie since Wednesday; I have been away, back in God’s Country for a funeral. The service was at the new Crematorium building near Felton, and the wake in the gorgeous seaside town of Amble; there were also beers in my favourite pub in Morpeth, The Joiners. Ee, it was great to be back up yem!
So, back to Didcot and back down to Earth, and the Sunday challenge from Dada. The top half went in no problem; the bottom: much more of a struggle, with the SW quadrant proving the trickiest. Almost hoyed the sponge in, but time, tea, and my Lucky Green Pen came good.
COTD: jointly 26a, and 16d, my last to fall.
Many thanks to Dada and to Senf. Safe travels, Senf!
Very like yesterday’s guzzle in that I only managed about 6 on first read through. Took me a while to parse several of them but eventually all fell into place. Did anyone else notice the wonderful crescent moon and Venus in the sky last night? At least I think it was Venus but what do I know. Anyway thanks to Dada and Senf and have a safe trip home and take this cold weather with you.
Yes, it was a glorious sight here in north Lancashire and I’m fairly sure it is Venus. Sadly not tonight as it’s overcast.
Yes it was Venus with the crescent moon. This month apparently there is a planetary parade with Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, Uranus and Neptune with Mercury at the end of the month. The last 4 will need telescope to see them.
You are lucky with your big skies to see them clearly.
Can clearly see both the crescent moon and Venus again. Gin clear evening.😁
Not sure if this will work but Venus is 17 minutes past the hour to the moon! If you see what I mean, rather faint
The moon and Venus are showing perfectly in the sky but my attempts at taking a photo aren’t very good
Yes I noticed the moon, outside fortunately, as it’s supposed to be unlucky to notice it through glass. Window glass that is, not wine glass! Didn’t notice Venus though.
At last a straightforward crossword, not the case for the previous couple of days, and all the more enjoyable for it. Hard to pick a favourite but 18d just about shades it. Thanks to Dada and Senf.
I started off thinking I was out of luck today, but Senf thankfully got me going after my few answers didn’t help much. Then it all began to make sense. Although I am still not sure how 19a works. COTD is 4d simply because it is my favourite flower, and I always grew them in England. Sadly they can’t take the heat here and were a dismal failure when I tried them. Talking of which, we have gone from having the heat on, to back with the AC on, all in the same week. Put the bed covers on, take the bed covers off…. Thanks to Dada for a nice challenge and to Senf for keeping from losing interest at the beginning.
Took two visits but very enjoyable. Typical Dada in that he is good at leading you up the garden path.
Thx to all
***/****
A nice solve I enjoyed, 14a amused the most as with perfect timing, one walked past the cafe where Mama Bee and I were having a lunchtime coffee and cake trip.
Thanks to Dada and godspeed to Senf
2* / 4* Top Sunday challenge pitched at just the right level. Too many good clues to list and also liked the Quickie pun.
I’m another one who can’t see the problem with 11a but each to their own.
Thanks to setter and Senf
Cold but sunny here in the garden of England today.
I had to check the answer to the huge battle as the battle was unknown to me so will go
3*/4*. Loopy family COTD
Thanks for the hints and Dada for the challenge
The usual top Sunday enjoyment from Dada with ‘loopy family’ as my favourite clue – thank you Senf
Thank you to Dada for the fun and to Senf for explaining 24d’s cooler — safe travels! I’m picking 10a as my favourite.
Sailed through this early doors but it had taken me until now to parse 16d. If it is an oldie I don’t remember it. Favourites 6a and 17d. Lovely sunny day here in the E Midlands which made me think of the stroll to Little Venice last week.
V straightforward for Dada.