Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3309 (Hints)
Hints and tips by Senf
A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg where Old Man Winter is not going quietly – temperatures in the minus teens yesterday and Friday, and before today is done we could have 5 cms or more of snow. The Red Scarf is still very much in use!
For me, and I stress for me, Dada quirkily friendly, plenty of ‘Dada experience’ probably required. Three anagrams (two partials), no lurkers, and one homophone, all in a symmetric 28 clues; with 14 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 – 13a, 15a, 26a, 14d, 21d, and 22d.
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
1a Book cases I select, wobbly (12)
An anagram (wobbly) of CASES I SELECT for one of a collection of thirty-nine books.
9a Arrangement of numbers, 1970s style? (4)
A double definition, both can be considered abbreviations, the first relates to the way in which a set of numbers can be ordered.
13a Hot part of Europe invaded by Northern Ireland (8)
The single letter for Hot (as seen on a tap) and the SW peninsula of Europe containing (invaded by) the single letter for Northern.
15a The girl claims religious education is of little value (10)
THE from the clue and guess a five letter girl contains (claims) the abbreviation for Religious Education.
23a Rabbit finally caught by a smarter animal (8)
The last letter (finally) of rabbiT inserted into (caught by) A from the clue and a synonym of smarter.
26a We are still waiting for member? Lay down the law! (9)
Written as (3,2,4) the answer could suggest waiting for a member (part of ones body).
28a Erudite type, one with a postbag? (3,2,7)
Someone identified by one as a pronoun and the contents of a postbag rather than the postbag itself.
Down
2d Penned notes collected (8)
A double definition – the second might be associated with the state of being cool and calm.
4d Paper etc still talked about? (10)
The homophone (talked about) of a synonym of still (as in not moving) – now those of you ‘bidding’ for the mythical make sure you get the fourth unchecked letter correct!
7d Two possible elements in stage production scene (4,3,5)
A double definition – the second might relate to making a fuss.
8d Patch on hand (6)
The Latin based preposition equivalent to on and a low value hand of cards in, for example, poker.
14d Think French scorer’s cut speed (10)
A French composer (famous for the Flower Duet) with his last letter deleted (cut) and a synonym of speed.
21d Head for work accessing a busy, busy underpass (6)
The first letter of (head for) Work inserted into (accessing) an anagram (busy) of A BUSY.
25d Investigate river (4)
Another double definition to finish – the second is a famous trout river that is only forty miles long.
Quick Crossword Pun:
JUNGLE + BELLES = JINGLE BELLS – Hmm!
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Easy Lover performed by Philip Bailey (Earth, Wind & Fire) and Phil Collins (Genesis), was jointly written and composed by Bailey, Collins, and American jazz, R&B, and rock bass guitarist Nathan East. It reached number one on this day in 1985 and stayed there for four weeks:
Good sound Sunday fare, an enjoyable solve. Generally completed from N to S though my last two in were 9a (1970s, really?) and 2d. Honours to 13a (nice red herring), 26a (for the laugh) and14d.
Many thanks to Dada, presumably, and Senf – minus teens: aside from that being some parents’ dream, is that -F or -C? Chilly already but incredibly so if the latter!
-C, Canada has been metric for around 50 years.
Wow that was hard! Apart from 8d all very elegant though.
Dada in a tricky mood.
Thx to all
*****/****
Ditto.
Two answers in the top left took me as long to the rest of the puzzle to solve completely. I can’t believe 9A was a 70’s thing either.
Otherwise very enjoyable with 28A being pick of the bunch.
Thanks to Dada and Senf.
4*/1.5*. I liked three quarters of this but too many iffy clues in the NW spoilt my enjoyment.
Thanks anyway to Dada and to Senf.
My first thought after solving 1a was – hope Brian doesn’t see this one, so I was amazed when he popped in and made no disparaging remarks at all!
Certainly a couple of Dada quirks included but overall a decent Sunday puzzle. Rosettes handed out to 26&28a plus 2&22d,
Thanks to Dada and to Senf for the hints and enjoyable clip from Phil Collins – I could listen to his singing all day.
I think the new Brian is an imposter.
My thought exactly! 🤣
No I’m the Imposter !
I can cope with the new avatar but still getting used to the balanced critiques
I immediately thought of him as well! He is always surprising us.
This was a nice steady solve with no real hold-ups until I got to 13a, my LOI, which immediately went on to my podium; great clue.
The style in 9a was of course popularised in the 70s. I’ve just looked it up on a few sites and they all say it went huge in this decade, in more ways than one. Dada has used the question mark just to be polite. If you ask anyone which was the most popular decade for this style, they’ll say the 70s, followed by the 80s before we all saw the light.
It’s not up for discussion.
I haven’t seen ‘busy’ as an AI before but it kind of makes sense.
My podium is 13a, 23a and 26a.
Many thanks to the aforementioned and the Manitoban mountie.
3*/3*
But I want to discuss it. Did men as well follow this fashion? There’s a pen at stake here and when I get the next one I am going to send it to Steve to cheer him up!
Leo Sayer.
Need I say more?
I submit.
I found this very enjoyable with 9a and 2d seemingly holding out forever.
I too thought of Brian with 1a.
Top picks for me were 15a, 23a, 14d and 21d.
Thanks to Senf and Dada.
Typically Dadaish with a few quirks. Thanks to him and Senf.
I finished in the NW where I needed to get 2d and 8d before 9a became evident.
My ticks went to 26a, 7d and 8d.
I just couldn’t get started today – found it incredibly tough. Even with the hints I couldn’t finish. Not felt this defeated since I took on a prize toughie!! I’m away to pick my wounds and put it down to a wavelength thing!
Thanks to the setter and to Senf for the much needed hints
I found this tricky, particularly in the north west corner. The rest came together nicely but quite some thought was needed in the parsing of a couple. I thought 13a was very clever and my favourite.
Many thanks to Dada and to Senf for the hints.
The NW was my area of delay this morning, too, with a slow finish after a fairly rapid start. I’m still not happy about my 9a across but I will think awhile on this before going for The Mythical. The misleading 13a was my favourite.
Thanks to Dada and Senf as always.
9a was my LOI. I twigged to the style, but possessing virtually zero knowledge of British betting practices meant the arrangement of numbers was completely lost on me.
Nice little puzzle today – just one I wasn’t keen on (6d), and one I had to confirm (24a).
I’ve heard of a *** xxx xxx, but never just the *** on it’s own. Although dictionary confirms it’s an obsolete term.
3*/3* for us and thanks to Dada and Senf
Thanks for the fourth unchecked letter tip at 4d Senf
Even with Senf’s hints I’m struggling with 8d/9a. So somewhere I’m missing something. The remainder I found a bit of a mixed bag, some simple and others obscure. But it’s Sunday and Dada. Thanks to him and to Senf for the hints. Back to the decorating and I’ll try and finish later.
Got ’em. Amazing what a couple of hours with a paint roller can do!
Just could not get on with this. Struggling to think of anything positive to say. Needless to say, a DNF for me, with the NW particularly tough. The book, scorer and number arrangement were new to me.
I did like 26a and 28a.
5*/1.5*
Thanks to Dada and Senf.
Started out well with this Dada puzzle and then suddenly ground to a halt, or at least slowed to a crawl. I would have to say in hindsight this was at the harder end of his spectrum, quirky throughout and his thesaurus was obviously in good use.
2.5*/4.5* in the end
Favourites include 15a, 18a, 26a, 2d, 17d & 21d — with winner 15a … when the tea tray hit the floor with a bloody great CRASH!!
Thanks to Dada & Senf
Great guzzle today. 9a LOI. I had a 9a just once – I looked absolutely terrible and my then boss said ‘Ms Doo Dah, are you meant to look like the hedge that you have obviously been pulled backwards through?’. Yes, that is what he called me as he couldn’t ‘remember’ my name despite it being the name of his only child! When I resigned 6 years later he asked me why and I threw caution to the wind and said I couldn’t stand him a minute longer! My last 3 months were actually quite fun after that. Anyway thanks to Dada and Senf
Well back down to earth after yesterday’s read and write! Got there in the end but took a good while to get into. Plenty of excellent clues including 13a, 15a and favourite 7d
3* / 4* and I liked the silly quickie pun
Thanks to Senf and dada
Struggled today – only completed with Senf’s kind assistance, and even then found a couple of the passings a tad too quirky (6D & 8D…).
Anyway, thank you Mr D for todays difficult challenge, and as always to Senf for another excellent blog ‘n hints 👍
Cheers!
Found it really tough today and took quite some time even after the hint to put 9a as LOI. Enjoyed the overall level of misdirection which brought several smiles as pennies descended. Shout outs to 21d, 24a and the superb 26a.
Thanks to Dada and Senf
Tricky one today.
Despite having 1st and 3rd letters of 18a, I can’t figure out the answer that makes any sense 🤨
I thought 9a was pretty tenuous, but the BRB persuaded me
Thanks all.
The 18a board has 64 squares on it!
Thanks Senf. It all makes sense now. The Persians had a word for this which meant “chariot’ and the translation is a homonym of the answer.
Most grateful. Cryptic!+
Nothing good to say except that as usual the pun was awful. Thanks to Senf and Dada.
Add me to those who found the NW tricky & particularly 8d&9a. Was also painfully slow to twig the critter 23a despite having all available checkers. Picks for me were 15&26a plus 7,8&14d.
Thanks to D&S
Not in the best of moods, having had to fight with non responsive printer for a while. A mixed bag today, some clues that fell into my lap and others that just refused to cooperate. LI was 14d as I forgot that version of think. Not sure 9d was 1970’s, I remember them more when I was younger in the 1960’s. Went to a lecture the other night and was told, with bullet points, how awful the 1960’s were, which surprised us. We remember them quite fondly, but then things were a lot different over here in the US during that decade. Thanks to Dada and Senf.
I had never heard of 20a but a little research gave me the answer. The reservations about 9a seem pretty general but I have to say that 15a seemed to me to be unfinished business. I knew them well, dear little things but always with a qualifier. Anyways up, I’ll submit it. Four o’clock and only just finished lunch and the guzzle because it was the PCC AGM this morning which went on until 12.45! Anyway, many thanks to the clever Setter – 13a is a gem. And thanks to my friend in Winnipeg, I trust that on the one day in May when it comes off you will give it a quick wash? 🤭
The red scarf, I meant to say!!!
As with some others above the NW held out for a long time … and agree with Senf regarding the quicky pun. Thanks Dada as always
Thank you for the extra hints I need them. Also for the video link. I remember this , we were in the UK then, by 89 we were in the US, we took the scenic route to Canada :) got here in 96.
Lovely to cyber see everybody. I’ve been quiet but visit every day.
Oh Carolyn, how lovely to hear from you! I do hope you are keeping well
and glad to hear that you are still keeping track of the gang. I wish I could pop
in and have a drink with you🍾
Would love that too.
We weren’t keen on 9a, 15a, 6d and the less said about 14d with the obscure 19th century composer the better. The rest were ok with no outstanding clue but if pressed we’d go with 7d. Thanks to Dada and Senf.
Hi TWLC
The French composer had a huge influence on music for ballet and his Flower Duet is a well-known masterpiece.
Admittedly, he’s not one of the biggies but he’s never been called obscure.
Until now, I suppose…
Well, thank goodness Senf’s hints were available early today.
I started well, with 1a going straight in, and I thought that I had made a great start – but my joy was short-lived. Having gone through all the across clues and all the down clues I had only a smattering of answers in the top half and NONE AT ALL in the bottom half. Another run through and the grid was still looking pretty barren an I was feeling pretty glum.
I guess I was simply not on Dada’s wavelength today. For example; I spent an inordinate amount of time on 13a trying to find a word for “hot” made up of a European country with NI in it. I was beginning to doubt the few checking letters I had at that time managed.
Still, with Senf’s (and some electronic) help I eventually managed to finish. I definitely found this hard.
Anyway, with grateful thanks to Dada and to Senf for his much-needed hints.
Oh, and I accidentally had a 9a in the 1970s (it’s a long story).
So did Kevin Keegan😮
I was on the wrong track for 7d, repeated recitals of Tom Lehrer didn’t help but I did get there eventually although 6d is not fully parsed
Thanks to Dada and Senf. The connection between 17d and one of the Phil’s is noticed
If you are referring to Philip and Phil in the music video then, given that the video was selected last Thursday, any connection to 17d is entirely coincidental, or even accidental.
I got off to a slow start but eventually things fell into place. Agree with Daisygirl that the answer to 15a seemed unfinished. I was slow to get 13a and LOI 8d. Re 9a I’m almost afraid to raise my head above the parapet and admit to having 2/3 a year!
Many thanks to the setter but not happy with the Quickie pun! Thanks also Senf and keep warm!
Not my cup of tea today.
Needed a lot if help b9th from Senf and electronically.
Thanks to the setter and to Senf.
I hope this doesn’t put me on the naughty step. To be safe I will not refer to the clue it relates to however this shop front sign from my local shop in Bangkok amuses me so I thought it worth sharing.
[Expressing hope that part of a comment will not get you on the naughty step is a 99% guarantee that is where you will end up!]
Relatively plain sailing.