ST 3316 (Hints) – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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ST 3316 (Hints)

by Senf  

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3316 (Hints)

Hints and tips by Senf

A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg where, not helping with the wildfire situation, after a very pleasant 24 degrees yesterday the forecast is for 34 or 35 degrees today, tomorrow, and Tuesday and then the Mercury falls out of the bottom of the thermometer as we are forecast to ‘sink’ to 5 (yes five) degrees on Friday – fortunately the Red Scarf has not yet been put at the back of the wardrobe for the Summer.

For me, and I stress for me, in his own way, Dada quirkily friendly.  Two long ‘uns, seven anagrams (all partials!), two lurkers (one reversed), and no homophones all in a symmetric 29 clues; with 14, plus 1 bonus, hints ‘sprinkled’ throughout the grid, you should be able to get the checkers to enable the solving of the unhinted clues.  And, remember, my electronic blue pencil is at the ready and the Naughty Step is OPEN!

Candidates for favourite – 20a, 23a, 25a, 3d, 7d, 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

7a Event that’s live broadcast in winter month (7)
An anagram (broadcast) of LIVE inserted into (in) the abbreviated name of a winter month (named after the Roman god who could see both ways).

11a Stuff in valley? (5)
A double definition – the first relates to over-eating – the valley in the illustration is the one named after a cheese in Somerset.

12a Joke finally grasped by you – ha-ha! (2-3)
The last letter (finally) of jokE contained (grasped) by the archaic form of you.

17a Failing at romance originally, a crooner (7)
Four pieces of Lego® in five words! A type of failing (of which there are seven deadly ones), AT from the clue, the first letter (originally) of Romance, and A from the clue – yet another appearance of said crooner!

18a Without rehearsal, I will turn up on time, and you? (9)
A (1’1, 6) way of saying I will turn up on time and the single letter for you used sloppily in texting and other forms of social media.

23a Sack a cashier hasn’t closed – that’s not important (9)
A type of sack (as a noun), A from the clue, and a synonym of cashier without the last letter (hasn’t finished) – my paternal grandmother used to have one of the illustrated items, I wonder what happened to it.

25a Winger breaking the whole bone (7)
One of our favourite wingers (seen over water – fresh and salt) inserted into (breaking) a single word for the whole (as in a mathematical operation).

Down

1d Outrageous where soldiers in the trenches would go (4-3-3)
A double definition – the first is frequently seen as a three letter abbreviation.

3d Separate relative holding nothing up (8)
A male relative containing (holding) all of the letter that can represent nothing and UP from the clue.

5d Colour match in ink container (3-5)
A synonym of match (as in concurrence) inserted into (in) an ink container (that can be used as writing implement).

7d All that’s required – for train journey? (4,3,6)
The most important item that is required for a train journey – I would imagine that the fare has gone up considerably since August 2005!

9d A broken man cried over sheets, in hope of equal opportunity (8,5)
A from the clue and an anagram (broken) of MAN CRIED all placed before (over) a term for a large(-ish) quantity of sheets (of paper).

16d I’m off to do forms and sign on, firstly (6-2)
An anagram (forms – move one letter) of TO DO, a sign of the Zodiac (July 23rd to August 22nd), and the first letter of On.

17d Slow – as a homeless snail? (8)
A possible(?) description of the appearance of a snail out of its shell (homeless).

22d Cheese turning up in their basket (4)
The reverse lurker (turning up in) the last two words in the clue.

Quick Crossword Pun:

WALLY + SAND + GROMMET = WALLACE AND GROMIT

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A random selection today of a very famous duet, for soprano and mezzo-soprano, from the opera Lakmé composed by Léo Delibes in 1881-82 but here played by two cornetists from the combined Tredegar and Brighouse & Rastrick Bands at The Hafren Theatre in Newtown, Powys last month.  A very pleasant accompaniment to a Sunday afternoon G&T:

29 comments on “ST 3316 (Hints)”

  1. Dada on top form today, I thought. Plenty of smiles, clever constructions and a couple of teasers. Personally, I have never spelled 12a that way but it was not a problem. I was held up by an elderly relative at 20a and it took a while to get the failing romance in 17a. My COTD, simply because it made me laugh, is the homeless snail at 17d.

    Thank you, Dada for a fun solve that stretched the brain just enough. Thank you, Senf for the hints.

  2. Quirkily friendly sums it up nicely. Some laugh out loud moments and equally some extra thought needed in places. Overall a 4d puzzle for a Sunday morning. My podium places all score highly on the smile scale: 20a, 20d and 17d. Thanks to Dada and Senf

  3. Definitely a quirky offering from our setter this morning and I invariably forget the alternative spelling in 20a which doesn’t help the solving process. Clues on the top of the pile for me were 10a plus 3,7&17d.

    Thanks to Dada and also to Senf for the hints – enjoyed the horn version of the famous duet, but then I’m not a fan of soprano voices.

  4. I enjoyed this even if my brain feels a bit mangled now. 23a was a new meaning for me but easily gettable from the clue. I also don’t spell 12a that way but then I rarely write it!

    Top picks for me were 17d, 14d, 20d and 25a.

    Thanks to Senf and Dada.

  5. A fun puzzle from Dada this morning – thanks to him and Senf.
    I liked 10a, 20d and my favourite 17d (such words always make me think of Kath who loves them – I do miss her comments on the blog and hope that she’s ok).

    1. I echo your thoughts regarding Kath, Gazza. She is missed and I do hope everything is ok.
      Also, where is Brian?

    2. I’ve asked a couple of times about Kath, as I too miss her. Brian did pop in recently.

  6. 2*/4*. This was good fun with 20d my favourite.

    The definition for 13a seems a bit weird.

    Many thanks to Dada and to Senf.

  7. Nice work from Radio Dada today to go with NYDK’s splendid effort, yesterday.

    I liked the use of ‘Go for’ in 13a and I’m another solver who hadn’t seen the variant spelling of ‘phnarr phnarr’ in 12a.

    My podium is 20a, 23a (nice construction) and 16d. I liked the clue but I’ve given it a medal as it’s a great expression.

    MT to Dada and Senf.

    2*/4*

  8. Solved this on the app, as I’m on holiday on the western isles where the “Sundays” arrive on Monday, and scrupulous care is required to ensure the wrong letter isn’t spuriously entered.
    Cotd was the pizza choice at 13a and I didn’t like 12a which was my last in. I can’t imagine it ever being printed in the “Beano” like that!
    Good to see Steve back in pole position.

  9. Good morning

    Needed a crozzie fix today after being unable to even look at one for the last three days. Thankfully today’s was just taxing enough for my poor deprived braincell.

    As I write, 17a has just finished singing on Trevor Lazaro’s excellent Great Crooners Show on Sunshine Radio (sunshine-radio.co.uk), which I heartily recommend for those of you who cannot abide the repetitive nature of Corporate FM, and who find themselves now too old for the BBC station at the far left-hand end of the FM dial, which used to be good.

    Many thanks to Dada and Senf.

  10. That was a lot of fun and I was enjoying it so much that gardening in the beautiful sunshine was put on hold. NE was stickiest corner. I struggled to parse 20a. Many thanks Dada and Senf.

  11. Great fun, just right for this lovely day. 17d my favourite out of a bunch of excellent clues.

    Many thanks to Dada and to Senf for the hints.

  12. I could have done with a lot more hints. I found yesterday’s far more straightforward than today’s.

  13. Not coming here regularly now due to pressure of using the daylight hours in the garden hoping to age proof it by the start of winter but with little expectation of succeeding.

    But on the various visits I have not read a post by Brian. Have I missed some tragic news or summat else?

    Is it worth clicking save my name …. ? I need to save my energy.

    Dada not quirkily friendly to me and I found it (redacted) difficult without the hints and guessing from the checkers.

  14. Gentle and enjoyable fun. Briefly thought of an Indian currency at one stage (it parses!) but otherwise no reasons for hold-ups. Honours to 18a, 16d & 10a.

    Thank you to Dada and Senf

  15. Several food, drink and eating clues today making me hungry. You know where they are. Almost an enigma theme.
    Not helped by several sandwich clues (those with insertions) scattered about. All in all, a nicely varied menu, with gentle humour. Thanks all

  16. For me again this Sunday, a Dada puzzle at the easier end of his spectrum. A few quirky clues/answers and limited use of his personal thesaurus this week.

    2*/4.5* for me

    Favourites include 20a, 1d, 3d, 7d, 14d & 16d — with winner 14d that made me laugh. Smiles from 20a, 7d too.

    Thanks to Dada & Senf

  17. I completed the guzzle before breakfast but didn’t het round to posting until this afternoon as I was busy mowing the lawns and weeding inthe sunshine. Idug up another carrier bag full of dandelions for my grand-daughter’s rabbits. A challenging but enjoyable SPP, with two splendid cryptic definitions at 7d and 14d. I also liked the two Lego clues at 3d and 5d. Thanks to asenf for the hints and to Dada for another quirky wuinner

  18. We made hard work of parts of this although having got the answers couldn’t see why. A most enjoyable puzzle with several contenders for favourite for which we’ll go with 10a. Thanks to Dada and Senf.

  19. Late today as by 8am we were in the gym at Sawston (doing registrations for the Sawston Fun Run in case you are picturing me on the parallel bars). Hugely successful and a great atmosphere. We’d just got home and poured a drink when DD2 came with the schnauzers and it now seems like bedtime. However , I enjoyed the guzzle – my grandparents also had a 23a which was hugely popular in the family and came to me. I struggled with 20 an and 20d but hope I am tight. Many thanks to Dada and Senf – always keep a scarf handy. 🧣

  20. I thought Dada was being kind today as most of it flew in , held up by a few at the end. My last one in was 2d that I spent ages on only to realise I had 10a wrong.(- actually I had about 4 different answers for it along the way). Despite me always thinking – if a word doesn’t ‘exist’ , it’s probably because one of the checkers is wrong , I still didn’t twig for ages. Anyway got there finally. Thanks so much Dada and Senf.

  21. Not a bad puzzle for the American version of Mother’s Day over here – not Mothering Sunday, more of a Hallmark moment. Didn’t find this as easy as some above, but enjoyable none the less with lots of friendly long answers to help. Surprised myself by getting 23a as I didn’t know that meaning. Thanks to Dada and Senf.

  22. 1.5*/ 4*, A really enjoyable Sunday puzzle, can’t fault any clues. Favourites include 2d nice word, 17d silly but funny and the brilliant 26d

    Thanks to Dada and Senf

  23. Having been out all day I didn’t have much time to do this puzzle, but luckily it was fairly benign and was over quite quickly. Super-enjoyable as always from this setter, with 20d my favourite.

    Thanks to Dada and Senf.

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