ST 3320 (Hints) – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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ST 3320 (Hints)

by Senf  

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3320 (Hints)

Hints and tips by Senf

A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg where late afternoon, early evening yesterday we had some rain, not enough but better than nothing, and a feeble attempt at a thunder storm.

For me, and I stress for me©, Dada upped the ante for today’s puzzle – four long uns, two anagrams, one lurker with an indicator usually associated with another type of clue, and one homophone all in a symmetric 32 clues; with 16 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 – 5a, 16a, 19a, 27a,2d, 4d, and 8d.

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 Violinist’s stroke, melancholy weapon (7)
A (directional?) synonym of melancholy and a weapon (used by an archer).

11a A bit dissociated (5)
A from the clue and a synonym of bit.

15a King always beside dictionary – might one be ruminating? (3,4)
The single Latin based letter for King, and a poetic contraction of a synonym of always placed after (beside) the initial letters of a dictionary, not the BRB one of the other ones.

17a Hard filling trench from end to end (7)
The single letter for Hard inserted into (filling) a synonym of trench.

22a Matter in hanky initially wiped (5)
A type of (paper) hanky with the first letter deleted (initially wiped).

26a A children’s game won hands down? (11,4)
A game with teams of two with one of them ‘impersonating’ an item of garden equipment.

27a Ridiculous bug traps brother or sister (7)
A synonym of bug (as in annoy) contains (traps) an abbreviated form (in the BRB) of a term for brother or sister.

28a Correct fit around bottom (7)
A synonym of fit (as in match?) containing (around) a synonym of bottom (of the ocean?).

Down

1d Free when put down after being picked up (7)
The reversal (after being picked up) of a synonym of when put down (as in scorned).

2d Run the show, as would American in pants? (4,3,8)
An idiom for ‘run the show’ based on being dressed in a similar fashion to an American in pants.

5d Coin and ruby put in the middle (7)
A coin which is 100th of the major unit of currency in many countries and regions and the colour which ruby is an example of.

7d Raucous bird embraced by family, buzzard’s ultimate fantasy (5-6-4)
All of a synonym of raucous and guess a bird (the one that doesn’t build its own nest) contained by a synonym of family (North of the border?) followed by the last (‘s ultimate) letter of buzzarD.

8d Solver and setter back cowboy film (7)
A plural pronoun describing solver and setter (together) and a synonym of back (of a ship).

17d Athlete taking hour to enter tall building (7)
The abbreviated form of hour inserted into (to enter) a type of tall building (often combined with block).

18d Someone held label inside underwear (7)
A synonym of label inserted into (inside) an obsolete term for underwear but which is also a term for leg wear.

25d Piece of cotton wool, primarily sterilising wounds, afterwards binned (4)
The first letters (primarily) of the last four words of the clue.

Quick Crossword Pun:

CHICORY + POKE + CURRY = JIGGERY-POKERY

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.

American hip hop group the Fugees, formed in 1990, were successful with their version of Killing Me Softly, originally a hit for Roberta Flack in 1973, which reached number one for four weeks on this day in 1996. Then, after a week’s break, it got back to number one for one more week on July 13th:

86 comments on “ST 3320 (Hints)”

  1. Your parsing of 1D is very clever, but isn’t there a simpler way? If you were to 1D something, first you would do the pick up and then later you would do the put down, wouldn’t you?

    2. It seems like there could be a need for a ‘conversation’ when the review of today’s puzzle is published on the 18th.

      However, for today, a simple, for me, synonym and guess a weapon. Then, just to make sure, confirm that what I think is the answer is in the BRB, and there it is.

  2. I found Dada difficult today but I put that down to not having slept last night. I had solved just two after the first pass and spent half a cup of coffee staring at the glues and getting nothing. I almost threw in the towel but light began to dawn slowly and a few more went in. Eventually, with some help from Mr. G., I got over the finish line but with little satisfaction. Mind you, I’m not in the best of moods when I haven’t slept so I have a feeling other things today will irk.

    I did like the children’s game at 26a and that is my COTD.

    Thank you, Dada for the puzzle. Thank you, Mr. Mustard for the hints.

    I didn’t get the Quickie pun either,

    I think I’ll go back to bed now.

    1. IMHO – Dada is not the best when it comes to puns and today’s was ‘saved’ by the combination of the second and third words.

      1. Thanks, Senf but the reason I didn’t get it was because I had “push” for the second word. My brain has really shut down today. 😳

  3. 2*/4*. A terrific Sunday puzzle which was a joy to solve with 5a, 19a, 23a, 26a, 2d (complete with US indicator!) and 4d being my top picks.

    Many thanks to Dada and to Senf, particularly for the video accompanying the Quickie pun.

    1. Glad you liked the pun music. An ‘accidental’ discovery while e-searching to confirm the presence of a hyphen in the pun. If I had reached for my BRB to check we would have missed out on a marvellous piece of musical entertainment.

  4. Tougher than yesterday’s one, and about at the upper end of my capability, any harder and it wouldn’t have got done.

    Still can’t see how 8d and 1d work so will have to hope they’re in the hints.

    Good luck over the pond with 19a, although with the other letters in it, it shouldn’t be too tough.

    My two favourites today are 26a and! 7d, great fun!

  5. Dada was on fine form, at his wily best, today and I did enjoy the solve and the brain-stretching workout.. I loved the convoluted Lego clue at 7d, the 4d and 19a double definitions, the 26a cryptic definition of the children’s game and tge 9a anagram. Thanks to Senf for the hints and to Dada for another winner.

  6. Excellent puzzle – one from his top drawer with ticks aplenty. A brisk solve, as with Beamer over in t’other place, but struggled with the Quickie puzzle & got nowhere near figuring out the pun (great music clip) once I’d finally finished it.
    Thanks to D&S
    Ps Off to The Grove for the end of our match against the Yanks – all square so all to play for going into the singles – we’re usually beaten by this stage.

  7. I enjoyed this and it brought lots of smiles. I found it a bit hard to get into but once I had a few solutions it wasn’t such a tussle. I was a bit haphazard with my approach which I’m not sure if it helped or hindered.

    Top picks for me are 26a, 5a, 7d, 16a and 23a.

    Thanks to Senf and Dada.

  8. Phew!
    That was tough. There is no way I could have completed this without Senf’s help and the use of electronic aids…
    Like Steve C, I almost gave up after my first – almost fruitless – pass.
    With the aforementioned assistance however, I managed to get it done, but I can’t say I enjoyed it anything like as much as yesterday’s (and many of the others this week). That is no criticism of the setter – having completed it, I can see that the clues are fair, clever, and often witty – just beyond my current solving ability.
    With many thanks to the setter (Dada?) and to Senf whose help I needed today.

  9. Looked tricky, but all came together, as a good crossword should. Explaining the Lego™ clues was more difficult than solving them, especially the fantasy place! A good Goldilocks puzzle for me, but no real COTD.
    Thanks all

  10. Can anyone help me parse 19d? I get the “fuddy duddies” part but the remainder of the clue eludes me!

        2. I think the clue would’ve worked better in the singular, i.e. [redacted –it’s a prize puzzle] is a perfect example expressed in mathematical power notation. Pluralising makes the clue a bit clumsy
          Otherwise, it might of got my COTD.

        3. Just in case people are still wondering, the result of [redacted –it’s a prize puzzle] is one of these as is [redacted –it’s a prize puzzle] and, in this case, [redacted –it’s a prize puzzle].

            1. Well I’m sorry I crossed the line*, but I would still like to point out that mathematically, millions does not equate to 19d. To me, it’s a single (plus one erroneous) definition (unless I have completely misunderstood the intended parsing)…

              * I hope I haven’t done it again! 😁

              1. This is a good one, AD, that I’m thoroughly enjoying.

                If you had a list of numbers that have these properties with the biggest being a million that appears, say, three times, you would say….’In this list, the 19d that are the highest are the millions.’

                1. Hi JF

                  A million is 19d without the last letter

                  So, I’m not with you.

                  Apologies if I’m misunderstanding you.

          1. I agree, A. It’s pushing it, a tad. (lovethe Mathematical reference 👏👏)

            Apols, Senf, btw. I was trying to tread carefully but clearly came a big, fat second.

    3. Thanks, all. I guess I’ll just have to chalk this one up as “a doesn’t work for me” clue!

  11. Dada’s given us an entertaining puzzle today – thanks to him and to Senf for the hints.
    Contenders for my podium were 5a, 12a, 26a and 8d.

  12. Arthur Dent has pretty much summed it up for me. A tough but classy puzzle. Thanks to Dada and Senf.

  13. I haven’t done the guzzle yet having just got back from church – just wanted to share the news with you that George and I are celebrating our 68th wedding anniversary today! Champagne in the fridge. George says you do not get such a long sentence for murder. Please note I was two years old when I got married 🤭

    1. Very many congratulations to you both, DG. Have a wonderful day. 🍹🍹

      What a wonderful picture.

    6. Many congratulations Daisy, you were married six years before I was born, so great going!

    9. Many, many congratulations!
      Unfortunately we’ll be stuck at 54 for ever…
      XX

    10. Wow!
      I thought I was doing well at 33yrs! (As your George says – I’d be out by now if I’d committed murder 😁)

      Very many congratulations!

      1. Two away from your platinum? That’s outrageous.

        An outstanding effort.

        You two are the standard bearers.

        More power to you both, Splitseeze!

    11. May I add my congratulations to you both, and hope you enjoy a very Happy Day.

    12. Felicitations, champagne cheers (rather than modern thank you!) and many happy returns of the day to you and George, Daisy. 🌹🍾🌈

    14. Very many congratulations to you both. Enjoy the champagne and have a lovely day.

    16. Congratulations from me too DG – hope you are having a really lovely day!

    17. Happy Anniversary D&G,
      You were celebrating your 5th Anniversary on the day I was born.
      It would appear that you should have got wood or silverware with a sapphire gemstone. Maybe a silver and sapphire pen tray for your many pens

      I am lead to believe that Mama Bee preserved my first woolen booties by having them dipped in copper but after almost as many years I no longer can find them

      Brides_AnniversaryGift_Graphic-eafe5c55d93649c99c67c422baeb4423

        1. Sorry, DG. This comment should have been in reply to SJB’s main comment. I did not mean to take anything away from your great anniversary.

    18. Many congratulations upon your 68th Wedding Anniversary, Daisygirl and to George. What a feat and don’t you look beautiful! I shall raise a glass to you this evening when we have our roast duck. Sadly, it will be wine not champagne but a celebratory drink, nonetheless.

  14. I started off this comment with a detailed justification of which clues I didn’t like and how despite the fact that I complete the guzzle virtually every day I only got half way through today: then I thought, better just to say not for me. Thanks to the setter and for the hints.

  15. Thought our setter plucked this out of his ‘time to give them something to think about’ drawer and that always leads to a few hmms for me in amongst the really good ones. Picks for me were 5,15,23&27a.

    Thanks to Dada and to Senf for the hints and music – thought the first piece would go down well with our cricket fans and felt that the Fugees did a creditable cover version of the Roberta Flack track – shame about the accompanying video!

  16. Cracking puzzle, enjoyable and entertaining. Nice to have something a little ‘chewier’ than usual. Some very clever clueing and often a requirement to think a little beyond the first thing that sprang to mind.

    7d COTD, 16a & 23a runners-up.

    Many thanks to setter & Senf

  17. For me, and I stress for me (© Senf), this was an ‘Oh My Goodness!’ guzzle. I fought my way through it, glue by glue, and usually would expect that doing so would leave me able to get the checkers to enable the solving of the remaining glues (almost © Senf). However, I found I had to continue the lonely path of solving glues one by one, leaving me with the shorty 23a which I subsequently wrestled into place. An unusual experience.

    Imagine being married for sixty-eight years (Daisy ‘n’ George)! Congratulations to them.

    Thanks to Da-doo-ron-ron and (still looking to the skies for rainclouds) The Man From Manitoba

  18. This was a great tussle and worthy of a Prize Puzzle. I appreciated the different clue types and the clever misdirection, with my favourite being 5a. Great stuff.

    Many thanks to Dada and Senf.

  19. A nicely-balanced crossy from Radio that finishes off a tougher than usual week in the ‘Wonderful World of Words’.

    I am extremely happy with the word felonious and will do my utmost to use it at every given opportunity.

    You’ve got to love a semordnilap when it appears in a crossword. Great fun.

    I appreciate that it’s in the dicko but I’ve never heard someone say the abbreviation for brother and sister and that’s including teenagers and 20 somethings who shorten everything!

    Does anybody know what are the criteria for a word to be an entry in a dictionary? Do they do a poll and, if so, with how many? Maybe, these days, they do an online search for the word and a certain number of results qualifies it.

    My podium is 19a, 26a and 7d.

    MT to the aforementioned and Senf.

    2*/4*

    1. “The Dictionary of Lost Words” – a novel by Pip Williams fictionalizes the creation of the dictionary in 15a from the perspective of a young woman working on the project (highlighting the struggles of women in a male-dominated society) is a good read. The description of the creation of the dictionary is reasonably historically accurate.

      BTW – I am a little surprised that you did not comment on the indicator in 12a, which as I wrote in the preamble, in a different context, is usually associated with another type of clue.

        1. I’ve added it to my library reservation list where I’m apparently first in the queue for it.

      2. Thanks for this, S. I will most definitely buy that book, especially as it’s been given the thumbs-up by Janus (hate that one, Jane?)

        I didn’t see in your preamble the mention of 12a which is a goodie. We love words that can play more than one role.

  20. That was terrific and well worth the application required. North came together first. 27a had to be although I have never heard of the abbreviation which is included. 23a amused on my seeking outside help. TVM Dada and Senf.

  21. I agree with Senf on this puzzle today. I thought this was not as friendly as of late. Definitely trickier with personal thesaurus at hand as well a few quirks thrown in too this week.

    2.5*/3.5*

    Favourites 17a, 19a, 23a, 18d & 19d — with winner 23a
    Smiles for 23a, 2d, 3d & 19d

    Thanks to Dada & Senf

  22. I thought 19d was a straightforward homonym (nothing to do with mathematics). I’m not all that familiar with UK regional accents however.

    1. More of a double definition where the second ‘half’ is a definition by example (say) but not a very good one because of the need for pluralisation.

      1. I still think the answer is a homonym of a pluralized word which is a synonym of the second half of the clue.

  23. It was announced in church today that a couple were celebrating their 68th wedding anniversary. I then come here and read that Daisygirl is doing the same. Very many congratulations!
    As to the puzzle, I got there eventually with some e-help. Thanks to Dada and to Senf for helping me to parse 8d, and I remain a bit befuddled over fuddy-duddies, but overall I enjoyed the solve.

  24. Difficult but doable. Needed the hint to parse 1d and solved 19d with the mathematical solution, but was the one we were least keen on. Favourite was 26a. Thanks to Dada and Senf, also congratulations to Daisy and George.

  25. I think that this was tougher than the toughie today. I won’t add to the (redacted) debate about 19d but safe to say it was un-ticked by me.
    I did like the hands down favourite 26a too

    Thanks to Dada and Senf

  26. Enjoyable after thinking it would be tricky to start with, 2*/4*. Going for the silly bark at 23a for favourite
    Thanks to Dada and Senf
    Also good quickie pun

  27. Great guzzle, loved it although it took a bit of getting in to. Pity I didn’t read the comments about 19d before they were redacted. COTD the children’s game. Thanks to all.

  28. It took me a goodwhile to get into today’s puzzle and I needed far too much help. Though realised I was on the right track in the end! COTD 26a. Many thanks to Dada and Senf.

  29. Really enjoyed this with 11a as my favourite because of its neatness! Thank you Dada and Senf

  30. After a speedy completion yesterday, this was a big step up, but very clever. Liked 22a when I finally worked it out, and 2d I got quickly (which helped) but liked the clue. Thanks all

  31. I have a bit of a sore head! Many thanks to my “lock-down family” for your congratulations. It is astounding how the years have flown by. I have just finished the guzzle, all fell into place nicely although I do not understand my answer to 19d, no idea where millions come into it / if it is mathematical please do not try to explain it, my poor little brain has had enough for one day. Many thanks to Messrs Settter & Senf, I could have done with the red scarf today – it has been jolly chilly.

    1. I hope you have had a Grand day (multiplied by another Grand day for George)

  32. After a busy weekend I finally got to this and needed np help from Senf to complete it as I found it on the tricky side. That said I am very tired and probably gave up rather too quickly as it all makes sense now.

    Many thanks to Dada and to Senf for the hints.

  33. I am writing this on the Sunday after this crossword, as I don’t try to do any one crossword on the day it comes out.

    I didn’t find it taxing, even if, timewise, it may have had me on it a while. Lots of clever cluing and I had never heard of 1A before (I am a fan of classical music, but not a player of a musical instrument)

    I absolutely loved the comments section about 19D and all the redaction that went with it ! I laughed and laughed ! I reread that a few times too 😃🤣 . However, 19D is the one clue that I had ringed as not working; I am a mathematician and, whilst using ‘four’ or ’16’ (or even ‘169’) is quite OK to get to said anwer (then pluralising) millionS does not fill the bill.

    If we say that millions should run as far as 999,000,000 before billion takes over (that the US way of dealing with it; I’m not sure they have anyone who has 1,000,000,000,000 US$, that number being the original, UK billion) then millionS is only true for 1,4,9,16,… up to 961 million if it is to generate the required crossword answer that means that the vast majority of millions 2,3;5,6,7,8;,10 etc are NOT suitable for the answer (and they outweigh the candidates that fit by 31 : 1 – I’m sure many of you remember ratios)

    The point really is that, when the singular of the answer is required, many people will recognise what is needed if we start from 4 or 16 or something small; by the time we get to million – singular – that’s a harder step and it’s made worse / wrong by pluralisation.

    I did spot the required answer less than half way through my solve – but it was the last word I wrote in.

    My thanks to – the setter – Senf (good cluing as ever, thank you) – Manders – Jezza – tomdisappointingsturges65 (I’m guessing you weren’t christened with that name 😉) – Rossophile – Arthur Dent – and JF … you guys had me in stitches ! 😂

    (by the way, is ‘glue’ now being used for a clue someone is stuck on ? New to me if so but quite funny !)

    1. The origin of “guzzle” for ” puzzle” is explained in FAQ #34. The use of “glue” for “clue” is some wags’ extension of the concept which also appears to have taken hold.

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