ST 3337 (Hints) – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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ST 3337 (Hints)

by Senf  

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3337 (Hints)

Hints and tips by Senf

A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg where I have enjoyed a week of R and R in unseasonably warm Autumn weather.

For me, and I stress for me,© Dada not as friendly as he has been – one long ‘un, 8 anagrams (6 partials), 1 lurker, and 1 (partial) homophone all in an asymmetric 29 clues; with 15 hints ‘sprinkled’ throughout the grid, you should/might 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 – 14a, 19a, 24a, 1d, 3d, and 20d.

As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, a number of the what I very subjectively perceive to be 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

8a Talk about small herb (7)
A (French based) synonym of talk containing (about) the single letter for Small.

10a Roll filled with a chicken from the oven, say (7)
A type of (inedible) roll containing (filled with) A from the clue.

14a Football team attacking reserves (7)
A double definition – the first, as I recall, is the North London team that Big Dave was not a fan of!

17a Prediction of the war creates wound (7,8)
An anagram (wound) of OF THE WAR CREATES.

24a Finished, something for breakfast … (5)
A double definition – what is something for breakfast can be a slang synonym of finished.

27a State in a doubly awful housing development, originally (7)
An anagram (awful) of IN A IN A (doubly) containing (housing) the first letter (originally) of Development.

28a Jazz great playing, yours truly’s inspired (7)
An anagram (playing) of GREAT containing (inspired) the first person objective pronoun equivalent to yours truly.

Down

1d Note tears arising in wind (6)
The reversal (arising) of all of the sixth note in the solfège musical scale and a synonym of tears (into pieces).

3d Singer: understand her completely (10)
A singer in terms of a male ‘voice’, a three letter synonym of understand, and HER from the clue.

5d Bar where storyteller turned up (4)
The reversal (turned up) of a storyteller who is very uneconomical with the truth.

7d Allowed to support steel band (8)
A three letter synonym of allowed placed after (to support) a synonym of steel (as in prepare for a blow to the body?)

15d Revealing picture finished (3-7)
A three letter synonym of picture and a synonym of finished.

17d Weaken soil breaking land (4,4)
A synonym of soil inserted into (breaking) a verbal synonym of land.

22d Result when computer program grasped by chicken (6)
The abbreviated name of a computer program that we install on our mobile phones contained (grasped) by a (female) chicken.

25d Transport exhibition set up (4)
The reversal (set up) of a type of exhibition?? :scratch:

Quick Crossword Pun:

BOW + TEAM + MURK + BOAT RACE = BOATY MCBOATFACE – the winning name from on-line voting for the research vessel, which actually became named RRS Sir David Attenborough, which was then allocated to an autonomous underwater vehicle carried on the research vessel.

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As well as enjoying success in the 1970s and 1980s in bands, including Slik, Thin Lizzy, Rich Kids, and Visage, and being involved in Band Aid and Live Aid, Scottish singer-songwriter and record producer James “Midge” Ure OBE had one number one as a solo performer which reached that position for one week on this day in 1985, here it is:

47 comments on “ST 3337 (Hints)”

  1. Dada being a bit tricksy today, I thought. After the first pass I had only three solved so thought it was going to be a DNF but checkers came to the rescue. However, I struggled with it and that muted the enjoyment somewhat. Some of the parsing eluded me so I hope the hints include those but, if not, I will have to await the review. I did like the revealing picture at 15d and that becomes my COTD.

    I could make nothing of the Quickie pun.

    Thank you, Dada for making my brain work. Thank you, Colonel for the hints and I hoped you enjoyed your week of R & R. The Midge Ure track always grates on me because it should be “If I were”. 😊

    A beautiful, sunny day in The Marches with storm Amy giving a few final gusts.

    2. This thread reminded me of one of my favourite songs – complete with correct grammar! A great singer who wisely changed his name from Walden Cassotto and died far too young.

      2. Fabulous!

        “If I We’re a Rich Man” from Fiddler on the Roof also uses the correct grammar.

  2. I found this tricky but got there in the end. Still unsure about 25d exhibition but I’ve got the same as Senf so I’ll ponder on it a bit more

    Top picks for me were 17a, 24a, 3d and 17d.

    Thanks to Senf and Dada.

  3. As has been said this Dada SPP was rather tricky and hard to get into, until I got a start at the bottom. I liked the long anagram at 17a, the homophone clue at 16d and the geographical Lego clue at 19a. Thanks to Senf for the hints and to our Sunday compiler

      1. Welcome back! Your comment went into moderation because you used a different name and e-mail compared to those used some time ago.

        Lego refers to assembling elements of the answer as is done with Lego ‘bricks’, etc. One element of the answer is a synonym of halls (at least it was in Ancient Rome).

  4. 3*/3*. Parts of this were trickier than usual on a Sunday, but it all came together in the end.

    My only hmm is for the definition for 25d. I strongly suspect this may be an American meaning. It’s not in the BRB and it’s not British.

    15d was my favourite.

    Many thanks to Dada and to Senf.

  5. How about a system for hinter and commenters, of maybe
    1-10 for difficulty and, to be original
    1-10 for entertainment value
    though, as I have posted before, I find it more of a brain exercise chore to be completed every day than entertainment…

    1. Hi AL

      Forgive me if I’m missing what you’re saying but the scoring system is like a 1 to 10 as many people use 0.5 increments.

      1. Many people don’t give numbers, they just say it was easy or hard or great fun…

      2. And I’m particularly interested in people’s entertainment scores as I’d give them all one or occasionally two out of ten….

  6. Pleasant puzzle from Dada – thanks to him and Senf.
    Both 13a and 16d seem familiar – I think we’ve had both recently.
    Like others I have a question mark on 25d – it can’t be much else given the checkers but the ‘exhibition’ seems wrong.
    I liked the 24/26a pair, 17d and the groanworthy Quickie Pun.

  7. Thanks to the Setter and Senf. Took a while but we got there in the end. LOI 3d. COTD 11a. As should be for a Sunday the most difficult puzzle of the week. Very satisfying to solve without recourse to hints. Wind still gusting strongly here!

  8. Typical Sunday fare from Radio that didn’t challenge the grey dooberries that much.

    My podium is 1a, 3d (nicely done) and 15d.

    MT to the aforementioned and the Manitoban mountie (welcome back!)

    2*/3*

  9. This puzzle flew in , last one 25 ? Thoroughly enjoyed this both 17S , 24 and 25 picks of the day . Thanks to all .

  10. For me, and I stress for me (© Senf), I find myself in agreement with earlier commenters who describe this one as ‘tricky’. However, finding myself is increasingly an everyday situation that I face.
    I often think, ‘Who am I?’… ‘Why am I here?’ and then I remember I am in the kitchen to prepare my gruel and orange juice with no bits in it.
    One day, I fear, I will find myself, half dressed, in a supermarket, asking shoppers, ‘Who am I?’

    A blustery day yesterday, at Stamford Bridge, to watch The MIghty Blues overcome some bunch of lads from ‘up north’.
    For me, and I stress for me (© Senf), anywhere beyond Maidenhead is ‘up north’.

    Thanks to Da-doo-ron-ron and lolling about in Winnipeg, The Man From Manitoba

    1. I loved this bit of existential banter Terence . Definitely a me too for me , except I don’t have the orange juice. Made me smile thanks.

    2. For me, every day for more years than I care to remember, an orange as it came off the tree, ‘unwrapped’, and then eaten.

  11. That came as something of a wake-up call and took a bit of thought to complete – not surprised that our reviewer needed a few days of R&R to prepare for it! I did have a couple of hmms in the shape of 25d as others have mentioned and 10a which I felt should be ‘for the oven’ rather than ‘from the oven’ but there were also some goodies to be found. My personal tick list comprised 26a plus 3,15&16d.

    Thanks to Dada and also to Senf for the hints – don’t think Midge Ure ever featured on my ‘play list’.

  12. For me, Dada being a little trickier than of late, but all clues fair – just needed a bit more of the ever diminishing grey matter!

    Thanks to him and Senf

  13. Some of the synonyms a bit obscure for me. 7d, 17d, 10a
    I liked the clever anagram 17a, but “wound” as an indicator… :wacko: I’d have suggested stormy , being connected to the solution, could raise a smile
    Thanks all for your combined work on this great blog.

  14. I found Dada quite friendly today and softly, softly catchee monkey with a bit of a delay in SW. I don’t however really think of 12a as pinkish, not sure about 19a component for halls or 25d set up as “exhibition” . Fav was 25d. I’m being thick but 23d remains a bung-in. Thank you Dada and Senf.

  15. Well, once again this week a trickier Dada puzzle at about the middle of his spectrum, I would say. A touch quirky in places and a couple of clues from his personal thesaurus too.

    2*/4*

    Favourites 12a, 17a, 26a, 3d, 7d & 22d — with winner 17a

    Thanks to Dada & Senf-and glad to hear your R&R was good for you.

  16. Decidedly tricky and took a couple of stabs at it to get to a completion. I stared at 5d/ 12a for ages before the light dawned. Still not sure I understand 15d. 16d made me smile, so is my cotd. Thanks to Dada and Senf.

  17. Can’t say I’d rank this one up with the best of recent Sunday prize puzzles. A brisk enough solve & for me at least way easier the Quick puzzle (nice try with the pun but it’s an F not an R), which I lost patience with & revealed a letter to complete the tarot card Major. 17d my pick here with podium spots for 24&26a.
    Thanks to D & welcome back S.
    Ps COTD was the picnicking toy at 19a in the Quickie as it brought back fond memories of an old golfing chum who used to sing all the verses while striding down the fairways to his invariably well struck ball

    1. In the pun, there could be a smidgen of ‘double duty’ with some Cockney rhyming slang at the end :wink:

  18. I’m in the camp that found Dada to be quite friendly today. Once I started it fell into place quite nicely. Thanks so much to Dada and Senf.

  19. This took me a while as I was watching the rugby on tv at the same time as trying to solve the puzzle. Multi-tasking is clearly not one of my many attributes. All done though, with 15d my favourite.

    Thanks to Dada and Senf.

  20. We’re in the decidedly quirky/tricky camp this afternoon and a couple were bung ins so not the most satisfying solve. Favourite was 11a. Thanks to Dada anyway and Senf.

  21. 2* / 4* Found this similar to yesterday’s and I really enjoyed that one. Lots of top clues to choose from, but my top three all in the SW are 17d weaken, 27a state and the country at 19a (which took way too long to see considering I’ve been there 3 times in the last 3 years!)
    Thanks to setter and Senf

  22. And there I was looking forward to a Dada today, after failing abysmally since Wednesday. Hard to believe this is a Dada, or perhaps it is a throwback to his early days when I really couldn’t get far with his puzzles. Would never class 12a as pinkish, and still can’t parse 19a. Thanks to Dada for the workout and to Senf for the much needed hints. I’m off to try Chalicea’s NTSPP.

  23. I found this tricky but enjoyable with lots to like.

    Many thanks to Dada and to Senf for the hints.

  24. 15D my favourite today … and I too had reservations about 12A and 25D. VMT Dada & Senf.

  25. Hmmm…not my favourite today from Mr D 😕. Some great clues as usual but a couple that kinda grated…19A & 20D held up the SW and 10A, 12A & 21A all get a ‘Meh’ 😏 from me.
    Anyway, it was a fair(ish) challenge – many thanks as ever, and also to Senf for his usual excellent blog ‘n hints…Midge Ure…brilliant!👍

  26. Has anyone had the error message something like “string format not expected” when submitting solved puzzle via the app?

    Thanks in anticipation

    1. Yes, a number of us are getting it. Madflower has informed DT and is going to let us know if a response is forthcoming.

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