Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3367 (Hints)
Hints and tips by Senf
A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg where, even though we are now in May, Spring continues to be decidedly cool, in temperature terms that is.
Meanwhile, courtesy of the Winnipeg Library, I have become the temporary owner of Iona Whishaw’s A False and Fatal Claim, her thirteenth novel, not counting the novella prequel, describing the ‘escapades’ of her heroine, former SOE operative Lane Winslow, and long-suffering husband, Police Inspector Frederick Darling, in the town of Nelson, and its environs, in the interior of British Columbia in the late 1940s. Highly recommended!
For me, and I stress for me,© Dada back to (very) quirky – seven anagrams (one partial), one lurker (reversed), and one homophone, all in a symmetric 32 clues; with 16 hints ‘sprinkled’ throughout the grid you should/might be able to get some of the checkers to enable the solving of the unhinted clues. I hope you have your Crimson Tomes at hand!
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If it is some time since you read, or if you have never read the instructions in RED below the hints then please consider doing so before commenting today as my electronic blue pencil is at the ready and the Naughty Step is OPEN!
Candidates for favourite – 11a, 15a, 27a, 2d, 3d, 4d, and 8d.
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.
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 Haul over the coals, and develop a liking for job? (4,2,4)
A double definition to start – the first is to criticize for something done wrong.
10a Equestrian author mentioned by American? (5)
A homophone(?) (mentioned by American) of how said American might pronounce a synonym of author.
11a Substitute certain to miss end, or back in front of crowd (9)
A synonym of certain with the last letter deleted (to miss end), OR from the clue reversed (back), placed before (in front of) a synonym of crowd (at a sports fixture?).
12a Fuel pipe on drive, as fills up (8)
AS from the clue inserted into (fills up) a four letter synonym of pipe placed after (on) a two letter synonym of drive – a ‘bung in’ until a PDM on parsing after a flash of inspiration during a visit to the smallest room in the house in the middle of the night.
21a Side in future needing wingers from Arsenal (7)
A single word equivalent to in (the) future followed by (needing) the outer letters of (wingers from) ArsenaL.
24a Conservative outfit has changed this time (8)
A synonym of outfit followed by an anagram (has changed) of THIS and the single letter for Time.
27a Gives up, cutting back financially (4-5)
A term for gives up (a recreational pharmaceutical habit?) and a synonym of cutting.
30a City loos requiring permit, though desperate? (10)
An anagram (though desperate) of LOOS and (requiring) PERMIT.
Down
1d Fictional plantation, I bid you farewell (2-2)
A fictional plantation in a 1930s novel and film rewritten (2-2) for a dialectal farewell (often used by the illustrated person?).
5d Traitor present, appearing sneaky? (7)
An anagram (appearing sneaky) of PRESENT.
7d Just like second mission (5)
A (1,2) term for just like borrowed from across the Channel and a two letter synonym of second (as a brief amount of time).
9d Burn match, special quality (4,4)
Synonyms of burn and match – all verified in The Crimson Tome and its companion Thesaurus.
18d One side of Nottingham, everyone in bar (9)
One of the round ball teams (side) of Nottingham and a synonym of everyone.
21d Jerk when lid removed, easier to pick up (7)
A nounal synonym of jerk (as a person) with the first letter deleted (when lid removed).
23d Number from abroad in pursuit of unknown boat (5)
A (cardinal) number from a European country (abroad) placed after (in pursuit of) one of the letters used for an (algebraic) unknown.
26d Extra money, given loss of capital, duty (4)
A term for extra money (as a result of good individual or corporate performance?) with the first letter removed (given loss of capital).
Quick Crossword Pun:
CHEER + WAH-WAH = CHIHUAHUA
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Singer Arnold George Dorsey, MBE, better known as Engelbert Humperdinck, a name ‘borrowed’ from a deceased German composer, should be celebrating his 90th birthday today. One of his best known recordings is Release Me which reached Number One for 6 weeks in March and April 1967 and was, according to Wikipedia, the best selling single of that year. I have a vague recollection that some of the ladies used to swoon over this, I wonder if they still would:
An enjoyable puzzle with, for me, the right amount of chewiness for a prize puzzle.
Lots to like and I’ve ticks everywhere on my print out.
Top picks are 27a, 15a, 4d, 9d and 2d.
Thanks to Senf and the setter.
3*/2.5*. I found parts of this quite chewy but overall I enjoyed the solve.
12a is an Americanism, and I am not at all convinced by “appearing sneaky” as an anagram indicator in 5d.
My top picks were 1a, 13a, 27a & 4d.
Thanks to Dada and to Senf.
A couple if chewy clues made for a bit of a tussle this morning, 9d and 27a to be precise. The latter because I failed to correctly fully identify the definition. Other than that, good fun all round. Liked the Redford/Newman film, the traitor and Mission but cotd goes to 22a. Thanks to Dada and Senf.
Plenty to think about this morning. Like Prawn I thought 9d and 27a required thought, two unrelated synonyms coming together was OK but the parsing needed pennies to drop.
It seems to me that anagram indicators are becoming increasingly vague and I now rank them alongside lurkers as the fall back when all else fails.
Overall an enjoyable solve with COTD 11a.
Thanks to the setter and Senf
This took a bit of work and was therefore satisfying to complete with my LOI being 9d that was tres difficile.
‘Remains’ foxed me for a while but I liked it when I eventually worked it out.
I’m okay with desperate as an anagram indicator but sneaky isn’t working for me (is it really that bad if we abbreviate it to AI as we all know it doesn’t mean Artificial Intelligence in ?)
25d doesn’t work grammatically but I thought 23d was a fine effort as it’s a tough word to pass.
My pody picks are 21a, 27a (very nicely done) with the splendid 4d getting top marks. What a film!
MTT Radio and the Manitoban mountie.
3*/3*
The question mark in brackets is supposed to say ‘crosswords’.
I’m happy to type Americanism to avoid AI being short for American Indicator.
I also think anagrind is a goodie as I’m a fan of portmanteau words.
Can’t we use that?
Basically, I’m trying to do this to not have to write anagram indicator every time as it’s quite long and they appear in nearly every crossword as opposed to an Americanism.
I understand this is a first world problem and I need to get over it but it’s worth a try. Is it Senf or Gazza who hates it with a passion?
Over to the village elders…
I quote the wise words of our founder (item 13 of the Comment etiquette):
Don’t use jargon when explaining how a clue works. Nothing puts off new solvers more than unintelligible gobbledegook. There is no place on this website for dreadful portmanteau words like anagrind and inserticator, or for abbreviations such as cd and dbe. Instead use the full expansions, for example anagram indicator, insertion indicator, cryptic definition and definition by example.
Thanks for that, Gazza.
I wonder why he was so against these terms as, in my eyes, they really aren’t that bad. I find LOI and COTD very useful.
My challenge is to get a term in the FAQs, alongside the other new ones. Now that I’ve said that, I don’t have a chance.
If Gazza hadn’t quoted from the Comment Etiquette, I would have! In general, and in my opinion, portmanteau words indicate laziness and a lack of appreciation for the English language.
Interesting.
I love brunch as it implies that it’s a relaxed meal.Talking of which, for some inexplicable reason. I like chillax.
The one I can’t stand is guestimate.
I think they’re great fun,
Slog is another goodie
Slog? How is that made up? Am I being dim?
A bit of a brainbuyner at rimes, the south-east corner was, for me, the most difficult part of the puzzle. I have finished the puzzle and sent it off but will have to wait for thefull review too,see if my guesses are correct. I thought th double definition at 1a was goodd, the lego clue at 18d was very clever and I enjoyed the anagram at 23a .However, my COTD is little 23d, very cunning.Thanks tocDada for an absorbing guzzle annd to Senf for the hints.
Still can’t get 9d, my last one. Can anyone help without a feline and sack incident?
I take ‘burn’ to mean to have a strong desire for something and the second part as a straightforward synonym for ‘match’; the whole then gives a phrase that shows that someone has a particular strength or ‘quality’.
Ta Harry, I reckon I’ve got the first word, but it’s the match bit that evading me, wonder if it’s match as in game, fire starter, or match like a pair, as in matching socks.
Nothing to do with fire or games; more like meeting up with one’s requiremants, fitting one’s desired appearance, being appropriate etc. Think Paul Whitehouse.
Cheers H, it took me about 10 milliseconds when I read Paul Whitehouse😊
A very enjoyable challenge in no small part due to the fact that I finished it unaided.So many great clues but I will go for 8D as my COTD.
Thai corner today is numbers.
Counting in Thai is relatively regular,with words for one to ten, followed by ten-one ten two for 11 and 12 then two ten one etc for 21 and so on. The only slight difficulty is that the word for one after ten is borrowed from Chinese and the two in twenty is not regular but after that all is regular. The big challenge comes at 10,000 where there is a unique word for it, which means you’re doing maths as well as translating, for 10,000 afterwards. 20,000 is two ten thousands and so on. Then you get to 100,000 and the Thais see fit to give it its own term so the maths and translation continues up to ten one hundred thousands which if my maths is correct is one million. There’s no billion in Thai so it’s plain sailing after that.
There is a Thai system of writing numerals, (which is very rarely used), 99% of the time Arabic numerals are used. Road signs and supermarket price labels are therefore easily understandable. You can however guarantee that when importance of understanding the numeral is critical it will only appear in it’s Thai form, such as the address of a government office or the floor on which a key department you need to visit is located on.
Forgot to say thanks to SENF and the setter.
Thanks for that, Tyke.
Why we call 1,000 a thousand is bonkers.
Million means ‘lots of thousands’ as the suffix ‘ion’ in this context means ‘many’.
They should have stuck with Mill for 1,000.
Don’t feel any pressure to post these every day, btw, even though I love them.
A number of dictionaries agree, Old English from Germanic.
I’m going with the billion, trillion, quadrillion theory.
They should have gone with mill (or mille), bill, trill, quad etc.
An enjoyable puzzle with nothing much to scare the horses – thanks to Dada and Senf.
The clues standing on my podium are 1a, 27a and 4d.
Another great guzzle, just right for a Sunday morning.Some of the clues challenging but after a little thought very gettable and enjoyable eg 9d , 21d, 27a and 25d.Not sure about 5d though . Anyway thanks to all PS 9d could be a bridge term. Favourite 7d .Now to challenge Zandio ?
In response to tipcat , lateral think bridge term ?? Just a thought .
A teasing puzzle which required more than the usual level of Sunday morning brain storming. Having said that I did manage to finish it with 27a and 9d being last in. For 9d I had to check that the expression does mean special quality and then confirm with Chambers that the individual words are indeed synonymatic.
1a and 18d are my top 2.
Many thanks to Dada and Senf
2*/3.5*1
For me, and I stress for me (© Senf), this was a decidedly tricky guzzle. Oh! Don’t get me started on 9d. No. Oh too late. The flippin’ red book may be a great help but who wants to spend the morning with their pince nez scouring some enormous tome. I want to unravel a guzzle by working out the word play, not by visiting the Britsh Library. Sshh, you over there!
A miracle yesterday, in Holmbury St. Mary. We were out for a lovely walk™, and just as we approached the car at the denouement of our stroll, the first drips of rain. As we opened the car doors, the greatest storm since that furious squall that rose on the Sea of Galilee enveloped us. A miracle I tell ye that we were spared!
Thanks to Da-doo-ron-ron and The Man From Manitoba, basking in the Winnipeg spring.
Lucky you. Our local farmers are tearing their hair out at the lack of rain in South Cambridgeshire.
***(*) / ****
The extra star for difficulty is just for 9d, which I would not have got without the Harry/Tipcat discussion above. Thanks to those guys and to Senf for explaining the parsing of several others. Found this pretty head scratching throughout.
Favourites were Gives up in 27a, love clues where you have to change the enumeration to parse and the little ash in 15a, lovely misdirection.
Thanks again to Senf and to Dada
I found this tricky but very enjoyable to complete, several long gaps needed but I finished in the end with 15a my favourite. Several of the multiword ones took a lot of extra thought!
Many thanks to Dada and to Senf for the hints.
I agree with Senf that Dada not quite so friendly this week.
Also, quirky across the grid and his personal thesaurus use is evidently in play too.
2.5*/3.5*
Favourites 1a, 6a, 17a, 30a, 2d & 18d — with winner 1a
Thanks to Dada & Senf
Smooth solving today except for the equestrian clue which I still don’t understand! Thank you Dada and Senf
9d was my last in as I couldn’t really see its relevance (or ‘revelance’ as our dear departed PC Chairman used to say) to special quality though I do play that game. Oh dear, am I nearing the naughty step? Like Crisscross 23d was my absolute favourite, I was not keen on 24a if indeed I have it right. 30a was a neat arrangement- in fact, an all round pleasure. I am halfway through the toughie – it’s always the second half that is toughest!
Many thanks to The Setter and to Senf – will I see you at the Summer Birmingham Bash?