Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3368 (Hints)
Hints and tips by Senf
A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg where today is a Hallmark Holiday, which originated to the South of us, to honour Mothers.
For me, and I stress for me,© unless I was having a very bad day, Dada still very quirky – seven anagrams (three partials), no lurkers, and no homophones, all in a symmetric 28 clues; with 14 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!
Remember that Reading the Hints before commenting can be beneficial!
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 – 12a, 21a, 24a, 6d, 7d, 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.
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 Prisoner inspired by state of belonging, finally (2,10)
A three letter abbreviated synonym of prisoner contained (inspired) by a single word term equivalent to state of belonging.
9a Innocent, perhaps, plea initially working before argument (7)
A definition by example (perhaps). The first letter (initially) of Plea and our favourite two letter synonym of working all placed before a synonym of argument.
12a Banana skin with fat bananas in something bitter to swallow? (7)
An anagram (bananas, oh dear three letters) of fat inserted into (in) something that might be bitter to swallow.
16a Drive past car in unconscious state (9)
A synonym of drive placed after (past) an abbreviated synonym of car.
21a Steal, and sound emotionless (7)
A synonym of steal and a (weak) synonym of sound.
24a How bag stuffed with present (7)
A verbal synonym of bag containing (stuffed with) a synonym of present (at an event?).
26a Insincere feeling within the Cabinet? (8,4)
A feeling or emotion which could be within a type of cabinet (ignore the upper case C, it’s not the one in 10 Downing Street).
Down
1d Prehistoric period over, about which I seethe (4,3)
I from the clue and a synonym of seethe containing (about) a two letter synonym of over.
4d Enjoy young animal from California? (3,2)
Written (2,3) a term for young animal from the abbreviated form of a city in California.
7d How to catch river’s salmon for bird (5,7)
How from the clue contains (to catch) all of a river (of which there are four so named in England) including the possessive S and a term for a (young) salmon.
10d Denial of talent brought home to farm animals, performing fleas way ahead! (5,7)
All of an anagram (performing) of FLEAS and a synonym of way placed before (ahead) of a three letter home to (some) farm animals.
15d Bore accompanying rose (9)
In the BRB there are three listings with ‘bore’ as a headword. A synonym of accompanying and a synonym of rose (not a flower).
17d Scene where Greek character keeps fit (7)
The 19th letter of the Greek alphabet contains (keeps) an adjectival synonym of fit.
22d Country of New Guinea first of all leading a dance (5)
The initial letters (first of all) of four words in the clue placed before (leading) A from the clue.
Quick Crossword Pun:
HALVE + VEST + FESTIVE + FALLS = HARVEST FESTIVALS
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Does anyone have any memory of this, fortunately I don’t? Austrian musician Johann “Hans” Hölzel, better known by his stage name Falco, had one successful single, Rock Me Amadeus, which reached number one for one week on this day in 1986:
I found this decidedly tricky but the PDMs when parsing were well worth the brain mangling.
I’ve got ticks aplenty on my page and so it’s not easy to pick a few clues but I’ll plump for 1a, 7d, 10d, 20d, 18d and my LOI 23a.
I do remember Falco with that track and liked it. Not heard it for ages so will play it now.
Thanks to Senf and Dada.
This was an interesting challenge. I sailed through most of it but ground to a halt in Devon and Cornwall.
26a took me forever as the expression isn’t that familiar to me and I cant work out the synonym of steal. Can anyone give me an example without a trip to the naughty step? The parsing of 18d took me an age to work out and I’d forgotten the newspaper in 6d.
I like the term for ‘beloved’ though I know many here hate it (consecutive clues having ‘stuff’ and ‘stuffed’ was unfortunate).
My podium is 1a, 16a and 26a.
MTT Radio and Senf.
4*/4*
21a – look at the first three letters of the answer, Tom.
I’m doing better with the Toughie by Beam than today’s Dada, I’m afraid.
Ah! Thank you, SC. I was nowhere near that one.
This was definitely a testing puzzle.
I forgot to say that I didn’t know that 8a and the similar sounding one were different animals.
My flora and fauna knowledge is an absolute disgrace.
TDS – I was going to offer you a hint to the parsing of 21a in exchange for one for 18d, but I see SC was there before me (as ever!)
Good morning from Sorrento!
Found this trickier than the usual Sunday offering and enjoyed it probably for that very reason.
Once unravelled it was both very clever and witty.
I had a lot of trouble parsing 17d until I realised “fit” was letters 2-5 not 3-6 and then it totally made sense.
COTD was 9a closely followed by 10d and 14a
3*/3*. Another relatively tough Sunday PP this week which was good fun.
I’m not entirely sure about the synonym of “drive” needed in 16a but I suppose it’s close enough. However I’m less convinced by the synonym of “sound” needed in 21a.
My favourite is a toss-up between 1a & 26a.
Many thanks to Dada and to Senf.
It took some time to convince myself of the synonym for sound in 21a but I did find it in an on-line thesaurus that I use quite often with a ‘classification’ of ‘weak’ which is why I used that term in the hint.
I got there in the end but it was not an untroubled journey. Like others, I found it far tougher than normal but it is a prize puzzle after all. The innocent in 9a threw me completely as did the beloved stuff at 23a. No favourites today, just happy to get it done.
Thank you, Dada for a thorough bamboozling of the grey matter. Thank you, Colonel for the much needed hints.
As I said above, the Toughie by Beam is worth a look if you rarely venture into the territory.
For me, and I stress for me (© Senf), this was H-A-R-D.
Young people! New guzzlers! I’ve noticed some posts bordering on despair about how you may be lagging way behind the super-fast guzzle solvers here. Join me on the bench marked ‘Slow And Often Needs Help’.
For about five years I was a lurker here as I felt I couldn’t match the skills of people talking about ‘ninas’ and ‘lights’ and all the jargon. Then I posted a bit and the vast majority of guzzlers have been very kind (only the occaisonal ‘smart alec’).
Ten years after that, I still need loads of help. Without Senf today, I would have been staring at a big ‘Did Not Finish’.
Keep going and enjoy the crossword even if you need help with the majority of clues. It’s still great fun and one does improve over time (well everyone except me!). Most importantly don’t be put off by some guzzlers posting that they finished the whole thing in the blink of an eye. Join me on the bench mentioned above.
Thanks to Da-doo-ron-ron and The Man From Manitoba (Gosh! I needed your help today!)
Well said, Terence. 👍
Well said indeed; not bad for a supporter of the second best team in SW6.
I well remember occasions, while I was serving our beloved former HM, when ‘attempting’ to solve the DT crossword was a committee activity over tea and toast in the late afternoon. I, and I am sure other members of the committee, did not have a full appreciation of the nuances of the different types of clue. That only came after I discovered the blog some fourteen years ago (and only lurked for a few weeks).
Well said from me too. Thank you Terence. Thank you too Mr Setter for today’s challenge, and Senf for sorting me out!
I had hoped 16d was ‘After Eight’.
Still, thoroughly enjoyed the crossword.
Thanks to all.
18d
Dada’s in his more challenging mode today but pretty entertaining – thanks to him and Senf.
Like others I’m not totally convinced by the synonym for sound in 21a.
I liked 1a, 9a, 26a and 18d.
Well, I found this very difficult. It’s not the first time that I and this particular setter have not seen eye to eye but I’ll keep trying and might eventually get there. Having found an answer to each clue I’ll spend time later this week trying to parse them…I suspect the adventure is in its infancy!
My journey with the DT Crossword started about 60 years ago, in my first job after college. The DT Thursday edition was the place for the ambitious newly qualified to look for their next position. A regular DT crossword solver gave us lunchtime introductions to the cryptic crossword. Various residences in foreign climes separated the DT and I for long periods, retirement bought new pastimes and it’s only over the past 12 months that I have again become a regular reader. At first I found it hard going, failing to finish more often than not. Copies of The Chambers Crossword Solver and The Chambers Crossword Dictionary arrived as welcome presents and I started to improve. The real difference though came when I discovered this blog…The explanation of how to understand clues came from reading the hints and tips, it was a real game changer.
I am very grateful, not only to the daily tipsters but also those who comment and share their experiences.
Thank you to today’s setter and Senf for the invaluable assistance.
I ran my first ultra marathon yesterday, 50km in the South Downs, to Brighton, on a very sunny day.
A light solve on this post-run relaxing Sunday, though I haven’t quite parsed 6D and 18D. In 6D, does newspaper get the final letter?
Pody picks – 26D’s enjoyable new term, 7D’s bird and 16A.
Thanks to Dada and Senf ⭐️
Yes, newspaper does get the final letter of 6d. A single letter abbreviation of a word which is also the name of a newspaper that began its ‘life’ on paper in 1986 and then became on-line only in 2016.
Well done on the run.
Oh! I forgot that paper … mentally noted for the future, thank you.
Well done, Simon! A well deserved ice cream. 😊👍
Thanks Steve, a complimentary Mr Whippy thrown in for paying to run 🙂
Not just me then. I got through threequarters of this with some difficulty, but the SW took me a relative age to complete. 9a was my favourite.
Thanks to Dada for the stiff challenge and to Senf.
Tricky, especially in the south but found this far more enjoyable than yesterdays. Perhaps it has something to do with the weather being so awful today that I was glad of the extra time it took to solve before going out. Whereas yesterday was blazing hot and I think I must have begrudged the additional time taken.
Anyway thanks to the setter and Senf for the review and to all fellow bloggers for their views.
Thanks to Terence for his comforting words . I need help most days and I am so grateful for all the hints that you give . It really makes my day when I can finish the puzzle. Thanks to all. 😃
Well, from my point of view with this Dada puzzle, he is at his most unfriendly this week. Lots of quirkiness and personal thesaurus use all over the grid.
3.5*/3* for me
Favourites 16a, 25a, 26a,2d, 4d & 10d — with winner 2d
Several made me smile like 9a, 23a, 25a & 4d
Thanks to Dada for the brain mangling & to Senf for his blog
I enjoyed this puzzle immensely. 1a was a great opener and helped to get the ball rolling. All went well until 24, 25 and especially 26 across left me stumped. I had to put it down and return to it many hours later. 26a is a new term for me.
Nevertheless, a great puzzle with ticks a plenty. 9, 11 and 25 across are my top picks.