Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3371 (Hints)
Hints and tips by Senf
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A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg where last week’s 7 day weather forecast proved to be correct – imagine that! Ponder this, at midnight tonight, just before Flaming June starts, 2026 will be 41.4% complete! Apart from solving crossword puzzles, have you used your time wisely?
For me, and I stress for me,© at last, Dada quite friendly! One long ‘un, seven anagrams (two partials) with some creative indicators (TDS will like those), two lurkers, and one homophone, all in an asymmetric 29 clues; I can’t provide 14½ hints so I am being generous and giving you 15 hints ‘sprinkled’ throughout the grid which means 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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Candidates for favourite – 25a, 28a, 2d, 3d, 4d, 5d, 14d, 20d, and an HM for The Pun.
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 Sign dry drink tipped over (6)
The reversal (tipped over) of all of a synonym of dry (used by oenophiles) and a verbal synonym of drink (a small amount).
5a Wet blanket for Arctic swimmer? (4,4)
There should probably be more than one ? at the end of this clue! A term equivalent to wet blanket when applied to a person can also describe an Arctic swimmer (as an exclusively aquatic animal).
15a Cook’s stuff lost on weaver (8)
An anagram (lost) of ON WEAVER.
19a Places in lounge discussed? (4)
The homophone (discussed) of a verbal synonym of lounge.
21a Contribution from Gaia, the nature goddess (6)
Indeed, Gaia is a goddess but she is not the one we are looking for; a lurker (contribution from) found in three words in the clue.
23a Contagion, great film, half claimed (8)
Indeed Contagion was a film (2011) but I have no idea if it was great; what we are looking for is a synonym of half, usually used as a prefix, contained (claimed) by a single word used to describe a great film.
25a War god is brave, though no leader (4)
A single word equivalent to is brave with the first letter deleted (though no leader).
28a Miniature dish, it’s sad to see (6)
A (Scottish) synonym of miniature and a type of dish (as a food item) that can, for example, contain meat or fruit.
Down
2d I buy and sell just the way I want (5)
Written (1,4) a phrase equivalent to I buy and sell.
3d Descend from there, dear Lord! (4,3,2)
An instruction to descend from there which can be used as an informal interjection equivalent to the definition.
5d Character scratching head after a ticking off – me, say? (9,6)
A synonym for a character (in the alphabet) with the first letter deleted (scratching head)placed after a (5,5) phrase equivalent to a ticking off. And, it’s not me, but it could be the illustrated him!
8d Bitterly sliced through by the wind (9)
A synonym of bitterly containing (sliced through by) THE from the clue.
14d Remove from power with open question about king (9)
A synonym of open and a three letter adverbial question containing (about) the single Latin based letter for king.
20d Pieced together puzzle understood, some steps taken to start it (6)
A synonym of understood preceded by (to start it) some steps taken (to lively music).
24d Asian artist on question one after opening of investigation (5)
All of the abbreviated form of an honorific for an accomplished artist placed before (on) the single letter for Question and the Roman numeral for one placed after the first letter (opening) of Investigation.
Quick Crossword Pun:
MYRRH + FIZZ + SLAW = MURPHY’S LAW
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Something different this week. Canadian born*, English actress Lynda Bellingham was born on this day in 1948. As well as numerous film and TV roles and appearances, she was well known as the matriarch of TV’s Oxo Family promoting the eponymous cube in commercials:
* She was born Meredith Hughes in Montréal to a single mother, but was given up for adoption because she was born out of wedlock in a strict church-going family. She was adopted when she was four months old by an English couple, Donald and Ruth Bellingham, who renamed her Lynda.
Good Sunday morning puzzle, a little anagram-heavy for me, but lots of cracking surfaces and smooth constructions. Honours to 21a, 3d and 8d, with 5d coming up fast on the inside rail.
Many thanks to Senf and presumably Dada, but whomsoever else if not he.
Lynda B, what a lovely lady she was, and what a voice.
I found this easier than last week’s puzzle but it was still chewy. Felt like there were a lot of anagrams but that may have been due to the order I tackled it.
I got 5d but don’t know who the gentleman in the hint illustration is.
Top picks for me were 5d, 8d, 22d, 7d and 28a.
Liked the Quickie pun too.
Thanks to Senf and Dada.
The picture is of John Halpern, aka Dada
Thanks Sue. It’s good to put a face to a name.
Another Dada dnf unaided for me. Thought it might be otherwise as I zipped through much of the puzzle but then hit a brick wall and resorted to the hints to finish. The odd silly spelling error didn’t help either. I liked the wet blanket at 5a but cotd is a toss up between 9a and 16d, with the latter getting the nod. Thanks to Dada and Senf for the hints.
I have struggled over the past few weeks with the Sunday PP and was relieved to fine today’s offering a little gentler. The half a dozen anagrams, the lurker and the long 5d certainly helped to get things underway.
My COTD is 13a which took a few minutes to understand (I’ll say no more).
The two big questions now are whether the weather will behave and should I set off for Edgbaston? Struggling Warwickshire P3 L3 v Northants P3 W3.
My thanks to the setter and Senf for the hints.
I thought this was an absolute classic puzzle. The NW absolutely refused to yield any ground at all and then at the end surrendered with a huge clang of baht drop moments that caused bruises as I kicked myself over my lack of insight. Although I had solved 8D my poor spelling caused an unnecessary delay with 15A. I thought the only slightly weak clue was 22D with all the others worthy of COTD but I don’t think I will be in a minority when I nominate 5D for that honour.
Thai corner. Signs in English.
I am constantly amazed by how major businesses will spend a considerable amount of money to produce a banner or even a permanent shop front without checking the correct spelling. This means that every day I drive past a , ‘’Stationely Store’’, on the main road. Due to the Thai system of translating English words phonetically I am offered grilled chicken with, ‘’friends fried’’, at the local university campus refectory, which also boasts, Vietnamese style fried rice with Vietnamese machines. The latter because the Thai word for ingredients and machine are the same.
I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle, which needed some head-scratching, but never ground to a halt. Very nearly botched it when I bunged in 26a without parsing the clue carefully – there’s another word that fits the crossers and definition nicely. Surely the gods will reward me for double checking by sending the Mythical Instrument my way! ***/*****