Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3378 (Hints)
Hints and tips by Senf
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A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg where it is now wildfire season to the North and we are beginning to experience poor air quality from drifting smoke which, much to their chagrin, we are ‘sharing’ with our neighbours to the South!.
For me, and I stress for me,© Dada again quirkily friendly with perhaps some lateral thinking required and one very stretched synonym – four long ‘uns, seven anagrams (three partials), one reversed lurker, and one homophone, 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!
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Candidates for favourite – 18a, 20a, 26a, 3d, 7d, 16d, 17d, and 21d.
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 Most original point, one having ditched love earlier (6)
Guess a (cardinal) point (not too difficult, there are only four) preceded by (earlier) oNE from the clue with the letter that represents love in a racquet game score deleted (ditched).
10a Error is made initially after fish caught (8)
All of IS from the clue and the initial letter of Made placed after all of guess a fish (think Dover or Lemon) and the letter for crickety Caught.
15a Rubbish seen under a bag, lower (8,5)
An anagram (rubbish) of SEEN UNDER A BAG.
18a Over my dead body then? (3,2,4,4)
It seems that ‘my’ in the clue is italicized for emphasis – an idiom, that is strictly used as a forceful response or interjection, equivalent, but in some sense opposite, to the one in the clue.
22a Outlet for a giant, bellow rattles round house (8)
An anagram (rattles) of BELLOW containing (round) the two letter abbreviated form of house.
24a Chilli in the cat’s pyjamas? (3,5)
A double definition – the second is a vintage, informal idiom.
27a US university attached to flag (6)
The abbreviated name of a US Ivy League research university and a two letter term equivalent to attached to.
Down
1d Dictator’s drunk a heavenly drink (6)
The homophone (dictator’s) of a slang synonymic phrase equivalent to drunk a.
3d Star Asian banker receiving extra pay? Hear it’s a promising sector (7,8)
A definite case of ignore the punctuation – the star that illuminates our planet on a daily basis and, probably, our favourite Asian banker that enters the Arabian Sea near Karachi containing (receiving) a term for extra, or an increase in, pay, followed by a three letter synonym of hear (in court).
6d Novel taste in wine, ahem, not bad! (3,5,2,5)
A (stretched) synonym of taste inserted into (in) an anagram (bad) of WINE, AHEM NOT for a 19th Century novel.
11d House in Dumfries cleared out, around which terrace’s erected (7)
The reversal (erected) of a synonym of terrace containing (around) all of IN from the clue and DumfrieS with the interior letters removed (cleared out).
16d Type of chant, for example, or one embraced by relative (9)
All of the two letter Latin based abbreviation of for example, OR from the clue, and the Roman numeral for one contained (embraced) by the abbreviated form of an older female relative.
19d King’s daughter embracing a Republican leader once (6)
Old Bill Shakes time – one of the daughters of the King in an eponymous play containing (embracing) A from the clue.
23d Hairstyle pinned up by author, fabulous (4)
The reversed lurker (pinned up by) found in the last two words of the clue.
Quick Crossword Pun:
ASTERN + FILLER = ASTON VILLA
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So, who, like me, remembers the historic Our World television broadcast on June 25, 1967 when four communications satellites, it was only five years after the first communications satellite, Telstar, was launched and Elon Musk wasn’t even a ‘twinkle in his mother’s eye’, were used to link an estimated 400 to 700 million viewers in 14 participating countries? The broadcast included the live debut of The Beatles’ All You Need Is Love which reached number one for three weeks on this day in that year. Here is the video from the live broadcast:
As Senf says, Dada being quirky today with his personal thesaurus in evidence.m I’ve never heard of the phrase at 3d so needed checkers before I could sort it out. The error at 10a is also a new word and, while I will attempt to commit it to memory, I doubt it will remain. I loved the musical garbage at 26a but my COTD is my dead body at 18a.
Thank you, Dada for the Sunday workout. Thank you, Colonel for the hints.
PS As I know now’t about football, the Quickie pun meant nothing to me! 😳
Me too with 3d, also never heard of 10a, still can’t get 19d or 27a, so might try again after shopping and a couple of pints.
There was [redacted –it’s a prize puzzle] and
I had to look it up as well., though it was well clued.
2.5*/3*. A couple of dodgy surfaces aside, this provided an agreeable diversion for a Sunday morning, which I needed after my nerves were torn into shreds watching the England Rugby XV doing their best to throw away the win against Argentina. Thank you TMO!
Many thanks to Dada and to Senf.
Definitely not the best England performance but, for me, compensated by Canada winning a Nations Cup game (see my response to Dave P below).
Then, it has been announced that England Women will visit Canada in October for two matches against Canada Women – two repeats of the last year’s Women’s World Cup Final!
I would check your picture for the 15a hint again 🙂
While it is helpful to have our errors pointed out, it does soften the blow a bit for the blogger if you also say what you thought about the crossword
What’s wrong with the picture?
In my opinion it’s the perfect photo, a different one would have placed the poster on the naughty step.
I agree, its meant to be a hint, not a perfect depiction.
My sincere apologies, different illustration now included in the hint. I was inefficiently multitasking while solving and blogging, the other activity being watching an excellent rugby match between Canada and Zimbabwe in the ‘Nations Cup’ – the second tier of this new competition – which included an ‘enforced’ interlude for lightning close by! Canada won by the way.
I will give myself another severe talking to and hope that my prospects of a decent Christmas bonus are preserved.
I looked up said lower on Google Images and it’s perfect actually.
Was that after my edit
Not sure about how to describe this puzzle. Quirkily friendly? 18a to that I think. A bit of a trial in places that turned into a bit of a slog? Maybe. This sitting on the fence is beginning to hurt. Maybe just not a puzzle for me today, so thanks to Dada and Senf for the hints.
Not one for me today either, slog sums it up a treat.
I struggled with this today although looking back it’s hard to see why. 3d was new to me and it took ages to parse 1d.
Top picks for me were 11d, 16d, 14d, 26a and 22a.
Thanks to Senf and Dada.
I found today’s PP quite difficult in places…so, having placed a letter in every square, I took Lady P for a stroll round Attingham Park, a local NT house and park which, like our garden is beginning to resemble the Sahara Desert! Returning with a clearer mind and refreshed by tea and biscuits, I tries to parse the elusive three.
1a only worked when I added the extra letter (an action not a person); 6d spent too long looking for extra letters to make a full anagram (thank you Senf) and 24a because I had to find the slang term (thank you Mr G). There were two new words for me at 10a and 13a but thankfully they were clearly clued.
I generally find Sundays difficult and today was no different…COTD 11d, very clever.
My thanks to Dada for the puzzle; Senf for the hints and the National Trust for keeping me sane.
At first glance, I had no answers and almost despaired! Then I made headway slowly , it was hard but appropriately challenging. Thanks to the setter and Mr Senf .
This took me two sittings to get over the line. Like others, most of it went in very easily, the final half dozen took the same amount of time to complete. Very Dadaesque, with 11d my favourite. Good fun.
Thanks to himself and Senf.
I really enjoyed this , thanks Dada !
My favourite clue is 6d.
Thanks also to Senf.
This took some effort but I managed to get over the finish line with my LOI being 14d as I couldn’t get a different month out of my mind.
I just HAD to look up the origin of the marvellous cat’s pyjamas. It has a jazz origin, hence ‘cat’, and women wearing PJs in public was considered shockingly avant-garde and highly fashionable. The bee’s knees can now take a hike as this one will go front and centre. The synonym for garbage derives from the musical being a term for a simpleton. Another goodie. I have added 27a to the crib sheet.
I’ve heard of 10a. I pronounce it as if I’m saying a two word expression for ‘universe’ when I’m a tad tipsy. Talking of which, Arthur Housman as the regular drunkard in Laurel and Hardy was superb…
My podium is 20a, 24a (that image would get a million hits online) and 1d (‘dictator’s drunk’ took a while to twig).
MTT Radio and The Big S.
4*/3*
Nice puzzle for a lazy Sunday afternoon. Bit brain stretching but satisfying to complete. Many thanks to setter and blogger. X
Sitting in the garden with a salad, a glass of white wine and a rather tricky guzzle. We’ve worked hard to complete it, the BRB has been well used and there is a lot of scribbled on paper about. Nice to see my ancestors mentioned again, that came to me in a flash and George claims the laurel for getting the giant’s outlet. Very clever, as was 6d – I was way off track there looking for an alcoholic reference. But 28a takes the cup, I was off on a horticultural chase until the light dawned. Very satisfying to complete, so thank you Mr Setter for a great challenge. And thank you Senf for confirming some of my parsing – will I see you next week? You certainly will not need the red scarf! I have done half of the Toughie but think I deserve a nap now.
I, probably foolishly, thought that as I got older my life would become less and less complicated. Wrong! On this coming Friday, I will be participating in a Wings Graduation Ceremony at an RCAF Flying Training School. That rules out being anywhere in the UK on Saturday. But it won’t rule out raising slightly more than a wee dram to the blog some time on Saturday.
So sorry. The glass of wine has gone to my head or I am getting senile!! 28a is my favourite horticultural clue in the Toughie, not 3,378. I had both guzzles on the table in front of me. I am an idiot. And I have just seen your reply Senf. What a shame !
Late to get started as I’ve been spending time with great niece (3) and great nephew (18 months) – what joy they bring!
Thoroughly enjoyed this, especially 15a, 18a and 11d. What clever clues. All this and Laurel and Hardy, too. Forgot how much my late dad laughed at them. It was almost funnier to watch his reaction than L & H’s antics sometimes.
Thanks to setter for a great crossword, and to Senf for the hints, which I did need for parsing a couple of answers
Hi Lorraine
Ollie and Stan were geniuses with Ollie being ‘My man’. His looks to the camera were brilliant.
Dad loved them so much and would often watch videos of them. When my brother devolved present buying to my new sister-in-law he told her that dad loved L & H he assumed that would be enough information. She bought dad a framed print of them instead of a new video as my brother expected. It hangs to this day, in the downstairs loo 😂
That’s a great story, Quiche.
A signed copy has so much more value than a recording that can be seen online anytime.
Tom – I assume that you’ve seen the film Stan and Ollie (Steve Coogan & John C Reilly)
Well worth catching if not.
I have.
They did an excellent job.
For me this was a game of two halves. Loads of clues went in steadily and then I made very heavy weather of the last third. I’d never heard of 27a which I couldn’t get and the type of house in Dumfries got me too which was annoying as it is crops up fairly regularly. 18a and 19d were my favourites amongst some very enjoyable clues. Thank you Dada and Senf for an excellent puzzle and hints.
Well this was a testing puzzle. Half of it went in very easily and then it became a slog. Still stuck on 14d that penny wont drop. As writing I had an aha moment!! All sorted.
Lots to like here but I think 18a is top today.
Hadn’t heard of the expression in 3d and 13a was new to me too.
Thanks all
3* / 4* A good challenge, even the obscure answers gettable with the excellent clues.
Favourites today, last one in very hot at 14d, the garbage at 26a and the giant’s outlet at 22a.
Also liked the quickie pun.
Thanks to Senf for a couple of parsings and to the compiler
Quite tricky in places, a new phrase learned in 3d and a new word in 10a. Lots to like too and I do like to learn new things.
Many thanks to Dada and to Senf for the hints.
Add me to the 3d & 10a club but both sympathetically clued. I didn’t find the puzzle at the easier end of Dada’s Sunday range & was quite pleased with a fully parsed grid fill in a shade over **time. Podium spots for 1,11&14d with a number of ticks elsewhere.
Thanks to D&S
Ps superb conclusion to the Open – superb track, a well behaved crowd & won by a great pro – gets on with it, plenty of bottle & no inflated ego. What a birdie to finish on a beast of a hole.
Dreadful Quickie pun but a rare puzzle pangram.
It’s not that I missed the pangram in the Quickie, I just never go past getting the answers for the pun!
A good puzzle from Dada – thanks to him and Senf.
Rosettes from me for 10a, 18a, 3d and 11d.
I won’t be around tomorrow, my friends. I have to have an emergency colonoscopy and endoscopy because a test I had at the start of the week has shown some abnormalities.
Continue to be nice to each other.
I’ll see you all on the other side. ❤️
Fingers crossed Steve!
I wish you well, me old mucker.
I pray to the Almighty for your good health and a speedy recovery from all your ailments.
I have thrown in the towel after only 50 percent accomplished. Can’t begin to find your wavelength Dada.
Goodnight everyone.
**** / ***
Finished this morning with resort to the hints and a bit of googling. Sorry, Dada, not my cup of tea this one! Thanks to you and Senf.
Briefly looked at this yesterday, got 7 in without too much difficulty, then nothing. Picked it up again this morning and finally got over the line, mainly with the aid of the digital BRB. Plenty to enjoy with 10a being new to me but perfectly clued, the rubbish lower at 15a was a great anagram. 16d, 26a and 27a all provided a satisfying result.
Many thanks to Dada and Senf
2*/3.5*
Good luck Steve.
V late to finish this, I will join the club of never having heard of 3d and my plausible bung-in can’t be mentioned.
I needed Senf to explain a couple or eight so not my best performance
Thanks to Senf and Dada
Late to comment on this .. just finished it this morning (Tue).
Id doesn’t and never will work aw a homophone where I live. We pronounce the last letter.
Some fun with AI this morning revealed that this clue would never have been accepted by a Ximenean setter and that it is libertarian in nature. Dada is taking a liberty! I had never heard of these terms before … but I’m much wiser now.
😊