Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3369 (Hints)
Hints and tips by Senf
A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg on the middle day of a holiday long weekend, which is forecast to be quite soggy especially today, celebrating the 207th Anniversary of the birth of Queen Victoria who is remembered as The Mother of Confederation.
So, Terence, what was the ‘something’ that went wrong at Wembley yesterday?
For me, and I stress for me,© Dada almost as quirky as last Sunday – four long ‘uns (two of them not anagrams), four anagrams (two partials), one lurker, 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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Candidates for favourite – 1a, 5a, 19a, 26a, 1d, 4d, 8d, and 24d.
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 Greed a weakness, tart essentially scoffed (7)
The middle letters (essentially) of tARt contained (scoffed) by A from the clue and a type of weakness.
9a Shrink referring to Victorian book, struggle to cope (4,2,4,5)
A synonym of shrink (as in decrease in value?), a two letter term equivalent to referring to, and a Victorian book written by this chap.
11a Sovereign – item found in classroom? (5)
A double definition – the first is a generic term.
15a Gate, hinge gone (7)
Not a double definition – a verbal synonym of hinge and an adjectival synonym of gone (away?) – Terence contributed to one yesterday.
21a Finn McCool, Fianna chap, champ ultimately (4)
The last letters (ultimately) of four words in the clue.
23a Nicked by students, a rotten old 11 Across (4)
The lurker (nicked by) found in three words in the clue.
26a Jazz Age passed in a riot, singer out of control (7,8)
Brilliant! A synonym of passed inserted into (in) an anagram (out of control) of A RIOT, SINGER.
28a Failure of new hero, out of the running (7)
An anagram (failure) of NEW HERO.
Down
1d Trees in centre of Seattle, initially (2,5)
Not a first letter selection! Cone bearing trees inserted into the (three) centre letters of SeATTle.
3d Hearts in bid strong, also one club (4)
The centres (hearts) in bId stROng and (also) oNe.
7d Whatever rhinoceros I name runs wild (4,4,2,5)
A ‘meteorological’ anagram (runs wild) of RHINOCEROS I NAME.
8d Royal I back on one point (7)
The royal ‘version’ of the pronoun I and a (nautical) synonym of back.
13d Australian native, well generous (5)
The abbreviated form of a member of Australian fauna and a synonym of well as an interjection.
19d Old PM stripped of crowning glory, success (7)
A four letter (easy) way of saying stripped of crowning glory and a three letter synonym of success.
20d Divine sources of silver etc. secured by payment (7)
The sources of silver, etc (as in what they are extracted from) contained (secured) by a synonym of payment (for a service?).
25d Heading for shelter today, drifter? (4)
The first letter of (heading for) Shelter and a three letter adverb equivalent to today.
Quick Crossword Pun:
OFFISH + COLD + WANDER = A FISH CALLED WANDA – well, it took a long time for that penny to drop!
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A memory of The Eurovision Song Contest when it didn’t drag on for so long and international politics and conflicts were not influencing issues. The winner of the contest in 1980, held on April 19th of that year in The Hague, was Australian-born* Irish singer, songwriter and musician Johnny Logan singing What’s Another Year which reached number one on the UK charts for two weeks on today’s date of that year:
* His father, Charles Sherrard, was a Derry-born Irish tenor better known as Patrick O’Hagan, and happened to be touring Australia at the time of Logan’s birth.
I see from the DT report that Bulgaria won this years contest and it seems that the UK might have been better off joining the five countries that boycotted the competition.
Morning this was fun! Was waiting for the post to land as I was having trouble with 8d couldn’t parse it so thank you!
All the four long answers were brilliant today but I think my favourite was 2d as it was first in and unlocked the puzzle for me.
I also liked the two countries and 19d
Thanks for a lovely start to a Sunday – I can hear the grandkids making noise downstairs so have to dash.
‘So, Terence, what was the ‘something’ that went wrong at Wembley yesterday?’
(sigh…)
For me, and I stress for me (© Senf), it was a sad (in sporting terms) day yesterday. The Mighty Chelsea matched the Mancunians for much of the match, but we were undone by a moment of magic from the improving winger, Antoine Semenyo – exactly the exciting sort of player Chelsea would buy before the hedge fund people moved in.
Losing finals at Wembley has become an all too familiar experience in the last few years (another sigh…).
Then, on returning home, we watched the Eurovision Song Contest which was the dullest in living memory, although I did pick the winner.
Great guzzle; enjoyed unravelling it whilst consuming gruel and orange juice without any bits.
Thanks to Da-doo-ron-ron and the ever splendid, if potentially damp, Man From Manitoba.
My firstt pass yielded not a single clue but a PDM with 2d helped me to get goibg on thw ledt hand side if ths challenging puzzle abd tocomplwte the SW and NE corners.Then i began to fear that I would fall at the last hurdle wirh both 15a and 13d holding out unttil the end. I particularly enjoyed the two geographical clues at 17d, 13a and 17a. My joint clues of the day were, however, the long literary lego clue at 9a and the sneaky synonym at 13d. Thanks to Dada for an enjoyable struggle and to Sebf for the hints
This was a steady solve that was enjoyable to complete as I shudder when I see four 4 letter and four 5 letter answers. Sure enough, they were my last three to drop (3d, 13d & 22a) that took me into the next time zone.
I liked the use of ‘hearts’ in a clue, the surface of which was probably gobbledeegook to most people. I said it recently but it is SUCH a great game. My father loved playing 3 No-trumps as it’s such a dangerous contract if a long suit was against him.
21a was a splendid effort. I’ve heard of the name but not Fianna.
We like the ‘Royal I’.
There’s a nice acronym for the Great Lakes that, to try to avoid having a creamy delight with Pat Coombs on the naughty step, is a homophone of a surname of a famous literary detective.
My podium is 22a, 4d and 8d.
MTT Radio and the Manitoban mountie.
3*/4*
Oh, love the pun.
That was a delight although it took me ages to parse 8d and get 13d.
Top picks for me were 1d, 3d, 13d, 25d, 17a and 26a.
Thanks to Senf for being there if I needed him and to the setter. Thought the Quickie pun was excellent too.
Stayed up to watch the Eurovision and wished I hadn’t bothered. Even Graham Norton’s comments seem to lack their barb/wit this time.
Dada as tricky as last week and thank goodness I got 2d. on the first pass because it was the key to the rest. I read 5d as “Tropical” so was held up for ages there. I should have gone to Specsavers. I loved the royal back at 8d and the country pig at 17a. My COTD is the drain pipe at 4d.
Thank you, Dada for another challenge. Thank you, Colonel for the hints.
Great Quickie pun once I sorted the answers out.
A friend of mine, who claims to have won The Mythical five times on Enigma Variations gave me one this morning. I have my doubts because anyone can make up things these days what with AI (not anagram indicator) and three dimensional printing. Still, it might serve as bait for The Mythical itself.
All of that sounds as if I am ungrateful for the gift. I am not and am grateful to my friend for giving me a pen even if he did have “DT” engraved on it. 🤣🤣🤣
You weren’t the only one with tropical Steve. It didn’t help that I’d just read an article on canned tropical fruit!
Me too with tropical!😁
All the best people read it as tropical
Most definitely not a walk in the park, but very satisfying to complete and there were some cracking clues. 26a was my favourite and I enjoyed all the long clues.
Many thanks to Dada and to Senf for the hints.
An early morning walk and a mid puzzle hour in the garden did nothing to make today’s offering gentle. The first pass yielded little except 2d and 9a (I’m a fan of the bearded gentleman) which got me started.
Got stuck on 5d because I spent too long trying to make a ‘tropical’ rather than ‘topical’ fruit fit. I followed Senf’s advice and had my BRB to hand for 22a and 6d.
Spent far longer than normal on this but If it’s a Dada production I have struggled previously to get myself on the right wavelength. I hope that, as with most things, practice will help.
Many thanks to the setter and Senf for the hints.
A nicely testing puzzle this morning, no walkover by any means. Good balance of clue types with admirable self-restraint on the use of anagrams. COTD 8d.
Many thanks to the setter and Senf