Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3381 (Hints)
Hints and tips by Senf
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A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg where, across the country, wildfire season continues with investigators attempting to determine if the cause of a fire was natural, accidental, or criminal; sadly there is a significant number of the latter.
For me, and I stress for me,© Dada quite quirky and not so friendly, using his personal thesaurus in places, with a somewhat strange looking grid which required some lateral thinking; one long ‘un, eight anagrams (four partials), two lurkers, and no homophones, all in an asymmetric 31 clues; with 16 hints ‘sprinkled’ throughout the grid, all BRB verified where necessary, 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! You might even need your favourite e-search ‘assistant’!
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Candidates for favourite – 11a, 21a, 23a, 4d, 17d, 20d, and 23d.
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
7a Put in established pattern, decorative design (7)
A synonym of put inserted into (in) a four letter term for an established pattern (such as recitation of times tables eons ago?).
13a Overcome a verbose drunk grabbing yours truly (4,5)
An anagram (drunk) of A VERBOSE containing (grabbing) yours truly in the form of the perpendicular pronoun.
15a Figure revealed by growth in kilos (5)
A lurker (revealed by) found in the last three words of the clue.
16a For atop head, that off immediately! (2,3,4,2,1,3)
An anagram (off) of FOR ATOP HEAD THAT (memories of Flanders and Swann 70 years ago?).
21a Point where reggae initially gets suffocated by funk (5)
The first letter of Reggae contained (gets suffocated) by a synonym of funk (as a maliferous odour?)
26a Greek character in April recollected flower (7)
One of the four two letter Greek alphabetic characters inserted into an anagram (recollected (or re-collected?)) of APRIL.
28a Fair head of lady cushioned by setter? (7)
The first letter (head) of Lady contained (cushioned) by a type of setter (used in construction?).
Down
1d African city to repair, ruined (8)
An anagram (ruined) of TO REPAIR.
2d Wet, bottom piece of hosiery got hitched up (4)
The reversal (up) of all of the last letter (bottom piece) of hosierY and a three letter synonym of got hitched (until death do you part?).
3d Putridness originally in no longer fresh bread and butter (6)
The first letter (originally) of Putridness inserted into (in – again) a single word term for no longer fresh.
5d Very difficult angle cornering I conclude (8)
A verbal synonym of angle (as a hobby?) containing (cornering) all of I from the clue and a synonym of conclude.
8d Stumbles in area of field (5)
A double definition – the second relates to a crickety field.
17d Figure you smooth down (8)
A dialectal or archaic synonym of you and a single word term for smooth down (wood?) – I wonder if using the same word twice for two very different definitions should cause a ping on the repetition radar?
20d Formal gathering disconnected, still upset about that (3,5)
The reversal (upset) of an adverbial synonym of still containing (about that) a synonym of disconnected.
22d Good field for country house (6)
The single letter for Good and a synonym of field (as in series of actions?).
26d Fairy king with goblet raised (4)
The reversal (raised) of all of the chess notation for King and a synonym of goblet.
Quick Crossword Pun:
HIT + SNOW + JOKE = IT’S NO JOKE – not one of Dada’s best IMHO
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Probably one from the entertain and annoy in equal measure folder! Australian-British writer P L Travers OBE, creator of Mary Poppins, was born on this day in 1899. In 1964, the animated live action fantasy musical comedy film Mary Poppins starring the delightful Dame Julie Andrews, who won an Oscar for Best Actress, and Dick Van Dyke who had the worst ever cockney accent was released. This is probably the best known song from the film:
2.5*/3*. A curate’s egg day for me today. The NW corner pushed my time over 2* and there were a few dodgy surfaces along the way.
According to the BRB, the required meaning of “funk” in 12a is either obsolete or US dialect!
11a was my last one in and favourite.
Thanks to Dada and to Senf.
Obsolete is ok, imo. Surely the first part of 17d is, too?
That was a 5d guzzle and no mistake. Only two on the first pass and the rest had to be dragged out kicking and screaming. I just wasn’t on Dada’s wavelength today and I’m not sure I have them all right. Might as well send it in for The Mythical, though, because it will have as much chance of winning as all my other submissions. No favourites today – just pleased to get over the line.
Thank you, Dada but you were way above my paygrade today. Thank you, Colonel for the hints and explaining some of it for me and stay away from the fires. We had one near the village yesterday.
This took a bit of work with my LOI being the 7a/8d comby.
16a was the FOI which got things going nicely.
We do love the expressions in 23a and 23d.
Is 13a grammatically incorrect as the word for ‘yours truly’ needs a small word after it? My father used to call cheese funky. So, I’m okay with that one.
My picks are 11a, 9d and 20d (a nice construction)
Many thanks to Radio and S.
3*/3*
Tom – something I have pondered on for a while, when you write ‘we do love’ or similar, are you writing on behalf of a group or are you using the Royal Pronoun?
Oh, absolutely the latter, Senf baby.
And of course “the funk of 40000 years” in Michael Jackson’s Thriller.
Ah, yes. Good call, CK.
This was chewy but well worth preserving with. SE corner was last to fall.
Lots of ticks on my page with top picks being 17d, 5d, 4d, 11a, 16a, 28a and favourite 23a.
Thanks to Senf and Dada.
Wow this really required digging out the answers. 8d being the LOI – Love Senf’s description of crickety field.
Many thanks to Dada for keeping me occupied until coffee time and to the Colonel for amusing and helpful hints
An enjoyable puzzle from Dada today – thanks to him and Senf.
Our setter has included a nice acknowledgement to our hinter at 25a.
Top clues for me were 23a, 5d and 8d.
Not straightforward but I kept at it and got there in the end, I was not sure about a couple of synonyms eg 21a but confirmed after. I was proud of my crickety knowledge all of which has been learnt, and obviously remembered, here! I enjoyed the battle particularly now I see others found it a challenge too.
Many thanks to Dada and to Senf for the hints
I seemed to have enjoyed this puzzle more than the previous commentators. Perhaps because it was completed at the end of a week of fairly stressful social events. I reached a point where I still unable to solve 4 clues and went to the hints only to find all of them unhinted so I put my nose to the grindstone and finished. I thought 5D, 17D, 8D, 25A and 23A, were all worthy of a mention. 8D was my last one in despite having a reasonable knowledge of the required specialism so the misdirection fulfilled its purpose and is therefore awarded COTD. Thanks to the setter and as always to Senf for the hints.
Thai corner. 3 weddings and a 5 day funeral.
My Thai wife’s father was one of 15 siblings and at least one aunt produced 8 offspring which gives an almost exponential cousin count on just one side of the family. This results in hatches, matches and dispatches of close family at a bewildering rate. This yesterday I attended the joyous final part of a wedding that had started with a civil ceremony in Australia, a Buddhist ceremony in Bangkok and ended with a multicultural civil ceremony.
The day previous I was present at the cremation of a cousin that marked the last day of a 5 day Buddhist celebration of his life. The cousin in question was an army general and as such the funeral was given Royal patronage.
The Thai moment for me, came when I questioned why at the end of the 5th day there seemed to be some delay in the proceedings. I was informed that the cremation had to be initiated by a flame provided by the King and that we were awaiting the delivery of a lantern with a wick lit by his majesty. This arrived and proceedings continued.
Gosh, that is fascinating. Keep them coming, ATinB. 👍
15 children???
Blimey!
Hatches, matches and despatches is genius.
👍👍👍😂such a good phrase!
Just a quick note to say that Hudson is rather benign in the Toughie slot.
And a pangram too, very useful for the bung-in and parse later 7d
For me, and I stress for me (© Senf), I had jolly well better win the crayon set this week as that was H-A-R-D, and took a substantial effort on my part. I don’t have many brain cells left so I do hope this draining process was not in vain.
I shall be writing to Mr Lancaster (copied to Mr Burnham, Mrs Badenoch, and Madonna Ciccone) demanding more sporting glues. More in the style of 8d are required with the focus on football, cricket, golf, and equine sports.
Oh my goodness, look at the time. I must away to watch another pointless Chelsea pre-season friendly. Each of them so far have been snore-fests. But what can a boy do?
Thanks to Da-doo-ron-ron and The Man From Manitoba (I hope those wildfires stay well away)
This Dada puzzle has to be the most unfriendliest I have ever encountered from him. Way off the deep end of his range with quirkiness all over and obviously his own personal thesaurus right out there.
Not a puzzle I enjoyed in any way.
Maybe I am a little off kilter due to the fire In Summerland BC that is well over 9500 hectares in size as of noon our time Saturday and has caused my brother and his wife to evacuate the area. The entire town of Summerland had over 20,000 people evacuate at 1am Aug 8th due to the intense fire. State of emergency declared in BC now. The town is currently basically uninhabited.
5*/2* for me.
The only clue I liked was 16a
Thanks to Dada for the headache & I hope Senf liked mangling his way through this one.
Bring on Monday
Gosh. I’m sorry to read about your brother and wife.
Truly awful.
I’m sorry to hear about them as well. These fires are truly awful and quite a few started deliberately. I hope you brother and his wife are able to return to their home.
Sorry to hear this, best wishes to them.
Well, I got a few on my own. 5d sums it up perfectly. Big thanks to Senf for the hints which I definitely needed today.
16A picture clue.
Dr Spooners favourite duo Swanders and Flann.
Glad I wasn’t alone in finding this difficult although got there in usual time for a Dada (which is usally twice as long as Saturday!).
4d is the only one that Im not 100% sure of and alas it is not one of the hinted clues for me to confirm or otherwise – so if any kind blogger can, avoiding the naughty step and instructions in red, give me any way of knowing if Im right – i would really appreciate it. If not I shall await the review due course.
Thanks to the setter and to Senf as ever
4d – The first half of the answer is what appears after the hints in all back pager and Prize Puzzle blogs and the whole is a container one might buy fruit in.
Thank you so much for that! I was right, but wasn’t sure.
16A Doctor Spooners Favourite entertainers: Swanders and Flann.
I enjoyed this solve. It was chewy but I again had my big brain pants on and managed to get it over the line without taking a hint and at a steady pace. My last one in was 8d, and with all the checkers in place came up with what I thought could be the definition but the parsing didn’t make sense. So I looked down the various meanings of said word in the chambers normal dictionary , and there it was darn it ! Again a cricket reference that I didn’t know 🙄. At least I was glad to have got the answer . Thanks to Dada for the fun , and Senf.
“big brain pants on..” – nice turn of phrase! 😸
I think I need a pair of those big brain pants !
Another wonderful puzzle today with just the right amount of brain mangling. I enjoyed the ride and felt satisfied on completion. Will now look at the Toughie. Sitting under a garden brolly with the water trickling into the pond, lovely but keep having to pay a visit!!
Steady if pedestrian progress around the grid with NW last to fall. Didn’t know the ‘funk’ in 21a so it was a bung in. Favourite was 14a. 5ths to Dada and Senf.
Great to see a mention of our Hinter today! 28a was my LOI as, of course, I was misled by the ‘setter’ as the Setter intended me to be. Nice one that. I also liked 11a but 23a annoys me for some reason. I am halfway through the toughie so will plough on with that, despite struggling with an enormously swollen hand due to the wasp sting I had yesterday. I am sure some of you will leap to the defence of wasps but I reckon the gentle bee does the job just as well. It is like fleas, ticks and ants. Why do we need them? That is my rant for the day. It is extremely hot here, not a breath of wind and no sounds at all apart from an odd squirrel trying to open a nut. I feel for all those people suffering from wild fires, it must be terrifying and heartbreaking. Many thanks to our Setter and to Senf.
A breezy solve on a sunny-hungover Sunday afternoon. Interesting to see many found it tricky.
Was unsure on a couple of parses though. Thanks for the 28A hint, I was hung up on ME for setter. 23A I had to google this ‘hand’ to be sure. LOI was 5D, appropriately.
Sunday Pody trio is 4A’s wordsmith implement, 24D’s ailment, and 16A being a phrase I like.
Thanks to Dada and to Senf ⭐️
2.5* / 4* By no means easy, had to winkle out a lot of the answers, but all fairly clued.
20d gave me problems by putting in an alternative second word, but couldn’t parse it.
Best of the day are 23d pint sized, dry at 11a and the lurking figure at 15a
Thanks to Senf and compiler
Good afternoon
Well, I’ve finished, but I would never have got it were it not for the hintingtons so helpfully provided by our esteemed blogger Senf – 7a is obvious with the benefit of hindsight; 2d similar; and I wouldn’t have twigged 8d without help, owing to my total lack of knowledge of the sport alluded to.
So the sponge stays at my side, but only just! It was so nearly hoyed in…
Many thanks to Dada and that goes double to Senf!
Certainly not 5d & if anything I found it quite friendly though the grid was unusual. A very brisk finish looked on the cards until some brain fog slowed things up in the SE. 11,23&28a would be my podium picks.
Thanks to D&S
Ps I hope the golfers among the regular commenters found the time to catch the terrific conclusion to the PIF London Championship at Centurion Club – Anna Huang, the 17 year old Canadian teenage sensation, held off the crowd favourite, Charley Hull by eagling the par 5 final hole for the 4th day running.
11A my favourite. VMT Dada & Senf.
I found this tough but enjoyed it.DNF until I used electronic aid for 5 and 28 , although they were fairly clued and I had party answers.Yes Huntsman I turned on the telly just as the last group played the eighteenth.I wish I could put like her.Turn the clock back 61 years , and maybe I did .I can’t remember! Can’t remember my putt on the eighteenth from last week! Thanks to all .I will now look at the toughy
I found this challenging but got there in the end. Lots of neatly crafted clues. Thanks to Senf and the setter.
I particularly liked 23a, and the clever use of the fungal condition in 24d tickled my medical funny bone. Ulnar groove, to be exact.