The excitement among crossword enthusiasts reaches its peak this weekend as The Hindu Sunday Magazine publishes its latest challenging crossword puzzle, No. 3313. The puzzle is packed with an assortment of cryptic clues, requiring solvers to employ a combination of logic, language skills, and general knowledge.
This week’s puzzle features a series of intriguing across and down clues, structured to test even the most astute solvers. Here is a breakdown of the clues, providing a closer look at the craftsmanship behind them:
Across Clues:
1. Finally enjoy prize after good turn (6)
The clever use of wordplay here suggests that the solution involves transforming one set of words to derive another. The word ‘finally’ hints at the last letter in the solution, while ‘enjoy prize after good turn’ requires an in-depth understanding of hinting systems common in crosswords.
4. Perhaps clubs holding all that remains: hands seen at ends of these? (8)
In this clue, ‘perhaps clubs’ could refer to a sporting club or a deck of cards, introducing multiple potentially misleading interpretations. The solution pivots around identifying ‘all that remains’ and ‘hands seen at the ends,’ making it necessary to think creatively.
9. Section of certain material one may wish to escape (6)
This clue tactically uses the idea of ‘escaping’, possibly a reference to a physical segment or an abstract portion of a more extensive concept.
10. Somewhere in Mexico, a Catholic by cupola, trembling (8)
Here we find a geography-centric clue, where ‘somewhere in Mexico’ narrows the search to a proper noun, possibly a place, ‘a Catholic by cupola, trembling’ adding layers of complexity with potential anagram or descriptive hints.
11. Good old crossword setter: lad’s flipping gets top award (4,5)
In this charming self-referential clue, the ‘crossword setter’ could be a nod to the designer of the puzzle, and flipping the letters offers a delightful twist for uncovering the answer.
13. River creature getting closer in Cockney’s game (5)
This clue leverages regional dialect, specifically the Cockney dialect, alongside a reference to nature with ‘river creature,’ guiding solvers into environmental and cultural territory.
14. Leisure activity from which you may hope to be dropped? (9,4)
Playing on the dual meanings of ‘leisure activity’ and hopes of being ‘dropped,’ this clue eccentrically intertwines hobby and outcome.
17. Esther shortly dons formal footwear, makes timely investment (6,3,4)
Here, find the merger of biblical referral with fashion, suggesting an elaborate layering of historical and modern-day lexicon.
20. After a month, publication rejected letter from Athens (5)
The confluence of time (month) and place (Athens) combined with publication creates an exclusion challenge, requiring sharp elimination skills.
21. Traditionalists hold out with loco beliefs in the end (3,6)
Reflecting historical context and modern perceptions, understanding terms like ‘traditionalists’ and ‘loco beliefs’ proves vital.
23. English books thrice rejected, embroiling English again in confrontation (3-2-3)
The repetition (‘thrice rejected’) demands careful parsing, with an emphasis on the defining English characteristic.
24. Dog tooth (6)
This straightforwardly titled clue might seem elementary but demands distinctive interpretation between a domesticated animal and dental verbiage.
25. Secret agent’s drinking in pub by Earl’s woodland (8)
This clue juxtaposes modern espionage narratives with aristocratic lexicon, ensuring a multi-layered decoding effort.
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26. Plays safe in t-shirts, to some extent (6)
This final across clue melds fashion (‘t-shirts’) with a general activity (‘plays safe’), holding a hybrid composite interpretation.
Down Clues:
1. Leave a fitness class, finding yourself off the deep end (5,3)
The incorporation of contemporary themes such as fitness and emotional states propounds an accessible yet profound riddle.
2. One with a compass – point’s lost by him? (7)
An exploration of navigational metonymy, the clue enriches simple direction-based yield with a personal touch.
3. Drink the writer raised, it honours a family (5)
This clue dynamic blends traditional family homage with beverage culture, inverted for challenging solution discovery.
5. Looked back on scripture lessons: cool! (11)
Encapsulating reflective learning and modern colloquialisms, ‘cool!’ accentuates emotional and temporal dimensions of the respective scriptural following.
6. Copy badly executed procedure (9)
A pointed critique embedded in the clue requires decoding superficial and deeper connotations of repetition and methodology.
7. Part of Croatian city on high (5,2)
Geopolitical clues necessitate solvers gleaning smaller sections within grander spatial settings, emphasizing macro-micro perspectives.
8. Hunts, in scrubs (6)
This clue generates ambiguity between the verb (hunting) and sartorial reference (‘scrubs’), mingling profession with pastime.
12. Casting out money and Red Book (11)
Here, the fusion of monetary terms with proscriptive literature symbolizes modern financial and literary expulsion.
15. Punch a tenor, getting personal in area with many restaurants (9)
Combining physical action (‘punch’), personal reference (‘tenor’), and social locales (restaurants), the clue fosters a multi-dimensional approach.
16. Those intoning M-A-G-I-C? (8)
Summoning magical ‘intoning’ individuals, this engaging clue merges spell-binding teaching and lexical articulation.
17. Grandeur that is retrograde, Everyman’s a tragic relic of former times (7)
Linking grandeur, history, and societal falls, the clue elucidates backwards (retrograde) perspectives on evolving class representations.
18. Perfect, working out pain (7)
Here, ‘perfect’ and ‘pain’ frame an emotional solution context, juxtaposing fitness and pain mitigation.
19. Ancient Greece’s artisanal trinkets’ expensive stones, primarily? (6)
Rooted in antiquity, the ‘trinkets’ clue necessitates reconsideration of primary and acquired materiality.
22. Bird that’s seen on building site (5)
Finally, a seemingly simple avian clue with a spatial descriptor challenges spatial-ecological understanding.
The Hindu Sunday Magazine continues to probe and amuse with such intellectually rigorous puzzles, leaving dedicated solvers endlessly engaged and perpetually returning for the next cerebral challenge.
