Puzzle from the FT of April 19, 2026
It is a pangram. It has some interesting wordplay. Must be a Zamorca. My favourite clues are 1a (INCREASE), 3 (EARTHY), 7 (ON AND OFF), and 9 (CHEERS UP). I originally failed to fully understand the wordplay of 18 (OVER-THE-TOP) and 25 (MAXIMIZE). Actually I still find it hard to make sense of 18. Thanks for the help in the comments.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | INCREASE |
Popular line-up (8)
|
| IN (popular) + LINE (crease) | ||
| 5 | JOYOUS |
Glad judge has zero qualms finally imprisoning second person (6)
|
| YOU (second person) in (imprisoning) J (judge) + O (zero) + [qualm]S | ||
| 9 | CHEERS UP |
Hurrah! Drink lifts the spirits (6,2)
|
| CHEER (hurrah) + SUP (drink) | ||
| 10 | CLEAVE |
Chef regularly overcooked veal chop (6)
|
| Anagram (cooked) of VEAL in (over) C[h]E | ||
| 11 | MERCHANT |
Trader encountered fencing round restructured ranch (8)
|
| Anagram (restructured) of RANCH in (fencing round) MET (encountered) | ||
| 12 | BANDIT |
Evacuated neighbourhood inspires temptation for robber (6)
|
| N[eighbourhoo]D in (inspires) BAIT (temptation) | ||
| 14 | KEEPING FIT |
Working out reportedly essential code with which gift’s ordered (7,3)
|
| KEE (homophone of “key”) + PIN (code) + anagram (ordered) of GIFT | ||
| 18 | OVER-THE-TOP |
Open to ambassador stopping President going too far (4-3-3)
|
| OVERT (open) + HE (ambassador, i.e. His/Her Excellency) + TO (to) + P (President) | ||
| 22 | RATIFY |
Confirm if a try’s converted (6)
|
| Anagram (converted) of IF A TRY | ||
| 23 | UGLINESS |
Grotesque quality of government policies in America (8)
|
| G (government) + LINES (policies) together in (in) US (America) | ||
| 24 | BRAZEN |
Cheeky underwear and top reduced by 50% (6)
|
| BRA (underwear) + ZEN[ith] (top reduced by 50%) | ||
| 25 | MAXIMISE |
Make the most of Miami trip including times by shore on vacation (8)
|
| X (times) in (including) anagram (trip) of MIAMI + S[hor]E | ||
| 26 | EVER SO |
Free verse’s prose at heart really (4,2)
|
| Anagram (free) of VERSE + [pr]O[se] | ||
| 27 | ASBESTOS |
A most piercing cry for help to contain toxic stuff (8)
|
| A (a) + BEST (most) in (piercing) SOS (cry for help) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | INCOME |
Nice move securing instant rise in salary (6)
|
| MO (instant) backwards (rise) in (securing) anagram (move) of NICE | ||
| 2 | CHERRY |
With spicy dish not suitable for all, man’s brought in fruit (6)
|
| HE (man) in (brought in) C[u]RRY (spicy dish not suitable for all) | ||
| 3 | EARTHY |
What about paintings by Lowry — ultimately unsophisticated? (6)
|
| ART (paintings) in EH (what) backwards (about) + {Lowr]Y. This is a new meaning of ‘earthy’ to me. | ||
| 4 | SQUANDERED |
Team grabs pole before second of advantage wasted (10)
|
| N (pole) in (grabs) SQUAD + ERE (before) + [a]D[vantage] | ||
| 6 | OIL PAINT |
Record AI breaking into work with traditional art material (3,5)
|
| LP (record) + AI (AI) together in (into) anagram (work) of INTO | ||
| 7 | ON AND OFF |
Sometimes old granny gets day out (2,3,3)
|
| O (old) + NAN (granny) + D (day) + OFF (out) | ||
| 8 | SPECTATE |
Watch small cat maybe caught inside a hollow tree (8)
|
| S (small) + C (caught) in PET (cat maybe) + A (a) + T[re]E | ||
| 13 | UP FOR GRABS |
Finished fine gold bags, now available (2,3,5)
|
| UP (finished) + F (fine) + OR (gold) + GRABS (bags) | ||
| 15 | HORRIBLE |
Awful hotel’s boiler repair overruns (8)
|
| R (runs) in anagram (repair) of H BOILER | ||
| 16 | HEAT WAVE |
Saved uncovered spring wheat ahead of inclement weather (4,4)
|
| Anagram (spring?) of WHEAT + [s]AVE[d] | ||
| 17 | STIFFENS |
Sets up positions on wetlands (8)
|
| FITS (positions) backwards (up) + FENS (wetlands) | ||
| 19 | DIVINE |
Try to find water that’s holy? (6)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 20 | DESIST |
Discontinue introduction of digs on building sites (6)
|
| D[igs] + anagram (building) of SITES | ||
| 21 | ASSETS |
Value of company when fixed by dollar (6)
|
| AS (when) + SET (fixed) + S (dollar) |
HE (ambassador) inside (stopping) {OVERT (open) + TO} + P (President)
25A: trip indicates anagram
For once knowing a pangram was coming up helped me with the Q and K clues. I could not work out the other 50% of “top” in BRAZEN, otherwise all parsed. No ticks today
I knitted my brows at the yoda grammar for “up positions” = STIF, and “to contain” as a fill word in ASBESTOS. And, unfortunately for a puzzle in the FT, it is not accurate to say ASSETS are the “Value of Company” – there is much more to it than that.
I thank Zamorca for the puzzle and Pete Maclean for the great blog.
Liked INCREASE, OVER THE TOP, MAXIMISE, CHERRY, SQUANDERED and SPECTATE.
Anagrams: Some may have objections to ‘Miami trip’, ‘Nice move’ and ‘into work with’.
‘into’-work with?
A couple of other minor points:
EARTHY
(EH about (around) ART)+Y
HORRIBLE
H+BOILER* over (around) R(runs)
DESIST
discontinue=DESIST from. No?
Thanks Zamorca and Pete.
Thanks Zamorca for the weekend entertainment. My top picks included INCREASE, JOYOUS, CLEAVE (liked overcooked), UGLINESS, BRAZEN, EARTHY, and SPECTATE. I wasn’t sure how to parse HEAT WAVE (I’m not convinced it’s meant to be an anagram) and I’m not fond of ‘trip’ after Miami, ‘move’ after Nice, or ‘work’ after ‘into’ as indicative of anagrams. Thanks Pete for the blog.
HEAT WAVE
Toni@4
‘Spring’ was intended to ‘cycle’ WHEAT?
I see more dictionary support for an anagram (burst, explode, warp….)
I agree with Martyn’s point about ASSETS but it wasn’t a hindrance. Having said that, I found this quite a tough puzzle that I had to chip away at steadily. I was a bit hazy on just a couple of parsings but I think that’s been cleared up. I’ll copy KVa’s selection of favourites.
Thanks Zamorca, Pete et al.
Thank you for the corrections.
I am very glad that I am not the only one who is dubious about ‘trip’ in 25 (MAXIMISE).
Regarding 20 ‘desist’ is surely used with a ‘from’ in usual parlance. But Collins asserts that the ‘from’ is not a requirement citing as an example: “Please cease and desist all such harassing calls.” Christianity Today (2000)
I respectfully offer that the ‘u’ in ‘curry’ is the film certification ‘suitable for all’ which when removed (‘not’) is replaced (‘brought in’) by ‘he’ (‘man’) to give 2d CHERRY.
Thanks Pete@8. I stand corrected.
Agree with Martin that this was a puzzle that I wore down rather than ripped through. I wasn’t 100 per cent happy with 12a, expecting ‘inspired’ (ie breathing in) to mean that N-D (empty neighbourhood) would be enveloping a synonym for temptation, and not the other way around. Happy to read any elucidation on this point.
I had the same quibble as Mrs Graves about 12a. Good puzzle that made me work for it. Thanks Zamorca, Pete.