Puzzle from the Weekend FT of May 23 2026
My first-in was the easy 17 (CHA-CHA-CHA) and last was 3 (SOAP). 14 (BACKSTITCH) was a new term to me. My favourites are 3 (SOAP) and 29 (TOMAHAWK). My thanks to BC for help with 18 (CRACKPOT).
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | HONEST |
Open sandwich one’s teacher eats (6)
|
| Hidden word (eats) | ||
| 4 | STOCKPOT |
Usual sink for pan (8)
|
| STOCK (usual) + POT (sink) | ||
| 10 | MAMMALIAN |
Mother country toured by chap — in his class? (9)
|
| MA (mother) + MALI (country) in (toured by) MAN (chap) | ||
| 11 | PASTA |
Finished, a dish served with 7 Down? (5)
|
| PAST (finished) + A (a) | ||
| 12 | LEER |
Eyeball in spin, rolling back (4)
|
| REEL (spin) backwards (rolling back) | ||
| 13 | OFF THE HOOK |
Free to go — as carcass after being hung, say? (3,3,4)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 15 | NITRATE |
Salt in the tart I nearly sent back (7)
|
| Reverse (sent back) hidden word (in) | ||
| 16 | PUMICE |
Motorway cut through purplish rock (6)
|
| MI (motorway) in (cut through) PUCE (purplish) | ||
| 19 | COCKER |
Dog, one heeling? (6)
|
| Double definition with the second referring to heel in the nautical sense. | ||
| 21 | CENTAUR |
Mythical creature, gold in middle, no tail (7)
|
| AU (gold) in (in) CENTR[e] (middle, no tail) | ||
| 23 | THEATRICAL |
Cattle hair badly affected (10)
|
| Anagram (badly) of CATTLE HAIR | ||
| 25 | CHIC |
Cool aura, cold (4)
|
| CHI (aura) + C (cold). ‘Chi’ a Chinese term meaning atmosphere, as in the design of a living space. | ||
| 27 | ASSET |
Something worth having, while embedded (5)
|
| AS (while) + SET (embedded) | ||
| 28 | BUTTERCUP |
Flower say in British Columbia, on a mountain? (9)
|
| UTTER (say) in (in) BC (British Columbia) + UP (on a mountain?) | ||
| 29 | TOMAHAWK |
Warmonger after atom bombs — weapon found (8)
|
| Anagram (bombs) of ATOM + HAWK (warmonger) | ||
| 30 | PEDANT |
Particular type journalist identified in puff (6)
|
| ED (journalist identified) in (in) PANT (puff) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | HUMBLING |
Shameful jewellery, awful smell hanging over it (8)
|
| HUM (awful smell) + BLING (jewelry) | ||
| 2 | NUMBER TWO |
Back-up song also heard? (6,3)
|
| NUMBER (song) + homophone (heard) of TOO (also) | ||
| 3 | SOAP |
Slippery object, also programme, primarily? (4)
|
| S[lippery] O[bject] A[lso] P[rogramme] | ||
| 5 | TANK TOP |
Garment in turret? (4,3)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 6 | COPPER MINE |
Penny for each saved in gross income — source of that penny? (6,4)
|
| P (penny) + PER (for each) in (saved in) anagram (gross) of INCOME | ||
| 7 | PESTO |
Saucy thing bore, and old (5)
|
| PEST (bore) + O (old) | ||
| 8 | THANKS |
M. Ryan’s Sleepless in Seattle co-star cheers (6)
|
| T[om] HANKS | ||
| 9 | PIFFLE |
Bunk in mansion accommodating two females (6)
|
| FF (two females) in (accommodating) PILE (mansion) | ||
| 14 | BACKSTITCH |
Particular use of needle: helps to have little one (10)
|
| BACKS (helps) + TITCH (little one) | ||
| 17 | CHA-CHA-CHA |
Dance with three blokes shortly (3-3-3)
|
| CHA[p] CHA[p] CHA[p] (three blokes shortly) | ||
| 18 | CRACKPOT |
Preposterous frame, papa confined to bed (8)
|
| RACK (frame) + P (papa) together in (confined to) COT (bed). PAPA is the code word for P in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet. | ||
| 20 | RAINBOW |
Arch in front, half of arch put up earlier (7)
|
| AR[ch] backwards (put up) + IN (in) + BOW (front, as of a ship) | ||
| 21 | CHASTE |
Guiltless cheats, not trustworthy! (6)
|
| Anagram (not trustworthy) of CHEATS | ||
| 22 | STRAIT |
Channel uninterrupted on the radio? (6)
|
| Homophone (on the radio) of STRAIGHT (uninterrupted) | ||
| 24 | EPSOM |
Surrey town asleep, so Morpheus claims (5)
|
| Hidden word (claims) | ||
| 26 | CEDE |
Month up, concede finally — give up (4)
|
| DEC (month) backwards (up) + [ced]E |
Thanks Mudd and Pete
3dn: I think this is meant to be a sort of “& lit” clue with two definitions for the literal reading. The word “soap” can mean “soap opera” which is of course a kind of television programme.
I just realised that was Mudd. I can usually tell his puzzles a mile away, but clearly not on Saturday.
I ticked NITRATE.
I could not parse COPPER MINE, so thank you Pete. I have never heard of COCKER as a boot, so that was my last one in.
Thanks Mudd and Pete
My faves: MAMMALIAN, HUMBLING, CRACKPOT and RAINBOW.
SOAP: Agree with PB@1
Thanks Mudd and Pete.
I thought 26d was a bit sloppy having conCEDE as part of the clue.
Pete, you will have parsed 30a correctly as ed in pant (puff) but wrote up the blog as ed in pet.
Thanks to you and Mudd.
Put HANDSTITCH for 14d and didn’t check whether it was a word or not (mea culpa) so didn’t get COCKER. 26d gets my vote for the worst clue of the year. Using ‘concede’ in a clue for ‘cede’ – surely he could have used a better way of clueing the E (not sure he could have used a worst way). Ernie beat me to it.
Found top left quadrant the most difficult as 1d HUM meaning a smell was new to me. Agree with Ernie and Hovis on 26d, but overall a most enjoyable puzzle with some clever clues – enjoyed MAMMALIAN, RAINBOW, and COPPER MINE in particular
Just like Hovis@5, I had HANDSTITCH so I was lost with 19a. Never heard of a COCKER in the nautical sense though so maybe I would have been lost at sea either way.
Martyn@2
COCKER
There’s no boot reference in the clue, I think.
Did you mean boat?
“One heeling” is “one which/who tilts/cocks”
19ac/14dn: Like some others, I originally had HANDSTITCH at 14dn, but I eventually thought of HOOKER for 19ac, which at least got me to BACKSTITCH for 14dn. HOOKER just about fits “one heeling” as a position in (Rugby) football, so it seemed plausible while solving, but the nearest I can get for the first definition is dog 5 “a mechanical device for gripping or holding, esp one of the axial slots by which gear wheels or shafts are engaged to transmit torque” (Collins 2023 p 586). I do not think that definition is close enough to claim HOOKER as a valid alternative answer for 19ac.
KVa@8 Thanks for picking that up. The whole sentence was a copy and paste error (I sometimes draft my comments elsewhere). The only vaguely sensible meaning I found among the nouns for COCKER was “high-laced boot”, in the sense of it always being on the heel. After reading Pete’s parsing, I changed my notes to say “I did not even think about the adjective COCKER” but somehow the first version got copied across. Apologies for the mistake
Finished, but a bit of a struggle with Cocker and Rainbow which took a long time to find -indeed I only put in Cocker because of the dog and it fitted.
As is typical in a Mudd/Paul puzzle, some good clues and some average ones. Crackpot and Rainbow were good. 26dn not so much.