Puzzle from the Weekend FT of June 6, 2026
I quickly managed to fill the top right triangular half and then had some toil to complete the rest. My favourite clues here are 2 (LIKE A SHOT) and 18 (ASPARAGUS). Non-Brits may have had difficulty with the fish in 22 (DAB) and the sandwich in 23 (BACON).
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | FLYING SQUIRREL |
Dishonest gent hiding right inside extremely full glider (6,8)
|
| LYING (dishonest) + R (right) in (inside) SQUIRE (gent) together in (hiding) F[ul]L | ||
| 10 | NAKED |
Uncovered wound on doffing of cap (5)
|
| [s]NAKED (wound on doffing of cap) | ||
| 11 | OVERTONES |
50pc of binary code preceded by clear hints (9)
|
| OVERT (clear) + ONES (50pc of binary code) | ||
| 12 | ARAL SEA |
Lake region a lass on vacation visits (4,3)
|
| A (a) + L[as]S in (visits) AREA (region). The body of water that is called the Aral Sea is actually a lake. | ||
| 13 | NEST EGG |
Reserve twisting leg gets enough nurses (4,3)
|
| Reverse (twisting) hidden word (nurses) | ||
| 14 | ETHOS |
Drunk European recalled drinking hard spirit (5)
|
| H (hard) in (drinking) SOT (drunk) E (European) backwards (recalled) | ||
| 16 | DISSIPATE |
Scatter last of chilli on slate with foie gras for one (9)
|
| DISS (slate) + [chill]I + PATE (foie gras for one) | ||
| 19 | MATRIARCH |
She has power test curtailed amid protest? (9)
|
| TRIA[l] (test curtailed) in (amid) MARCH (protest) | ||
| 20 | EXPEL |
Retired half of chapel drive out (5)
|
| EX (retired) + [cha]PEL | ||
| 22 | DABBLED |
Did tinker fish with line in river channel? (7)
|
| DAB (fish) + L (line) in BED (river channel) | ||
| 25 | DEPARTS |
Splits roles after editor retreated (7)
|
| ED (editor) backwards (retreated) + PARTS (roles) | ||
| 27 | COCHINEAL |
Dye calico when tipsy without wife (9)
|
| Anagram (tipsy) of CALICO [w]HEN (without wife) | ||
| 28 | ARGUE |
Fever overwhelming king in dispute (5)
|
| R (king) in (overwhelming) of AGUE (fever) | ||
| 29 | MONKEY BUSINESS |
Mischief working main vehicle among pits with son (6,8)
|
| KEY (main) + BUS (vehicle) + IN (among) together in MESS (pits) + S (son) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | LIKE A SHOT |
Eagerly left Swedish giant’s house ahead of time (4,1,4)
|
| L (left) + IKEA (Swedish giant) + S (‘s) + HO (house) + T (time) | ||
| 3 | INDUS |
Runner not out with regulars from northbound squad (5)
|
| IN (not out) + S[q]U[a]D backwards (northbound) | ||
| 4 | GOOSANDER |
Leave sizeable article on the German duck (9)
|
| GO (leave) + OS (sizeable, short for outsized) + AN (article) + DER (the German) | ||
| 5 | QUEEN |
Odd bringing in note for Republican man on board (5)
|
| QUEER (odd) with the ‘R’ (Republican) changed to ‘N’ (note). And, yes, on a chess board the Queens are “men”. | ||
| 6 | INTESTINE |
Gut section 9 spanning river after 13.00 (9)
|
| I (13:00) + TEST (river) in (spanning) NINE | ||
| 7 | RANGE |
Scope operated on middle of ridgeway (5)
|
| RAN (operated) + [rid]GE[way] | ||
| 8 | LASAGNE |
Altered angle as Mamma’s serving? (7)
|
| Anagram (altered) of ANGLE AS | ||
| 9 | ENRAGE |
Fresh green American incense (6)
|
| Anagram (fresh) of GREEN A (American) | ||
| 15 | STILL LIFE |
Picture kit to make booze at front of magazine (5,4)
|
| STILL (kit to make booze) + LIFE (magazine) | ||
| 17 | SCHEDULES |
Pencils in school Leeds university fabricated (9)
|
| SCH (school) + anagram (fabricated) of LEEDS U (university) | ||
| 18 | ASPARAGUS |
Small soldier breaking silver coating of useless spears? (9)
|
| PARA (soldier) in (breaking) AG (silver) + U[seles}S | ||
| 19 | MODICUM |
Little Asian leader oddly chummy (7)
|
| MODI (Asian leader) + C[h]U[m]M[y] | ||
| 21 | LESSEN |
Delivered instruction for shrink (6)
|
| Homophone (delivered) of “lesson” (instruction) | ||
| 23 | BACON |
Not a single taxi around enclosed bit of Sandwich? (5)
|
| NO CAB (not a single cab) backwards (around) | ||
| 24 | DWEEB |
Charlie in LA cut plant inhabiting centre of sandbank (5)
|
| WEE[d] (LA cut plant) in (inhabiting) [san]DB[ank] | ||
| 26 | PRAWN |
Pervert turned up with new cocktail ingredient (5)
|
| WARP (pervert) backwards (turned up) + N (new) |
Thanks Leonidas and Pete
Just one minor point. The parsing for 18dn is currently missing the S (small) before PARA.
Too late to edit the previous comment, 29ac needs ON (working) before KEY.
Thanks Pete and Leonidas.
Building on Pelham Barton, 29a is ON+KEY+BUS in MINES (pits) + S (son). Your parsing gives an extra S.
I’d assume 24a has ‘in LA’ as part of the definition with DWEEB being American slang.