Puzzle from the Weekend FT of July 11, 2026
My first-in was the very easy 26 (ALAS) and I finished with 9 (XERXES) after struggling a little with the top-left. 1 (HEXAPOD) and 2 (NURSELING) are terms I do not recall coming across before. My favourite clues are 17 (DOUBLE ACT), 19 (NIGHT-BIRDS) with the best Spoonerism I have seen in a while, and the playful 29 (DORMOUSE). Thank you Rosa.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | HONEST |
Genuine Polish saint (6)
|
| HONE (polish) + ST (saint) | ||
| 4 | WASHED UP |
Exhausted on the beach? (6,2)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 9 | XERXES |
Ancient king runs off, deprived of love (6)
|
| XER[o]XES (runs off, deprived of ‘0’) | ||
| 10 | SCANDALS |
Examine boy over first of several outrages (8)
|
| SCAN (examine) + LAD (boy) backwards (over) + S[everal] | ||
| 12 | PREVIOUS |
Devout cleric breaks record (8)
|
| REV (cleric) in (breaks) PIOUS (devout) with the definition referring to having a criminal record. | ||
| 13 | SHUFTI |
Silence you, and us, with one look (6)
|
| SH (silence) + U (you) + FT (us) + I (one) | ||
| 15 | DRIP |
Conclusion of sad epitaph for wimp (4)
|
| [sa]D + RIP (epitaph) | ||
| 16 | ROSE GARDEN |
Aged snorer lost bloomers here (4,6)
|
| Anagram (lost) of AGED SNORER | ||
| 19 | NIGHT-BIRDS |
Owls nip trainspotters, according to Spooner (5-5)
|
| Spoonerism of “bite nerds” | ||
| 20 | RUES |
Regrets subterfuge, by the sound of it (4)
|
| Homophone (by the sound of it) of “ruse” (subterfuge) | ||
| 23 | BRANCH |
Subdivision of British farm in US? (6)
|
| B (British) + RANCH (farm in the US) | ||
| 25 | NEW DELHI |
Girl undressed for audience in Asian capital (3,5)
|
| Homophone (for audience) of “nude Ellie” | ||
| 27 | LETHALLY |
Rent room close to hostelry, with fatal consequences (8)
|
| LET (rent) + HALL (room) + .[hostelr]Y | ||
| 28 | SONATA |
Some thoughts on a Taverner composition (6)
|
| Hidden word (some) | ||
| 29 | DORMOUSE |
Busy room used for heavy sleeper (8)
|
| Anagram (busy) of ROOM USED with the definition referring to Alice In Wonderland. Do we like ‘busy’ as an anagram indicator? | ||
| 30 | SNATCH |
Fragment is small, of course (6)
|
| S (small) + NATCH (of course) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | HEXAPOD |
Six-footer cast spell over American school (7)
|
| HEX (spell) + A (American) + POD (school, e.g. of whales) | ||
| 2 | NURSELING |
Tear about, heartlessly hawking baby (9)
|
| RUT (tear) backwards (about) + SEL[l]ING (heartlessly hawking) | ||
| 3 | STEVIA |
Finally gets contract done by means of sweetener (6)
|
| [get]S [contrac]T [don]E + VIA (by means of) | ||
| 5 | ARCH |
Curve of flash crash on rebound (4)
|
| Reverse (on rebound) hidden word (of) | ||
| 6 | HENCHMAN |
Heavy, muscular old lady heading to nightclub (8)
|
| HENCH (muscular) + MA (old lady) + N[ightclub] | ||
| 7 | DWARF |
Short conflict in outskirts of Dusseldorf (5)
|
| WAR (conflict) in (in) D[usseldor]F | ||
| 8 | PASSION |
I peg out clothes in heat (7)
|
| :I (I) in (clothes) PASS ON (peg out). To ‘peg out’ means informally to die. | ||
| 11 | OUT OF IT |
Oscar putting on costume, blind drunk (3,2,2)
|
| O (Oscar) in (putting on) OUTFIT (costume) | ||
| 14 | NEEDLES |
Mostly gratuitous taunts (7)
|
| NEEDLES[s] (mostly gratuitous) | ||
| 17 | DOUBLE ACT |
Roughly abduct Leo, Stan and Ollie? (6,3)
|
| Anagram (roughly) of ABDUCT LEO | ||
| 18 | STACCATO |
Feline’s returned with coat badly clipped (8)
|
| CATS (felines) backwards + anagram (badly) of COAT | ||
| 19 | NOBBLED |
Kidnapped aristocrat wept (7)
|
| NOB (aristocrat) + BLED (wept) | ||
| 21 | SPINACH |
On heroin, panics wildly and leaves (7)
|
| Anagram (wildly) of PANICS + H (heroin) | ||
| 22 | ADJOIN |
Neighbour of judge involved in commotion at home (6)
|
| J (judge) in (involved in) ADO (commotion) + IN (at home) | ||
| 24 | ASTIR |
Wine waiter’s last out of bed (5)
|
| ASTI (wine) + [waite]R | ||
| 26 | ALAS |
Railways regularly neglected, sadly (4)
|
| [r]A[i]L[w]A[y]S |
NHO STEVIA but guessed correctly. Some lovely left-field definitions, particularly 12a PREVIOUS.
Favourite today 25a NEW DELHI.
This was so much fun from Rosa Klebb and certainly up to her usual high standard.
I agree, Pete, NIGHT-BIRDS was one of the cutest Spoonerisms I’ve seen. I liked PREVIOUS for the definition, NEEDLESS and STACCATO had great surfaces while DOUBLE ACT and DORMOUSE rounded out my top picks.
Cheers to Rosa and I look forward already to her next appearance.
Thanks, Pete, for a sterling blog.
Just a small typo in 2d; it is ‘run’ (tear) not ‘rut’ to give ‘nurseling’.