Puzzle from the Weekend FT of August 15, 2026
This proved to be my most difficult solve in a long time. And I had the embarrassment of originally posting this blog with 3 clues unexplained: 3d (CUBIT), 13 (FOR THE RECORD) and 21 (PARIS). My thanks to Tachi and Pelham Barton for explaining them.
I do think that Guy has some brilliant clues at 1a (BABY), 7 (SHERWOOD FOREST), 12 (TO TASTE) and 14 (TENNIS PRO).
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | BABY |
Loading area number two reported new delivery (4)
|
| Homophone (reported) of “bay B” (loading area number two) | ||
| 3 | CENSORED |
Cold, tender spot in heel checked for sensitivity (8)
|
| C (cold) + SORE (tender spot) in (in) END (heel) | ||
| 8 | DOUCHE BAG |
Awful blister that hurt in bed after Georgia rolled over (6,3)
|
| OUCH (that hurt) in GA (Georgia) + BED (bed) together backwards | ||
| 9 | EQUIP |
Supply crack online? (5)
|
| E-QUIP (crack online?) | ||
| 11 | EXCERPT |
Bit of work first for recycler, leaving out bottles (7)
|
| R[ecycler] in (bottles) EXCEPT (leaving out) | ||
| 12 | TO TASTE |
Where “Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans…” leads? (As You Like It) (2,5)
|
| Double defintion | ||
| 13 | FOR THE RECORD |
Perhaps keep string to wrap present officially (3,3,6)
|
| FORT (keep) and CORD (string) wrapping HERE (present) | ||
| 17 | STANDING ROOM |
Space on packed bus replacement service for jilted bride? (8,4)
|
| STAND-IN (replacement) + GROOM (service for jilted bride) | ||
| 20 | RAVIOLI |
Artist and half orchestral players stuffed envelopes (7)
|
| RA (artist) + VIOLI[nists] (half orchestral players) | ||
| 21 | PANNIER |
On the way back, strap down load on bike (7)
|
| REIN (strap) + NAP (down) all backwards (on the way back) | ||
| 22 | TRUCE |
Conservative blocks loyal campaigners’ suspension (5)
|
| C (Conservative) in (blocks) TRUE (loyal) | ||
| 23 | PORBEAGLE |
Darwin’s ship led by sound of miserable shark (9)
|
| Homophone (by sound of) of “poor” (MISERABLE) + BEAGLE (Darwin’s ship). ‘Porbeagle’, a new word to me, is a voracious shark of the genus Lamna. | ||
| 24 | STOTIOUS |
Irish drunk promises to pay after second dram (8)
|
| S (second) + TOT (dram) + IOUS (promises to pay). ‘Stotious’, a new term to me, is Irish (and Scottish) slang for very drunk. | ||
| 25 | ARMY |
Host taking book from off his trolley (4)
|
| [b]ARMY (book from off his trolley) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | BUDGET |
Cheap lager? Add to basket (6)
|
| BUD (lager, short for Budweiser) + GET (add to basket) | ||
| 2 | BRUNCH |
Republican in group eats at a funny time (6)
|
| R (Republican) in (in) BUNCH (group) | ||
| 3 | CUBIT |
Nearly all large parts shortened about 20 inches (5)
|
| BI[g] (nearly all large) in (parts) CUT (shortened) | ||
| 4 | NIGHTWEAR |
Whinge at drunken Romeo’s snoring habit? (9)
|
| Anagram (drunken) of WHINGE AT + R (Romeo) | ||
| 5 | OVER-THE-COUNTER |
English company incorporated by professed animal killer traded freely (4-3- 7)
|
| OVERT (professed) + E (English) + CO (company) together in HUNTER (animal killer) | ||
| 6 | EMULSION |
Paint large bird and small that cat’s caught (8)
|
| EMU (large bird) + S (small) in (caught) LION (cat) | ||
| 7 | SHERWOOD FOREST |
Criminal here stood for sharing wealth, primarily (8,6)
|
| Anagram (criminal) of HERE STOOD FOR S[haring] W[ealth] | ||
| 10 | PSEUDO |
Operation involving subs going north not what it seems (6)
|
| DUES (subs) in (involving) OP (operation) all backwards (going north) | ||
| 14 | TENNIS PRO |
Sinner top sort of this? (6,3)
|
| Anagram (sort of) SINNER TOP &Lit. | ||
| 15 | ESPRIT |
Funny sitrep entertaining intelligence (6)
|
| Anagram (funny) of SITREP. A sitrep is a military situation report. | ||
| 16 | FAN VAULT |
Lover bound architect’s splayed ribs (3,5)
|
| FAN (lover) + VAULT (bound) | ||
| 18 | FINGER |
Index for one name (6)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 19 | ORNERY |
Characters edging over East River in New York habitually cross there (6)
|
| O[ve]R + E (east) + R (river) together in (in) NY (New York) | ||
| 21 | PARIS |
Place just a train ride from London remains sub-standard (5)
|
| IS (remains) sub PAR (standard) |
FOR THE RECORD = FORT (keep) and CORD (string) wrapping HERE (present)
PARIS = IS (remains) sub PAR (standard)
Thanks Pete and Guy. I too found this a bit of a headscratcher, but a good challenge.
IThanks Guy and Pete
13ac is HERE (present) in (to wrap) FORT (perhaps keep) + CORD (string), leaving “officially” for the definition.
21dn is IS (remains) below PAR (standard), Paris being a train ride from London by Eurostar through the Channel tunnel.
I could not get 3dn either.
I see Tachi got there first.
A couple of typos:
5dn: company gives CO, not just C.
7dn should be anagram of HERE STOOD FOR S[haring] W[ealth].
And of course there is a typo at the very beginning of my previous comment.
Just seen 3dn. It is BI[g] (nearly all large) in (parts) CUT (shortened).
I also found this very difficult. Guy’s puzzles always seem such a slog. So saying, NIGHTWEAR had a nice surface and witty definition and I also ticked STANDING ROOM.
So much guessing and parsing later, and I finished with far too many unparsed answers to list.
Thanks anyway Guy, and thanks Pete for a really good blog
This was a fine puzzle, although I also found it hard to finish. I think others above have rounded out the parsing gaps.
Thanks for the blog , not an easy task for this one . I am glad it was a Saturday giving me more time to scratch my head and enjoy it . Many fine clues , TO TASTE is so clever .
Tricky crossword that took some work. I’m afraid I’m still not getting the first of the double underlined definitions in TO TASTE. How does that follow? I thought there might be some more complicated wordplay involved.
As others have said – very tough but very satisfying. Guessed the unknown FAN VAULT and checked it. Not being a Shakespeare fan, had to use google to explain the first part of TO TASTE. As a quote from As You Like It it’s very clever, as Roz says. I have to admit, I failed at the final hurdle. I could only think of CONSOLED for 3a which didn’t parse. Should have gone back to that one perhaps.
I’m so glad others found this hard because I was feeling very stupid after about an hour of not getting much out. Thanks for the explanations all!
Adders@8 it is – Sans teeth , sans eyes , sans TASTE …
So the quotation given leads to taste .
It is from the – All the world’s a stage … – speech .
This bit is the seventh age of man .
Tricky in places and we needed a bit of help.
For 8ac; Chambers has ‘contemptible fellow’ as one definition, so we decided ‘awful blister’ needed the ‘lift and separate’ treatment to read ‘awful B-lister’ Otherwise no problems in parsing although the PDM was delayed for 12ac.
Thanks, Guy and Pete.
Another who found this challenging but very enjoyable. I second Pete’s choice of favourites.
8ac: Chambers 2016 has
p 463 douche bag a contemptible person (sl) as noted by Big Al @13;
p 163 blister an irritating person, a pest (sl.
I think that is easily enough to justify “awful blister” as a definition of DOUCHE BAG without needing to postulate an unsignalled conversion of “blister” into “B-lister”.
Finished it but with about 8 unparsed. Clever work from GUY, and thanks for that, but as is often the case with Guy, a bit above my pay grade.
No doubt it’s obvious, but I don’t understand dues = subs in 10d PSEUDO. It didn’t stop me from getting the answer.
I otherwise failed miserably, with four unsolved and a few jorums successfully guessed at. But there were some fun clues, including 1a BABY and 20a RAVIOLI*, neither of which I solved, and my favourite, the brilliant surface and anagram of 7 d SHERWOOD FOREST.
* I didn’t get RAVIOLI because I don’t think of a violinist as an orchestral player. Neither of the violinists in my string quartet play in orchestras. (They’re too busy with their day jobs.)
Finished but took several visits. My favourite setter. I found it very much at the tough end of his spectrum.
Thanks for explaining CUBIT.
Cellomaniac@17 If you belong to a club, you may pay subs (subscriptions) or your dues.
Thanks, Petert. I didn’t know that meaning of subs. TILT.
Thanks, PB @ 15
Our copy of Chambers is from 2014; the entry for douche bag’s obviously been updated.
Oh dear. Far to tricky for me. I mean, stuffed envelopes for ravioli is too remote for my brain to reach. You live and learn.
I remember being required to pay subs when I joined the Cubs in the mid-60s around the age of seven or eight (just before the Cubs became Cub Scouts), so it’s a fairly common word in the UK. I still do not understand ‘ornery’ though it was one possibility I had in mind as the answer, using crossword logic rather than knowledge.
19dn: Collins 2023 p 1405 has ornery adj US and Canadian dialect or informal 1 stubborn or vile-tempered. I think “vile-tempered” covers “habitually cross”, and “there” refers to “in New York”, to fit the US part of US and Canadian.
Late with my comment (moved house this week – ugh) but so satisfying to finally solve. Parsed all bar CUBIT. Thanks Guy for a great and enjoyable challenge.
I don’t usually do the FT puzzle but I’m staying in a house where it is delivered daily so I gave it a go. This was enjoyable and a bit tricky – I needed your help here to parse 3ac, 13ac and 3d.
Thanks, Guy and Pete.