Puzzle from the Weekend FT of October 10, 2026
Another excellent puzzle from Rosa. There were two words I did not know, 7 EDUCE and 18 MYRMIDON, plus one that I did not know the exact meaning of, 20 PALADIN. My favorites are 1a ON SPEC, 28 DREAMLAND, 6 WATERTIGHT, 7 EDUCE and 17 NORTH-EAST.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | ON SPEC |
Ponces about in the hope of achieving something (2,4)
|
| Anagram (about) of PONCES | ||
| 4 | SLOWNESS |
What’s behind this depression and lethargy? (8)
|
| S (what’s behind this?) + LOWNESS (depression). Not sure I like this ‘S’. | ||
| 10 | DENIGRATE |
Disparage and haunt nameless, thankless individual (9)
|
| DEN (haunt) + I[n]GRATE (nameless thankless individual) | ||
| 11 | TOUGH |
Skin of tomato that’s disgusting and chewy (5)
|
| T[omat]O + UGH (that’s disgusting) | ||
| 12 | ALAS |
Picked up a girl, regrettably (4)
|
| Homopone (picked up) of “a lass” | ||
| 13 | FATHERLESS |
She falters, travelling without a parent (10)
|
| Anagram (travelling) of SHE FALTERS | ||
| 15 | CHICORY |
Leaves elegant old rectory empty (7)
|
| CHIC (elegant) + O (old) + R[ector]Y | ||
| 16 | SOIGNE |
Spot ingenue, intermittently well-groomed (6)
|
| S[p]O[t]I[n]G[u]E | ||
| 19 | GOSSIP |
Idle talk starts to scare some in Republican Party circles (6)
|
| S[care] S[ome] I[n] in (circles) GOP (Republican Party) | ||
| 21 | ASHTRAY |
Last of rubbish put in wrong receptacle (7)
|
| [rubbis]H in (put in) ASTRAY (wrong) | ||
| 23 | HYDRAULICS |
Such a drily complex applied science (10)
|
| Anagram (complex) of SUCH A DRILY | ||
| 25 | SHAM |
Mock Lewis Hamilton to some extent (4)
|
| Hidden word (to some extent) | ||
| 27 | DROLL |
Comical Liberal peer retires (5)
|
| L (Liberal) + LORD (peer) all backwards (retires) | ||
| 28 | DREAMLAND |
Come down after drug- spiked drink in state of unreality (9)
|
| E (drug) in (spiked) DRAM (drink) + LAND (come down) | ||
| 29 | SWEEPING |
General finally collapses in tears (8)
|
| [collapse]S + WEEPING (in tears) | ||
| 30 | SOFTEN |
Spades frequently lose hardness (6)
|
| S (spades) + OFTEN (frequently) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | ORDNANCE |
Regulation excluding current weapons (8)
|
| ORD[i]NANCE (regulation excuding ‘I’ for current) | ||
| 2 | SAN MARINO |
Organised ransom in a mountainous microstate (3,6)
|
| Anagram (organised) of RANSOM IN A | ||
| 3 | ERGO |
Forgeries periodically circulating thus (4)
|
| [f]O[r]G[e]R[i]E[s] backwards (circulating). Initially I messed this up when I wrote the blog even though I saw the wordplay correctly when I solvef it. | ||
| 5 | LEECHES |
Worms in drains, reportedly (7)
|
| Homophone (reportedly) of LEACHES (drains) | ||
| 6 | WATERTIGHT |
Wet, drunk, and completely impervious (10)
|
| WATER (wet) + TIGHT (drunk) | ||
| 7 | EDUCE |
Arouse Don Juan, naked (5)
|
| [s]EDUCE[r] (Don Juan naked). ‘Educe means to evolve or draw out. | ||
| 8 | SCHISM |
Is initially misbehaving following school break (6)
|
| SCH (school) + IS (is) + M[isbehaving] | ||
| 9 | GALAXY |
Festival axes many stars (6)
|
| GALA (festival) + XY (axes, as in geometry) | ||
| 14 | CODSWALLOP |
Claptrap from guys on strike (10)
|
| CODS (guys, in northern England) + WALLOP (strike) | ||
| 17 | NORTH-EAST |
Earth’s not changing direction (5-4)
|
| Anagram (changing) of EARTHS NOT | ||
| 18 | MYRMIDON |
Henchman in fancy room with international mafia boss (8)
|
| MY (fancy, as an interjection) + RM (room) + I (international) + DON (mafia boss) | ||
| 20 | PALADIN |
Knight in China, leader of audacious racket (7)
|
| PAL (china) + A[udacious] + DIN (racket) | ||
| 21 | ARCHER |
Monarch introduced by roguish person with a bow (6)
|
| ARCH (roguish) in (introduced) + ER (monarch) | ||
| 22 | CHIDES |
Extremely charmless hosts cover carpets (6)
|
| HIDE (cover) in (hosts) C[harmles]S | ||
| 24 | DRONE |
Doctor and setter talk monotonously (5)
|
| DR (doctor) + ONE (setter) | ||
| 26 | AMMO |
Unlimited money for bullets? (4)
|
| [m]AMMO[n] (unlimited money) |
A fine crossword from Rosa Klebb with the great surfaces we’ve come to expect.
Favourites included EDUCE, SHAM, GALAXY and SOIGNE (such a lovely word).
Thanks to Rosa and Pete.
A minor point – 20d has the wordplay rather than the definition underlined.
I agree. I love good surfaces and so I enjoyed this puzzle a lot. I ticked so many clues, including ERGO (wonderful observation), DROLL, SWEEPING, MYRMIDON, DREAMLAND, NORTH EAST, and SLOWNESS
Guy = COD was the new term for me.
Thanks RK and PM
Enjoyable but I don’t see how EDUCE = AROUSE or ONE = SETTER. Thanks Rosa and Pete.
SLOWNESS
Is it
“what’s behind (of) this=S”?
Lovely puzzle
Favourites included: MYRMIDON, CHIDES, DROLL, CHICORY, PALADIN, GALAXY
Thanks Rosa Klebb and Pete
Wondered likewise, KVa @5, to make the ‘this’ necessary.
For me, both guy and cod meaning trick or tease are crosswordland only, but I’m used to them. And twigging fancy = my took a minute. But yes Rosa’s trademark silky solve, thx to her and Pete.
Thanks Rosa for another gem. My top picks were SLOWNESS, ALAS, SWEEPING, EDUCE, GOSSIP, and GALAXY. MYRMIDON took a minute but all else slipped in smoothly. Thanks Pete for the blog.
Tony Dee@ 4,
EDUCE is synonymous with ‘arouse’ in the sense of elicit, evoke or draw out a feeling.
And ‘one’ in this sense is a pronoun;
I am (one is) a setter.
I knew COD as an adjective meaning fake or pretend (like cod latin), but not as a verb=guy meaning to fool or tease. Otherwise another great puzzle from Rosa Klebb, full of trademark smooth surfaces (I particularly liked TOUGH, ON SPEC and NORTHEAST). Both LEACH and LEECH can mean to drain.
Thanks Rosa and Pete
3dn: This must be [f]O[r]G[e]R[i]E[s] (Forgeries periodically) reversed (circulating).
As Tony @8 says, yet another gem from Rosa – a delight from start (with a giggle for ‘ponce about’ at 1ac) to finish, with so much wit and lovely surfaces in between.
Not a dud clue in sight – ticks for FATHERLESS, GOSSIP, HYDRAULIC, SWEEPING, ERGO, EDUCE, MYRMIDON – and there could have been more.
Many thanks, as ever, to Rosa and to Pete.
Excellent puzzle. Particularly liked ON SPEC and TOUGH.
Shocked and stunned to see this compiler defining MYRMIDON as henchman and not henchwoman though. 🙂
Rosa never disappoints. I ticked HYDRAULICS.
Rosa in top form. It’s the smooth surfaces that separates her from the rest. Lots of excellent clues with my favorites being Galaxy and schism.
I’m only commenting because such a delightful puzzle deserves more than 15 comments.
It puzzles me that the FT crosswords educe such a small number of comments compared to the Guardian offerings. Is it because there are so many fewer of us (an interesting construction) doing the FTs? If so, a lot of fifteensquareheads are depriving themselves of a daily joyful experience. The quality of these puzzles is exceptionally high, as this one exemplifies.
Cellomaniac @ 16
I agree – it surprises me that so few comment on the FT puzzles.
Rosa Klebb (of course) Julius and Leonidas are three of my favourite setters and since starting to tackle FT puzzles I increasingly find I do more of them than the Guardian ones.
What do you all mean by her „smooth surfaces“?
Bridget Wilkin @ 18
Not sure I can explain it well.
Smooth surfaces mean that the clue makes sense as a sentence. Sometime clues work well as clues but do not really make sense as a sentence someone would say. Rosa Klebb’s clues do and thus have smooth surfaces.
Some solvers don’t mind or are not interested in the surface – others do. I like smooth surfaces.
There is an interview with the setter Rosa Klebb here – she sets as Arachne in the Guardian – and she explains why surfaces matter to her
http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/crossword-blog/2012/feb/02/crossword-blog-meet-the-setter-arachne
I’m coming here days late as I’ve been away but am commenting because I agree this crossword deserves more comments! It was a delight to solve it. Thank you Rosa and Pete.