Puzzle from the Weekend FT of July 25, 2026
This blog is being posted nearly 12 hours late due to some odd connection problems last night.
I found this a challenging puzzle especially because of some very long-range definitions. It also has one word at 2d (DECAPOD) that I was barely familiar with. I did manage to make sense of it all (with help) but early signs suggest that I was not the only one to have tough time with it. 10d (KITCHEN GARDEN) is one example of a hairy definition but one that I happened to like. 19 (POSEIDON) is another example of a difficult but very appropriate definition. One clue I liked a lot is 25 (SATISFIED).
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SIDECAR |
Cocktail terrace discounts partly withdrawn (7)
|
| Reverse (withdrawn) hidden word (partly) | ||
| 5 | MEDUSA |
Two Americans going after sea monster (6)
|
| MED (sea) + US (one American) + A (a second American) | ||
| 8 | OCCULTIST |
Clot is cut out to be a bad speller? (9)
|
| Anagram out) of CLOT IS CUT | ||
| 9 | SLEEK |
Streamlined vessel at last involved in hunt (5)
|
| [vesse]L in (in) SEEK (hunt) | ||
| 11 | TIPSY |
Lightly oiled extremities at front of yard (5)
|
| TIPS (extremities) + Y[ard} | ||
| 12 | NEWMARKET |
Game youth back drinking with maiden by ship (9)
|
| W (with) + M (maiden) + ARK (ship) altogether in (drinking) TEEN (youth) backwards (back). Newmarket is a card game. | ||
| 13 | MEDICINE |
Old Italian family outside of nice doctor’s practice (8)
|
| MEDICI (old Italian family) + N[ic]E | ||
| 15 | STARCH |
Jack visiting school gets a stiffener in the laundry (6)
|
| TAR (jack) in (visiting) SCH (school) | ||
| 17 | NATURE |
Sensible having Mike replaced by northern character (6)
|
| MATURE (sensible) with the ‘M’ (Mike) replaced by ‘N’ (northern) | ||
| 19 | POSEIDON |
Sit setter alongside fellow Olympian (8)
|
| POSE (sit) + I (setter) + DON (fellow) | ||
| 22 | IMPARTIAL |
Objective of one of the military retaining power (9)
|
| I (one) + P (power) in (retaining) MARTIAL (of the military) | ||
| 23 | LYCRA |
Elderly craftsman partly manufactured material (5)
|
| Hidden word (partly) | ||
| 24 | ELAND |
Aim to lasso core of isolated antelope (5)
|
| [iso]LA[ted] in (to lasso) END (aim) | ||
| 25 | SATISFIED |
FT’s AI is changing editor’s content (9)
|
| Anagram (changing) of FTS AI IS + ED (editor) | ||
| 26 | ALLEGE |
Maintain a large stage back in Glyndebourne (6)
|
| A (a) + L (large) + LEG (stage) + {Glyndebourn]E | ||
| 27 | SURGEON |
Good confident nurses working for professional (7)
|
| G (good) in (nurses) SURE (confident) + ON (working) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SPORTSMANLIKE |
Two sons consuming drink on isle enjoy fair (13)
|
| PORT (drink) in (consuming) SS (two sons) + MAN (isle) + LIKE (enjoy) | ||
| 2 | DECAPOD |
Crab maybe nicely served up at top of school (7)
|
| ACED (nicely served) backwards (up) + POD (school). A decapod is a type of crustacean along with lobsters and shrimps. | ||
| 3 | COLEY |
Swimmer retiring around first half of Lent (5)
|
| LE[nt] in (around) COY (retiring). Coley is an edible fish that I have not come across before. | ||
| 4 | REIGNING |
Quitting when head of section’s left in charge (8)
|
| RE[s]IGNING | ||
| 5 | MOTOWN |
Music books filling second wagon cleared out (6)
|
| OT (books, i.e. Old Testament) in (filling) MO (second) + W[ago]N | ||
| 6 | DISMANTLE |
Strip of false tin medals (9)
|
| Anagram (false) of TIN MEDALS | ||
| 7 | SPEAKER |
Small point raised about one making delivery (7)
|
| S (small) + PEAK (point) + RE (about) backwards (raised) | ||
| 10 | KITCHEN GARDEN |
Heard vulgar grandee exploding over new herb supplier? (7,6)
|
| Homophone (heard) of “kitsch” (vulgar) + anagram (exploding) of GRANDEE + N (new) | ||
| 14 | CARTRIDGE |
Part of magazine from vehicle that’s pulled atop bank (9)
|
| CART (vehicle that’s pulled) + RIDGE (bank) | ||
| 16 | COLLATES |
Gathers together scrolls periodically before night shifts (8)
|
| [s]C[r]O[l]L + LATES (night shifts) | ||
| 18 | TOPSAIL |
Fund retracted and auction reported? It may be rigged (7)
|
| POT (fund) backwards (retracted) + homophone (reported) of “sale” (auction) | ||
| 20 | DUCTILE |
Easy to draw Bob briefly on part of roof? (7)
|
| DUC[k] (Bob briefly) + TILE (part of roof) | ||
| 21 | TISSUE |
Tense children in collection of cells (6)
|
| T (tense) + ISSUE (children) | ||
| 23 | LOSER |
Charlie dodging handier person with the wooden spoon? (5)
|
| [c]LOSER (‘C’ dodging handier) |
Thanks Leonidas and Pete.
10dn: I think this starts with KITCH sounding like (Heard) KITSCH (vulgar). Certainly Chambers 2016 p 845 has only the spelling kitsch for the meaning “vulgar”. The same goes for ODE 2010 and Collins2023.
I completed all but two on Saturday and it wasn’t till I retuned to the puzzle yesterday evening when I thought “maybe the Olympian is a god” that I got POSEIDON I thought it was a brilliant clue.
Also liked: KITCHEN GARDEN, MEDUSA, NEWMARKET, SPORTSMANLIKE, DECAPOD, DUCTILE (LOI)
Agree with PB@1 re kitsch/kitch
Thanks Leonidas (great puzzle – really enjoyed it) and Pete Maclean
Great fun from Leonidas as always, thank you to both setter and blogger.
7D PEAK point raised;
10D KITCH homophone (heard) of kitsch (vulgar) — PB@1 has beaten me to it;
14D Not convinced cartridge is actually *part* of magazine, even when in it.
I found this a crafty but very accessible puzzle, a quickish solve, and an enjoyable one.
I think KITSCH is one of those bastardised spellings ( as KITCH ) because it’s so commonly (wrongly) pronounced that way.
Vis-a-vis the solution, it’s interesting that the etymology ( Germanic ) is from “kitschen”.
Re 6(d), I don’t feel that STRIP and DISMANTLE are a match made in heaven, but fair enough in a cryptic context.
Super puzzle and blog, top jobs, Leo & Pete
We found this a bit tricky in places but completed it unaided; looking back at the completed grid we can’t see where the problems were. Favourite was KITCHEN GARDEN (where we agree with PB’s parsing).
Thanks, Leonidas and Pete.
6dn: “to dismantle” is explicitly given as a definition of strip in Chambers 2016 p 1540; also in Collins 2023 p 1960.
7dn: I agree with Pete. The “raised” is a reversal indicator applied to RE and giving us the ER at the end of the answer SPEAKER.
SPEAKER
I parsed it as the blogger (point=PEAK)
KITCHEN GARDEN
Parsed it as PB@1
CARTRIDGE
vehicle that’s pulled=CART
SURGEON is more like an extended def. Liked it.
Thanks Leonidas and Pete.
Like others, I found this quite hard at the time, but on reflection, I can’t see why.
“Crab maybe” to me would be seafood, nebula, crustacean or DECAPOD. Minded of the ocean, the POD sprang to mind, so the solution soon became clear. I had the same thought on SURGEON as KVa and agree with the KITSCH heard point made by others.
I liked MEDUSA, TIPSY, KITCHEN GARDEN and MOTOWN among others. (My wife enjoys a SIDECAR).
Thanks Leonidas and Pete.
Thanks Leonidas and Pete.
POSEIDON was the clear favourite for me and once again, I’m re-reading my Robert Fagles translation of The Odyssey. Christopher Nolan, I gather, hewed more closely to the Emily Wilson version.
Leonidas almost had the better of me with SIDECAR, so well hidden did I find this, my LOI.
Thank you for the corrections of KITCHEN GARDEN and CARTRIDGE.
Ignore me @3 re 7D (raised) — of course Pete is right, don’t know what I was thinking there.
Thanks for the blog , great set of clues with many clever touches . The list from Fiona@2 can speak for me .
POSEIDON my favourite , I was born In The Wake Of Poseidon .
Perfect puzzle from Leonidas. Many thanks. I liked POSEIDON and DECAPOD. Very good clueing.
Thanks Leonidas for a great set of clues. I thoroughly enjoyed this with POSEIDON, STARCH, MEDUSA, and SLEEK being among my favourites. Thanks Pete for the blog.