“A monthly cryptic crossword relating to the month’s topical events”
Find it on the FT website to print or solve interactively, or use the FT’s neat smartphone app.
This online-only series from the FT has proved a welcome addition to my crossword habit, and Neo has kept up the standard with this most enjoyable puzzle, which has topical references woven through both clues and solutions in a good variety of inventive ways. I particularly liked 10a PUTIN despite the subject matter and 1d BARBECUE for the neatly misleading definition.
One of the things I like about Neo is that he’s always scrupulously precise in his clueing, which generally makes them more enjoyable to solve – there’s only one clue 18a WIN where I’m not 100% confident of the parsing, but I think it works. Would be interested to know what others think.
Thanks for a fun puzzle, Neo.
Definitions are underlined in the clues. In the annotations, elements of the solution are highlighted in BLUE and indicator words from the clues are highlighted in GREEN.
| ACROSS | ||
| 9 | ANIMALISM |
Wild simian male lacking tail shows physicality (9)
|
| Anagram (wild) of SIMIAN MAL[e] deleting the final letter (lacking tail) | ||
| 10 | PUTIN |
French floozy refusing a despot Xi recently visited (5)
|
| PUT[a]IN (French floozy) deleting the A (refusing A)
Chinese president Xi Jinping recently visited Putin in Russia. Some might complain about the French vocab needed here, but it’s one of those words every naughty schoolboy looks up in his French dictionary at the earliest opportunity, so I reckon it’s fair. |
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| 11 |
See 14
|
|
| 12 | PARTYGATE |
Ongoing scandal: Tories needing way out? (9)
|
| PARTY (Tories) + GATE (way out)
Former PM Boris Johnson this week finally faced the Privileges Committee to give his evidence in the ongoing inquiry into whether or not he deliberately lied to Parliament about parties held in Downing Street during lockdown. |
||
| 13 | CLIMATE |
Film sequence cut by China causes IPCC concern (7)
|
| CLI[p] (film sequence, cut) + MATE (China, from Cockney rhyming slang, “China plate”)
You have to read the definition as something like “the concern of the IPCC”, which is the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a body of the United Nations. |
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| 14/11 | STOP THE BOATS |
Conclude article mad about old Braverman’s mantra? (4,3,5)
|
| STOP (conclude) + THE (article) + BATS (mad) containing O (old)
The slogan used by the Conservatives to promote their new bill, which they say is designed to make it harder for migrants to reach Britain illegally. |
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| 16 | ERATO |
Mae Muller, despondent, also finishes without a muse (5)
|
| Last letters (finishes) of MaE MulleR despondenT alsO containing (without) A
Singer-songwriter Mae Muller has been selected to represent the UK in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, which takes place in Liverpool in May. Her entry is called “I Wrote A Song”. You can usually count on Neo to include one or two classical references in his puzzles, and Erato is the muse of lyric poetry. She must have been AWOL when Mae Muller came up with that title. |
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| 18 | WIN |
Closely associated with West, can Zelenskyy do this? (3)
|
| W (west) with IN (closely associated)
I’m not 100% sure of Neo’s intention here but I think this works grammatically if you read “in” as an adjective, as in phrases such as “in-group”. “With” indicates juxtaposition without specifying the order of the parts – that is left for the solver to deduce. |
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| 19 | TACIT |
Implied leaders in talks are cautious in tone (5)
|
| First letters of (leaders in) Talks Are Cautious In Tone | ||
| 21 | WEBINAR |
Don carrying book in for online lecture (7)
|
| WEAR (don) containing (carrying) [B (book) + IN] | ||
| 22 | LINEKER |
BBC presenter lately denied a voice — in two ways? (7)
|
| Cryptic definition
Although the solution was fairly obvious, it took me an annoyingly long time to parse this. Gary Lineker was “denied a voice” when he was suspended by the BBC from his position as Match of the Day host after commenting on the government’s anti-immigration policy on Twitter, supposedly breaking the corporation’s impartiality rules. The second way he was denied a voice was by a throat infection, which meant he couldn’t return to the job the following week even though the suspension was revoked – I spent ages digging around for some wordplay here before realising this is what it was referring to. |
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| 24 | GUN TURRET |
ERG U-turn: Stormont finally fixed? It’s a revolutionary thing! (3,6)
|
| Anagram (fixed) of ERG U-TURN plus the last letter (finally) of StormonT
The ERG is the European Research Group, a noisy anti-EU faction of Conservative backbenchers. The idea of such deeply entrenched ideologues doing a U-turn on anything feels wildly optimistic. Stormont is the seat of the Northern Ireland Assembly. |
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| 26 | LAMIA |
Vampire left Raab unclothed, crossing major road (5)
|
| L (left) + [r]AA[b] with outer letters removed (unclothed) containing (crossing) MI (M1 = major road)
The Lamiae have appeared in various guises in mythology through the ages but are most commonly depicted with the head and torso of a woman and the tail of a serpent. The mental picture conjured up by the surface, which references Deputy PM Dominic Raab, is amusingly bizarre. |
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| 27 | EVANS |
Electric vehicles for Labour’s General Secretary? (5)
|
| Punning definition – E-VANS are electric vehicles
David Evans has been General Secretary of the Labour party since September 2021. |
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| 28 | MASS MEDIA |
As dilemmas evolved, line deleted for news channels (4,5)
|
| Anagram (evolved) of AS DI[L]EMMAS less the L (“line” deleted)
Questions have been raised recently over the propriety of GB News employing Conservative MPs to interview fellow Conservative MPs, which would be in contravention of Ofcom guidelines if you were to regard GB News as a news channel. |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | BARBECUE |
Do outside watering hole — be prompt (8)
|
| BAR (watering hole) + BE + CUE (prompt) | ||
| 2 | KIGALI |
A thousand individuals holding girl in deportees’ destination? (6)
|
| K (a thousand) + II (I and I = one and one = individuals) containing (holding) GAL (girl)
Kigali is the capital of Rwanda, which Home Secretary Suella Braverman visited last week to inspect the detention camps that will house people deported from the UK who are deemed to be illegal immigrants. |
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| 3 | RAISE A LOAN |
One as a liar poor? How might he obtain funds? (5,1,4)
|
| Anagram (poor) of ONE AS A LIAR
This month has seen the BBC Chairman Richard Sharp in the news over allegations that he arranged an £800,000 loan for Boris Johnson. |
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| 4 | SIMPLE |
Politician mired in dreadful lies a dim bulb? (6)
|
| MP (politician) inserted in (mired in) an anagram (dreadful) of LIES
The OED supports the use of simple as a noun. I’ll leave it as an exercise for the reader to decide if the surface is meant to refer to anyone in particular. |
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| 5 | IMPRISON |
Writer Murdoch about to land Metropolitan Police in jail (8)
|
| IRIS (writer Murdoch) + ON (about) containing (to land) MP (Metropolitan Police)
The Met has been in the news a fair bit lately as it turns out that a number of its serving officers are under criminal investigation, some accused of very serious offences. |
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| 6 | SPRY |
Quick to act for MI5? Strikebreaker at last brought in (4)
|
| SPY (act for MI5) containing the last letter (at last brought in) of strikebreakeR | ||
| 7 | ATLANTIC |
Plane losing wings in space above sea (8)
|
| [p]LAN[e] with outer letters deleted (losing wings) inserted in ATTIC (space above) | ||
| 8 | SNEEZE |
Explosion somewhere under the bridge? (6)
|
| Cryptic definition – the bridge in question being the bridge of the nose | ||
| 15 | OUT ON A LIMB |
Inaccurate making an ascent, not caught in precarious place (3,2,1,4)
|
| OUT (inaccurate) + ON A [c]LIMB (making an ascent) less C (not “caught”) | ||
| 17 | ALBANIAN |
Any number trafficked into Scotland: man there from Tirana? (8)
|
| N (any number) inserted into (trafficked into) [ALBA (Scotland) + IAN (man there, ie a Scottish man)]
It has been reported recently that most of the Albanian asylum seekers arriving in the UK are trafficked women. Some of them do end up in Scotland. |
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| 18 | WAR CRIME |
Ukrainian land annexed shortly after bitter uprising: 10’s enormity? (3,5)
|
| CRIME[a] (Ukrainian land annexed) with its last letter deleted (shortly) after a reversal (uprising) of RAW (bitter)
Vladimir Putin (solution to 10) was recently charged with war crimes, specifically deporting Ukrainian children to Russia, and an arrest warrant was issued by the International Criminal Court. |
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| 20 | TURN AWAY |
Go on a path resulting in decline (4,4)
|
| TURN (go) + A + WAY (path) | ||
| 21 | WAGNER |
Russian mercenaries vanished in conflict, leaving nothing (6)
|
| G[o]NE (vanished) inserted into WAR (conflict) less the O (leaving “nothing”)
The Wagner Group, a private Russian paramilitary organisation supporting Putin’s “special operations” in Ukraine, have reportedly suffered very heavy losses in battle lately, making the surface of this clue grimly topical. |
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| 22 | LATEST |
Most recent news from Stormy’s source, coming in dead on time (6)
|
| First letter (source) of Stormy inserted into (coming in) [LATE (dead) + T (time)]
Stephanie Clifford, better known by her professional name of Stormy Daniels, has recently submitted phone records to New York lawyers investigating Donald Trump’s alleged corruption. |
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| 23 | KOMODO |
Stark surroundings for MoD island with dragons? (6)
|
| KOO (Koo Stark, photographer and actress) containing (surroundings for) MOD
Not the most topical reference in this puzzle – Koo Stark is most famous for having been the girlfriend of Prince Andrew for a spell in the early 80s. For the surface reading, “MoD” is the Ministry of Defence, but you don’t need to know that to solve the clue. |
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| 25 | URSA |
Bear in Rome and King visiting Biden’s country (4)
|
| R (king) inserted in (visiting) USA (Biden’s country)
Ursa is Latin for bear, hence “in Rome”. I don’t know if Charles has any intention of visiting the US soon but his planned trip to France this week was called off because the locals are revolting. |
I missed the second of this series as I’d thought it was the on first Sunday not the last. Glad I found it again though. Nicely constructed with some lovely swipes at the news-worthy.
I parsed WIN the same way as you Widdersbel. It took a while to drop though. Good research on LINEKER, I couldn’t see quite how that worked either.
Lastly I don’t think the French are that bad and don’t approve of your statement about them 😉
Thanks Neo and Widders.
18A I’m not wholly convinced by this, as I think “in” means “closely associated with” rather than “closely associated”. The closest meaning of “in” as a preposition in Chambers is “concerned or involved with”. In order to make the clue work on that basis, “with” would have to be doing double duty. The adjectival use of “in” in expressions such as the “in-group” means “fashionable”, and it seems a bit of a stretch to me to equate this to “closely associated”. Perhaps there is justification in an authority other than Chambers?
Rudolf @2 – you’ve summed up my concerns perfectly, but I think you’re confusing an in-group with the in-crowd. The former is defined in the OED as:
“A small group of people, within a wider context, whose common interest tends to exclude others”
From the Chambers app:
In – expressing the relation of a thing to that which surrounds, encloses, includes or conditions it…
Seems to me that’s a reasonable way to describe ‘closely associated’. If so then no double duty for the ‘with’.
Does that help?
Thanks to Widdersbel and Blah for their thoughts on this. I’ve no doubt Neo will drop in at some stage to let us know what he had in mind. I’d be convinced that the construction is fine if I were able to come up with a sentence in standard English where “in” and “closely associated” could be interchanged without altering the meaning, distorting the grammar or making any other changes. I do, of course, appreciate that this crossword must have been compiled under time pressure.
Well this was a lot of fun. 10A caused a good old chuckle right at the start as I tucked into the British Summer Time and marmalade on toast. Btw I really like what the FT is doing with these, they’re a nice addition to the available ‘solving experiences’, so Bravo!
I was thinking WIN uses IN as in being ‘closely associated’ with, say, criminals, so if you’re ‘closely associated (with)’ the Tories, you’re ‘in (with)’ them. SIMPLE I see as adjectival, so if you’re ‘a dim bulb’, you’re ‘simple’. Any takers?
Thanks to all. More of these please Louise, and happy summer to you.
Lovely puzzle with a great selection of topical references. Thanks to Neo and Widdersbel
A lovely puzzle – my LOI but probably my favourite was SNEEZE. The blog’s cleared up a couple of parsings I was thrown by – NHO Koo Stark! I’m with lady gewgaw @6 for SIMPLE.
Thanks Neo and Widdersbel.
NHO Koo Stark? The youngsters of today, eh?
Nice gentle puzzle with an impressive range of topicality. Very enjoyable. Favourites include ERATO, TACIT, WEBINAR, LAMIA, BARBECUE, ATLANTIC and, though an unpleasant reminder, WAGNER.
Thanks Neo and Widdersbel
Hello. Thank you for doing the FT News Puzzle. Following Julius and Leonidas no small ask, so I’m glad you enjoyed it. the parsings have been covered almost completely in Widdersbel’s wonderful blog, and in comments.
The thing about Rwanda, I think, for the Tories is that ANY immigrant crossing the channel in a small boat is deemed illegal until proved otherwise, and they are expected to claim asylum from Kigali, having been deported without being properly assessed in UK. Some people don’t think much of that.
Cheers
Neo
I still haven’t got round to remembering about these wonderful puzzles (brilliant idea, thanks Editor), so I’ve been too late to actually solve them completely but have enjoyed reading the blogs and I’m in awe of the setters, for including such a wealth of topical material – right up to the last minute – and to Widdersbel for trawling through the news and explaining everything so brilliantly – how do you get it posted so early?
A real tour de force from both – thank you so much!
I’ll try to remember about the next one!
Thanks Neo and Widdersbel
Neo @ 10: an under-reported aspect of the Tories’ despicable deportation policy is that those deported will be expected to claim asylum in Rwanda: if their claim is successful they still won’t be eligible for asylum in UK.
Neo @10 – thanks for popping by. I’m trying to keep the contents of the blog focused on the technical aspects of the puzzle (after some whimsical editorialising in the first one of these I did proved contentious!), so I won’t comment on the whole Rwanda business. My feelings are not repeatable here anyway.
Eileen @11 – the editor very kindly provides a preview a day or two in advance, which affords me the luxury of taking my time over the blog. I think it’s only you poor Guardian bloggers who are expected to solve and blog on the same day.
Hi Widderspel @13 – Lucky you! I’m really glad to hear that, for your sake. but you’re still doing a brilliant job – and loving it, I’m sure.
[Thanks for your sympathy: not only ‘on the same day’ but we UK Guardian bloggers can’t start solving, parsing, posting + perhaps getting a few hours’ sleep, until midnight on the day of the puzzle. (I’ve had a moan elsewhere about this!)]
After initially envying you these blogs, I’m wondering whether it’s a bit of a poisoned chalice: as a founder member of our local City of Sanctuary, I also find it impossible to comment on Rwanda and I’m sure there will be other challenges ahead – which I am sure you will meet.
Neo @10, big shoes indeed – but I think you have no problem filling them. Thanks again.
Thanks Widdersbel
Nicely constructed puzzle. I found so focused on the UK that it included a host of people and incidents outside my knowledge and led me to struggle at time. My fault, perhaps, for only reading the FT on the weekend. But, on the other hand, the majority of FT’s readers did live outside UK last time I looked.
Thanks Widdersbel for explaining the context – after a while I shrugged and stopped googling.
Thanks Neo.