Julius returns as the setter for the June edition of the monthly News Puzzle. Find it on the FT website to print or solve interactively, or via the smartphone app.
When Julius mentioned on Twitter that he would be setting the June News puzzle, I joked that he would need to make it a Jumbo to fit in everything that has happened this month. But even though he has stuck to the standard 15×15 grid, he has managed to cram in a seriously impressive number of topical references – including several references to one major political story in particular. All the more impressive given these puzzles have to be put together at the last minute to keep them topical.
As we expect from Julius, it’s all great fun, packed with witty, clever and amusing wordplay – I’ll leave it to commenters to pick out their favourites.
Thanks, Julius!
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | BAD FAITH |
In which Boris acted, nicking a million from British 60s pop star (3,5)
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| B (British) + AD[am] FAITH (60s pop star) less (nicking) A + M (million)
The report of the Commons Privileges Committee inquiry into Boris Johnson was finally published last week. Among its conclusions were that he committed “repeated contempts of Parliament”, including deliberately misleading the House on multiple occasions. |
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| 6 |
See 3 Down
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| 10 | IMPARTIAL |
Current politician: a new trial is not like a kangaroo court (9)
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| I (current) + MP (politician) + A + anagram (new) of TRIAL
Boris Johnson’s response to the findings was to accuse the Commons Privileges Committee of being a kangaroo court. |
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| 11 | BANAL |
Boris and Nad are leaving? First impressions: how tiresome… (5)
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| First letters (first impressions) of Boris And Nad Are Leaving
Following publication of the report, Boris Johnson and Nadine Dorries, one of his main supporters, announced they would be immediately stepping down as MPs, although Dorries has yet to carry out her threat. |
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| 12 | BEATS ME |
…for a start, Boris irritates Julius; I’ve no idea why (5,2)
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| First letter (for a start) of Boris + EATS (irritates) + ME (Julius)
Just in case the first three clues didn’t give you enough of an idea how our esteemed setter feels about this whole tawdry affair… |
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| 13/22 | CRISPIN ODEY |
I conspired criminally with Yankee investor under pressure (7,4)
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| Anagram (criminally) of I CONSPIRED + Y (Yankee, in Nato alphabet)
Hedge fund manager Crispin Odey has left the company he founded, Odey Asset Management, following reports in the FT this month that he had sexually harrassed or assaulted 13 women in the company over the last 25 years. |
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| 14 | REAL |
Hey Jude where are you going, truly? (4)
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| Double definition
The first definition is a reference to English footballer Jude Bellingham whose transfer from Borussia Dortmund to Real Madrid was announced last week. |
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| 15 | WARHOL |
Iconic figure’s battle with the House of Lords, briefly (6)
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| WAR (battle) + HOL (the House of Lords, briefly) | ||
| 17 | MAD |
Blowing up dam is crazy (3)
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| Anagram (blowing up) of DAM
The Nova Kakhovka dam in Ukraine was destroyed by an explosion earlier this month. |
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| 20 | OBE |
Honour received by Silvio Berlusconi (3)
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| Hidden in (received by) SilviO BErlusconi
The Italian media tycoon, politician and billionaire, famous for his “bunga bunga” sex parties (and for being Italian Prime Minister), died this month at the age of 86. |
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| 21/9 | ASTRUD GILBERTO |
Rio drug battles upset Brazilian legend (6,8)
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| Anagram (upset) of RIO DRUG BATTLES
The Brazilian samba and bossa nova singer died this month, aged 83. |
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| 22 |
See 13
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| 24 | IPANEMA |
21 9’s Beach Boys eventually knocked back a beer for starters (7)
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| IPA (beer) + MEN< (boys eventually) reversed (knocked back) + A
Astrud Gilberto’s most famous song was The Girl From Ipanema, about the famous beach in Rio de Janeiro. |
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| 27 | ENGLAND |
Glenda Jackson’s last appearance moved the nation (7)
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| Anagram (moved) of GLENDA + final letter (last appearance) of jacksoN
British actor Glenda Jackson died this month at the age of 87. In an illustrious career she won two Best Actress Oscars, and was a Labour MP from 1992 to 2015. |
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| 28 | TWILL |
Material Treat Williams part? (5)
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| Hidden in (part) treaT WILLiams
The American actor Treat Williams died this month at the age of 71. He came to fame in the films Hair and 1941, both of which came out in 1979. |
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| 29 | CHURCHILL |
Johnson’s hero unwell after service (9)
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| CHURCH (service) + ILL (unwell)
Boris Johnson famously cites Winston Churchill as his hero. |
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| 30 | RAYON |
Right: firstly, are you OK? Nauseating material! (5)
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| R (right) + first letters of Are You Ok Nauseating
Edit: Thanks to Julius (see comment #8) for flagging up the topical reference I overlooked here. Philip Schofield left ITV’s This Morning this month following revelations of a relationship with a younger colleague. His co-host Holly Willoughby opened the next episode by addressing the audience with a monologue that began with the words: “Firstly, are you OK?” The speech certainly was described by some as “nauseating”. |
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| 31 | SELF-PITY |
Introspective blues LP with feisty beat (4-4)
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| Anagram (shot) of LP FEISTY | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | ALPHA MALE |
Big Dog orders ham paella (5,4)
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| Anagram (orders) of HAM PAELLA
In 2022, following the publication of Sue Gray’s Partygate report, Boris Johnson drew up a list of officials who would resign in a bid to save his premiership, a plan he called “Operation Save Big Dog”. |
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| 3/6 across | FOREST FIRES |
A Premier League side sacks those responsible for choking (6,5)
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| FOREST (a Premier League side) + FIRES (sacks)
A major forest fire in Canada last week caused a large cloud of smoke to affect the air quality in Boston and New York. |
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| 4 | ITINERANT |
Peripatetic Italian in online diatribe (9)
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| IT (Italian) + IN + E-RANT (online diatribe) | ||
| 5 | HOLAC |
Loach angered parliamentary body (5)
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| Anagram (angered) of LOACH
The House of Lords Appointments Commission (HOLAC) is responsible for vetting nominations for peerages “to ensure the highest standards of propriety”, according to the Government website. |
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| 6 | FIBRILLA |
Root, only a little bit of hair… (8)
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| Cryptic definition? A fibril is a root hair and a fibrilla is defined in Chambers as a fibril filament. I’m not sure if I’m missing some other wordplay here.
England cricketer Joe Root scored 118 not out in the first innings of the first Ashes Test against Australia last week, and 46 in the second innings. |
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| 7 | RUN UP |
…to approach the crease to get Jack out? (3,2)
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| Double definition. First is a cricket reference, describing the bowler’s run-up (the crease being the line they mustn’t cross before releasing the ball). Second is a reference to running a flag (Jack) up a flag pole.
Joe Root does bowl a bit, as well as batting, but the current Australia squad doesn’t have any players called Jack for him to get out. |
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| 8 | SALON |
Large old hospital covers up cuts here (5)
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| SAN (old hospital) containing (covers up) L (large) + O (old) | ||
| 9 |
See 21 Across
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| 16 | HOUSE FULL |
Sign outside a packed theatre or The Lords, thanks to Boris? (5,4)
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| Double/cryptic definition.
The second is suggesting that following Boris Johnson’s resignation honours, in which he nominated several people for peerages, the House of Lords is now full. |
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| 17 | MADE A MINT |
As did Murray, Fox and Johnson on the after-dinner circuit? (4,1,4)
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| Cryptic definition.
Boris Johnson has reportedly made over £1m from after-dinner speaking since resigning as Prime Minister. Murray Mints and Fox’s Glacier Mints are old-fashioned boiled sweets (hard candy, for American readers) – both were favourites of my late gran, so I associate them with her. |
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| 18 | DRYSDALE |
Sheep beginning to suffer in drought-hit northern valley (8)
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| First letter of (beginning to) Suffer in DRY (drought-hit) + DALE (northern valley)
Large parts of England and Southwest Wales are officially in drought following the recent spell of hot weather. |
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| 19 | GAME PLAN |
Malaga MEP languidly defends strategy (4,4)
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Correction: Hidden in (defends) malaGA MEP LANguidly |
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| 23 | EGG CUP |
Vessel taking shell being evacuated early in the morning? (3,3)
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| Cryptic definition.
Are egg cups a uniquely British thing? I don’t think they have them in America. Which makes me wonder how on earth they keep their soft-boiled eggs steady while dipping their soldiers. |
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| 24 | INTER |
Bury losers in Istanbul (5)
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| Double definition.
The second definition refers to Italian football team Internazionale, aka Inter Milan, who lost to Manchester City in this month’s Champions League final, which was held in Istanbul. |
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| 25 | AMITY |
Friendly relation always seen around US tech school (5)
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| AY (a poetical way of saying always) containing (seen around) MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology = US tech school) | ||
| 26 | ARCUS |
Rashford undergoing removal of minute fatty deposit in the cornea (5)
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| [m]ARCUS (Rashford, player for Manchester United) less M (minute)
Arcus senilis is the appearance of a white ring around the edge of the cornea, caused by fatty deposits, common in older people. |
Thanks, Julius for the topical puzzle. Quite enjoyable.
Thanks, Widdersbel for the lovely and detailed blog.
Liked many. Mentioning the top faves: ENGLAND, RUN UP and MADE A MINT.
FIBRILLA and RUN UP
When I read the clues 6D and 7D as one sentence, I am not able to understand the surface.
From a Dec ’22 news item :
Root was seen shining the ball on spinner Jack Leach’s bald head, with Gower, Nasser Hussain and Urooj Mumtaz laughing at Root’s actions in the commentary box. “It’s ingenious, absolutely ingenious because you’re no longer allowed to use saliva [to shine the ball],” Gower said.
Jack Leach is not in the current England test team due to an injury. Is it something like Joe Root trying to bring Jack Leach out on the ground?
FIBRILLA
(a plant) Root, only a little.
Bit of hair.
Does it work this way?
SELF-PITY
Does it refer to the Indian cricket team after their loss to Australia in the recent WTC final held at The Oval, London? Indian cricketers wear blue uniforms in the shorter formats of the game. In the WTC final, their white shirts had blue letters, numbers, etc.,
Thanks Julius,
You are now responsible for possibly my slowest ever solve outside Listener and Azed terrority. I was laughing so hard at the first half dozen across surfaces I couldn’t even being to solve until the sad news at 27A. Then having recovered my composure the fantastic 30A set me off again – that really was nauseating wasn’t it!
At that point I decided I might as well just carry on enjoying the surfaces and actually solve later.
10/10 from me.
Great blog too as usual from Widders.
Thanks both.
Blah @3
What a great post! – I go along with all of it.
So much wit and cleverness. I could tick practically every clue but would just highlight the brilliant anagrams at 13,22 and 21,9, followed by the latter’s song at 24ac.
27ac was just lovely and I smiled at 17dn – it reminded me of my grandma, too, Widdersbel.
Huge thanks to Knut for the fun and to Widdersbel for a superb blog.
Thanks Julius and Widdersbel
One correction to the blog, 19 isn’t an anagram of MALAGA MEP (there’s no N), it’s an embed – malaGA MEP LANguidly.
Oops! Thanks, Simon S @5 – I saw the correct parsing when solving but had a brain fart when writing up the blog. Now fixed.
nho FIBRILLA “Root, only a little bit of hair”- Julius seems to be cluing sense 2 and the Word origin from Collins:
‘fibril or fibrilla
1. a small fibre or part of a fibre
2. biology a threadlike structure, such as a root hair or a thread of muscle tissue
Word origin from New Latin fibrilla a little fibre’
Thanks for the blog, dear Widdersbel, and thanks to those who have left a comment – particularly Blah @3 who wins a spotter’s badge for seeing the reference to the utterly emetic drivel from Holly Willoughby at 30A. I hadn’t set out with the intention of making this puzzle quite so Boris-centric…it just happened really.
The answer FIBRILLA at 6D was a paint-in-the-corner job and I just shoe-horned a vague Ashes reference into it; the clue itself won’t make my highlights reel, sorry.
Some years ago, I made a vow to myself never again to reference Donald Trump in any of my puzzles and I hereby today make the same pledge re Alexander Boris dePfeffel Johnson.
best wishes to all, Rob/Julius
@me comment 8
DISCLAIMER: I’ve just remembered that I have a few unpublished puzzles still out there which might feature himself, but I won’t write any more references to him.
Probably.
Aha! Thanks, Julius, for spelling out what I missed in 30a – have to say I’ve taken very little interest in that story but I do remember hearing about Holly’s cringe moment now you’ve reminded me of it.
FIB BIGLY?