Puzzle from the Weekend FT of March 29, 2025
My first-in was 1a (NANOTUBE) which might have easily opened up the top-left quadrant for me but I actually got stuck there and 2d (NOGGIN) became my last-in. My favourite clue is the clever &Lit. at 6 (ISAAC) and I also especially like 7 (METHINKS) and 12 (ADIEU).
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | NANOTUBE |
Tiny cylinder of butane? No, silly! (8)
|
| Anagram (silly) of BUTANE NO | ||
| 5 | BITMAP |
Cut power after relative makes digital image (6)
|
| BIT (cut) + MA (relative) + P (power) | ||
| 10 | CAGOULE |
Shut up about Lou cycling in coat (7)
|
| OUL (Lou cycling) in (about) CAGE (shut up) | ||
| 11 | X-FACTOR |
Special quality of cross by fine player (1-6)
|
| X (cross) + F (fine) + ACTOR (player) | ||
| 12 | ADIEU |
Gold-plated cast object I’m splitting (5)
|
| DIE (cast object) in (plated) AU (gold) | ||
| 13 | DIRECTIVE |
The setter’s following urgent court order (9)
|
| DIRE (urgent) + CT (court) + IVE (the setter’s) | ||
| 14 | TENNIS RACKET |
Northern cretin takes up strung item (6,6)
|
| Anagram (up) of N CRETIN TAKES | ||
| 18 | POTATO BLIGHT |
Disease sailor carries to fair on vessel (6,6)
|
| POT (vessel) + TO (to) in (carries) AB (sailor) + LIGHT (fair) | ||
| 21 | SINGLETON |
Sole person Carol permitted to board (9)
|
| SING (carol) + LET ON (permitted to board) (corrected) | ||
| 23 | OXBOW |
Ten occupying old part of ship in river bend (5)
|
| X (ten) in (occupying) O (old) + BOW (part of ship) | ||
| 24 | DRIBBLE |
Black hen perhaps back outside of large run (7)
|
| B (black) + BIRD (hen perhaps) together backwards (back) + L[arg]E | ||
| 25 | EDIT OUT |
Cut unwanted bits of fish returned by seller (4,3)
|
| IDE (fish) backwards (returned) + TOUT (seller) | ||
| 26 | STROLL |
Cart left by last couple on South Promenade (6)
|
| S (south) + TROLL[ey] (cart left by last couple) | ||
| 27 | ASSEMBLE |
26 collecting sister periodically for rally (8)
|
| S[i]S[t]E[r] in (collecting) AMBLE (26) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | NECTAR |
Delicious drop served up in bar at centre (6)
|
| Reverse (served up) hidden word (in) | ||
| 2 | NOGGIN |
Unlimited amorous activity for Head (6)
|
| [s]NOGGIN[g] (unlimited amorous activity) | ||
| 3 | TRUCULENT |
Aggressive culture destroyed books (9)
|
| Anagram (destroyed) of CULTURE + NT (books) | ||
| 4 | BREAD-AND-BUTTER |
Routine study in accommodation, say (5-3-6)
|
| READ (study) in (in) BANDB (accommodation, as in Bed AND Breakfast) + UTTER (say). How does ‘accommodation’ clue BAND? (corrected) | ||
| 6 | ISAAC |
One child Abraham and Sarah primarily raised (5)
|
| I (one) + S[arah] A[nd] A[braham] C[hild] backwards (raised) &Lit. | ||
| 7 | METHINKS |
Mark is into spirits I reckon (8)
|
| INK (mark) in (into) METHS (spirits) | ||
| 8 | PERMEATE |
Diffuse hair style European had (8)
|
| PERM (hair style) + E (European) + ATE (had) | ||
| 9 | EXPRESSIONLESS |
Blank Biden maybe missing issue involving island (14)
|
| EXPRES (Biden maybe) + I (island) in (involving) SONLESS (missing issue) | ||
| 15 | APHRODITE |
Olympian right to stop the podia moving (9)
|
| R (right) in (to stop) anagram (moving) of THE PODIA | ||
| 16 | EPISODES |
Record essentially prissy poetry events (8)
|
| EP (record) + [pr]IS[sy] + ODES (poetry) | ||
| 17 | STINGIER |
Tie rings possibly tighter (8)
|
| Anagram (possibly) of TIE RINGS | ||
| 19 | ABSORB |
Cushion sibling rolled beneath six-pack? (6)
|
| ABS (six-pack!) + BRO (sibling) backwards (rolled) | ||
| 20 | SWATHE |
Fly killer on edges of huge drape (6)
|
| SWAT (fly killer) + H[ug]E | ||
| 22 | LABEL |
Decode scrawl finally on underside of dog tag (5)
|
| LAB (dog) + [decod]E [scraw]L |
Thanks Leonidas and Pete
4dn accommodation is B AND B (bed and breakfast).
For 4d, B AND B is the accommodation.
Thank you to Leonidas for an excellent, thought-provoking puzzle and to Pete for the blog.
Sorry, Pelham Barton @1, you beat me to it.
Thanks Leonidas and Pete
SINGLETON
How does board/to board=ON work?
Even if we take the ‘permitted to board’ part together, ‘LET ON’ may not mean that. What am I missing?
Is it a whimsical WP?
BREAD-AND-BUTTER very good.
KVa@ 4 you are correct . permitted to board = LET ON , applies to buses when they are getting full ( or not ) .
I had very similar favourites to Pete and the same difficulty parsing BREAD AND BUTTER.
A few had nice surface ( METHINKS, DIRECTIVE, ISAAC, APHRODITE), otherwise I found it an unremarkable crossword of medium difficulty. I had a couple of NHOs and the same question/thought about SINGLETON as KVa@4
Thanks Leonidas and Pete
Thanks for the blog , good set of neat clues and a very friendly grid made things easier .
I too couldn’t parse 4d.
Took me a while but I did enjoy this puzzle
My favourites were: EXPRESSIONLESS, EPISODES, ISAAC
Thanks Leonidas and Pete
21ac: I agree with Roz@5 that LET ON works as a phrase. I would say that it can be applied across a range of transport types, including air and water. However, I would use it most often when a train is at a platform some time before its journey is scheduled to start. Passengers are not let on until a crew member unlocks the doors.
Roz@5 and PB@9
SINGLETON
LET ON
Thanks.
Both Chambers and Collins don’t show this meaning under ‘let on’.
Hence my question. Now it’s clear. Thanks again.
I parsed Singleton as Carol = SING, permitted = LET and board = ON
I parsed BREAD AND BUTTER as Study = READ and Say= UTTER within accommodation = B AND B
I enjoyed this, coming up short on just 4 answers, BITMAP and METHINKS being a little too subtle for me sadly. Ah well.
Thank you for the corrections.on 4 and 21.
I found this well-written and enjoyable.
Thanks Leonidas. Except for revealing the archaic METHINKS, all of this fell into place with X-FACTOR, POTATO BLIGHT, BREAD AND BUTTER, EXPRESSIONLESS (great surface), and EPISODES being favourites. Thanks Pete for the blog.