The monthly puzzle based on the news. Find it to solve online at ft.com/crossword
Yet another splendid puzzle by the ever-reliable Julius, with a wealth of topical references woven into witty, amusing clues. 22a is a particular favourite but it’s all good. Thanks, Julius!
Definitions are underlined in the clues.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | CONSULATES |
Harry Cole at Sun’s missions (10)
|
| Anagram (harry) of COLE AT SUNS
Harry Cole is a journalist at The Sun newspaper. |
||
| 7 | VEEP |
Grave episode featuring the last person to meet The Pope? (4)
|
| Hidden (featuring) in graVE EPisode
US Vice President JD Vance met Pope Francis the day before he died. |
||
| 9 | ETNA |
Leaders in Europe term Navarro a ‘disaster waiting to happen’ (4)
|
| First letters of (leaders in) Europe Term Navarro + A
Peter Navarro is Trump’s Senior Counsellor for Trade and Manufacturing. |
||
| 10 | INEQUALITY |
Excellent female leader rejected prejudice (10)
|
| FINE QUALITY (excellent) less first letter (leader) of Female | ||
| 11 | RIB-EYE |
Uncovered bribe? Yes… it’s bloody juicy! (3-3)
|
| bRIBE-YEs with first and last letters removed (uncovered) | ||
| 12 | ARRAIGNS |
Puts on trial American Republican arsing around (8)
|
| A (American) + R (Republican) + anagram (around) of ARSING | ||
| 13 | WHOPPERS |
Pork pies, billions of ‘em sold by Burger King (8)
|
| Two definitions | ||
| 15 | MEET |
Fitting final appearances of Clem Burke, Blondie percussionist (4)
|
| Last letters (final appearances) of cleM burkE blondiE percussionisT
Clem Burke, drummer with Blondie, died last week aged 70. |
||
| 17 | GOVE |
Oddly groovier bloke about to join 14? (4)
|
| Odd letters of GrOoViEr
Former Tory MP Michael Gove has been elevated to the Lords by Rishi Sunak in his resignation honours. |
||
| 19 | HARD ROCK |
Granite or metal? (4,4)
|
| Two definitions
The second being the music genre. |
||
| 22 | PENGUINS |
Trump, ultimately unstable genius, introducing new tariffs affecting their island (8)
|
| Last letter (ultimately) of trumP + anagram (unstable) of GENIUS including (introducing) N (new)
Among the targets of Trump’s tariffs were the remote Heard and Mcdonald Islands, which are populated only by penguins and seals. The Stable Genius Act is a piece of US legislation requiring presidential candidates to undergo a medical exam and have the results made public. |
||
| 23 | ENDEAR |
Sends heart, completely boundless charm! (6)
|
| sENDs hEARt with outer letters removed (completely boundless) | ||
| 25 | DEPORTMENT |
Transport males to CECOT, front of train carriage (10)
|
| DEPORT MEN (transport males to CECOT) + first letter (front) of Train
CECOT is the brutal mega prison in El Salvador where Trump is deporting men from the US. |
||
| 26 | NEAT |
Elegant De Bruyne attacks, defends (4)
|
| Hidden (defends) in de bruyNE ATtacks
Belgian Man City midfielder Kevin de Bruyne has announced that he is leaving the club at the end of this season. |
||
| 27 | STOP |
Prevent fortunes going west (4)
|
| POTS (fortune) reversed (going west) | ||
| 28 | LISTENED IN |
Edit lines dodgily to hide name, as The Atlantic’s editor did (8,2)
|
| Anagram (dodgily) of EDIT LINES containing (to hide) N (name)
The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg was accidentally included in a group chat on Signal about US military plans in Yemen. |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | OSTRICH |
East German, wealthy, that attacked Boris (7)
|
| OST (East [in] German) + RICH (wealthy)
Former PM Boris Johnson was attacked by an ostrich while visiting a safari park recently. Give that bird a knighthood! |
||
| 3 | SPACE |
Room where Katy Perry was for a few minutes? (5)
|
| Two definitions
Pop star Katy Perry was among an all-women crew who went to the edge of space on a flight by Blue Origin. |
||
| 4 | LOITERED |
Led Tories badly, succeeded to get sacked, hung around (8)
|
| Anagram (badly) of LED TORIES with S (succeeded) removed (to get sacked)
Take your pick who this could be referring to, but Rishi Sunak got himself in the headlines recently when he announced his resignation honours list. |
||
| 5 | THE CAT’S WHISKERS |
As Trump sees himself? (I’d say a bit of a pussy) (3,4,8)
|
| Two definitions | ||
| 6/24 | SQUARE DANCE |
A series of measures starts to calm exchanges after volatile NASDAQ & EUR (6,5)
|
| First letters of (starts to) Calm Exchanges after an anagram (volatile) of NASDAQ EUR
Trump’s tariffs have caused major turmoil in international stock markets. |
||
| 7 | VAL KILMER |
Unlimited ability seen in Marvel Comic actor (3,6)
|
| sKILl (ability) with first and last letters removed (unlimited) inserted in anagram (comic) of MARVEL
Actor Val Kilmer died this month aged 65. |
||
| 8 | ENTENTE |
Agreement core to 3×10? (7)
|
| All but the outer letters (core) of TEN TEN TEN (3×10) | ||
| 14 | PEER GROUP |
Look over military unit in which everyone has the same rank (4,5)
|
| PEER (look) + GROUP (military unit) | ||
| 16 | ARRESTEE |
Crumpled Easter note smuggled in for Abrego Garcia? (8)
|
| Anagram (crumpled) of EASTER with RE (note) inserted (smuggled in)
Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a 29-year-old from El Salvador who was deported to CECOT despite a legal order barring this. |
||
| 18 | OVEREAT |
Before getting stuck into old barrel, get absolutely stuffed (7)
|
| ERE (before, poetically) getting stuck into O (old) + VAT (barrel) | ||
| 20 | CHAPATI |
Tea, bit of butter, one flatbread (7)
|
| CHA (tea) + PAT (bit of butter) + I (one) | ||
| 21 | PISTOL |
Trump is to licence carrying a gun (6)
|
| Hidden in (carrying) trumP IS TO Licence | ||
| 24 |
See 6
|
|
Good fun. Thanks Julius for making this accessible to the global audience and not UK-heavy.
There were many clues to like. I ticked LISTENED IN, PISTOL, ETNA, MEET (brilliant), and who could not like PENGUINS. I loved the blog’s suggestion for the OSTRICH.
I did not understand OVEREAT. Thanks Widdersbel for the parsing. I did not know the expression THE CATS WHISKERS so it was LOI
Thanks Julius and Widdersbel. Great puzzle and blog.
Enjoyed this, and thanks to Widdersbel I can now see its ingeuity, as most of the references went over my head. And I knew that this De Bruyne was not the seriously gorgeous Inge de Bruijn, but I was happy to be reminded of her anyway. Thanks Julius.
Agree this was a fun puzzle with lots of clever clues.
16d should be EASTER with RE ( note) smuggled in.
Thanks Julius and Widdersbel
Great fun from a setter who never fails to provide an enjoyable puzzle.
Another splendid offering from Julius, absolutely packed with witty references.
Among many excellent clues, 22ac is, well, genius. Six years ago, when Trump declared himself ‘a very stable genius’, Vlad gave us a themed puzzle and someone supplied a link to a brilliant parody song from Randy Rainbow, which I can’t resist offering here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-LTRwZb35A
Huge thanks for yet another super double act, Julius and Widdersbel.
I thought Liz Truss for LOITERED, as a more unsuccessful Tory leader than Sunak.
Trump rolled back a lot of gun control measures earlier this month, including the ban on pistol braces to convert handguns into rifle-like weapons, which I suspect is behind PISTOL.
George Santos, a fraudulent Republican was sentenced to prison this month. Or ARRAIGNS could refer to Justin Eichorn, arrested for soliciting a minor.
Thank you to Julius for the ever enjoyable news puzzle and Widdersbel for the blog
I should have thanked Julius and Widdersbel for the usual top-class performance.
Lovely puzzle for a Sunday morning. Like everyone else I loved the PENGUINS.
Thanks Eileen for the link. I remember seeing it before but it doesn’t get stale.
Thanks Julius and Widdersbel
SM @3 – oops! No idea where I got the N from. Blog now fixed, ta.
Superb puzzle. Matching blog. Thanks Julius and Widdersbel.
There’s a lot to learn as usual from the puzzle and the blog. Great news capsule and fun clues.
Particularly liked INEQUALITY (who could be that female leader?), PENGUINS, THE CAT’S WHISKERS and ENTENTE.
Great fun 🙂. I’d’ve posted the link to Randy Rainbow again, if Eileen hadn’t. — FYI: The Stable Genius Act is a backronym for
Standardizing Testing and Accountability Before Large Elections Giving Electors Necessary Information for Unobstructed Selection.
And CECOT stands for CEntro de COnfinamiento del Terrorismo.
Thanks for that link Eileen, I must’ve missed it last time, it’s absy brrrill!
Very tasty!
Thank you Eileen, simply hilarious.
Eileen, thanks for the link. Made my day!
Glad that others remembered or appreciated the link but just wanted to highlight the brilliantly topical surface of the clue – too ephemeral to make my little book of classic clues, alas, as so many of them inevitably are.
I so love these news puzzle! Thanks again to all.
Great fun, thank you Julius. More fulsome praise here for PENGUINS. I was gobsmacked to read that someone actually proposed a ‘Stable Genius Act’. Lovely spot for ENTENTE too.