Puzzle from the Weekend FT of June 21, 2025
My first-in was 19a (TOT) and last was 19d (TOSTADA). The most difficult clue for me was 16 (TETCHIEST), a superlative that I do not recall coming across before. And there is one clue, 10 (OMICRON), that I do not fully understand.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | PANHANDLE |
Rubbish name for part of Florida (9)
|
| PAN (rubbish) + HANDLE (name). The Florida Panhandle is the part of the state in the northwest corner on a map that includes the state capital, Tallahassee. | ||
| 6 | CUPID |
Award swimmer and archer (5)
|
| CUP (award) + ID (swimmer, as in fish) | ||
| 9 | ERRATUM |
Printed slip lost inside of Surrey ATM (7)
|
| Anagram (lost) of [s]URRE]y] ATM | ||
| 10 | OMICRON |
No church I reckon recalled Greek letter (7)
|
| NO (no) + RC (church, i.e. Roman Catholic) + IMO (I reckon, i.e. In My Opinion) all backwards (recalled). I originally did not understand how “I reckon” would clue IMO and I thank Diane for explaining it. I am familiar with IMHO but not IMO. | ||
| 11 | TRAWL |
Search very chilly in centre of Scotland (5)
|
| RAW (very chilly) in [sco]TL[and] | ||
| 12 | NECTARINE |
Fruit area lacking cover within square (9)
|
| [h]ECTAR[e] (area lacking cover) in (withing) NINE (square) | ||
| 14 | AGA |
Homeless once more, cook might use this (3)
|
| AGA[in] (homeless once more) | ||
| 15 | EXTRACTIONS |
Old con artist shifted unpleasant drawings (11)
|
| EX (old) + anagram (shifted) of CON ARTIST | ||
| 17 | BUNNY RABBIT |
New city cleric taken by boat turned a buck? (5,6)
|
| N (new) + NY (city) + RABBI (cleric) all in (taken by) TUB (boat) backwards (turned) | ||
| 19 | TOT |
Child with books on top of table (3)
|
| T[able] + OT (books, i.e. Old Testament) | ||
| 20 | RACKETEER |
Criminal in row E next to monarch (9)
|
| RACKET (row) + E (E) + ER (monarch) | ||
| 22 | HOSTS |
Gallons of spirits lifted crowds (5)
|
| [g]HOSTS (gallons of spirits lifted) | ||
| 24 | TASTERS |
Samples shocking items around back of hut (7)
|
| [hu]T in (around) TASERS (shocking items) | ||
| 26 | AVERAGE |
Declare period as standard (7)
|
| AVER (declare) + AGE (period) | ||
| 27 | MEATY |
Substantial bridges welcome at Yosemite (5)
|
| Hidden word (bridges) | ||
| 28 | SIDETRACK |
Divert kids playing with crate (9)
|
| Anagram (playing) of KIDS CRATE | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | PLEAT |
Soft sound of sheep leaving first fold (5)
|
| P (soft) + [b]LEAT (sound of sheep leaving first) | ||
| 2 | NIRVANA |
Fool about occasionally in rave band (7)
|
| I[n] R[a]V[e] in (about) NANA (fool) | ||
| 3 | ARTILLERY |
Troops perhaps seasick aboard vessel (9)
|
| ILL (seasick) in (aboard) ARTERY (vessel) | ||
| 4 | DEMONSTRATE |
King visiting gallery after wizard’s show (11)
|
| DEMONS (wizards) + R (king) in (visiting) TATE (gallery) | ||
| 5 | EGO |
Some maniacs have this eastern game (3)
|
| E (eastern) + GO (game) | ||
| 6 | CHINA |
Move slowly cycling with adult friend (5)
|
| INCH (move slowly) with halves reversed (cycling) + A (adult) | ||
| 7 | PORTICO |
Left before independent firm covered entrance (7)
|
| PORT (left) + I (independent) + CO (firm) | ||
| 8 | DINNER SET |
Service hostelry in the German place (6,3)
|
| INN (hostelry) in (in) DER (the German) + SET (place) | ||
| 13 | CHAMBERMAID |
Cleaner abridged dictionary reportedly produced (11)
|
| CHAMBER[s] (abridged dictionary) + homophone (reportedly) of “made” (produced) | ||
| 14 | ARBORETUM |
Wild boar on stomach in garden (9)
|
| Anagram (wild) of BOAR + RE (on) + TUM (stomach) | ||
| 16 | TETCHIEST |
Most cross via cut intersecting Bond Street (9)
|
| ETCH (cut) in (intersecting) TIE (bond) + ST (street) | ||
| 18 | NICOSIA |
Capital of North America controlling three islands? (7)
|
| I (island) + COS (island) + I (island) all together in NA (North America) | ||
| 19 | TOSTADA |
Spanish dish flipped more vigorously in ‘ackney (7)
|
| Homophone (in ‘ackney) of “tossed ‘arder” (flipped more vigoursly) | ||
| 21 | ENEMY |
Hostile space base on Mercury evacuated (5)
|
| EN (space) + E (base) + M[ercur]Y | ||
| 23 | SLEEK |
Smooth sections of ships running stern to bow? (5)
|
| KEELS (sections of ships) backwards (running stern to bow) | ||
| 25 | SOS |
26 ultimately missed call for help (3)
|
| SO S[o] (average ultimately missed) |
This puzzle was the perfect start to a fine birthday spent exploring the glorious Tasman Peninsula. Thanks, Leonidas!
As usual with this setter, I had quite a few ticks, among them OMICRON, AGA, ARTILLERY (nice surface), EXTRACTIONS, ARBORETUM and KEELS (for ‘from stern to bow’). My favourite, though, was RACKETEER for almost twice misleading me: ‘criminal’ being definition rather than anagrind for a change and ‘row E’!
Great stuff.
Thanks again to Leonidas and Pete for an enjoyable blog. I think in 10a, the IMO is text speak for ‘in my opinion’. Thanks for reminding me of ‘nana’ in NIRVANA – couldn’t figure this one out properly.
PS, a minor ommission in the blog: ARBORETUM is missing the ‘re’ clued by ‘on’.
Happy birthday Diane
I also did not understand why reckon = MO in OMICRON. I also did not get why “some maniacs” have EGO. Don’t we all have EGOs?
Nicely constructed clues with a few of what seems to be Leonidas’s trademark, the convoluted charade. I ticked ARTILLERY and KEELS
Thanks Pete and Leonidas
Thank you, Martyn!
Thanks Leonidas, that was superb. My top picks were ARTILLERY, CHINA, and ENEMY. Thanks Pete for the blog.
[Feast entertaining a crossword commenter (5) Happy Birthday!]
Liked ERRATUM (nice def), RACKETEER, NIRVANA, CHINA, TETCHIEST (via acting as a linkword-a first, I think) and TOSTADA.
OMICRON
Parsed it as Diane@1. The ‘I reckon=IMO’ parsing is correct IMHO 🙂
EGO
Agree with Martyn@3.
The clue refers to egomaniacs, but there seems to be a gap.
ARTILLERY
Is it ‘troops’ perhaps’ or ‘perhaps seasick’?
Thanks Pete and Leonidas.
Very good, Tony, and thanks!
And ha ha, KVa.
Yes, I neglected to mention that IMO looks right for OMICRON. Thanks Diane@1 and KVa@6
Lovely puzzle as usual. I liked lots of clues and I think they have all already been mentioned.
Thanks Leonidas and Pete
Thanks for the blog so many good clues in so many places , I will just follow Fiona .
EGO , Martyn @3 , yes we all have egos but not all maniacs are EGOmaniacs , just some .
We have sex maniacs etc .
Happy Birthday Diane , I was going to say you are lucky to have the longest day but it would have been the shortest , and you would have got spectacular night sky . Which leads into a plug for the Vera Rubin Telescope in Chile , just released the first images . A treat for everyone and a chance to learn about this remarkable astronomer who did not get a Nobel Prize , I wonder why ?
Thanks Roz, and you’re right – it was a fabulous night sky. Luckily, I remembered my glow-in-the-dark star chart for the southern hemisphere! I hear you re Vera Rubin! Alas, I’m better at identifying birds than constellations but both are to be enjoyed here!
… for the same reason she had to turn the blokes’ loo at Palomar into a ladies’, using a little paper skirt […wiki]
Always nice to encounter a Leonidas. This one has the trademark smooth surfaces and the constructions were neat. I could have ticked so many but will stick to ERRATUM, EXTRACTIONS, RACKETEER, HOSTS, PLEAT, CHINA, ARBORETUM and NICOSIA. With reference to KVa’s query @ 6, I took the ‘perhaps’ in ARTILLERY to be the DBE indicator for ‘seasick’ which is just one way of being ILL with ‘soldiers’ being the def.
Thanks Leonidas and Pete M
ARTILLERY
Thanks PostMark@13.
Another lovely puzzle from Leonidas.
I agree with all of Postmark’s ticks, though I have to be less ruthless: I start by ticking entries on my way through the solve and then (try to) whittle them down at the end. This time, I have to keep OMICRON (for the IMO) and CHAMBERMAID, at least – the latter for my doh moment when realising that it was the big red book, rather than a cleaner, to be abbreviated, which momentarily held up the parsing.
What a lovely birthday, Diane – Many Happy Returns!
Many thanks to Leonidas for the fun and Pete for the blog.
Many thanks, Eileen!
Good to see EGO-maniacs and IMO cleared up so expertly by some of our contributors.
Nice work Spartan.
Thanks to Pete and to everyone who has commented today. Me on News puzzle duty this Sunday so hopefully see you all then … it’s been another busy month but fear not, I’ll keep it light!
Thanks Leonidas and Pete
Given 1D here and a remarkably similar clue in Saturday’s Times Cryptic, I wondered if Leonidas was also behind that one?
No, not my Times puzzle on Saturday, Simon. Maybe catch up with you after the lunch tomorrow if you are popping along?
Sorry, Nick, I’m not
My next cruciverbal bash will be York in October, see you then