The FT’s monthly puzzle based on news and current events. The printable version is available here, or you can solve online here.
Hello! Widdersbel is otherwise engaged today, so I jumped at the chance to blog a News puzzle. But then I remembered the news …
Still, if anyone can be relied upon to lighten the mood and give entertainment it’s Leonidas, and he provides here with a puzzle packed with deft topical references. One or two of them are even not completely bleak! Excellent stuff – thanks Leonidas!
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, most quoted indicators are in italics, specified [deletions] are in square brackets, and I’ve capitalised and emboldened letters which appear in the ANSWER. For clarity, I omit most link words and some juxtaposition indicators.
| Across | |
| 8a | Business partnership redraft AI composed (4,5) |
| FAIR TRADE — REDRAFT AI anagrammed (composed) | |
| 9a | Sly perhaps crossing forest on elephant (5) |
| STONE — The clue is spanning (crossing) the answer: foreST ON Elephant. | |
| The musician Sylvester Stewart, known by his stage name Sly Stone, died this month at the age of 82 | |
| 10a | Presenters in river close to birds (7) |
| DEEJAYS — DEE (river) next to JAYS (birds) | |
| 11a | British Final followed by the Spanish pianist (7) |
| BRENDEL — BR (British) + END (final) followed by EL (the, Spanish). | |
| Alfred Brendel, Czech-born Austrian classical pianist, died this month aged 94 | |
| 12a | One may be raised and cultivated in ’ackney? (7) |
| EYEBROW — HIGHBROW (cultivated) – as one in ’ackney (Hackney) might say | |
| 15a | Underfunded area of French marshland by church (7) |
| DEFENCE — DE (of, French) + FEN (marshland) + CE (church). | |
| Defence spending is to be increased following the recent government Spending Review | |
| 17a | Party left with fringe of talentless fools (5) |
| DOLTS — DO (party) + L (left) + the outer letters of (fringe of) TalentlesS | |
| 18a | Assistant on phone briefly to get what Becks wanted (3) |
| SIR — SIRi (assistant on phone) without its last letter (briefly). | |
| David Beckham famously wanted a knighthood, and now Sir David Beckham has one | |
| 20a | Headingley events maybe in street put about (5) |
| TESTS — Reversal of (… about) ST (street) with SET (put) | |
| 22a | Award backed by critic oddly embracing new composer (7) |
| PUCCINI — CUP (award) reversed (backed) + CrItIc oddly surrounding (embracing) N (new) | |
| 25a | Officers take part in Red Arrows performance? (7) |
| DISPLAY — DIS (officers) + PLAY (take part). | |
| Pulp’s performance at Glastonbury featured a fly-by by the Red Arrows, but as Eileen points out @5, and Leonidas confirms @10, the clue’s intended reference is the RAF flypast following Trooping the Colour | |
| 27a | Main talk is ultimately about Queen and Pet Sounds? (7) |
| SQUEAKS — SEA (main) and the last letters of (… ultimately) talK iS around (about) QU (Queen). | |
| See Leonidas below @10 – a nod to Brian Wilson, who died this month aged 82 | |
| 29a | Machine-like cricketer Joe keeping Bishop in charge (7) |
| ROBOTIC — ROOT (cricketer Joe) containing (keeping) B (Bishop) + IC (in charge). | |
| Joe Root recently became the first English batter to score 13000 test runs | |
| 31a | Car sale organised by DJT with two-thirds off (5) |
| TESLA — SALE anagrammed (organised) by [dj]T with two-thirds off. | |
| Tesla’s share price has dropped amid feuding between Musk and Trump – see Shanne@1 in the comments | |
| 32a | Involved MI6 chief with cop limit being revised (9) |
| COMPLICIT — C (MI6 chief) with COP LIMIT anagrammed (being revised). | |
| This month, Blaise Metreweli was announced as the incoming head of MI6. She will be its first female “C” | |
| Down | |
| 1d | Measure what’s sunk in Kent location (8) |
| SIZEWELL — SIZE (measure) + WELL (what’s sunk). | |
| The UK government is investing £14.2 billion in the Sizewell C nuclear power station project | |
| 2d | What spewed inside canteen from below (4) |
| ETNA — The answer is inside cANTEen when read upwards (from below). | |
| Mount Etna’s last eruption was on 2 June | |
| 3d | Film Jack with tool cycling (4) |
| JAWS — J (jack) with SAW (tool) cycling the letters round. | |
| Jaws celebrated its 50th anniversary this month, marked in crosswordland with a themed puzzle in the Independent by Magus | |
| 4d | Source takes sailor where Russians cut cables? (6) |
| SEABED — SEED (source) takes in AB (sailor). | |
| Several undersea power and communication lines have been reportedly cut or damaged in the Baltic Sea. Russian involvement is suspected | |
| 5d | Israeli State equipment primarily shielding large land mass (4) |
| ISLE — Initial letters of (… primarily) Israeli State Equipment around (shielding) L (large) | |
| 6d | Info surrounding dated type of key Elon was given (6) |
| GOLDEN — GEN (info) surrounding OLD (dated). | |
| Trump presented Musk with a golden key when he left the Oval Office | |
| 7d | Health of actor crossing one pole then another (8) |
| WELLNESS — WELLES (actor, Orson) around (crossing) N (one pole) followed by S (another [pole]) | |
| 8d | Compromise found regularly by e.g. U-turning (5) |
| FUDGE — Alternate letters of (… regularly) FoUnD by E.G. reversing (U-turning). | |
| Government U-turns have featured heavily in the news this month: the first concerning winter fuel payments for pensioners, the second over a decision to hold an inquiry into grooming gangs, and most recently cancelling some planned cuts to benefits | |
| 13d | 18 recalled greeting ex-PM (5) |
| RISHI — SIR (18 – answer to 18a) backwards (recalled) + HI (greeting). Rishi Sunak | |
| 14d | Stitch up Keir’s colleague (3) |
| WES — SEW (stitch) written up in the grid. Wes Streeting. | |
| [There was a typo in this clue, which I’ve corrected for the blog] | |
| 16d | Delivered garden parties for fabulous trio (5) |
| FATES — Sounds like (delivered) FÊTES (garden parties). | |
| The monarch traditionally hosts four Garden Parties in summer, three at Buckingham Palace, and one at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Scotland | |
| 17d | Drops editor having spun messages involving setter (8) |
| DEPOSITS — ED (editor) once reversed (having spun) + POSTS (messages) containing (involving) I (setter) | |
| 19d | Legendary singer at Glasto bar (3) |
| ROD — Double definition. | |
| Sir Rod Stewart is playing at Glastonbury in the Legends Slot | |
| 21d | Endless flak stuffing fish in midsummer event (8) |
| SOLSTICE — Missing the last letter (endless) STICk (flak) inserted in (stuffing) SOLE (fish). | |
| Always topical in June! | |
| 23d | Star lots of sailors picked up (6) |
| CRUISE — CREWS (lots of sailors), homophone (picked up). Tom Cruise | |
| 24d | Six-footer from popular group of followers (6) |
| INSECT — IN (popular) + SECT (group of followers) | |
| 26d | Greta’s ‘Selfie’ craft in yard before eight in Germany (5) |
| YACHT — Y (yard) before ACHT (eight in Germany). | |
| Greta Thunberg and other activists made a symbolic attempt to deliver aid to Gaza. This was intercepted by Israeli authorities, who called it a “selfie yacht” | |
| 28d | American ‘bullseye’ essentially blankets area, I’m afraid (4) |
| ALAS — A (American) + the inner letters of (… essentially) bulLSeye covers (blankets) A (area). | |
| A reference to US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, described as a “bullseye” by the president on social media | |
| 29d | Beef with The Donald leaving summit (4) |
| RUMP — tRUMP (The Donald) omitting the first letter (leaving summit). | |
| Trump left the G7 summit in Canada a day early because of events in the Middle East | |
| 30d | ‘It’s big and beautiful’ according to President Clinton? (4) |
| BILL — Two definitions. | |
| Trump’s “big, beautiful” tax-cut and spending bill has narrowly passed the House of Representatives | |
I really enjoyed this, as I always do. Leonidas sets a brilliant news crossword.
I think there’s more to the TESLA story – the share price dropped by another 14.2% in early June as Musk and DJT (Donald J Trump) feuded this month.
And Joe Root (ROBOTIC) is back captaining England in the cricket.
Thank you to Kitty (I’d have missed the Red Arrows) and Leonidas.
Thanks Shanne. I knew I hadn’t quite caught everything but it was getting late and I didn’t want to delay publishing any longer. I will incorporate your notes into the blog.
Was across some of the main events — defence budgets, Etna, cable-cutting — and vaguely aware of some culture bits — vale Sly, Jaws’s 50 years, Sir Rod at Glasto. Surprised to have missed the news of Root’s 13000, but not that of Alfred Brendel’s passing, so vale him too (saw him in concert in the late ’50s). Really enjoyable to have this kind of newsy puzzle, many thanks Leonidas and Kitty.
Thanks Leonidas and Kitty
Unless I’ve missed something, Joe Root isn’t the England cricket captain, it’s Ben Stokes.
I always look forward to these News puzzles – and there’s been longer than usual to wait this time, with five Sundays in the month.
Well, Leonidas promised on Monday to ‘keep it light’ – a daunting task this month – and he’s done a brilliant job, as usual. I really admire Kitty’s courage in stepping into Widdersbel’s big boots, with an equally brilliant blog.
As always, it seems invidious to highlight ‘favourites’ but I particularly enjoyed ROBOTIC, TESLA, COMPLICIT, GOLDEN, FUDGE, FATES, YACHT and BILL – all with smooth and succinct surfaces, encapsulating the news story.
Just to add – I took DISPLAY as referring to the flypast following Trooping the Colour and, as a long-term campaigner, I applauded the inclusion of FAIR TRADE (always news worthy!).
https://www.fairtrade.org.uk/
Huge thanks, as ever, to Leonidas and to Kitty – bravissima!
Sorry – as you can tell from my comment, I don’t listen properly when the news reports chat about cricket. Joe ROOT is in the news for his high scoring against India.
Eileen – I’m with you on the Fair Trade – I tried setting us up as a Fair Trade town some time ago, and gave up as Oxfam, the Co-op and another couple of traders with Fair Trade ranges shut, plus Tesco’s limited its Fair Trade range.
[Yes, Shanne – it’s an ongoing battle, trying to maintain our status as Fairtrade Church, Fairtrade Diocese, Fairtrade Town … with various outlets closed. All the best! 😉 ]
Simon@4 – yes. I took Shanne’s word for it at first, but amended after checking.
Eileen@5 – thank you! You are right about DISPLAY and I’ve added this above.
I thought 8a was a roundabout reference to the latest of the seemly never-ending trade deals and negotiations, but it’s a nice way to do it.
Another fine news puzzle from the FT.
It’s only a shame — and shame on their editors or owners — that the media cannot bring itself to allow comment that refers to the big news elephant in the room, especially as now the backlash against all of this horror is in full swing.
Many thanks Kitty for the blog and to everyone who has commented today. I did smile when the Red Arrows appeared during Pulp’s set yesterday, I was more than happy to claim that this demonstrated hot-off-the -press topical news clueing of the highest order, but I have been rumbled by Eileen@5. It was indeed a reference to the Trooping earlier in the month.
27a was my (ahem – rather tenuous) nod to Brian Wilson, now on the giant surfboard in the sky.
Settling down for Sir Rod this afternoon on the box, should be a belter. See you all next time.
Thanks Leonidas and Kitty.
Loved the puzzle. Great blog. Detailed and neat.
It’s almost impossible to miss any Trump news wherever you are in the world. However, I hadn’t
read some of the UK news referred to in the puzzle. Got the updates from the blog. Thanks.
TESTS
The first test between England and India was played at Headingley (June 21-25).
DISPLAY
(a minor point)
Should it not be ‘take part in’=PLAY?
Leonidas @10 – I did know Pet Sounds rang a bell and forgot to check why it was relevant (in my defence, I was 6 when it came out, and although the album has always been there, I don’t always go back and look up stuff that’s just there.)
Sorry Kitty @8 – I was adding the Joe Root comment in editing time and didn’t check properly.
Once again, I’ll say what a great pity it is to see so few responses to such cracking puzzles – splendid offerings, always, from both setters and bloggers.
I quite agree Eileen. But lack of comment does not mean lack of appreciation or pleasure. Perhaps more of us should send positive comments in future?
Anyway, I found both puzzle and blog top class and most enjoyable . Thanks to both.
Shanne@12 – no worries.
Leonidas@10 – referencing yesterday might be asking miracles, but I think you can still claim topical clueing of the highest order! Thanks for your comments which I’ve acknowledged above.
Eileen@13 and SM@14 – thank you for the kind words. I always feel for the setter when commentage is light, but (especially since I almost never find time or energy to comment on other blogs these days) I’m relaxed on my own account. Compared to the EV blogs, this is busy!
As Eileen notes, Leonidas made good on his promise that this newsy crossword would be lighter in tone than the month’s events suggested – and very entertaining it was too. And as per Eileen’s lament @13, it is disappointing to see fewer comments than the puzzle clearly deserves. That said, while I do these puzzles in print and online, I often forget about the Sunday puzzles. I remembered this one but forgot to comment hence my late note!
I especially liked the central entries of WES-SIR-ROD along with the amusing EYEBROW. Happily, awareness of most of the newsworthy events kicked in where parsing eluded me or vice versa (BRENDEL, for instance).
Thanks to Leonidas and Kitty for doing the honours with aplomb.
I did not do the puzzle, but wanted to say that I simply do not think of it given it is a once-a-month event. It looks like I missed a treat
I usually enjoy the news puzzle but often miss it on the day, and it was only a chance exchange with Widders where he mentioned Kitty was standing in that alerted me to the fact of the day.
Anyway a day late still excellent and topical and well done Leonidas on clever and amusing references that made this an enjoyable and not a miserable experience.
Watch out Widders too Kitty’s clearly up to a blog just as good as (if not better than) yours.
Thanks both.
Had 1d said “Suffolk location”, I’d have got it!
Yikes! Fake news!!
Thanks, PJG. I must have had in my mind Kent without taking care to verify (not the first time this has happened, alas). Apologies to all.