Puzzle from the Weekend FT of August 9, 2025
Julius has done a wonder of stuffing words into this puzzle. For a start we have NURSERY RHYME (19 and 27). Then there is BUTCHER, BAKER, CANDLESTICK MAKER (10, 11, 17, 22). I have to thank BC for his help with 23 (ROOTS) — which is also my favourite clue. And thank you Julius.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | CONSCRIPT |
Soldier following Tory lines (9)
|
| CON (Tory) + SCRIPT (lines) | ||
| 6 | HAULM |
Transport by road the last bit of sorghum straw (5)
|
| HAUL (transport by road) + [sorghu]]M. ‘Haulm’ is a new word to me. It refers to stems of things like peas and beans.used for thatching. | ||
| 9 | LONG TON |
Rascal taking delivery of new sports car that weighs 20cwt (4,3)
|
| N (new) + GT (sports car) together on (taking delivery of) LOON (rascal) | ||
| 10 | BUTCHER |
More macho character who tends to mince? (7)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 11 | BAKER |
One who makes loads of bloomers at work (5)
|
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 12 | COMMITTEE |
Title periodically introduced to Marxist group (9)
|
| T[i]T[l]E in (introduced to) COMMIE (Marxist) | ||
| 14 | END |
Last phase of bowls tournament (3)
|
| Double definition. If you need to understand the second, try https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowls | ||
| 15 | APOSTLESHIP |
Sol happiest switching to missionary position (11)
|
| Anagram (switching) of SOL HAPPIEST | ||
| 17 | CANDLESTICK |
Alec and Les tickled to acquire a bit of Liberace memorabilia (11)
|
| Hidden word (to acquire) | ||
| 19 | INN |
Fashionable northern watering hole (3)
|
| IN (fashionable) + N (northern) | ||
| 20 | LORD MAYOR |
Gold, Deutschmarks held by retired royal dignitary (4,5)
|
| OR (gold) + DM (Deutschmarks) together in ROYAL (royal) backwards (retired) | ||
| 22 | MAKER |
Mother regularly stealing bits from UK gear manufacturer (5)
|
| MA (mother) + [u]K [g]E[a]R | ||
| 24 | BLESSED |
Actor Brian not so much seen visiting set (7)
|
| LESS (not so much) in (visiting) BED (set) | ||
| 26 | HIDALGO |
Over in Bilbao, glad I helped gentleman there (7)
|
| Reverse (over) hidden word (in). ‘Hildago’ is a Spanish word for a gentleman | ||
| 27 | RHYME |
Jack Frost read out verse (5)
|
| Homophone (read out) of “rime” (Jack Frost) | ||
| 28 | BILL GATES |
Bastille prepared to imprison grand, wealthy citizen (4,5)
|
| G (grand) in (to imprison) anagram (prepared) of BASTILLE | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | CELEB |
Charlie starts to earn large emolument, being a big cheese (5)
|
| C (charlie) + E[arn] L[arge] E[molument] B[eing] | ||
| 2 | NON-SKID |
French for refusing small child — that’s gripping (3-4)
|
| NON (French for refusing) + S (small) + KID (child) | ||
| 3 | CATERWAUL |
Moggy, old queen, with a full unrestricted shriek (9)
|
| CAT (moggy) + ER (old queen) + W (with) + A (a) + [f]UIL[l] | ||
| 4 | INNOCUOUSLY |
Louis going out with coy nun in a purely harmless way (11)
|
| Anagram going out) of LOUIS COPY NUN | ||
| 5 | TUB |
Clumsy ship only capsized! (3)
|
| BUT (only) backwards (capsized) | ||
| 6 | HATHI |
With pith helmet on greeting Kipling’s elephant (5)
|
| HAT (pith helmet) + HI (greeting) | ||
| 7 | UNHITCH |
Decouple fund after uncovering snag (7)
|
| [f]UN[d] + HITCH (snag) | ||
| 8 | MARKER PEN |
It’s used for highlighting perm Karen styled (6,3)
|
| Anagram (styled) of PERM KAREN | ||
| 13 | MATRIARCHAL |
To do with respected lady, shrewd, invested in fabric out east (11)
|
| ARCH (shrewd) in (invested in) MAT[e]RIAL (fabric out east) | ||
| 14 | EXCALIBUR |
Famous weapon, recorded as having unknown bore (9)
|
| Homophone (recorded as) “ex-calibre” | ||
| 16 | ESKIMO DOG |
Ski-doo Meg ordered, making this redundant? (6,3)
|
| Anagram (ordered) of SKI DOO MEG | ||
| 18 | NURSERY |
Runs yard supporting tender young plants grown here (7)
|
| NURSE (tender) + R (runs) + Y (yard) | ||
| 19 | INK-BLOT |
Classic test mark left by 8? (3-4)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 21 | MASSE |
Church service ending in time for a bit of billiards action (5)
|
| MASS (church service) + [tim]E | ||
| 23 | ROOTS |
Ethnic origins of Joey Eliot? (5)
|
| ROO (joey) + TS (Eliot) | ||
| 25 | DUB |
Give title to a style of reggae (3)
|
| Duble definition |
Found this a bit of a mixture – some answers jumped out while others took a fair bit of thought.
Liked the hidden CANDLESTICK and HIDALGO
And: RHYME, CATERWAUL, ROOTS
Thanks Julius and Pete Maclean
Thanks Julius for a nice weekend diversion. I missed the mini theme but I still enjoyed this crossword. Favourites were CANDLESTICK, BILL GATES, and ROOTS. Thanks Pete for the blog.
Like Tony@2, I was oblivious to the theme. I found it quite straightforward but then the last three clues seemed to take more time than the rest of the puzzle. As is always the case with Julius, it was very enjoyable.
I had a very different list of favourites to Fiona , and Tony – the sign of a good puzzle. I ticked CONSCRIPT, BUTCHER, LORD MAYOR (nice surface, great reversal), CELEB, and 4dn.
A few new things. Not sure 19 works as marker pens do not really leave ink blots. For 17 I did not know acquire is a hidden word indicator and I had no idea how CANDLESTICK = piece of Liberace memorabilia. NHO bloomers to mean bread and having never lived anywhere with frost, I could not parse RHYME.
Thanks Julius and Pete
Liked BUTCHER, BAKER, APOSTLESHIP, LORD MAYOR, ESKIMO DOG and ROOTS.
Thanks Julius and Pete
The NURSERY RHYME is
rub-a-DUB-DUB, three men in a TUB,
and who do you think they be?
The BUTCHER, the BAKER,
The CANDLESTICK MAKER,
And all of them gone to sea.
There are other versions, see the link. I heard other whispers of folk tales and rhymes with the LORD MAYOR and EXCALIBUR, and I got another earworm from Colonel HATHI’s march.
Thank you to Julius and Pete Maclean.
Ditto Martyn @3 re Liberace. Didn’t notice the hidden and just biffed it thinking “The anagrist must be short an L”. Hey ho. Ta V and P.
Thanks for the blog, dear Pete, and thanks to those who have left a comment.
@Shanne…when my kids were little ‘uns, my mother-in-law used to regale them with nursery rhymes and she always used the version “turn ’em out, knaves all three!”. Rather like Ring a ring o’roses and Georgie Porgie there’s some evidence that this rhyme has an underlying adult theme but nobody seems to have a definitive answer.
Best wishes to all, Rob/Julius
Julius @7 – and tip the children out of something? Lap, tub, whatever? I’ve heard that version, and another variant similar to the Wiki link with the hot potato, but not quite that, but the fair was included. I couldn’t remember the last line and when I looked it up, there were lots of versions.
According to the Wiki link, it’s about men attending a fairground peep show.
Great fun! I liked ROOTS , too. Having solved BUTCHER and BAKER, I was on the lookout for CANDLESTICK. We always used to half- drop the children from our laps on “Turn them out. Knaves all three.
I don’t recall the rhyme in detail, but one sometimes hears of people saying “the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker” to mean “people with a variety of different jobs”. I didn’t spot the theme however (never do unless it’s advertised) and I’m always impressed by the fact that so many people do.
Slight quibble with the Liberace reference.
He was well known for his Candelabras.
Candlestick though? not so much
Mark A@11: my dictionaries give definitions for a a candelabrum which are variations of “a branched and ornamented candlestick”, so I had no problem with the clue.
Perplexus, Thank you for commenting and adding this information.
Very enjoyable. Catching up today with a some that I missed last week. I always enjoy Julius, which is more than I can say for Jason. 😆.
I hope the “roots” and “dub” answers were not coincidental. Very enjoyable crossword only spoiled by my wife finishing it before me.
When did loon become a synonym for rascal?
9ac: SOED (2007) gives us loon on p 1639 with the definition “A worthless, dishonest, or idle person” dated LME (which means 1350-1469), and rascal on p 2465 as “A low, unprincipled, or dishonest person” dated M16. So I suppose they became synonyms no later than the mid-16th century.
Incidentally, when I saw BUTCHER and BAKER together at the top of the puzzle, I was reminded of the time when Surrey County Cricket Club were playing a televised cricket match (probably Sunday League in the late 1970s) with Ray Baker and Alan Butcher in the side. A commentator (probably John Arlott) suggested that they should try to find someone called Chandler to join those two. Because of that memory, I was looking for CHANDLER as an answer. I found MAKER and CANDLESTICK separately and only later realised that I had completed the original form of the trio.
Thanks Julius and Pete.