Puzzle from the Weekend FT of August 16, 2025
We rarely see a Guy crossword in our weekend slot and this one I find very clever. My favourite clues are 1a (FRANCHISEE), 19 (ABYSMAL) and 26 (SAMOYED).
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | FRANCHISEE |
Cattle farm is charging fee for someone using their brand (10)
|
| RANCH (cattle farm) + IS (Is) together in (charging) FEE (fee) | ||
| 6 | DROP |
Abandon surgical procedure that doctor has started (4)
|
| DR (doctor) + OP (surgical procedure) | ||
| 9 | SIDEARM |
Colt perhaps mixture of dam and sire (7)
|
| Anagram (mixture) of DAM SIRE | ||
| 10 | EN SUITE |
Later, darling heard through door from the bedroom (2,5)
|
| Homophone (heard) of “on sweet” (later darling) | ||
| 12 | HOW DARE YOU |
Duke interrupts enquiry about health that’s cheeky (3,4,3)
|
| D (duke) in (interrupts) HOW ARE YOU (enquiry about health) | ||
| 13 | ITS |
That thing’s a little kitschy (3)
|
| Hidden word (a little) | ||
| 15 | RESIDE |
Stay permanently on edge (6)
|
| RE (on) + SIDE (edge_ | ||
| 16 | PATHOGEN |
Bug perhaps gone wandering on 11D? (8)
|
| PATH (11D?) + anagram (wandering) of GONE | ||
| 18 | SHAMBLES |
I wouldn’t say anything walks in slaughterhouse (8)
|
| SH (I would say anyting) + AMBLES (walks) | ||
| 20 | FORMER |
Old cast (6)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 23 | HOY |
Barge Olympian on track (3)
|
| Double definitiion with the first pertaining to a type of barge (that was new to me) and the second to the Scottish cyclist Chris Hoy | ||
| 24 | STATIONARY |
Still pen and paper for the auditor (10)
|
| Homophone (for the auditor) of “stationery” (pen and paper) | ||
| 26 | SAMOYED |
Dog does my head in always barking (7)
|
| Anagram (barking) of DOES MY A[lways] | ||
| 27 | CO-WRITE |
Author with another sea snail holding the end of it (2-5)
|
| [i]T in (holding) COWRIE (sea snail) | ||
| 28 | SILK |
Highly paid lawyer likes dancing after taking Ecstasy (4)
|
| Anagram (dancing) of LIK[e]S | ||
| 29 | WHIRLYBIRD |
Helicopter’s well built, guarantee given by Spooner (10)
|
| Spoonerism of “burly word” (well built…guarantee) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | FAST |
Unable to move? Stop eating (4)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 2 | ARDUOUS |
Hard translating Urdu so beginning with shortest word? (7)
|
| A (shortest word) + anagram (translating) of URDU SO | ||
| 3 | CLAUDE DEBUSSY |
Composer praised battery- powered PSV’s capacity, ultimately under 100 (6,7)
|
| C (100) + LAUDED (praised) + E (battery-powered, as in EV) + BUSS (PSV’s) + [capacit]Y. PSV stands for public service vehicle. | ||
| 4 | IMMURE |
‘Shut up,’ mum snarled in fury (6)
|
| Anagram (snarled) of MUM in (in) IRE (fury) [corrected] | ||
| 5 | EVERYMAN |
Really boring celebrity turned up — Joe Bloggs? (8)
|
| VERY (really) in (boring) NAME (celebrity) backwards (turned up) | ||
| 7 | RAILING |
Safety barrier coming down with something underneath end of bar (7)
|
| [ba]R + AILING (coming down with something) | ||
| 8 | PLEASANTRY |
Seal tampered with in larder? That’s funny (10)
|
| Anagram (tampered with) of SEAL in PANTRY (larder) | ||
| 11 | SOUTH DOWNS WAY |
Ramshackle huts do have power, a long walk from Winchester (5,5,3)
|
| Anagram (ramshackle) of HUTS DO + OWN (have) + SWAY (power) | ||
| 14 | PROSTHESIS |
For second dissertation substitute part (10)
|
| PRO (for) + S (second) + THESIS (dissertation) | ||
| 17 | VERANDAH |
Shelter outside golf club hotel after venue’s evacuated (8)
|
| V[enu]E + R AND A (golf club) + H (hotel). “R and A” here is a colloquial term for The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews. | ||
| 19 | ABYSMAL |
Topless baby and bottomless baby no good at all (7)
|
| [b]ABY + SMAL[l] | ||
| 21 | MARTINI |
Flipping popular vermouth, something to get hammered with? (7)
|
| IN (popular) + IT (vermouth) + RAM (something to get hammerd with) &Lit. | ||
| 22 | PINCER |
Member that grabs leg right outside church (6)
|
| LEG (pin) + CE )church) + R (right) | ||
| 25 | SEED |
Children realise what starts dad off (4)
|
| SEE (realise) + [da]D (what starts dad off) |
VERANDAH is VE as the outer letters of VenuE and R AND A (Royal and Ancient golf club) + H (hotel) – I also suspect the definition is “shelter outside”.
You’ve also got a typo in 4D – it’s (MUM)* In IRE
Thank you for the puzzle and blog to Guy and Pete Maclean
V[ENU]E (excavated) + R AND A ([The Royal & Ancient] Golf Club [of Saint Andrews]) + H (hotel)
For 3D, I had E-BUS’S (battery-powered ESV’s), which is basically what appears in the blog, I think.
*PSV’s*
A nice surprise to see Guy over the weekend; it felt very satisfying to complete this without aids as it was certainly chewy in parts.
The bottom half of the grid took longer as I didn’t know the first definition of ‘hoy’ so the medal-winning cyclist helped there. The ‘golf club’ was a lucky guess (agree with Shanne that its definition is ‘shelter outside’) which, in turn helped with the pleasing Spoonerism. From here, I chipped at it away steadily until finishing.
I liked SHAMBLES, as well as SIDEARM and SAMOYED especially for their surfaces.
Thanks to Guy for an excellent workout and to Pete.
Liked SIDEARM, ABYSMAL, PATHOGEN
It took me a while to parse VERANDAH and I am just pleased I got it. After I got that, my LOI was HOW DARE YOU and I am still not convinced it is the same as “that’s cheeky”.
I agree with the comments so far – enjoyable and chewy in parts
Thanks Guy and Pete
Liked: SOUTH DOWNS WAY, CLAUDE DEBUSSEY, PATHOGEN
Found the top half went in quite quickly – the SW held me up longest.
Thanks Guy and Pete
I’m glad I wasn’t the only person baffled by the RANDA part of VERANDAH. Unlike Diane @4 I did know the definition of HOY but didn’t know the Olympian. The SE corner was the slowest one for me. It’s interesting how different people find different corners the most difficult. Could it be connected with the corner they choose to start with? In theory I should have thought that that should make no difference.
(New pseudonym – formerly allan_c)
An enjoyavle solve with no real problems. 3dn was a write-in for us but with 11dn we took a little while to realise it was only a partial anagram – they always tend to catch us out. We didn’t know HOY as a barge although we knew of water hoys as sailing vessels which supplied ships of the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic wars so the answer was obvious.
Thanks, Guy and Pete.
Re Shanne at #1: At the time I wrote the first draft of this blog, I had not figured out the wordplay of 17 (VERANDA). Later I did solve it and updated the blog. Then, apparently, that change got lost. It may have had something to do with my making the update very close to midnight. Publication time that is. Anyway, thank you for commenting as you did. And I did miss “outside” being part of the definition (now corrected).
Sorry Pete, I just happened to still be awake and online at around midnight, and was paying attention. I did need the blog for a couple of parsings, just not that one. (And reading the Wikipedia page, the R&A is actually a separate organisation providing support for the Royal and Ancient).
I’m late to the pass but Chris Hoy is SCOTTISH! 23 ac