Puzzle from the Weekend FT of October 25, 2025
I enjoy having frequent Rosa puzzles these days. She is in fine form with this one. My favorites are 5 (SHINNED), 13 (FRACAS), 23d (AUDIO) and 27 (Psycho). Thank you, Rosa.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | CONCEPTS |
Ideas previously adopted by Communist Party, way back (8)
|
| ONCE (previously) in (adopted by) CP (Communist Party) + ST (way) backwards (back) | ||
| 6 | SET OUT |
Wings of scarce hawk exhibited (3,3)
|
| S[carc]E + TOUT (hawk) | ||
| 9 | OF LATE |
Old apartment close to collapse recently (2,4)
|
| O (old) + FLAT (apartment) + [collaps]E | ||
| 10 | INTEREST |
Benefit of winter vest initially ignored (8)
|
| [w]INTER [v]EST | ||
| 11 | WOODBURNER |
Browned our nuts in stove (10)
|
| Anagram (nuts) of BROWNED OUR | ||
| 12 | TUTU |
Oddly trustful Nobel Peace Prize winner (4)
|
| T[r]U[s]T[f]U[l] | ||
| 13 | FRACAS |
French and British arbitrators quarrel (6)
|
| FR (French) + ACAS (British arbitrators). ACAS is the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, a non-departmental public body of the Government of the United Kingdom. | ||
| 15 | DISTASTE |
Aversion is stated vigorously (8)
|
| Anagram (vigorously) of IS STATED | ||
| 18 | SEA LORDS |
Naval officers reportedly make out by cricket ground (3,5)
|
| Homophone (reportedly) of “see” (make out) + LORDS (cricket ground) | ||
| 20 | NODDLE |
Brain of Newton with strange conclusions from fateful apple (6)
|
| N (newton) + ODD (strange) + [fatefu]L [appl]E | ||
| 21 | SCAR |
Leave mark on naked statuettes (4)
|
| [o]SCAR[s] (naked statuettes) | ||
| 23 | ALEXANDRIA |
Mediterranean city and state controlled by Amazon’s assistant (10)
|
| AND (and) + RI (state, i.e. RHODE ISLAND) together in (controlled by) ALEXA (Amazon’s assistant) | ||
| 25 | DAFFODIL |
Revolutionary cover of Vogue is yellow (8)
|
| LID (cover) + OF (of) + FAD (vogue) all backwards (revolutionary) | ||
| 26 | INDIGO |
Colour of diamonds nicked by Jones the Architect (6)
|
| D (diamonds) in (nicked by) INIGO (Jones the Architect) | ||
| 27 | PSYCHO |
Film some tipsy choristers (6)
|
| Hidden word (some) | ||
| 28 | HANGER-ON |
Hot fury towards sycophant (6-2)
|
| H (hot) + ANGER (fury) + ON (towards) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | OFF COURSE |
Female dons clearly on the wrong track (3,6)
|
| F (female) in (dons) OF COURSE (clearly) | ||
| 3 | CHARD |
Veg is overcooked, we gather (5)
|
| Homophone (we gather) of “charred” (overcooked) | ||
| 4 | PRECURSOR |
Harbinger of bad CPU errors (9)
|
| Anagram (bad) of CPU ERRORS | ||
| 5 | SHINNED |
Kicked boozer in Slough (7)
|
| INN (boozer) in (in) SHED (slough) | ||
| 6 | SATYR |
Brooded over younger man, highly sexed (5)
|
| SAT (brooded over) + YR (younger) | ||
| 7 | TAROT CARD |
Sailor died after Croat wrecked part of deck (5,4)
|
| TAR (sailor) + anagram (wrecked) of CROAT + D (died) | ||
| 8 | UPSET |
Drink, cycling in France, and topple over (5)
|
| SUP (drink) circularly shifted one position (cycling) + ET (in France and) | ||
| 14 | CALORIFIC |
Energy-dense cola ruined inside of mouth (9)
|
| Anagram (ruined) of COLA in (inside) [o]RIFIC[e] (inside of mouth) | ||
| 16 | SENSATION |
Feeling extremely submissive and small amid people (9)
|
| S[ubmissiv]E + S (small) in (amid) NATION (people) | ||
| 17 | TALKING-TO |
Reprimand Liberal becoming keen on borders (7-2)
|
| L (liberal) in (borders) TAKING TO (becoming keen on) | ||
| 19 | STEALTH |
Furtiveness of the last suspect (7)
|
| Anagram (suspect) of THE LAST | ||
| 22 | CHAOS |
Disorder of men with love for power (5)
|
| CHAPS (men) with the ‘P’ (power) replaced by ‘O’ (love) | ||
| 23 | AUDIO |
Sound of car beginning to overheat (5)
|
| AUDI (car) + O[verheat] | ||
| 24 | DODGE |
The Pentagon for example lies about subterfuge (5)
|
| DOD (the Pentagon, i.e. Department of Defense) + EG (for example) backwards (lies about). Not DOWGE then? 😉 |
A relatively gentle but no less entertaining puzzle from Rosa. DISTASTE and STEALTH both had wonderfully smooth and pithy surfaces. I also enjoyed the whimsy of DAFFODIL and NODDLE, along with amusing images conjured by WOODBURNER and SHINNED. Oh, and CALORIFIC too.
Thanks for a fun puzzle, Rosa, and Pete for your blog.