Puzzle from the Weekend FT of December 20, 2025
No grid this week, sorry. Slight cock-up on the automation front.
I found this relatively hard, for example with loose definitions in 30 (CRETAN) and 15 (BREADSTICK).
My favourite clues are 1dn (UNSALTED) and 13 (CHAMBER POT).
ACROSS
8 Coloured, not pale yellow? (6)
UNFAIR – UN (not) + FAIR (pale yellow)
9 Reconditioned phaeton maintaining good shape (8)
HEPTAGON – G (good) in (maintaining) anagram (reconditioned) of PHAETON
10 Wolves, for example, prepare to go on holiday (4)
PACK – double definition
11 Pub wine knocked back before, close match (5,5)
LOCAL DERBY – LOCAL (pub) + RED (wine) backwards (knocked back) + BY (before)
12 Italian smoker in restaurant, essentially retired (4)
ETNA – reverse (retired) hidden word (essentially)
13 Talk about tricky problem having missed second of clues – something to go on? (7,3)
CHAMBER POT – anagram (tricky) of PROB[l]EM in (about) CHAT (talk)
17 Son leaves a fruit for man in garden? (4)
ADAM – DAM[son] (son leaves a fruit)
18 Season summer: university not entirely in recess (5)
INURE – reverse (in recess) hidden word (not entirely)
19 Avoid what may be on end of bill? (4)
DUCK – like duck-billed platypus
21 Normal to conceal sawn-off weapon, keep a lookout (5,5)
STAND GUARD – GU[n] (sawn-off weapon) in (to conceal) STANDARD (normal)
23 Some rapscallion in essence lives as a queen (4)
NINE – hidden word (some). I guess this relates to Lady Jane Grey, the teenage Protestant noblewoman who was proclaimed Queen of England for just nine days in 1553,
24 A fight at close of innings, riotous (10)
KNOCKABOUT – KNOCK (innings in cricket) + A (a) BOUT (fight). (Thanks to Pelham Barton.)
28 Suffering – baguette (4)
PAIN – double definition
29 Train me on site for an interval (8)
SEMITONE – anagram (train) of ME ON SITE
30 Islander certain to leave island, unfortunately (6)
CRETAN – anagram (unfortunately) of CERTA[i]N
DOWN
1 Nuts deal with nuts – as they naturally are (8)
UNSALTED – anagram (nuts) of DEAL NUTS
2 Game champion, bit of a pig (10)
BACKGAMMON – BACK (champion) + GAMMON (bit of a pig)
3 Fun for cooks, tasting food (10)
FROLICKING – anagram (cooks) of FOR + LICKING (tasting)
4 Sweet choice of hot cakes originally served up (4)
CHOC – C[hoice] O[f] H[ot] C[akes] backwards (served up)
5 Form of silica or pearl regularly observed (4)
OPAL – O[r] P[e]A[r]L
6 Contact servant (4)
PAGE – double definition
7 Frightening call repeated in error (3-3
BOO-BOO – double definition
14 Polish in Africa evacuated small country (5)
ARUBA – RUB (polish) in (in) A[fric]A
15 Money on jam for crisp food (10)
BREADSTICK – BREAD (money) + STICK (jam)
16 Crocodile possibly going after raw fish (3,7)
RED SNAPPER – RED (raw) + SNAPPER (crocodile)
20 Channel screening tip for man-eater? (8)
CANNIBAL – NIB (tip) in (screening) CANAL (channel)
22 Sensitive, sore figure knocked over (6)
TENDER – RED (sore) + NET (figure) all backwards (knocked over)
25 Fry small piece (4)
CHIP – double definition
26 Trace a little boy (4)
ATOM – A (a) + TOM (little boy)
27 Half a dozen balls wrapped up (4)
OVER – double definition
Thanks Mudd and Pete
23ac I think refers to the proverbial nine lives of a cat.
24ac: A+ BOUT (fight) following KNOCK (innings in cricket) with “riotous” as the definition.
I did not understand TENDER, specifically, how NET = figure. I thought this was supposed to be TEN = figure, but then the clue does not parse. Typo?
Thank you, Pelham!
Mudd used to set the weekend puzzle every second week when I was just starting, and it was nostalgic to see him back in that slot. I also found a degree of challenge in this puzzle, and had to visit a number of clues several times before solving them.
There was a lot to like and I ticked DUCK, and CRETAN (and I can only imagine the number of times a poor person from Crete is told by an English speaker “you are a cretan, ha ha”). UNSALTED made me chuckle. I also liked RED SNAPPER and thought OVER clever.
In ETNA, “essentially” misled me rather nicely, and another piece of witty deception meant it took ages so see how “lives as a queen” means NINE (I thought I was being thick until I saw Pete was similarly stumped). Thanks for the help parsing ADAM (NHO DAMson) and thanks to PB@1 for KNOCKABOUT (I thought KNOCK was fight and OUT was end of innings. No wonder I could not see where AB comes from. Sigh!).
Seasons greeting to all. Thank you for putting up with my comments again through the year and for teaching me so much.
And thanks to Mudd and Pete for this puzzle and blog