A great news puzzle from Julius to see the year out.
Plenty of wit from Julius, with just the right amount of thinking required. Many thanks to the setter!
(BIG BRIBE (from 7 down) BORIS)* (*arranged)
Appointed to the BBC board by Boris Johnson’ government, with current calls for his removal due to ‘institutional bias’
[s]M[a]R[t]I[e]S (after regularly emptying) + CAN (tin)
A “perfect” routine physical, “not of the brain”
I’M< (Julius’, <put back) in CHEST (box)
TIER (row) about G (golf, NATO alphabet)
Mr Woods, pro golfer
[favour]S REPAID NI[cely]< (some, <backing)
Accusation against Trump of course
Prunella Scales, with her husband Timothy West, did the popular series ‘Great Canal Journeys’ and of course famously, ‘Fawlty Towers’
I can’t quite get an anagram to work here, but perhaps someone else has something to add?
E (base, mathematical) after PIER (support) + C[rumble] (beginning to)
(MAMDANI CAREER)* (*moves)
Mamdani, newly elected NYC mayor; notably young, Muslim and born in Africa
CO (firm) + (T (Tesla) in the grip of SLIEST (the most devious))
“ERUPTS” (blows up, “so to speak”)
BUFF (expert) + (NO (not so) + O (ordinary))< (<flipping)
(HIS ALLIES SEE A)* (*shockingly)
“SUMMIT” (big meeting, “sounds like”) + UP (ahead)
Cryptic definition
OS (very large, oversize) + CAR (motor)
Oscar Piastri, Australian F1 driver
[trom]BONE I’D LE[arn] (part for)
E (English) + S (shilling) + CU (copper) + D (penny) + O (old)
Portuguese currency before 1911 when the Real was introduced to replace it
ICE (controversial US force, Immigration and Customs Enforcement) + (CANED R (Republican))* (*brutally)
Christopher Dean, UK winner of the Olympics gold medal for ice dancing, 1984, with Jayne Torvill
[gastropu]B RIB-E[ye] (sandwiches)
Former leader of Reform Wales, recently jailed for accepting pro-Russia bribes
S[oviet] (head of) + TASS (news agency, Russian) suppressing I (current)
EU (European Union) + TYPICAL* (*angered)
[e]LEC[t] (content to) + HERO (leading man) + US (American)
ABLE (qualified) to support I (independent) + MIT (science uni)
[g]NOME (Swiss banker, faceless) protects [f]I[a]N[c]E[e] (periodically)
‘Gnomes’ is a disparaging term for Swiss bankers, originating in the 1960s when they were accused of raising speculation against the pound
[m]EISSEN< (china, <from south, headless)
Meissen is German porcelain
C (conservative) put in (ORISON HAHA)* (*that’s funny)
Reform UK’s first female MP
FED< (<up) with R[ubbish] A[wful] (leaders of)
Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
Thanks Julius and Oriel
I think 18 PIERCE is also thematic, as Pierce Brosnan has been in the news recently commenting on the Netflix / WB merger and the decline of cinemas
Also possibly 16 LECHEROUS given what may or may not be in the Epstein files about a certain “leading man, American”.
Like you, Oriel, for 13/15 I can get CANAL PLUS and SER(ies) to contribute but am left with a homeless LE.
Great puzzle. I especially like the Mandami career turning into AMERICAN DREAM. I can see Plus and Canal but that just leaves relse?
I couldn’t quite get the anagram for PRUNELLA SCALES to work either – I think it’s meant to be CANAL PLUS SERIES – but that gave me 3 x S, which was one too many letters.
(I’m now going to apologise, Widdersbel and I had the conversation about cover for this, but I knew I was away too, and wasn’t sure how much time I’d have.)
Boots, the CHEMIST was taken over by Walgreens this year.
SIR ROBBIE GIBB has been repeatedly accused of pushing the BBC “institutional bias” claim, using a report from a partisan source, as part of the right wing attempts of removing unbiased media influence (we’ve got a lot of right-wing media barons running newspapers and some news channels, e.g. GB News, who’d like to have the BBC and Channel 4 gone) – it came up in Parliament, in various papers and through the broadcast union BECTU.
NOMINEE – Swiss bankers have been in the news for stories about money laundering – HSBC has been part of this.
SARAH POCHIN has hit the news a lot this year – she remarked that seeing adverts full of black and Asian people “drives her mad” and was told she was racist by a number of people.
EUCALYPTI – more sanctions from the EU against Russia’s oil users in the last couple of weeks.
NESSIE – four official incidents, so more sightings this year
ICE DANCER – Torvill and Dean are widely tipped to be honoured in the New Years’ honours, after 50 years in skating.
BONE IDLE – this made me think of lots of stories in the press about the high number of young adults claiming benefits due to mental health issues – the right wing press has been suggesting that this is just idleness – but having worked with young people through the pandemic, that really changed things.
RAIN GAUGE – increased flooding – Indonesia, UK, Spain, and etc – almost certainly worsened by climate change.
COSTLIEST made me think of Elon Musk – not sure if it was the Tesla or the most devious, or just his DOGE attempts.
HAILE SELASSIE – 50th anniversary of death, so lots of coverage this year, including documentaries about his living in Bath in exile
I too have been trying desperately to get an anagram from CANAL PLUS SERIES, with the same result as Simon S and Shanne. I so wanted it to work!
Characteristically brilliant anagrams, though, at 1ac, 19/24, 27ac and 23/18, laced with the usual sparkling wit.
At 8.30 this evening on ITV1 there’s a documentary, ‘Torvill and Dean : the Last Dance’, on their final tour.
Huge thanks, as ever, to Julius on a real cracker of a puzzle and to Oriel for stepping in to blog it.
Thanks for the blog, dear Oriel, and many thanks to those who have left a comment.
With the clue for PRUNELLA SCALES, it might help to think of the plus sign as an ampersand.
If you haven’t had a bellyful of my work, I’m very pleased to be making my print debut as Calypso in today’s Observer where I have a jumbo cryptic in the New Review section.
Very best wishes to everyone for 2026.
Warmest regards, Rob/Julius
My apologies, Petert – I’ve just noticed that I overlooked your comment. @2.
And many thanks for dropping in, Julius – we might have known!