A tough nut to crack from SOLOMON this Friday.
FF: 9 DD: 10
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | VANITY |
Conceit shown by very naughty words professor rubbed out (6)
|
|
V ( very ) profANITY ( naughty words, without PROF – professor ) ; profanities <> words ? |
||
| 4 | PRINCESS |
Perhaps Grace Kelly originally penned cryptic wordplay for ‘cress’ (8)
|
|
P ( Penned, first letter ) RINCESS ( cress cryptically; R IN CESS ) |
||
| 10 | ROCKERIES |
Parts of garden chair lie unopened close to flower-beds (9)
|
|
ROCKER ( chair ) lIE ( without first letter ) S ( flower-bedS, last letter ) |
||
| 11 | SERVE |
Benefit cut right to be brought forward (5)
|
|
SEVER ( cut, with R moving two places ) |
||
| 12 | AS IF |
A fish twisted its tail off ? I don’t believe you (2,2)
|
|
A [ reverse of FISh ( without end letter ) ] |
||
| 13 | STONECHAT |
Cat in the Luxembourg Gardens stalks grey bird (9)
|
|
CHAT ( cat in the luxembourg gardens, implying french ) after STONE ( grey ) |
||
| 15 | UNASHAMED |
Excitedly, a Sun journalist nobbles bad actor with no remorse (9)
|
|
[ A SUN ]* HAM ( bad actor ) ED ( journalist ) |
||
| 17 | TIGHT |
Difficult time to replace leader of crew (5)
|
|
T ( time ) replacing starting letter of EIGHT ( crew ) |
||
| 19 | STYLE |
Fashion travesty — leather trousers (5)
|
|
hidden in "..traveSTY-LEather.." |
||
| 21 | UNDERWEAR |
One last part of attire put in pants drawer? (9)
|
|
UN ( one ) { E ( attirE, last letter ) in [ DRAWER ]* } ; if my parsing is right, i would have expected a foreign language indicator for 'UN' |
||
| 23 | IRISH STEW |
Food review’s opening — ‘this is bad and that is disgusting’ (5,4)
|
|
[ R ( Review, first letter ) THIS IS ]* EW ( disgusting ) |
||
| 26 | CANT |
Hypocrisy of outspoken idealist (4)
|
|
sounds like KANT ( outspoken idealist, immanuel ) |
||
| 28 | PROUD |
Couple talking posh going around full of themselves (5)
|
|
DUO ( couple ) RP ( talking posh ) , all reversed |
||
| 29 | CHIPOLATA |
Colonel’s in a Tesla beside a banger that’s smaller (9)
|
|
[ HIP ( in ) in COL ( colonel ) ] A T ( tesla ) A ; if my parsing is right, then the cluing still needs to address the inclusion |
||
| 30 | RESEALED |
Drug dealers fighting outside settled again (8)
|
|
E ( drug, Ecstasy ) in [ DEALERS ]* |
||
| 31 | ANCHOR |
Jackie cycles with Oscar by the western edge of Rannoch Moor (6)
|
|
ANCH ( jackie, cycles i.e CHAN with first two letters moving to the end ) O ( Oscar ) R ( Rannoch, western edge of ) |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | VERB |
Detailed note brought up for minister? (4)
|
|
reverse of BREVe ( note, detailed i.e. without last letter ) |
||
| 2 | NECESSARY |
Angry scene with arsy drunk is unavoidable (9)
|
|
[ SCENE ]* [ ARSY ]* |
||
| 3 | TWELFTH |
Glorious day in August with Lloyd’s chiefs and the FT founders (7)
|
|
[ WL ( '..With Llyod's..', first letter ) THE FT ]* |
||
| 5 | RESPONDED |
Small pool round which returning deer came back (9)
|
|
[ S ( small ) POND ( pool ) ] in reverse of DEER |
||
| 6 | NASCENT |
Budding rapper given paltry amount (7)
|
|
NAS ( rapper ) CENT ( paltry amount ) |
||
| 7 | EARTH |
Here are the abridged plays (5)
|
|
[ ARE THe ( abridged i.e. without last letter ) ]* |
||
| 8 | SPECTATORS |
Grain and vegetables delivered for crowd (10)
|
|
sounds like SPECK ( grain ) TATERS ( vegetables ) |
||
| 9 | KISS |
Made up band from South Korea’s capital is given top billing (4)
|
|
IS in reverse of SK ( South Korea ) ? not sure about the parse but if anyone has seen the band, they know why the make up reference exists |
||
| 14 | MUDSKIPPER |
Fish smell surrounding dead, beheaded diving bird (10)
|
|
[ MUSK ( smell ) around D ( dead ) ] dIPPER ( diving bird, without first letter ) |
||
| 16 | MOUSTACHE |
One bristled in the face of Lord Kitchener (9)
|
|
cryptic def |
||
| 18 | GREENWASH |
What oil companies produce with drills say — lime dust? (9)
|
|
[ W ( with ) in [ GREEN ( lime, say ) ASH ( dust ) ] |
||
| 20 | ECHIDNA |
Australian Dame’s overwhelming character? Being Australian (7)
|
|
EDNA ( australian dame, barry humphries as dame edna everage ) containing CHI ( character ) |
||
| 22 | RACCOON |
Jaguar, perhaps climbing around, over and on another animal (7)
|
|
[ reverse of CAR ( jaguar perhaps ) ] C ( around ) O ( over ) ON |
||
| 24 | IRONS |
Is Harry Potter’s accomplice in chains? (5)
|
|
RON ( harry potter's accomplice ) in IS |
||
| 25 | WHIP |
Wagoner’s cap is put on in drive (4)
|
|
W ( Wagoner, first letter ) HIP ( in ) |
||
| 27 | FAIR |
Light show (4)
|
|
double def |
Thanks Solomon for a challenging but ultimately rewarding crossword. I needed the check button to confirm a few guesses but overall I enjoyed solving this with my top picks being VANITY, STONECHAT (great surface), TIGHT, IRISH STEW, ANCHOR, & RACCOON. I didn’t get how TWELFTH meant ‘glorious day in August’ but the crossers made the answer obvious. Thanks Turbolegs for the blog.
No doubt a kind soul will tell me how minister? = verb….
Not much to add to Tony@1. I only solved VERB from the crossers and I am not sure I get it even now. Thanks for explaining STONECHAT
thanks Solomon and turbolegs
KISS
Korea’s capital=K
IS (from the surface)
KIS given top billing—>KIS goes to the top
South=S (KIS above S)
The Chambers entry for verbal meanings of “minister” gives
intransitive verb
To give attentive service (to)
To perform duties at a Christian service, to act as an ecclesiastical minister
To supply or do things needful
To conduce or contribute (to)
transitive verb (archaic)
To furnish, supply
UNDERWEAR
one=’un (big ‘un, wrong ‘un etc.,)
I think it doesn’t need a foreign language indicator
GIF @2 and Martyn @3, ‘minister’ can be a VERB, as in “to minister to the needs of someone”. Sorry – beaten to it by Bagpuss @5.
Yes, pretty tough but ultimately v. satisfying to get some of the more difficult ones like MUDSKIPPER, GREENWASH and STONECHAT. Same query as our blogger re UNDERWEAR – thanks KVa@6.
VANITY and FAIR to start and finish – any significance?
Thanks to Solomon and Turbolegs
I agree with KVa’s 2 parsings & would add that Col’s needs to be read as Col has for the inclusion indicator in 29a – one of several quite tricksy bits of wordplay today.
Not easy but no tears today. A much needed blog in a few cases and some new fishes/birds which I expect never to encounter again. Thanks both.
UN as a colloquial version of ‘one’ is certainly a setter’s trick. Quite often indicated as ‘local one’ or similar. I agree with our blogger that this was Solomon being quite tricksy but everything parsed cleanly enough in the end. Quite a few faves – inc UNDERWEAR – along with TWELFTH, TIGHT, STYLE, IRISH STEW, PROUD, KISS and GREENWASH. My only tiny niggle is the double use of ‘in’ = HIP in two solutions that actually intersect with the ‘I’.
Thanks Solomon and Turbolegs
Managed to complete the top half, although with three letters (VER) of 1d I was kind of stuck . . . which is also kind of ridiculous . . . The bottom half had me flummoxed, and I’m not at all surprised, having seen the solutions and the parsings. All a bit too much for me. But thanks, Solomon, and to Turbolegs for the explanations.
Absy no prob that minister can be both noun and verb, but are they substitutable? The Verb for Defence? She will verb to his needs?
Thanks Solomon and Turbolegs
29ac: I agree with shikasta@8: Colonel’s in = COL has HIP = CHIPOL. Apparently some people object to using apostrophe-S in this way: I remember a discussion on this in the past, but I see nothing wrong with it.
1dn: I just took this as “minister?” indicating a definition by example of a verb. I am agreeing with some earlier comments.
9dn I had the same as KVa@4.
Comment #14
Un meaning one does not need a foreign indicator. Think ‘That’s a good’un’
I needed help with half a dozen of these and I still don’t get KISS.
Enjoyed doing what I could, though, so thanks Solomon and thanks, Turbolegs for the much needed blog.
Sorry Postmark@10 if you were saying the same as I just said about un. I’ve just reread your comment.
Sourdough@15: I am not sure where your problem is with 9dn (KISS), so I will try to go through the whole clue
“Made up band” defines Kiss. I took this on trust when solving, but Wikipedia (as it reads while I am typing this) tells me that Kiss is the name of an American rock band who were active from 1973 to 2023 and who wore extensive make up.
“from” is a link word.
“South Korea’s capital is given top billing” is the wordplay. I think KVa@4 has the construction here, but let me try to expand on it. The words need to be separated as follows:
“South” = S, a standard abbreviation or symbol;
“Korea’s capital” = K (the first letter or the only capital letter);
“is” just stays as IS;
“given top billing” means coming at the start of the answer, especially in a down clue.
Then we have S + (K + IS coming at the start of the answer) = K + IS + S.
I hope that helps.
Sourdough @15. Kiss were a rock band that wore a lot of make-up, hence a made up band. The final S comes from S(outh) and above this (given top billing) is K (Korea’s capital) + IS (from the clue). Hope this helps clarify matters.
Pelham, you beat me.
Further to 13, the discussion on apostrophe-S happened relating to this puzzle last November
https://www.fifteensquared.net/2025/11/11/financial-times-18210-moo/
Moo had clued IMPALE as “Spike mischief-maker’s beer?”. Some commenters were happy with the wordplay as just giving us “IMP ALE” as a phrase, but I preferred to take it as “IMP has ALE”. It differed slightly from today’s example, in that I was taking “has” there as indicating juxtaposition, but, in 29ac today, “has” needs to mean “contains”.
I’m relieved that others found it tricky too. I missed quite a few, and had to guess some because of my cultural ignorance of Kiss, Nas Chan and Ron. Clearly I should get out more.
I accept that minister can be a verb, but “verb” as a definition of it is hopelessly vague.
I’ve grown used to “un” for “one”, though reluctantly because it’s one of those words that only find their way into a dictionary because some authors (Hardy and Kipling for instance) have an irritating habit of writing local pronunciations phonetically instead of letting the readers imagine the local pronunciation for themselves.
Tony @1
The glorious 12th is the start of the grouse shooting season in UK
Babbler@20 and grantinfeo@12 I had started to write an explanation of VERB in 1D earlier today, but PB@13 just beat me to it and I withdrew the comment. I’m returning here now, because I think it might be helpful if I were to put some more flesh on what he said. The point here is that “minister”, without more, does not provide a definition of VERB. Its function is to provide an example of a verb. That is the reason for the question mark, as without it the clue would be invalid. It is common practice for a question mark to be used where a definition is given by example – but it is essential, in such cases, that the question mark immediatelty follows the word in question.
Bagpuss@22: I had thought about adding to my previous comment, and I am glad that you have done so. Thank you.
Mark A @21: Thanks for the info. I guess I could have asked Google or AI but then I might get inundated with ads related to bird hunting 😆
Defining verb by a single example? Come on. It’s little better than defining ‘word’ with an example of a word.
Strange mix of quality and real awkwardness – ‘Is Harry Potter’s accomplice in … ‘ for RON in IS stands out as particularly inelegant.
Lots of fun but i was entirely misdirected for KISS. I thought the answer would include a band from South Korea( like BTS) and mean fake or made up! Also never heard of a STONECHAT. But loved UNDERWEAR, PRINCESS, UNASHAMED and many others thank you all!