Puzzle from the Weekend FT of January 10, 2026
I found this a bit harder than most of Rosa’s puzzles and as good as ever. I particularly like 15 (CAYMAN ISLANDS), 12 (FARTHEST) and 16 (ALCATRAZ). Thank you, Rosa.
| ACROSS | ||
| 7 | BORE |
Gave birth and tolerated pain well, for an Aussie (4)
|
| Double definition. ‘Bore’ is an Australian term for an artesian well | ||
| 8 | COLLATERAL |
Gather article in both hands for security (10)
|
| COLLATE (gather) + A (article) in (in) R L (both hands) | ||
| 10 | GENERA |
Classes are laid back, on dope (6)
|
| GEN (dope) + ARE (are) backwards (laid back) | ||
| 11 | GOOD-TIME |
Pleasure-seeking couple entertaining male on welfare (4-4)
|
| GOOD (welfare) + M (male) in (entertaining) TIE (couple) | ||
| 12 | FARTHEST |
Utmost of these briefly stopping Trump (8)
|
| THES[e] in (stopping) FART (trump) | ||
| 13 | SOLEMN |
Single chap, discontented and glum (6)
|
| SOLE (single) + M[a]N (chap discontented) | ||
| 15 | CAYMAN ISLANDS |
Many scandals about to engulf international tax haven (6,7)
|
| I (international) in (to engulf) anagram of MANY SCANDALS | ||
| 18 | TROPIC |
St Helier perhaps turned hot and humid (6)
|
| CI PORT (St Helier perhans) backwards (turned). “CI” is an abbreviation of Channel Islands. | ||
| 20 | GUTTERED |
Spoke after end of ding-dong and threatened to go out (8)
|
| [ding-don]G + UTTERED (spoke) | ||
| 22 | FOMENTER |
Person fostering teen from Barking (8)
|
| Anagram (barking) of TEEN FROM | ||
| 24 | PALLID |
Insipid sunshine left one disappointed at first (6)
|
| PAL (sunshine) + L (left) + I (one) + D[isappointed] | ||
| 25 | BEAR GARDEN |
Disorderly scene in bar angered drunk (4,6)
|
| Anagram (drunk) of BAR ANGERED | ||
| 26 | SPUR |
Promises of money dropped from phoney stimulus (4)
|
| SPUR[ious] (promises of money dropped from phoney) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | POLE DANCER |
Erotic acrobat cavorting heartily after penal code amended (4,6)
|
| Anagram (amended) of PENAL CODE + [cavo]R[ting] | ||
| 2 | RECENTLY |
Not much money in bank of late (8)
|
| CENT (not much money) in (in) RELY (bank) | ||
| 3 | SCRAPE |
Fix fight with European (6)
|
| SCRAP (fight) + E (European) | ||
| 4 | CAROUSAL |
Excited state after cocaine and revelry (8)
|
| C (cocaine) + AROUSAL (excited state) | ||
| 5 | LENTIL |
Pulse is fast, almost unhealthy (6)
|
| LENT (fast) + IL[l] (almost unhealthy) | ||
| 6 | WARM |
Passionate women’s weapon (4)
|
| W (woman) + ARM (weapon) | ||
| 9 | LIGHT-FINGERED |
Spooner’s spirit remained likely to lift (5-8)
|
| Spoonerism of “fight lingered” (spirit remained) | ||
| 14 | MYSTERIOUS |
Writer’s grave keeping heart’s ultimate secret (10)
|
| MY (writer’s) + [hear]T in (keeping) SERIOUS (grave) | ||
| 16 | ALCATRAZ |
Old Nick beginning to tempt cracking tennis champ (8)
|
| T[empy] in (cracking) [Carlos] ALCARAZ (tennis champ) with a very sneaky cryptic definition | ||
| 17 | NEEDLESS |
Unnecessary rivalry with second son (8)
|
| NEEDLES (rivalry) with the ‘S’ repeated (with second son). ‘Needles’ can mean rivalry, especially in a sporting encounter. | ||
| 19 | POETRY |
Regularly using prose, attempt verse (6)
|
| P[r]O[s]E + TRY (attempt) | ||
| 21 | TOP-END |
Elite backing some unashamed nepotism (3-3)
|
| Reverse (backing) hidden word (some) | ||
| 23 | OBEY |
Comply with honour and dignity at last (4)
|
| OBE (honour) + {dignit]Y |
I’ve been waiting for something like 16d to pop up – trust Rosa Klebb to do it in style. And any clue that equates Trump (12) with unpleasant gusts of hot air gets my vote. 1d was also naughty but nice.
A great Spoonerism in 9, lovely surfaces aplenty – like 2 and the superb 15 – and clever misdirections like ‘sunshine’ for ‘pal’ (24) all combine to make this another winning puzzle from Ms Klebb.
Thanks to her and Pete, whose happy task it was to blog.
Thanks Rosa and Pete
7ac can be taken as four definitions: gave birth and tolerated separately as past tense verbs, pain as a noun, then well for an Australian.
17dn: I read this as NEEDLE (rivalry) + S (second) + S (son).
Agree this was difficult in places. For me, it was the large number of remote synonyms that made it tough.
I did not know BEAR GARDEN, but what a wonderful expression and great clue. TOP END was brilliant. And I also liked COLLATERAL
I did not know BORE is Aussie only. Interesting. Nor did I know CI. And it was wonderful to learn Trump means fart. Is that a UKism? Finally, thanks for the help parsing GOOD TIME.
Thanks RK and PM
Lovely to have a puzzle from Rosa Klebb.
I am always impressed by how she manages to make sure that the surfaces make sense. I know that is not essential but I really appreciate the skill it takes.
Lots of great clues including: GUTTERED, SPUR, COLLATERAL, LENTIL (LOI), LIGHT-FINGERED, ALCATRAZ
Thanks Rosa Klebb and Pete Maclean
Wow! What a puzzle! Thanks so much Rosa! I thoroughly enjoyed this. 2d Not much money in bank of late (8) has got to be one of the best clues I’ve come across. It is flawless.
Thanks Rosa for another gem full of polished surfaces. I found the bottom half a bit tougher than the top but everything eventually fell into place. My one error was BEAR GARDEN; I casually entered ‘beer garden’ by just looking at the fodder; I’ve certainly been to beer gardens that can be described as ‘disorderly scenes’ to justify my jump to conclusions. In any event my top picks were COLLATERAL, SOLEMN, CAYMAN ISLANDS (brilliant), RECENTLY (just perfect), LENTIL, and MYSTERIOUS (love the poetic surface). Thanks Pete for the blog.