Puzzle from the Weekend FT of February 7, 2026
This was a quick and very satisfying solve for me. My favourite clues are 15 (READY MEAL), 16 (TIGRESSES), 22d (STALL) and 24a (GREAT DANE). Thanks to my solving buddy BC and to Leonidas for another fine puzzle.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | CHIMERA |
Cross artist follows sound of something ringing (7)
|
| CHIME (sound of something ringing) + RA (artist). In Greek mythology, a chimera is a creature with the head of a lion, the body of a goat, and the tail of a snake. | ||
| 5 | TABASCO |
Sauce and chocs a bather carries to port (7)
|
| Reverse (to port) hidden word (carries) | ||
| 9 | RUSES |
Game opponents with spades in tricks (5)
|
| RU (game, i.e. Rugby Union) + SE (opponents, South and East in the context of bridge) + S (spades) | ||
| 10 | TURBULENT |
Wild savage briefly retreated back to bayou fast (9)
|
| BRUT[e] (savage briefly) backwards (retreated) + [bayo]U + LENT (fast) | ||
| 11 | TAIL LIGHT |
Lamp on rear area poorly installed by drunk (4,5)
|
| A (area) + ILL (poorly) together in (installed by) TIGHT (drunk) | ||
| 12 | GLEAM |
Flash limb cycling near Amsterdam on vacation (5)
|
| GLE (limb, i.e. LEG cycling) + A[msterda]M | ||
| 13 | NUCLEAR REACTOR |
Devious raconteur securing obvious power source (7,7)
|
| CLEAR (obvious) in (securing) anagram (devious) of RACONTEUR | ||
| 18 | SWEDISH MASSAGE |
Editor inspired by posh relative’s herb rub (7,7)
|
| ED (editor) in (inspired by) SWISH (posh) + MAS (relatives) + SAGE (herb) | ||
| 20 | AMPLE |
Enough specimens unwrapped (5)
|
| [s]AMPLE[s] (specimens unwrapped) | ||
| 22 | SKYDIVERS |
Lazy lot around yard becoming high-fliers (9)
|
| YD (yard) in (around) SKIVERS (lazy lot) | ||
| 24 | GREAT DANE |
Doctor enraged at pet? (5,4)
|
| Anagram (doctor) of ENRAGED AT | ||
| 25 | ISSUE |
Publication Orbiter finally came after you texted (5)
|
| ISS (orbiter, i.e. International Space Station) + U (you texted) + [cam]E | ||
| 26 | TENDRIL |
Mind tips of rare ivy by lake climbing part of plant (7)
|
| TEND (mind) + R[are] I[vy] + L (lake) | ||
| 27 | LUMP SUM |
US LP mum ordered in one payment (4,3)
|
| Anagram (ordered) of US LP MUM | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | CURATE |
Clergy member in uniform stopping old banger? (6)
|
| U (uniform) in (stopping) CRATE (old banger) | ||
| 2 | INSTITUTE |
Start wearing silly tango suit outside of theatre (9)
|
| IN (wearing) + anagram (silly) of T (tango) and SUIT + T[heatr]E | ||
| 3 | EASEL |
Scoundrel leaving with frame from studio? (5)
|
| [w]EASEL (scoundrel leaving with) | ||
| 4 | AUTOGRAPH |
Adult group that nearly lost sign (9)
|
| A (adult) + anagram (lost) of GROUP THA[t] | ||
| 5 | TAROT |
Half of story on rubbish picture card (5)
|
| TA[le] (half of story) + ROT (rubbish) | ||
| 6 | BLUEGRASS |
Louder girl regularly cramped by singer’s musical style (9)
|
| L[o]U[d]E[r] G[i]R[l] in (cramped by) BASS (singer) | ||
| 7 | SCENE |
What an actor might steal is spotted in auditorium (5)
|
| Homophone (in auditorium) of “seen” (is spotted) | ||
| 8 | OUTSMART |
Best degree held by eccentric tutors (8)
|
| MA (degree) in (held by) anagram (eccentric) of TUTORS | ||
| 14 | LEICESTER |
Fifty diamonds compound stores for UK city (9)
|
| L (fifty) + ICE (diamonds) in (stores) ESTER (compound, in the chemical sense) | ||
| 15 | READY MEAL |
Cook made early dinner for busy person? (5,4)
|
| Anagram (cook) of MADE EARLY | ||
| 16 | TIGRESSES |
Cats and pigs barely restrained by locks (9)
|
| [p]IG[s] (pigs barely) in (restrained by) TRESSES (locks) | ||
| 17 | ESCARGOT |
Shelled food from Spain Mark obtained (8)
|
| E (Spain) + SCAR (mark) + GOT (obtained) | ||
| 19 | ESTEEM |
Regard core of protestors gathering from the south (6)
|
| [prot]ES[tors] + MEET (gathering) backwards (from the south) | ||
| 21 | PREEN |
Naive having page replacing good clean feathers (5)
|
| GREEN (naive having ‘P’ replacing ‘G’) | ||
| 22 | STALL |
Delay construction in the marketplace (5)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 23 | IDIOM |
PM upset about current form of language (5)
|
| I (current) in (about) MODI (PM) backwards (about) |
Lovely puzzle as always.
Favourites: CHIMERA, SWEDISH MASSAGE, CURATE, SCENE, PREEN
Thanks Leonidas and Pete Maclean
Thanks Leonidas, super crossword as always. Favourites included RUSES, EASEL, SCENE, LEICESTER, and STALL. I didn’t know ‘skivers’ as a ‘lazy lot’ but the definition and crossers made SKYDIVERS the obvious solution. Thanks Pete for the blog.
I found this approachable, but not the quick solve reported by Pete. In particular, I find Leonidas’s charades difficult despite their sound construction.
I ticked STALL (it took a while to see and I thought it elegant), TURBULENT (as the surface was not only proper English but made sense), IDIOM (nice for a change to have a clue where PM does not slavishly refer to UK) and SCENE (nice surface that foxed me for quite a while)
I had two parsing problems: I failed to see the compound anagram in AUTOGRAPH; and, like Tony S@2, the UKism in SKYDIVERS was new to me
Thanks Leonidas and Pete
Haven’t heard, eg, skiving off, for ages, decades possibly, but it is ntl very familiar; probably came over with the early colonists 🙂
Yes, nice puzzle, thanks both.
PS didn’t get the ISS bit of issue.
GiF@4, I had a different problem with ISS. I originally misread orbiter as obiter and wasted time trying to work out how that could fit into an answer. I guess when the surfaces make no sense, the risk of misreading goes up
Thanks again all