Puzzle from the Weekend FT of March 21, 2026
I found this puzzle moderately challenging. My first-in was 27 (SAPPER) and it took me several sessions to complete the solve. My favorites are two clues that I think are outstanding: 2 (FLAVOUR) and 8 (SINGLET). Thanks to Guy and to BC for some discussion.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | OFFEND |
Away result hurt (6)
|
| OFF (away) + END (result) | ||
| 5 | SPADES |
Flat place at the rear aboard ship, quarter deck? (6)
|
| PAD (flat) + [plac]E in (aboard) SS (ship) | ||
| 10 | MANGOSTEEN |
Fruit Ann grows regularly collected by mother and child (10)
|
| MA (mother) + [a]N[n] G[r]O[w]S + TEEN (child). I have eaten mangosteens only a couple of times in my life but it may be my favourite fruit. | ||
| 11 | WINK |
Show you’re amused by secret tattoo on fellow’s back (4)
|
| [fello]W + INK (secret tattoo) | ||
| 12 | CONSTITUTIONAL |
Providing rules for a country walk (14)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 13 | TRICKERY |
Magic year after heart’s broken by Romeo (8)
|
| R (Romeo) in (broken by) TICKER (heart) + Y (year). (Corrected: I originally parsed this correctly but messed up the explanation.) | ||
| 15 | FIESTA |
Bustling city centre safe for holiday (6)
|
| Anagram (bustling) of [b]IT[y] SAFE | ||
| 16 | RUBRIC |
Polish cereal lacking English instructions (6)
|
| RUB (polish) + RIC[e] (cereal lacking English) | ||
| 19 | OPPOSITE |
Friend could be one of the enemy (8)
|
| I am fairly sure that this must be a double definition but I am uncertain about how it works. ‘Opposite’ can mean opponent but how does ‘friend” could clue ‘opposite’? Would this refer to a partner in bridge? See discussion in the comments. | ||
| 22 | DROP IN THE OCEAN |
Very little change in sea level (4,2,3,5)
|
| Double definition. I originally saw this as a cryptic definition. | ||
| 24 | CEDE |
Wallace designed trousers to give away (4)
|
| Hidden word (trousers) | ||
| 25 | ABSTEMIOUS |
Worried about Messi practising self-denial (10)
|
| Anagram (worried) of ABOUT MESSI | ||
| 26 | SOLUTE |
Salt in seawater, say, but missing initially in fish (6)
|
| [b]UT in (in) SOLE (fish) | ||
| 27 | SAPPER |
Military engineer perhaps confused leaving hospital (6)
|
| Anagram (confused) of PER[h]APS | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | FLAVOUR |
A very fine meal is full of ? (7)
|
| A (a) + V (very) together in (is full of) FLOUR (fine meal) | ||
| 3 | EDGES |
Migrant guessed having cleared US borders (5)
|
| Anagram (migrant) of G[u]ES[s]ED | ||
| 4 | DESPITE |
Even with some sensible tips, Edward capsized (7)
|
| Reverse (capsized) hidden word (some) | ||
| 6 | PONTIFF |
Senior priest continually spat behind piano (7)
|
| P (piano) + ON (continually) + TIFF (spat) | ||
| 7 | DO WONDERS |
Five hundred and one words surprisingly get great results (2,7)
|
| D (five hundred) + anagram (surprisingly) of ONE WORDS | ||
| 8 | SINGLET |
Underwear Peter has but not Matthew? (7)
|
| Peter has a single T while Matthew has a double T | ||
| 9 | BEAUTY CONTEST |
Judge looks for this special case — but not yet (6,7)
|
| Anagram (special) of CASE BUT NOT YET | ||
| 14 | CORPOREAL |
Fleshly pink around sweaty hole (9)
|
| PORE (sweaty hole) in (around) CORAL (pink) | ||
| 17 | UNDRESS |
Nudity PhD covered with university cape (7)
|
| U (university) + DR (PhD) in (covered with) NESS (cape) | ||
| 18 | CLIPART |
Court holds up charge — case of illegal pictures on computer (7)
|
| RAP (charge) + I[llega]L together backwards (up) in (holds) CT (court). Collins tells us that ‘clipart’ is large collection of simple drawings stored in a computer. | ||
| 20 | PEELERS |
Police uncovered Ken Livingstone’s head in the Lords (7)
|
| [k]E[n] + L[ivingstone] together in (in) PEERS (the Lords) | ||
| 21 | TRADUCE |
Speak against bill that blocks peace agreement (7)
|
| AD (bill) in (that blocks) TRUCE (peace agreement). This was a new word for me but intelligence has it that it is spoken in the last line of Othello. | ||
| 23 | CRIMP |
Pinch someone occupying seat after The King and I (5)
|
| CR (the King, i.e. Charles Rex) + I (I) + MP (someone occupying seat) |
Thanks Guy and Pete
13ac: There is no anagram here. It is just TICKER meaning heart.
22ac: I took this as a double definition with “very little” as the usual figurative meaning of (a) DROP IN THE OCEAN, followed by a literal meaning.
FLAVOUR and SINGLET were my top faves too.
Thanks Guy and Pete
MANGOSTEEN
NGOS in MA TEEN
WINK
I took the first def as ‘show you’re amused by secret’ (by secret—>in a secret way)
CONSTITUTIONAL
I took the first def to be ‘providing rules for a country’
FLAVOUR
fine meal=FLOUR
Thanks Guy for a super crossword. I thought I would have to jump ship when first going through the clues but I got a foothold in the SW corner and eventually completed this gem. I had many favourites including WINK, RUBRIC, DROP IN THE OCEAN, SOLUTE, the cleverly hidden DESPITE, PONTIFF (great surface), SINGLET (can’t imagine anyone ‘cold solving’ this one), CLIPART, and PEELERS (another wonderful surface). Thanks Pete for the blog.
Thanks for the blog , great set of clues with a lot of variety .
OPPOSITE=Friend , sort of , usually opposite number or more often just oppo .
Sorry Tony@5 I did get SINGLET first look , I have seen this sort of thing quite a few times . Fool me once …..
Nope, like Tony, only saw the t-tt thing after. Yes seen several times before, but ginf brain still foolable if they’re far enough apart.
“Friend” is the OPPOSITE of “enemy”.
19ac: I think Andrew@8 has nailed it. I was trying to do something with “oppo” along the lines suggested by Roz@6, but could not convince myself that it would work.
Pelham Barton@9
OPPOSITE
I read the blog like this:
Def 1: Friend
Def 2: Could be ‘one’ of the enemy
Pete was saying that he couldn’t justify the first def.
About the def, he didn’t seem to have any doubt (meaning
that he considered what Andrew said, for def 2 in the blog).
KVa@10: I am not convinced that “could be one of the enemy” really works as a definition for opposite without including either the word “Friend” from the start of the clue or some suitable pronoun referring to that word. The clue as a whole reads smoothly as a cryptic definition. I cannot see any plausible wordplay to make this definition the “lit” part of a “wordplay & lit” clue, so I am ready to take it as a one-part clue.
I was wrong. I misread the blog.
I settle for a Cryptic Definition (as you say one-part clue)
I love MANGOSTEENs too
I found this moderately difficult and enjoyed the variety of clues
I ticked ABSTEMIOUS (nice anagram, nice surface), CRIMP (nice surface), ABASH (ditto), OFFEND (succinct) and SAPPER (nice misdirection)
I could not parse SINGLET or SOLUTE. I will try to be like Roz@6 and remember next time. It would have been nice to have an obsolete indicator for PEELERS, and I do not understand why a judge looks for a BEAUTY CONTEST. I thought OPPOSITE was a poorly-worded double definition, but Andrew@8 and PB@11 have convinced me otherwise.
Thanks Pete and Guy
Martyn@13 “looks” are the thing being judged .
When you get something like – X has but Y doesn’t – it is often worth checking the letters in each .
Ah! Thanks Roz@14. 9 completely fooled me, and I will keep your advice in mind
Generally a fun solve but OPPOSITE (still struggling with this) and TRADUCE defeated me. WINK a favorite alongside SINGLET and FLAVOUR.
All fine for the answers and comments, but what about the theme??? Nobody seems to want to talk about SEX!!!!
20D. Peelers. This clue is easier if you’ve watched Blue Lights on iPlayer, which I have