Puzzle from the Weekend FT of May 9, 2026
As often with Guy, I found this a tough but good solve. And, for what it’s worth two mentions of Elon Musk!
I especially like 12 (MANET), 16 (CREMATION) and 25 (TOUCHED). And I am unsure about 26 (CLOTHESHORSE).
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | CABINETMAKER |
Magic Mike can’t bear Chippendale’s type (12)
|
| Anagram (magic) of MIKE CANT BEAR. Do we like ‘magic’ as an anagram indicator? I do not recall its being used as such before. | ||
| 9 | CARIBOU |
Roughly bone your skinned deer (7)
|
| CA (roughly, i.e. cerca) + RIB (bone) + [y]OU[r] | ||
| 10 | MICROBE |
Bug right between audio equipment and gong (7)
|
| MIC (audio equipment) + R (right) + OBE (gong) | ||
| 11 | POTHERBS |
Best times to collect different plants from kitchen garden (8)
|
| OTHER (different) in (to collect) PBS (best times, i.e..Personal Bests) | ||
| 12 | MANET |
He painted intelligent creatures from different worlds (5)
|
| MAN (an intelligent creature) + ET (another intelligent creature – from a different world) | ||
| 14 | THEIR |
His or her Tesla first in line, say (5)
|
| T[esla] + HEIR (first in line say) | ||
| 16 | CREMATION |
Use of incinerator making nurses warm, finally (9)
|
| [war]M in (nurses) CREATION (making) | ||
| 17 | CRASH-TEST |
Court east of Paris holding hasty trial with dummies? (5-4)
|
| RASH (hasty) in (holding) CT (court) + EST (east of Paris, i.e. in French) | ||
| 18 | SIGHT |
Sense most of the soldiers retreating (5)
|
| TH[e] + GIS (soldiers) all backwards (retreating) | ||
| 20 | MECCA |
Cycling clubs approached ultimate destination (5)
|
| C (clubs) + CAME (approached) circularly shifted twice to the left | ||
| 21 | EMACIATE |
European ally taking US agency’s waste away (8)
|
| E (European) + CIA (US agency) in (taking) MATE (ally) | ||
| 24 | UTENSIL |
Instrument lutenist plays without repeat (7)
|
| Anagram (plays) of LUTENIS[t] | ||
| 25 | TOUCHED |
A little cuckoo moved (7)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 26 | CLOTHESHORSE |
Modelling cool threads, he’s striking advertisement? (12)
|
| I take this to be a cryptic definition but am unsure… | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | COCKPIT |
Set upright then tilt back driver’s seat (7)
|
| COCK (set upright) + TIP (tilt) backwards | ||
| 2 | BURY THE HATCHET |
Cheetah hurt by shot and head of tribe make friends (4,3,7)
|
| Anagram (shot) of CHEETAH HURT BY + T[ribe] | ||
| 3 | NOBLE |
Impressive rise of Musk with billions banked (5)
|
| B (billions) in (banked) ELON (Musk) backwards (rise of) | ||
| 4 | THUMBSCREW |
Ergo rowers getting doctor in, for agonising cramp (10)
|
| MB (doctor) in THUS (ergo) + CREW (rowers) | ||
| 5 | ARMY |
Combined units harm you internally (4)
|
| Hidden word (internally) | ||
| 6 | ENCOMPASS |
Involve son after pitching one’s camp (9)
|
| Anagram (pitching) of ONES CAMP + S (son) | ||
| 7 | FOUNDING FATHER |
Country builder discovered during harvest pinching bit of fruit (8,6)
|
| FOUND (discovered) + IN (during) + F[ruit] in GATHER (harvest) | ||
| 8 | SEXTON |
Rude message about church attendant (6)
|
| SEXT (rude message) + ON (about) | ||
| 13 | CENTIMETRE |
Length of prison sentence heart-breaking? (10)
|
| TIME (prison sentence) in (breaking) CENTRE (heart). To my mind, ‘centimetre’ is a unit of length not length per se. | ||
| 15 | REHEARSAL |
Judges again shortened every trial (9)
|
| RE-HEARS (judges again) + AL[l] (shortened every) | ||
| 17 | CAMPUS |
French novelist keeps parking in academic’s place (6)
|
| P (parking) in (keeps) CAMUS (French novelist) | ||
| 19 | TREADLE |
Pedal lad customised in orange, say (7)
|
| Anagram (customized) of LAD in TREE (orange, say) | ||
| 22 | COUCH |
Seat in squat that’s lost stuffing from arm (5)
|
| C{r]OUCH (squat) with the ‘R’ removed (that lost stuffing from arm) | ||
| 23 | FLIT |
Force drunk to keep moving (4)
|
| F (force) + LIT (drunk). This is a new meaning of ‘lit’ for me. |
CLOTHESHORSE is &lit. and anagram of (modelling) COOL THRE[AD]S HE’S minus (striking) AD (advertisement).
Good blog.
Liked MANET, POTHERBS, CREMATION, CLOTHESHORSE, FOUNDING FATHER and CENTIMETRE (tho I share the blogger’s comment regarding the def).
MANET: (two) intelligent creatures from (two) different worlds—>MAN and ET (a very slight difference, or I am saying the same thing in different words).
Thanks Guy and Pete.