A fun topically themed puzzle. Find it to solve online or download and print at ft.com/crossword
A delightfully witty and enjoyable puzzle from the ever-reliable Julius – to whom our thanks as always.
Definitions are underlined in the clues.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | STRIKING |
Impressive, as doctors might be (8)
|
| Two definitions
Resident doctors in the UK are currently striking over pay |
||
| 5 | SINNER |
Shoaib Bashir? No pressure — a worthy winner (6)
|
| S[p]INNER (Shoaib Bashir) less P (pressure)
Italian tennis player Jannik Sinner won at Wimbledon this month, while in the cricket, spin bowler Shoaib Bashir took the winning wicket for England in the thrilling third test vs India at Lord’s |
||
| 10/22 | EPSTEIN FILES |
Record perverted elite sins involving force in notorious dossier (7,5)
|
| EP (record) + anagram (perverted) of ELITE SINS + F (force)
Publication of the records is being suppressed by US courts, supposedly to protect certain powerful people named in them |
||
| 11 | MELANIA |
Model AA Milne novel (7)
|
| Anagram (novel) of AA MILNE
Slovenian-born former model, and wife of the current US president |
||
| 12/16 | ALLIGATOR ALCATRAZ |
Everglades resident, victim of 5, given time in Florida prison (9,8)
|
| ALLIGATOR (Everglades resident) + ALCARAZ (Carlos Alcaraz, who lost to Jannik Sinner in the final at Wimbledon) containing T (time)
Nickname for the new migrant detention centre, located near Miami |
||
| 13 | DEBUT |
Initial impressions of Diogo: extremely bright, upbeat, terrific first game (5)
|
| First letters (initial impressions) of Diogo Extremely Bright Upbeat Terrific
Portugal and Liverpool footballer Diogo Jota died aged 28 in a car crash in Spain this month, along with his brother Andre Silva, 26 |
||
| 15 | GANJA |
Granny Joan regularly used weed (5)
|
| Alternate letters (regularly used) of GrAnNy JoAn | ||
| 19 | DEAD KEEN |
Ed naked, excited, full of energy, massively up for it (4,4)
|
| Anagram (excited) of ED NAKED + E (energy)
Energy Secretary Ed Milliband could be said to be dead keen on promoting sustainable energy, particularly wind power, but he mostly does so with his clothes on as far as I know |
||
| 20 | ANNIE |
Basket case eliminated girl sent to get gun (5)
|
| [p]ANNIE[r] (basket) with the outer letters (case) eliminated | ||
| 21 | MOTIF |
Mark Ozzy’s debut, bringing back appropriate musical theme (5)
|
| M (Mark) + first letter (debut) of Ozzy + reversal (bringing back) of FIT (appropriate)
Ozzy Osbourne, front man of heavy metal band Black Sabbath, died aged 76 this month, just weeks after his band’s farewell concert |
||
| 23 | OVERSPENT |
Went over budget moving into lovers’ penthouse (9)
|
| Hidden in lOVERS PENThouse | ||
| 25 | MEASLES |
Lee, mass organised vaccination can protect against this (7)
|
| Anagram (organised) of LEE MASS
Measles is on the rise in parts of the UK due to low uptake of vaccination |
||
| 27 | CHELSEA |
Tuchel’s eager to take charge of world champions (7)
|
| Hidden in tuCHEL’S EAger
Chelsea won the Fifa Club World Championship in the US this month – Thomas Tuchel, current England head coach, was formerly manager of Chelsea |
||
| 28 | ALMOST |
Nearly everybody. Nearly. The majority (6)
|
| AL[L] (everybody, nearly) + MOST (the majority) | ||
| 29 | SETS FREE |
Releases Wallace finally, after bullying festers (4,4)
|
| Last letter (finally) of wallacE after an anagram (bullying) of FESTERS
Gregg Wallace was fired as presenter of Masterchef this month, as was co-presenter John Torode |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SHEBANGS |
9 affairs that woman prohibits (including golf) (8)
|
| SHE (that woman) + BANS (prohibits) including G (golf)
‘9’ because it’s originally an American usage |
||
| 2 | RESPLENDENT |
Brilliant notes, quiet then fast around the finale (11)
|
| RES (notes – plural of RE) + P (quiet) + LENT (fast) around END (finale) | ||
| 3 | KEEP GUARD |
Watch tower watchman (4,5)
|
| KEEP (tower) + GUARD (watchman) | ||
| 4 | NO NET |
Why there’s a lack of reception for musical group? (5)
|
| NO NET would be a reason for lack of reception on your mobile phone, for example | ||
| 6 | IDLED |
Julius had been in charge once; did nothing (5)
|
| I’D (Julius had) + LED (been in charge once) | ||
| 7 | NUN |
Sister, upper-class, breaking news (3)
|
| U (upper-class) “breaking” NN (news) | ||
| 8 | ROAST |
Criticise Republican over unlimited waste (5)
|
| R (Republican) + O (over) + [w]AST[e] with outer letters removed (unlimited) | ||
| 9 | AMERICAN |
Idle morning going over article from the States (8)
|
| AM (morning) “going over” ERIC (Idle) + AN (article) | ||
| 14 | BRAINTEASER |
About to leave Essex town as English king? That’s puzzling (11)
|
| RE (about) leaves BRAINT[re]E (Essex town) + AS + E (English) + R (king) | ||
| 16 | ALEHOUSE |
Bar exposed dalek getting on top of Doctor on TV (8)
|
| [d]ALE[k] with outer letters removed (exposed) + HOUSE (doctor on TV – played by Hugh Laurie) | ||
| 17 | TRANSFERS |
Moves in the window? (9)
|
| Cryptic definition
The transfer window, during which football clubs can trade player registrations, is currently open |
||
| 18 | HEATWAVE |
Aha! We’ve managed to take temperature — it’s naggingly hot (8)
|
| Anagram (managed) of AHA WE’VE + T (temperature)
It certainly has been hot in the UK for most of the last month |
||
| 21 | MAMMA |
Starts to mourn actor Michael Madsen, a much-loved figure in Italy (5)
|
| First letters of (starts to) Mourn Actor Michael Madsen + A
The star of films including Reservoir Dogs and Kill Bill died this month aged 67 |
||
| 24 | EMCEE |
Host getting decoration on the ear… (5)
|
| Sounds like (on the ear) MC (Military Cross – a British army “decoration”) | ||
| 26 | ARM |
…power host missing the finale of Glastonbury (3)
|
| ARM[y] (host) less the last letter of glastonburY |
I remembered the News puzzle for a change and what a great puzzle it was. Too many ticks to mention. I will just note the fabulous hidden word clue for CHELSEA
Never heard of Braintree so I could not parse BRAINTEASER. Otherwise plain sailing.
Thanks Julius and Widdersbel
I loved this when I did waiting for the Quiptic to publish.
MELANIA – two stories floating around her: a republican move to rename the Kennedy Centre the Melania Centre and secondly, that it’s her influence that’s changed Trump’s mood on Putin and Ukraine.
GANJA – Joan Burton, grand dame of Irish politics, recently said she’d be for legalising cannabis.
The UK Government is OVERSPENT due to higher borrowing than expected in June.
I spent far too long trying to shoehorn Epping into BRAINTEASER.
ALEHOUSE – pubs in the news because they are struggling, but also an extra hour tonight as the Lionesses play the final.
ARM – Lots of problems at Glastonbury, but the Deftones pulled out at the last minute due to illness, or the BBC coverage is under review.
Thank you to Julius and Widdersbel.
Like Martin I also remembered for a change and was pleased to see Julius was the setter. I do miss his Boris bashing clues though of course that’s hardly topical these days.
I wondered if 8D was a reference to the Teamsters strike affecting Republic Services a waste (mis)management company in the US.
Thanks Julius and Widders.
Wonderful puzzle, really enjoyed this.
Wondered if the DEAD KEEN Ed was Davey – more likely to try nudity at a policy launch…
Favourite was the surface for the EPSTEIN FILES – brilliant.
Thanks to Julius and to Widdersbel for filling in some topical references I missed.
I really enjoyed this. Thanks, both.
Just remembered in time to finish this before going out but had no time to comment.
Once again, I’m in awe of Julius’ ability to pack so much in and wondering how much hasty re-writing there might have to have been to include Ozzy Osbourne’s death, for instance.
Like Martyn, I had numerous ticks, as ever, including MELANIA, DEBUT, MOTIF, SETS FREE, RESPLENDENT, BRAINTEASER and HEATWAVE but was most impressed of all by the brilliant linking of Bashir, SINNER and ALCATRAZ.
Huge thanks, as ever, to Julius for a splendid puzzle and to stalwart Widdersbel for an equally splendid blog.
Super job by Julius and also by Widdersbel. And a shout out to Shanne for several extra newsworthy references.
I meant ALCARAZ, of course!
Shanne @2 – thanks for filling in the extra details, especially the Joan Burton story, which had completely passed me by!
We’re only about half through, but the EPSTEIN FILES clue is already clue of the year. Brilliant surface reading. Since the files supposedly contain records of perverted sins by the elite. Involving force, even.
Eileen @8: I’m a tennis fan too, and it’s beyond annoying how often Autocorrect has decided to turn ALCARAZ into ALCATRAZ.
Bless you, mrpenney @11 😉
Thanks for the blog, dear widdersbel, and thanks to those who have commented.
@Eileen…
Ozzy (of whom I was a big fan, happy memories of driving from Sheffield to Newquay in an old VW Beetle in 1975 listening to the first Black Sabbath album) died the day before I submitted the puzzle so I rewrote the clue for MOTIF.
Best wishes to all, Rob/Julius
Julius @ 13
You drove from Sheffield to Newquay in ~35 minutes in a VW Beetle?!
Reminds me of the time after a New Order gig I drove from Sheffield to Macclesfield in one minute.
(It was late, and the clocks went back that night)