It’s the last Sunday of the month, which means it’s time for the FT’s regular topically themed puzzle, this time brought to us by the ever reliable Julius. Find it to solve online or download and print at ft.com/crossword, or through the FT smartphone app.
I know many here rate Julius (aka Knut in the Indy and Hudson in the Telegraph) as one of their favourite setters, and I am among their number. As well as accurate, precise wordplay, he always brings a sense of humour to his clueing – which is very welcome when many of the current affairs events referenced here are enough to make you sad and/or angry…
Apologies for the lateness of the blog – I had to run a few unexpected errands this morning. I’ve written it up in a bit of a rush so may well have missed some of the references in the clues or solutions – feel free to fill in any gaps in the comments below.
Thanks, as ever, to Julius.
Edit to add: I’ve just seen on social media that Julius “wrote it in four hours on Friday morning after an emergency summons so please bear that in mind before Statler & Waldorfing it…” – that just makes the puzzle even more impressive in my book!
Definitions are underlined in the clues.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | ULTRA |
Extremist leaders of United look to replace Amorim (5)
|
| First letters (leaders) of United Look To Replace Amorim
Ruben Amorim, manager of Manchester United, has endured a tough start to the new football season, which has led to media speculation about him being sacked |
||
| 4 | SCRAPYARD |
Dump/get rid of the Met (9)
|
| SCRAP (get rid of) + YARD (The Yard, ie Scotland Yard, is a metonym for the Metropolitan Police Force, aka the Met)
The Met is currently facing large cuts due to a budgetary shortfall |
||
| 9 | DAY CARE |
Race around in pursuit of 24h supervision (3,4)
|
| Anagram (around) of RACE following (in pursuit of) DAY (24h)
There is a shortage in nursery places for young children in the UK but this has been going on a while and I don’t know if there is any particular current relevance to the story |
||
| 10 | GRIMSBY |
Where Man Utd suffered terrible, singular times? (7)
|
| GRIM (terrible) + S (singular) + BY (times)
The aforementioned Manchester United lost to Grimsby Town FC in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday – a proper cup upset given that Grimsby play in the fourth tier of the English league system with a squad whose total value is about the same as a typical Manchester United player’s weekly wage |
||
| 11 | ROCK STAR |
Popular musician shakes tea urn periodically (4,4)
|
| ROCKS (shakes) + alternate letters (periodically) of TeA uRn | ||
| 12 | ERICA |
Heather withdrawing books from the adult fiction section (5)
|
| ER[ot]ICA (adult fiction section) less (withdrawing) OT (Old Testament = books) | ||
| 15 | OUST |
Expel East German concealing uniform (4)
|
| OST (east in German) containing (concealing) U (uniform) | ||
| 16 | RED CARPET |
Communist reprimand that Trump gave Putin in 3 (3,6)
|
| RED (communist) + CARPET (reprimand)
The US president gave the Russian president the VIP treatment at their meeting in ALASKA (solution to 3 down) |
||
| 19 | PHILANDER |
Flirt with pimp outside while naked (9)
|
| PANDER (pimp) containing (outside) [w]HIL[e] less the outer letters (naked) | ||
| 20 | ADEN |
Commercial English northern port (4)
|
| AD (commercial) + E (English) + N (northern) | ||
| 22 | NOTED |
Celebrated absence of Cruz? (5)
|
| “NO TED” would be one way of describing the absence of US Senator Ted Cruz | ||
| 23 | FACE TIME |
Confront prison sentence in video call (4,4)
|
| FACE (confront) + TIME (prison sentence) | ||
| 25 | INFANTA |
Spanish princess at home with pop (7)
|
| IN (at home) + FANTA (the fizzy drinks brand = pop) | ||
| 27/29 | TERENCE STAMP |
Recent works last seen in theatre cast wonderful actor (7,5)
|
| Anagram (works) of RECENT + “last [letter] seen in” theatrE + STAMP (cast)
He really was a wonderful actor. Sadly, he died recently, aged 87 |
||
| 28 | MIDDLESEX |
Lord’s own county? (9)
|
| Cryptic definition – Middlesex County Cricket Club play most of their home games at Lord’s in north London
I don’t know if there’s any topical relevance to this clue – Middlesex seem to be only marginally better than my team (Kent) in most of the current county competitions |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | UNDO |
Cancel peacekeepers’ party (4)
|
| UN (peacekeepers) + DO (party) | ||
| 2 | TAYLOR SWIFT |
Breaking FT law story about international HNWI (6,5)
|
| Anagram (breaking) of FT LAW STORY containing (about) I (international)
HNWI stands for high net-worth individual – a fair description of Ms Swift, who is reportedly worth $1.6 billion |
||
| 3 | ALASKA |
The state of Isak, Salah when they’re upset! (6)
|
| Hidden in isAK SALAh when reversed (upset)
Those who follow football will no doubt be aware of the ongoing saga of Liverpool’s attempts to sign Swedish player Alexander Isak from Newcastle United. Mo Salah also plays for Liverpool |
||
| 4 | SWELTERED |
Endured great heat, protected wife rather than husband (9)
|
| SHELTERED (protected) swapping the H (husband) for W (wife)
Europe has been enduring an ongoing heatwave recently, notwithstanding the impact of Storm Floris at the start of the month |
||
| 5 | ROGER |
Run over German chap (5)
|
| R (run) + O (over) + GER (German) | ||
| 6 | PRICE TAG |
Get Capri pants? This’ll show the cost (5,3)
|
| Anagram (pants) of GET CAPRI | ||
| 7 | ASS |
Trump’s bottom exposed — cheeky! (3)
|
| [s]ASS[y] (cheeky) with outer letters removed (exposed)
“Trump’s” to indicate that it’s an American usage |
||
| 8 | DRY MARTINI |
Thirsty? Swallow island cocktail (3,7)
|
| DRY (thirsty) + MARTIN (swallow) + I (island) | ||
| 13 | IMPEDIMENTA |
One man emptied out baggage (11)
|
| I (one) + anagram (out) of MAN EMPTIED | ||
| 14 | COMPENDIUM |
Following school term, I’m enclosing university puzzle box (10)
|
| COMP ([comprehensive] school) + END (term) + I’M containing (enclosing) U (university) | ||
| 17 | DIRECT TAX |
I’d extract new way for Rachel Reeves to raise revenue (6,3)
|
| Anagram (new) of ID EXTRACT
The state of the nation’s finances means UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves is likely to have to put up taxes |
||
| 18 | CARDINAL |
Watercourse crossing road, one of fundamental importance (8)
|
| CANAL (watercourse) containing (crossing) RD (road) + I (one) | ||
| 21 | U-TURNS |
Starmer keeps performing these universal acts (1-5)
|
| U (universal) + TURNS (acts)
The UK prime minister does seem to be in somewhat vacillatory mood lately |
||
| 23 | FLAGS |
Irises, painted in a roundabout way? (5)
|
| Cryptic definition
Referencing the current fad among hateful racists (no apology for stating my strongly held view here) for painting red crosses on white road markings such as mini roundabouts, to represent the flag of St George |
||
| 24 | VEEP |
Love epistle featuring JD Vance? (4)
|
| Hidden in loVE EPistle
VEEP is short for Vice President |
||
| 26 | FED |
Heads of fine, extremely democratic US institution under attack (3)
|
| First letters (heads) of Fine Extremely Democratic
You could read the whole clue as the definition, as Trump is trying to remove Lisa Cook from her position as head of the Federal Reserve, aka the Fed |
Thanks Julius and Widdersbel
Ref your comment on 23, there was an excellent post on social media today that the racists were painting red crosses because swastikas were too complicated for them…
Given that Julius stepped in galantly at the 11th hour to compose this entertainment, it was unlikely to be the sternest of tests but there was certainly no lack of humour.
It was hard for this admirer of the ‘Alaskan’ duo (well, the golden boot winner, anyway) not to be slyly amused by 1a and 10a, for instance.
Though I knew Ms Swift was a HNWI, I had to Google the acronym to find out what one was – I still wince at HTSI!
Good to see a nod to the great thesp in 27a/29a.
I liked COMPENDIUM and PHILANDER best
Cheers Julius and Widdersbel
Congrats Julius for stepping in at the 11th hour to provide this and get in a good few topical refs. I rather liked the clean and simple UNDO and OUST, the neat SWELTERED, and the ironic FLAGS.
Thanks Julius and Widdersbel.
I’ve been a great fan and admirer of all the setters of these news puzzles and have imagined them searching for every nugget of news and squirreling them away throughout the month. When Julius told us about the emergency in the early evening of Thursday, in the blog of his puzzle that day, it seemed impossible that he could marshal enough stuff, let alone fashion it into such a characteristically fine puzzle in a matter of hours – and yet he’s done it. Bravissimo, Julius!
Such a lot packed in, clued beautifully, with such lovely smooth surfaces, as always. I knew nothing about the football manager or the Grimsby fiasco but I think the clue for 10ac is just brilliant. Like our blogger and Diane, I also appreciated the tribute to the ‘wonderful actor’ and, although I share Widdersbel’s disgust at the perpetrators, I thought FLAGS was a stroke of genius.
Once again, the teamwork has been superb: Widdersbel has been under similar deadline pressure and must be congratulated on another excellent blog. Huge thanks to both – you are heroes!
(And thanks for that, Simon S @1 😉 )
Nice humour, some good clues. Quite a work of art for four hours work. A few too many clues that are difficult for a non-Brit.
Thanks Julius and widdersbel
Re NOTED: a couple years ago, Ted Cruz famously fled Texas for Cancun during a widespread power outage that coincided with a historic-for-Texas cold snap. This story periodically resurfaces when Cruz criticizes some other politician for shirking their duties. I think I saw a recent instance of this; maybe Julius had this in mind.
Thanks for the blog, dear widders, and thanks to those who have left a comment.
Bit of a rush job so perhaps not as much thematic material as I’d have liked. The inclusion of TAYLOR SWIFT was due to her engagement announced on Thursday to Travis Kelce, modelling Versace kilt. I’m sorry for the HNWI abbr but it looked a bit ugly in full.
@mrpenney…I’m a repeat offender I’m afraid in my somewhat waspish clues about Ted Cruz.
Best wishes to all, Rob/Julius
Fun to see the Royal couple still flirt, equally cheekily clued by Julius!
I thought PRICE TAG might refer to the increasing costs, including that of vegetables and fruit from climateflation. And also COMPENDIUM referred to schools, in England anyway, going back this week.
As someone who lives in Epping (within earshot of the protests at the Bell Hotel – they are loud – and in the current exclusion zones – we’ve had daily demos since Friday) I find the explosion of St George FLAGS ironic because St George is also the patron saint of Ethiopia* and Syrian Christians among many other countries.
* The man who is going through the courts for assaulting a 14 year old is Ethiopian. There is also a Syrian man going through the courts for assaulting other residents at the Bell Hotel.
Thank you to Julius and Widdersbel.