Puzzle from the Weekend FT of November 1, 2025
I found this puzzle to be another treat from Julius. My top favorite clue is 1a (MEDAL) and I also especially like 11 (BASQUE COUNTRY), 24 (INKWELL) and 26 (KIPLING). Thank you, Julius..
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | MEDAL |
Gong finally sounded in the middle of Dinner for One (5)
|
| [sounde]D in (in the middle of) MEAL (dinner for one), I applaud Julius for this clue and its reference to “Dinner for One”. In case you do not know of it, it is a gem of a comedy sketch from 1963 starring Freddie Frinton and May Warden that my German friends watch religiously every New Year | ||
| 4 | FOLK MUSIC |
Directed UK films about old Conservative country for Americans (4,5)
|
| O (old) and C (Conservative) in (about) anagram (directed) of UK FILMS | ||
| 9 | COLD WAR |
Vehicle packed with aged women’s frosty relations (4,3)
|
| OLD (aged) + W (woman) in (packed with) CAR (vehicle) | ||
| 10 | GORILLA |
Wrong — or ill-advised — to grapple with primate (7)
|
| Hidden word (to grapple with) | ||
| 11 | BASQUE COUNTRY |
Buy croquetas freshly cooked when touring northern part of Spain (6,7)
|
| N (northern) in (when touring) anagram (freshly cooked) of BUY CROQUETAS | ||
| 14 | MARX |
German economist discussing currency (4)
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| Homophone (discussing) of “marks” (currency) | ||
| 15 | ABOVE ZERO |
Wild rave with booze, which is positive (5,4)
|
| Anagram (wild) of RAVE BOOZE | ||
| 18 | TETE A TETE |
The FT department regularly cancelled key private meeting (4,1,4)
|
| T[h[E [f]T [d]E[p]A[r]T[m]E[n]T + E (key) | ||
| 19 | CUSS |
Swear in charismatic US Senator (4)
|
| Hidden word (in) | ||
| 21 | UNDER THE THUMB |
Oppressed in the digital sphere? (5,3,5)
|
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 24 | INKWELL |
His nibs can occasionally be found in here (7)
|
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 26 | KIPLING |
A lover of India, Charles takes in cricket series there (7)
|
| IPL (cricket series there — that being Indian Premier League) in (takes in) KING (Charles) | ||
| 27 | HANDS DOWN |
Very simply, the crew’s depressed (5,4)
|
| HANDS (the crew) + DOWN (depressed) | ||
| 28 | RUSTY |
Dull, well-behaved prisoner getting time off (5)
|
| [t]RUSTY | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | MACE |
Masculine energy surrounds Milan club (4)
|
| AC (Milan) in (surrounds) M (masculine) + E (energy) | ||
| 2 | DELIBERATED |
After taking counsel Dave gets discharged, set free (11)
|
| D[av]E + LIBERATED (set free) | ||
| 3 | LOWEST |
Most vulgar Suffolk resort often deserted (6)
|
| LOWEST[oft] (Suffolk resort often deserted) | ||
| 4 | FORTUNATE |
Happy speciality? Catching marine fish (9)
|
| TUNA (marine fish) in (catching) FORTE (speciality) | ||
| 5 | LOGIC |
Record extremes of idealistic reasoning (5)
|
| LOG (record) + I[dealisti]C | ||
| 6 | MARAUDER |
Pirate Dr Rameau streams (8)
|
| Anagram (streams) of DR RAMEAU | ||
| 7 | SOL |
Very large coin from yesteryear (3)
|
| SO (very) + L (:larger). A sol was a French coin centuries ago. | ||
| 8 | CRAZY HORSE |
Scary hero injured when tackling Zulu warrior legend (5,5)
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| Z (Zulu) in (when tackling) anagram (injured) of SCARY HERO | ||
| 12 | THE JUMBLIES |
Lear work sits 21, not the 2nd Thursday but the 1st of January (3,8)
|
| THE THUMB (21) with the second TH (2nd Thursday) replaced by J[anuary] + LIES (sits, under). I originally failed to see how ‘sits’ clues LIES and how ‘under’ tells us to put LIES at the end.. Now, thanks to comments, I do understand this. “The Jumblies” is a poem written by Edward Lear, best known for his limericks. | ||
| 13 | AMATEURISH |
Ace buddy, upper-class former PM, endlessly bungling (10)
|
| A (ace) + MATE (buddy) + U (upper-class) + RISH[i] (former PM endlessly) | ||
| 16 | OVERTAKEN |
Public area former Mayor of London passed (9)
|
| OVERT (public) + A (area) + KEN (former Mayor of London, meaning Ken Livingstone) | ||
| 17 | HAIRLESS |
Bare hotel, very stuffy (8)
|
| H (hotel) + AIRLESS (very stuffy) | ||
| 20 | BUMPER |
Cadge a generous glass (6)
|
| BUM (cadge) + A (per) | ||
| 22 | HELLO |
Greeting husband plucking wings of chicken (5)
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| H (husband) + [y]ELLO[w] | ||
| 23 | UGLY |
Hugh and Glyn when undressed not much to look at (4)
|
| [h]UG[h] [g]LY[n] | ||
| 25 | KIN |
Contents of penniless family members (3)
|
| [s]KIN[t] |
Lots to raise a smile in this Julius offering and a pangram to boot.
GORILLA was fun and BASQUE COUNTRY a delight while
TÊTE-A-TÊTE was admirable for its sheer length. Others I liked were INKWELL, AMATEURISH and FORTUNATE.
Many thanks to Julius and Pete – unable to help with THE JUMBLIES, having got as far as you, Pete.
LIES (sits) UNDER THE [TH]UMB (= 21) substituting the (not the . . . but the) 1st [letter] of J[ANUARY] for the 2nd [instance] of TH[URSDAY]
It is always nice to see Julius. He has a sense of humour and a lovely feel for the language.
I found this easy for a while, but NE and SE corners needed time due to some challenging clues, not to mention a handful of words I do not know. And I would never in a million years have equated FOLK MUSIC with American country music.
I loved LOGIC for its elegant surface. GORILLA was nicely hidden, as was CUSS which received another tick. TETE A TETE was wonderful and I also liked HANDS DOWN and DELIBERATED.
All parsed. I noted that I thought 12 did not fully work. It changes the 1st 2 of Thursday (not just the last 2nd). I am not sure I understood Cineraria’s 2nd instance .
Thank-you Julius and Pete
On second thought, ‘sits’ clues ‘lies’.
‘The church sits/lies in the rolling hills of …’ Cineraria got there first.
Perhaps now my favourite.
Martyn@3: There are two instances of “TH” in the wordplay: The first in TH[E], and the second in TH[UMB]. The clue instructs us to substitute “J” for the second instance of “TH.”
Thanks Julius and Pete. I think that 12dn has been sufficiently explained in earlier comments.
4ac should, I think, be O in anagram of UK FILMS + C.
14ac: a small typo here. It should of course be “marks” for the currency.
18ac: the final E in the answer comes from “key” in the clue.
Oh, so Th. is an abbreviation of Thursday! I see, thanks Cineraria @5. Clever clue.
Liked MEDAL, UNDER THE THUMB, KIPLING, THE JUMBLIES and HELLO.
Thanks Julius and Pete.
Thanks Julius for the weekend treat. I needed a reference to solve the nho THE JUMBLIES but I was able to ‘reverse parse’ it once I stumbled upon the solution. My top picks were COLD WAR, ABOVE ZERO, INKWELL, MACE, and HAIRLESS. Thanks Pete for the blog.
Very enjoyable thx both
Martyn @3 – Cambridge Folk Festival (UK Folk Festival dating back to 1963) usually has Country and Americana as part of its line-up, along with English folk and World Music. Country has roots in Appalachian Folk Music, among other influences. Appalachian Folk has links to British Folk Music – English, Scottish and Irish settlers developing the songs they brought with them. Cecil Sharp went to collect folk songs in Appalachia from 1915 to 18. (Cecil Sharp collected English Folk Music and Dance for much of his life.)
Entertaining puzzle – I liked THE JUMBLIES.
Thank you to Julius and Pete Maclean
Thanks Julius and Pete
Julius often has something extra, and this is no exception: it’s a pangram.
This is Julius on top form (again!)
I thought 1ac MEDAL was an absolute gem of a clue – a wonderful start to the puzzle and an ideal example to entice anyone into cryptic crosswords.
I also very much enjoyed FOLK MUSIC, BASQUE COUNTRY, KIPLING, FORTUNATE, CRAZY HORSE and AMATEURISH
Lovely surfaces all round, as ever.
Many thanks to Julius and lucky Pete.
12dn further to earlier comments: 21 is “under the thumb”. The “under” tells you to put LIES at the end.
Thank you for helping me understand how 12 (THE JUMBLIES) works. It has been a struggle.
Thanks Pete and Julius.
Re 18a I saw the last E is Key, and not E from regularly.