Puzzle from the Weekend FT of November 29, 2025
What a recognizably Rosa puzzle!
My favourites are 1a (MY FOOT), 2 (FUNDAMENT), 4 (PREDATES), 7 (THEFT) and 18 (EMPHASIS). Thank you, Ms Klebb.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | MY FOOT |
Absolutely not what’s in Rosa Klebb’s shoe (2,4)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 4 | PREDATES |
Hunts and kills poor dear pets (8)
|
| Anagram (poor) of DEAR PETS. ‘Predatory’ is, I think, a common word but I do not recall coming across the verbal form before. | ||
| 9 | ARNICA |
Some peculiar Nicaraguan herbal remedy (6)
|
| Hidden word (some) | ||
| 10 | ROUSSEAU |
Open University dons assure worried philosopher (8)
|
| OU (Open University) in (dons) anagram (worried) of ASSURE | ||
| 12 | DIATRIBE |
Reported terrible social division and vituperation (8)
|
| DIA (homophone of “dire”) + TRIBE (social division) | ||
| 13 | ULSTER |
Intermittently unnoticed, unless they’re in Paisley area (6)
|
| U[n]L[e]S[s]T[h]E[y]R[e] with a definition that invokes the Reverend Ian Paisley | ||
| 15 | RUES |
Broadcast bounder’s regrets (4)
|
| Homophone (broadcast) of “roos” (bounder, as in kangaroo) | ||
| 16 | PREVIOUSLY |
Dislocated your pelvis once (10)
|
| Anagram (dislocated) of YOUR PELVIS | ||
| 19 | INTIMIDATE |
Chum clipping flanks of ill- tempered cow (10)
|
| I[ll-tempere]D in (clipping) INTIMATE (chum) | ||
| 20 | STUB |
Withdrawing objections is a bit of a fag (4)
|
| BUTS (objections) backwards (withdrawing) | ||
| 23 | PLUSHY |
Lavish bonus starts to hearten you (6)
|
| PLUS (bonus) + H[earten] Y[ou] | ||
| 25 | CONVERGE |
Meet leader of conspiracy by side of road (8)
|
| C[onspiracy] + ON VERGE (by side of the road) (Corrected) | ||
| 27 | TO BE SURE |
Tense and guarded, regularly following orders no doubt (2,2,4)
|
| T (tense) + OBES (orders) + [g]U[a]R[d]E[d] | ||
| 28 | BRAINS |
Intellectuals at home wearing women’s underwear (6)
|
| IN (at home) in (wearing) BRAS (women’s underwear) | ||
| 29 | SPARSITY |
Dearth of sex, years after fights (8)
|
| SPARS (fights) + IT (sex) + Y (years) | ||
| 30 | BEHELD |
Saw Rachel half-cut in the sack (6)
|
| [Rac]HEL in (in) (BED) (the sack) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | MEANDER |
Beginning to despair, constricted by comparatively tight snake (7)
|
| D[espair] in (constricted by) MEANER (comparatively tight) | ||
| 2 | FUNDAMENT |
Jolly lady with extremely neat buttocks (9)
|
| FUN (jolly) + DAME (lady) + N[ea]T | ||
| 3 | OSCARS |
Awards ceremony on Saturday initially held up by traffic (6)
|
| O[n] S[aturday] + CARS (traffic) | ||
| 5 | RIOT |
Orgy over in conservatoire (4)
|
| Reverse (over) hidden word (in) | ||
| 6 | DISALLOW |
Reject and insult everyone that hurt me (8)
|
| DIS (insult) + ALL (everyone) + OW (that hurt me) | ||
| 7 | THEFT |
Taking offence daily (5)
|
| THE FT (daily) with a neatly cryptic definition | ||
| 8 | SQUIRMY |
One’s underneath bulk of male escort, wriggling (7)
|
| SQUIR[e] (bulk of male escort) + MY (one’s) | ||
| 11 | OBTRUDE |
Push out old Benedict, disheartened and humble (7)
|
| O (old) + B[enedic]T + RUDE (humble) | ||
| 14 | OVATION |
Hand vino to a drunk (7)
|
| Anagram (drunk) of VINO TO A | ||
| 17 | SATURNINE |
Moody aunties angrily inhaling Senior Service (9)
|
| RN (Senior Service, that is the Royal Navy) in (inhaling) anagram (angrily) of AUNTIES | ||
| 18 | EMPHASIS |
Stress of priest taken in by false messiah (8)
|
| P (priest) in (taken in by) anagram (false) of MESSIAH | ||
| 19 | IMPETUS |
Motivation of international politician in France and America (7)
|
| I (international) + MP (politician) + ET (in France and) + US (America) | ||
| 21 | BLESSED |
Bloody lucky! (7)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 22 | AVERSE |
Hostile states finally negotiate (6)
|
| AVERS (states) + [negotiat]E | ||
| 24 | UMBRA |
Part of Italy without single area of shade (5)
|
| UMBR[i]A (part of Italy without ‘I’) | ||
| 26 | DRAT |
Bother doctor over a temperature (4)
|
| DR (doctor) + A (a) + T (temperature) |
Thank you, Pete, for the earlier posting, when the puzzle is fresher in my mind.
Thanks to Rosa and Pete for an excellent puzzle and blog, as always.
In 15 Across, I believe that RUES is a homophone (broadcast) of roue’s (bounder’s).
In 11 Down, I did have a problem initially seeing RUDE as humble, but reconciled it in the end, as in the sense of “simple”.
Thanks Rosa and Pete
15ac: I took the soundalike as “roos” as in kangaroos. Chambers 2016 and Collins 2023 both have roue only with an acute accent on the e and pronounced as two syllables, and I could not find a relevant meaning for ruse in either.
PB@2 I agree about the bounder being a kangaroo, but the homophone must be “roo’s” (“bounder’s”).
Good point, PB@2, and a good solution. I have been guilty of mental mispronunciation, creating a non-existent anglicism, since I have only ever used the word ROUE in crossword puzzles, of course without an accent. Thank you.
My posting the blog early was actually a fumble on my account. I have corrected the “roos” clue. Thank you.
Bagpuss@3: I agree about the apostrophe in “roo’s”.
While I am back in, I will add support to the comment by Larry@1 re 11dn. Collins 2023 p 1739 has “humble or lowly” as meaning 7 of rude adj. It gives the usage example a rude shelter under meaning 5 “roughly or crudely made”, but I think it works for “humble” as well.
I had CONVERGE as C (leader of conspiracy) + ON VERGE (by side of road).
gladys#7: I’m sure you’re right. We would need ‘leaders of conspiracy’ for CON, and then the objection would be vagueness: how many leaders?
LarryS: ever seen The Sound of Music?
You are sixteen going on seventeen
Fellows will fall in line
Eager young lads and roues and cads
Will offer you food and wine.
It also appears in Show Boat (same lyricist): “Though you’re warned against a roue ruining your reputation…” (from the song “Life Upon the Wicked Stage”)
This shouldn’t be here. Should be here tomorrow
Very disappointed
Re #1 and #10 – great to have it today; even better had it been yesterday.
It is always a delight to see Rosa Klebb’s as the setter.
THEFT was an interesting take, MEANDER, STUBS & IMPETUS lovely surfaces, MY FOOT brought a smile, and who could not like SPARSITY? EMPHASIS might be the best surface of the year. And I could name many more
FUNDAMENT was a jorum, and also a nice surface. Thanks for explaining ULSTER – I assumed the city is in the Paisley county or something like that, and did not think of the politician.
Thanks Rosa Klebb for a nice puzzle, and Pete for a great blog
My last in was SQUIRMY. I’m not altogether happy for “my” as a synonym for “one’s”. I dare say authority can be found for it, but in general if I say “One’s feet get cold on a frosty morning such as this” I am only impliedly suggesting that my feet are cold. I might be making the comment indoors where my feet are warm.
Thanks Rosa, it’s always a pleasure. My top picks were PREVIOUSLY, BRAINS (like the surface), SPARSITY, THEFT, EMPHASIS, AVERSE, and UMBRA. Thanks Pete for the blog. BTW, when can we expect future blogs of the Saturday crossword? Because it was Rosa I set about doing this immediately (can’t help myself) but I don’t always solve the Saturday puzzle until later in the weekend. I’m OK with any time really.
Wonderful surfaces, love the simplicity
@1 @10 @14
I like to take my time over the Saturday puzzle (which i think of as a weekend puzzle) – maybe not tackling it until the evening or Sunday so I don’t want the 225 solution posted until Monday morning – really spoils it to have it posted earlier.
Fiona @ 16 You may see that the blog has been posted, but nothing says you have to read it before you finish the puzzle.
High quality puzzle. Liked my foot, previously, beheld, fundamental, many others.
Nice ambiguity on the contents of her shoe in 1a (which could also be iron spikes) and trying to shoehorn Saussure into 10a.
Delighted to see the blog arrive sooner: please just post it on Saturday. I never look until I have finished (or given up).
My foot! is a nice old expression but to me it means What rot! So, Absolutely not! … ? … hmm, not quite.
Ditto re trying Saussure, James @18.
Pretty neat from Rosa, ta, and ta Pete.
I put in FUNDAMENT from the wordplay having never heard of buttocks referred to as such, but confirmed by Google. Nice innocuous word to add to my vocabulary, and just had to do a little more digging:
fundament(n.)
late 13c., “foundation, base; buttocks, anus,” from Old French fondement “foundation, bottom; land, estate; anus” (12c.), from Latin fundamentum “a foundation, ground-work; support; beginning,” from fundare “to found” (see bottom (n.)). So called because it is where one sits.
Simon
at whatever
True (although this time I had completed it on Saturday)
But if it is published early and I am not expecting it till later (i.e. the usual time) I don’t see it until there are lots of comments and there is no point commenting
Fiona@21 The blog for every other non-prize puzzle (including the Sunday FT) appears on the day of publication and many of us would be grateful if that were to apply to Saturday FT puzzles.
1ac: ODE 2010 p 681 has (marked informal) my foot! said to express strong contradiction: ‘He’s clever at his business,’ Matilda said. ‘Clever my foot!’. The definition without the usage example also appears in the Concise Oxford 2011 p 554. That is good enough for me as a justification of the definition “Absolutely not” used by Rosa.
I first came across FUNDAMENT in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales: « Thou woldest make me kisse thyn olde breech,
And swere it were a relyk of a seint,
Though it were with thy fundement depeint.”
Great fun for a school boy.
Bagpuss at 22
And many of us would prefer it to appear on Monday as it has being doing for quite some while.
“I test my bath before I sit,
And I’m always moved to wonderment
That what chills the finger not a bit
Is so frigid upon the fundament.”
(Ogden Nash)
SM@24
My first memory of fundament in this context is by Ogden Nash.
I test my bath before I sit
And I’m always moved to wonderment
That what chills the finger not a bit
Is so frigid upon the fundament.
Many will remember Gray’s Elegy in a Country Churchyard in which “The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep”.
I’m a regular solver of and occasional commenter on Guardian cryptics. Someone drew readers of the Guardian 15sq blogs to this by Arachne (to us)
so I tried out a new printer. I’m glad I did. It’s a pity that Ms Hayes doesn’t submit more puzzles to the Guardian.
Snap, Pino!
gladys@26
Great minds……. (and I thought I’d corrected “one” to “a” in line 3 but the edit didn’t stick.
gladys@26
Great minds……. (and I thought I’d corrected “one” to “a” in line 3 but the edit didn’t stick).
Very good Gladys and Pino!
Late comment but I think taking is also theft making 5 down a triple definition
Bernard@32: An interesting suggestion. You could consider “Taking” and “offence” as two separate definition of THEFT, which would make 5dn a three part clue, but “daily” meaning THE FT would normally be considered as a piece of wordplay as it is not a definition of the answer taken as a whole. In any case, “Taking offence” meaning “the offence of taking something which is not yours” fits together so well as a single definition that I am confident Rosa Klebb intended the clue to be taken that way.