Puzzle from the Weekend FT of December 6, 2025
Ah, a puzzle with a touch of a Christmas theme. I made easy work of it. My favourite clue is 9 (HIGHWAY ROBBERY) and I also applaud 3 (DYSTOPIA), 8 (HI TECH), 20 (OTHELLO) and 25 (REINDEER). Thank you, Julius.
| ACROSS | ||
| 7 | HONEYDEW |
Polish tree bearing first of durian fruit (8)
|
| HONE (polish) + D[urian] in (bearing) YEW (tree) | ||
| 8 | HI TECH |
Master of suspense fondly embracing European design style (2,4)
|
| E (European) in (embracing) HITCH (master of suspense fondly, i.e. Alfred Hitchcock); I like the way Julius uses ‘fondly’ in this clue. | ||
| 11 | TEMPT |
Attract casual worker close to bankrupt (5)
|
| TEMP (casual worker) + [bankrup]T | ||
| 12 | TROUNCING |
Licking Manx cat in 4 town? (9)
|
| OUNC[e] (Manx cat) in (in) TRING. Tring is a market town in Hertfordshire. | ||
| 13 | CALYPSO |
Charlie plays remixed intro to Oasis song (7)
|
| C (charlie) + anagram (remixed) of PLAYS + O[asis] | ||
| 14 | LUCKNOW |
City fortune secured from the East (7)
|
| LUCK (fortune) + WON (secured) backwards (from the East) | ||
| 15 | ROSS AND CROMARTY |
Opening of really sad story Macron broadcast somewhere up north (4,3,8)
|
| R[eally] + anagram (broadcast) of SAD STORY MACRON. Ross and Cromarty is an area of Scotland and was at one time a county | ||
| 18 | SPINACH |
Leaves second leg, long drained of energy (7)
|
| S (second) + PIN (leg) + ACH[e] (long drained of ‘E’) | ||
| 20 | OTHELLO |
Tragedy beginning to overtake Time magazine (7)
|
| O[vertake] + T (time) + HELLO (magazine). “Hello!” is a British weekly magazine specialising in celebrity news and human-interest stories. | ||
| 22 | MARDI GRAS |
Mum runs lodgings accommodating artist festival (5,4)
|
| MA (mum) + R (runs) + RA (artist) in (accommodating) DIGS (lodgings) | ||
| 23 | RHOMB |
Figure in polyester homburg (5)
|
| Hidden word (in). ‘Rhomb’ means the same as ‘rhombus’ (i.e. a polygon with four equal sides that is not squared). | ||
| 24 | STATUE |
Small gallery showcasing university artwork (6)
|
| S (small) + U (university) in (showcasing) TATE (gallery) | ||
| 25 | REINDEER |
Cupid maybe was king here, it’s said (8)
|
| Homophone (it’s said) of “reigned ‘ere”. This Cupid is one of the original eight reindeer in Christmas lore. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | WHITE CHRISTMAS |
Write smash hit composition featuring No1 from Crosby (5,9)
|
| C[rosby] in (featuring) anagram (composition) of WRITE SMASH HIT. With the definition referring to Bing Crosby. | ||
| 2 | ENAMEL |
Gloss over Earl upsetting lover (6)
|
| E (earl) + LEMAN (lover) backwards (over) | ||
| 3 | DYSTOPIA |
Page One in today’s fresh hellscape (8)
|
| P (page) + I (one) in anagram (fresh) of TODAYS | ||
| 4 | HERTFORDSHIRE |
That woman’s acquired the first car lease in the county (13)
|
| T[he] + FORD (car) together in HERS (that woman’s) + HIRE (lease) | ||
| 5 | PICNIC |
A piece of cake that might be served on a blanket? (6)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 6 | DESIGNER |
Sid and Gene organised debut for Rudolph Valentino, for one (8)
|
| Anagram (organized) of SID GENE + R[udolf] | ||
| 9 | HIGHWAY ROBBERY |
Holding up traffic? (7,7)
|
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 10 | ROLLERCOASTER |
Wave breaking over vessel that might cause nausea (13)
|
| ROLLER (wave) + COASTER (vessel) | ||
| 16 | SLIP ROAD |
Crumbling old Paris side lane (4,4)
|
| Anagram (crumbling) of OLD PARIS | ||
| 17 | MAHARANI |
Important woman from Omaha ran independently (8)
|
| Hidden word (from) | ||
| 19 | ANIMUS |
Article on current mass American hostility (6)
|
| AN (article) + I (current) + M (mass) + US (American) | ||
| 21 | LOOSER |
Ladies and gents wear periodically made less figure-hugging (6)
|
| LOOS (ladies and gents) + [w]E[a]R |
Another highly entertaining offering from Julius which I relished with the likes of REINDEER, PICNIC and the truly brilliant WHITE CHRISTMAS — Pete, 1d needs the ‘C’ of ‘Crosby’ to complete the anagram.
Other picks included HONEYDEW (ooh the dreaded durian), HI TECH, CALYPSO, OTHELLO, DYSTOPIA, MARDI GRAS and SLIP ROAD.
With the high calibre of our current crop of weekend setters, I greatly look forward to this year’s jumbo puzzle.
Thanks, Julius, for your customary mix of flair and fun, and to Pete for the blog.
Oops, sorry Pete, I didn’t read your blog properly re 1d.
Always a delight to see Julius
I found this a very quick solve, with 10 and 12 needing a bit of time at the end. It was a very generous grid giving many starter letters
There were many nice surfaces from which to choose favourites. I ticked LOOSER, ANIMISM, MARDI GRAS, PICNIC, SPINACH and WHITE CHRISTMAS (I agree with Diane about the brilliant anagram). But it could have been so many others too.
With respect to Pete, HIGHWAY ROBBERY did not really work for me (although I saw it right away). I did wonder how Julius and the editor expects anyone who has not lived in UK to name any Hertfordshire town at all. And I grew up surfing and know many words to describe a wave, but have never heard of ROLLER. Nor has my SOED.
Thanks to Julius and Pete for the typically enjoyable puzzle and blog.
Top faves HI TECH, WHITE CHRISTMAS and MAHARANI.
WHITE CHRISTMAS
Reads like an extended def and that gives the clue an &littish flavour.
Thanks Julius and Pete.
Martyn, it’s with a little embarrassment that I admit to learning a ‘roller’ was a wave very young in life as I was a fan of the tartan-clad Bay City Rollers. If I’m not mistaken, the ban took its name from Bay City, LA. 🏄♂️
HIGHWAY ROBBERY
Martyn@3
Eager to know why you think the clue doesn’t work.
We came across ‘One holding up other road users (10)’ elsewhere a couple of days ago.
A clue on the same lines.
Nice story, Diane@5, and quite a confession. But I am afraid Wikipedia tells a different story about the Bay City Rollers. They were already the Rollers when they added Bay City to their name, which is in Michigan and a long way from LA.
KVa@6: I have looked at HIGHWAY ROBBERY several times now, and something has finally clicked. I finally got it, and I withdraw my earlier comment
Thanks Julius for the weekend entertainment. I enjoyed this & my top picks were HI TECH, CALYPSO, REINDEER, ANIMUS, & WHITE CHRISTMAS. I needed a word finder for ROLLERCOASTER, maybe because I’ve only experienced joy on one, never nausea 😄 Thanks Pete for the blog.
I am always happy when I see a Julius puzzle. Lots of his clues are so neat.
Favourites this time: HONEYDEW (liked use of hone for polish), MARDI GRAS, LUCKNOW, OTHELLO, HERTFORDSHIRE, ANIMUS, ENAMEL (not seen the word leman for a while).
Thanks Julius and Pete Maclean
That Byron poem … “Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean ..” was one of ginf snr’s favourites. And roller was common for wave but, cttoi, I havent seen it for decades. Rhomb sans -us looks a bit weird, but it’s been here before. Hey ho, the beauty and vaguary of language 🙂 . Thanks Julius and Pete.
Yes but it was all a long time ago. Why not publish the blog when I can remember the puzzle? I vaguely remember it being fun.
I liked the “Manx cat” element is TROUNCING but I do tire of the meaning of “ounce” as “snow leopard” as this is a usage I have only ever encountered in cryptic crosswords.
Otherwise an enjoyable and not excessively demanding puzzle
Thanks Julius and Pete
Martyn @ 3 My 1970s SOED has roller “III. 2. A long or swelling wave…”.
James P @11
I like leaving it till now to post the blog. I think of Saturday’s puzzle as a weekend puzzle.
Another splendid puzzle from Julius – he really is a master of anagrams: ROSS AND CROMARTY is delightful, as is WHITE CHRISTMAS, of course. I like CALYPSO, too.
I also enjoyed MARDI GRAS, DYSTOPIA and HIGHWAY ROBBERY (like KVa, I’d admired Vlad’s similar clue on Thursday). Lovely surfaces throughout, as expected.
Many thanks, as ever, to Julius and Pete.
Thanks Julius and Pete.
10dn further to Simon@13: SOED 2007 p 2603 still has “A long swelling wave …” for roller, but it has moved to II.7. Chambers 2016 p 1350 has “a long heavy sea wave”, and Collins 2023 p 1726 has something very similar.
Stick a tick next to pretty well all of ‘em. As ever another hugely entertaining puzzle from a quality setter.