Today sees me posting my last blog of 2025 rather later than expected, but here it is. This Tuesday sees the latest puzzle by Kairos, whose work I have rarely blogged as it has tended to appear at the beginning of the week.
Today is also theme day, and it didn’t take me long to spot that many of today’s solutions can be prefixed by the word RED. I have coloured the entries appropriately in the grid, and it may well be that I have overlooked some less well-known expressions, which other solvers may bring to our collective attention. And what a wealth of thematic material Kairos has crammed into the grid – most impressive!
I found this puzzle to be of medium difficulty by Indy standards, with some clues proving harder to parse than to solve, not least the multiple-definition clues at 4 and 32. Please let me know if I am wide of the mark with my parsing of these, and any other clues for that matter.
My favourite clues today were 3, 5, 13D, 16D and 26D, all for smoothness of surface, basically; the hairstyles at 13A and the computer part at 15A were both new to me.
Let me take this opportunity to wish fellow bloggers, solvers, setters and all who make this precious website possible a happy and above all healthy 2026.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; a break in underlining separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| ACROSS
|
||
| 9 | ROUTE |
Way to eliminate unsatisfactory service in game (5)
|
| ROU<let>TE (=game, of chance); “to eliminate unsatisfactory service (=let, in tennis)” means letters “let” are dropped) | ||
| 10 | LEICESTER |
Irish province has church for new city (9)
|
| LEINSTER (=Irish province, one of the four that make up the Republic of Ireland); “church (=CE, Church of England) for new (=N)” means letter “n” is replaced by “ce” | ||
| 11 | HERRING |
Husband going astray with school member (7)
|
| H (=husband) + ERRING (=going astray); cryptically, as a fish, a herring could be described as a “school (of fish) member” | ||
| 12 | CERTIFY |
Confirm playground’s back in repair (7)
|
| RECTIFY (=repair, put right); “playground (=rec, i.e. a recreation ground)’s back” means that the letters “rec” are reversed | ||
| 13 | FADES |
Bleaches hairstyles (5)
|
| Double definition: fades is bleaches, whitens, loses colour AND fades are hairstyles in which the hair is cut shorter at the sides and at the back, blending into longer hair on top | ||
| 15 | BUS |
Part of computer described by web user (3)
|
| Hidden (“described by”) in “weB USer”; in computing, a bus is a number of conductors forming a circuit or route along which data may by transmitted | ||
| 16 | PIER |
Prow of icebreaker blocking a dock (4)
|
| I<cebreaker> (“prow of” means first letter only) in PER (=a, as in 60p a pound); according to Chambers, a dock is a wharf or pier | ||
| 17 | RUM |
Strange cyst removed from pelvic bone (3)
|
| <sac>RUM (=pelvic bone); “cyst (=sac, of fluid) removed” means letters “sac” are dropped | ||
| 19 | ITALIAN |
Catch a flier briefly returning meal (7)
|
| NAIL (=catch, secure) + A + TI<t> (=”flier”, i.e. bid; “briefly” means last letter is dropped); “returning” indicates reversal; cf. We’re going out for an Italian on Saturday | ||
| 20 | SEA |
A lot of water in small local river (3)
|
| S (=small, in sizes) + EA (=local river, i.e. a drainage channel in the Fens) | ||
| 22 | SHOT |
Try to extract everything from onion (4)
|
| SH<all>OT (=onion); “to extract everything (=all) from” means letters “all” are dropped; a shot at something is a go, an attempt | ||
| 23 | KEN |
Keystone Kops part reviewed for Ryan Gosling role (3)
|
| Hidden (“part”) and reviewed (“reversed”) in “keystoNE Kops”; Ryan Gosling played Ken in Barbie: the movie (2023) | ||
| 24 | ALERT |
New York ward features in key warning (5)
|
| ER (=New York (hospital) ward, i.e. Emergency Room) in ALT (=key, on computer keyboard) | ||
| 26 | WAGONER |
Composer welcomes old driver (7)
|
| O (=old, as in OT) in WAGNER (=composer, from Germany) | ||
| 28 | DHANSAK |
Duke and German boy meeting a king for curry (7)
|
| D (=duke) + HANS (=German boy, i.e. a male forename in Germany) + A + K (=king, in cards or chess) | ||
| 31 | LANDSCAPE |
Gets head in painting (9)
|
| LANDS (=gets, secures, e.g. a job) + CAPE (=head, headland) | ||
| 32 | LIGHT |
Frivolous rest day (5)
|
| Triple definition: light entertainment is frivolous, unserious AND to light on e.g. a branch is to rest, settle on it AND light is day as opposed to night | ||
| DOWN
|
||
| 1 | ARCH |
Structure of pollarded tree (4)
|
| <l>ARCH; “pollarded” means the top – or here, the first letter – is cut off | ||
| 2 | PUTRID |
Rank obscenity fully raised (6)
|
| DIRT (=obscenity, filth) + UP (=fully, completely, as in to use up); “raised” indicates vertical reversal | ||
| 3 | DELI |
Half of shipment for food shop (4)
|
| DELI<very> (=shipment, of order); “half of” means 4 of 8 letters only are used | ||
| 4 | FLAG |
Peter out with Mark and Jack? (4)
|
| Triple definition: to peter out is to fade, flag AND to flag is to mark, draw attention to AND a jack is a flag indicating nationality, as in the Union Jack | ||
| 5 | PINCUSHION |
Turn up chinos and incorporate trendy sewer’s accessory (10)
|
| IN (=trendy, fashionable) in *(UP CHINOS); “turn” is anagram indicator | ||
| 6 | BEAR |
Report of simple child’s plaything (4)
|
| Homophone (“report of”) of “bare (=simple, basic, unadorned)” | ||
| 7 | STRIKERS |
Sister’s pinching wheels for some footballers (8)
|
| TRIKE (=wheels, tricycle) in SR’S (=Sister’s) | ||
| 8 | ARMY |
Head off out to lunch with host (4)
|
| <b>ARMY (=out to lunch, slightly crazy); “head off” means first letter is dropped | ||
| 13 | FIR |
Tree has shoot cut (3)
|
| FIR<e> (=(to) shoot, e.g. a gun); “cut” means last letter is dropped | ||
| 14 | SHIFT |
Change working time (5)
|
| Double definition: to shift is to change, move AND a shift is one’s working time, as in day shift | ||
| 15 | BLACK FRIAR |
Bad tempered cook called out brother (5,5)
|
| BLACK (=bad-tempered, angry, as in a black look) + homophone (“called out”) of “frier (=cook)”; a Black Friar is a Dominican monk, so called because of his black mantle | ||
| 16 | PANDA |
Animal seen in the outskirts of Pasadena (5)
|
| P<asaden>A; “outskirts” means first and last letters of, i.e. P and A! | ||
| 18 | MAHOGANY |
A gym Noah built in wood (8)
|
| *(A GYM NOAH); “built” is anagram indicator | ||
| 21 | ANT |
Colonist and Australian conservationists (3)
|
| A (=Australian) + NT (=conservationists, i.e. National Trust); as they live in colonies, ants can be described as “colonists”! | ||
| 25 | ENSIGN |
Trump’s rating: Standard (6)
|
| In the US – hence “Trump’s – an ensign is a officer of lowest commissioned rank in the navy, hence a rating; an ensign is a flag distinguishing a nation or regiment, hence a standard | ||
| 26 | WALL |
Block Liberal legislation in U-turn (4)
|
| L (=liberal) + LAW (=legislation); “in U-turn” indicates reversal; a wall is an obstruction, a barrier, a block | ||
| 27 | NOSE |
European native stands up to see informer (4)
|
| E (=European) + SON (=native of, inhabitant, as in a son of the Black Country); “stands up” indicates vertical reversal | ||
| 28 | DEER |
River and river animal (4)
|
| DEE (=river, in Scotland, say) + R (=river) | ||
| 29 | ABLE |
Expert filling barrel with beer – quite the reverse (4)
|
| B (=barrel) in ALE (=beer) | ||
| 30 | KITE |
Christopher Lee finally getting aircraft (4)
|
| KIT (=Christopher, i.e. abbreviation) + <le>E (“finally” means last letter only); a kite is an aircraft in RAF slang |
Red SHIFT and red FIR too, I think. Thanks both.
Thanks to RatkojaRiku for the review. There were a few other red entries.
Red Route – Major roads with strict no parking rules.
Red Bus – The classic London Routemaster
Red Fir – Abies magnifica – An American fir tree
Red Shift – Astronomical term
Whilst the Himalayan Brown Bear is sometime referred to as the Himalayan Red Bear and Red Shot is a generic term sometimes used for vibrantly coloured cocktails, they were a little too removed to be considered by me as part of the theme. Having 20 themed entries, it would be greedy to try and claim two more!
With best wishes to all bloggers, solvers and setters for 2026.
Thanks for the blog. I was unable to parse ROUTE or CERTIFY, so was grateful for the assistance. I had not heard of DHANSAK, which was a jorum for me–the wordplay made it either that or Dhansar, and the crossing K decided the issue. I was unaware until today that the Royal Navy lacks the rank ENSIGN. (As regards that one, just as an aside, I’m getting increasingly peeved by “Trump’s” to indicate American. Please stop!)
In general I found this harder than the blog said. Maybe because it was my fourth puzzle today–I’m off work this whole week and had an empty morning (Chicago, where it’s just past noon now). Anyhow, a stack of crosswords pairs well with a cozy cat on one’s lap and a cappuccino in one’s cup.
Thanks both. I rated this a little above medium-difficulty, owing to what I viewed as many evasive definitions, maybe so as all answers are common words/expressions e.g. KITE for aircraft, ITALIAN for meal, KEN for a character in a film I continue to actively avoid. FIR for tree presented a different difficulty as we were looking for ‘shoot cut’ which took me to (d)ASH.
Many thanks for the review, RR, I certainly needed your help to untangle quite a few of my parsing attempts. The theme didn’t become apparent to me until post-completion, but it was rather a good one. I’ll take our setter’s word for just how many individual items there were – I gave up counting after 18!
Thanks to RR and to Kairos, wishing a very happy New Year to both of you.
For me, too many abstract or stretched definitions/ wordplays.
WALL=BLOCK.
ITALIAN = MEAL.
WHEELS = trike
NOSE= INFORMER
FADES = hairstyles.
EA = local river
LIGHT = rest
BLACK = bad tempered.
CHILD’s PLAYTHING. (bear)
TRUMP’s RATING (ensign)
If you got all of those allusions, plus others, then my salutations.
And, I invite you to tell me one clue that is actually well crafted and remarkable.
κοκκινος ουρανος, κακος καιρός
Good blog, as ever, RR