Puzzle from the Weekend FT of January 24, 2026
Guy is growing on me. My first-in here was 6 (CHINO) and I finished the solve in one moderately long session. My favourites are 1 (CHARTRES), 20 (SATISFACTORY), 24 (IMPOVERISH) and 27 (STOCKADE). Thank you Guy.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | CHARTRES |
Setting for Gothic masterpiece which art restorer has framed (8)
|
| Hidden word (has framed) with the definition referring to Chartres Cathedral | ||
| 6 | COMELY |
Pretty bashful when indeterminate Spice Girl enters (6)
|
| MEL (indeterminate Spice Girl) in (enters) COY (bashful).. ‘Indeterminate’ presumably refers to the fact that two of the Spice Girls had MEL in their names. | ||
| 9 | FORM |
On which you might apply to get married (4)
|
| FOR (to get) + M (married) | ||
| 10 | BARKING MAD |
Counter Charles built almost totally cracked (7,3)
|
| BAR (counter) + KING (Charles) + MAD[e] (built almost totally) | ||
| 11 | METAMORPHOSE |
Reform encountered a report of increased opposition (12)
|
| MET (encountered) + A (a) + MORPHOSE (homophone of “more foes”) | ||
| 13 | WARMTH |
Being friendly, match oddly starts with hostility (6)
|
| WAR (hostility) + M[a]T[c]H | ||
| 15 | EMPORIUM |
European rifled our Pimm’s store (8)
|
| E (European) + anagram (rifled) of OUR PIMM | ||
| 17 | UNCLENCH |
Relative finishes off gin and tonic and Scotch to relax (8)
|
| UNCLE (relative) + [gi]N + [toni]C + [Scotc]H | ||
| 19 | SANDHU |
Sikh family name two thirds of military academy (6)
|
| SANDHU[rst] (two thirds of military academy). The name Sandhu is new to me. | ||
| 20 | SATISFACTORY |
French composer’s works should exclude English, OK? (12)
|
| SATI[e]S FACTORY (French composer’s works should exclude ‘E’) | ||
| 24 | IMPOVERISH |
Make poor little monkey in charge of his bananas (10)
|
| IMP (little monkey) + OVER (in charge of) + anagram (bananas) of HIS | ||
| 25 | ICON |
Carbon atom with extra electrons goes round star (4)
|
| C (carbon) + ION (atom with extra electrons) backwards (goes round) | ||
| 26 | HONEST |
House and home upright (6)
|
| HO (host) + NEST (home) | ||
| 27 | STOCKADE |
Pale fizzy drink made with Oxo? (8)
|
| STOCK-ADE (fizzy drink made with Oxo?). ‘Pale’ can mean an enclosing barrier, especially a fence made of pales. And the phrase “beyond the pale” refers to this usage. Oh, and for non-Brits, ‘Oxo’ is a brand name of stock cubes. By the way, in the USA, OXO is a brand of upscale kitchenware. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | HOOTENANNY |
Loud laugh an orphaned girl heard, folk partying (10)
|
| Homophone (heard) of “hoot ‘n Annie” (loud laugh an orphaned girl) with a reference to Little Orphan Annie. | ||
| 3 | RUMBA |
Leaving steak and bread roll unfinished, dance (5)
|
| RUM[p] + BA[p]. Collins says that ‘bap’ is a slang term for a soft flat bread roll. I am accustomed to eating baps and am surprised to learn, as I just have, that ‘bap’ is considered to be slang. | ||
| 4 | REBLOCHON |
Herb blended with cool new French cheese (9)
|
| Anagram (blended) of HERB COOL + N (new) | ||
| 5 | SCRUPLE |
Doubt 1,000 lost in crush (7)
|
| SCRU[m]PLE (1,000 lost in crush). I do not recall coming across ‘scrumple’ before but Collins confirms that it is an English word meaning much the same as ‘crumple’. Collins also notes that it has a slang meaning of to have sex. | ||
| 6 | CHINO |
Material OK to be dropped by large helicopter (5)
|
| CHINO[ok] (OK to be dropped by large helicopter). Chino is a durable cotton twill cloth. Oh, and ’twill’ describes a cloth made in a way that produces parallel sloping lines across it. By the way, ‘Chinook’ generically refers to a warm and dry southwesterly wind that blows down the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains. And, er, also happens to be a brand name of helicopters made by Boeing. | ||
| 7 | MAGNETRON |
Microwave producer not German, surprisingly (9)
|
| Anagram (surprisingly) of NOT GERMAN | ||
| 8 | LEAD |
Escort which motorist doesn’t use any more? (4)
|
| Double definition with the second referring to leaded petrol | ||
| 12 | RUTHERFORD |
Nuclear physicist that woman’s cross with battles to have sex on top (10)
|
| RUT (battles to have sex) + HER (that woman) + FORD (cross) | ||
| 14 | MILLSTONE |
Quiet complaint from Spooner, crushing rock (9)
|
| Spoonerism of “still moan” (quiet complaint) | ||
| 16 | PISTACHIO |
Light green tailored coat is hip (9)
|
| Anagram (tailored) of COAT IS HIP | ||
| 18 | HIS NIBS |
Lord Muck’s greeting brothers and sisters, hugging any number (3,4)
|
| N (any number) in (hugging) HI (greeting) + SIBS (brothers and sisters) | ||
| 21 | THEFT |
Lift carrying tons, lifting in shop? (5)
|
| T (tons) + HEFT (lift) | ||
| 22 | THINK |
Judge weak king (5)
|
| THIN (weak) + K (king) | ||
| 23 | AMMO |
Mother picked up minute shells, etc (4)
|
| MA (mother) backwards (picked up) + MO (minute) |
BARKING MAD
I think the def is ‘totally mad’.
HOOTENANNY
I took it as ‘HOOT +homophone of ‘an Annie”.
Doesn’t fully work?
Thanks Guy and Pete.
Thanks Guy for the weekend entertainment. Favourites included CHARTRES, UNCLENCH, MAGNETRON, and LEAD. I guessed STOCKADE from the crossers but had no hope of parsing it. I parsed HOOTENANNY the same as KVA @1. Thanks Pete for the blog.
I found this mostly approachable despite the unusual words, but some NHOs in the top half meant it took time to fully crack. All parsed, even though I took a wild guess at LEAD and was happily surprised when I hit the check button.
Liked HONEST, FORM and BARKING MAD
STOCKADE is pales, not pale surely? And I looked up Oxo UK and still got kitchenware initially. It took more research to find the stock.
Thanks Guy and Pete
After a quick start I made rather heavy weather of this but once I’d finished I couldn’t see why – although taking ages to spot the hidden CHARTRES didn’t help.
Favourites included: BARKING MAD, SANDHU, SATISFACTORY, MILLSTONE, CHINO, RUTHERFORD, IMPOVERISH
Thanks Guy and Pete Maclean
STOCKADE
‘to pale’ =’to STOCKADE’ seems to work all right (considering the number mismatch observed by Martyn@3).