Puzzle from the Weekend FT of March 7, 2026
My first-in was 7 (APERITIF) and I completed the grid with 20 (WHEEZE) after some pondering over the bottom-right quadrant. My favourites are 1a (PERICLES), 9 (PLASTIC SURGEON), 23 (AWASH) and 26 (DITHER).
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | PERICLES |
Classical subject of Dad’s Army and Python writers broadcast (8)
|
| Homophones (broadcast) of “[Jimmy] Perry and “[John] Cleese” | ||
| 5 | ORDAIN |
Arrange regular excerpts from Conrad, AA Milne (6)
|
| [c]O[n]R[a]D [a]A [m]I[l]N[e] | ||
| 10 | REPLACE |
Substitute two fine fabrics (7)
|
| REP (one fine fabric) + LACE (another fine fabric) | ||
| 11 | LAMBENT |
Brilliant, mournful song captivating bishop (7)
|
| B (bishop) in (captivating) LAMENT (mournful song) | ||
| 12 | CHIEF |
Rush to be accepted by Conservative female leader (5)
|
| HIE (rush) in (to be accepted by) C (Conservative) + F[emale] | ||
| 13 | TOSCANINI |
Drunkard knocked back tin at home with Italy’s no1 conductor (9)
|
| SOT (drunkard) backwards (knocked back) + CAN (tin) + IN (at home) + I (Italy’s no1) (Corrected) | ||
| 14 | VERIFICATION |
Proof of tie-in vicar sorted out… (12)
|
| Anagram (sorted out) of OF TIE IN VICAR | ||
| 18 | CASH REGISTER |
…till his carer gets to work (4,8)
|
| Anagram (to work) of HIS CARER GETS | ||
| 21 | BRIGADIER |
British capital starts to doubt its election returning officer (9)
|
| B (British) + RIGA (capital, of Latvia) + D[oubt] I[ts] E[lection] R[eturning] | ||
| 23 | AWASH |
Saw a ship partially covered by the sea (5)
|
| Hidden word (partially) | ||
| 24 | ALABAMA |
The state of Birmingham! (7)
|
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 25 | END ZONE |
Where Eagles and Falcons hope to touch down? (3,4)
|
| Cryptic definition referring to the American Football teams the Philadelphia Eagles and the Atlanta Falcons | ||
| 26 | DITHER |
Hesitate to take part in Verdi, The Requiem (6)
|
| Hidden word (to take part in) | ||
| 27 | ENERVATE |
Sap English courage when capturing flanks in Agincourt (8)
|
| E (English) + A[gincour]T in NERVE (courage) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | PIRACY |
Quick to embrace Inland Revenue robbery (6)
|
| IR (Inland Revenue) in (to embrace) PACY (quick) | ||
| 2 | ROPE IN |
Enlist Republican, one in public view (4,2)
|
| R (Republican) + I (one) in (in) OPEN (public view) | ||
| 3 | CHAUFFEUR |
One suited for driving below peak? (9)
|
| Cryptic definition with ‘peak’ referring to peaked caps. I was unsure about this and consulted Gemini on the matter. It told me, “The image of a chauffeur in a peaked cap is iconic”. | ||
| 4 | ELECTRIC GUITAR |
Power-driven axe? (8,6)
|
| Cryptic definition referring to the slang usage of ‘axe’ as a musical instrument (which is new to me) | ||
| 6 | RUMBA |
Ballerina exhausted after peculiar dance (5)
|
| RUM (peculiar) + B[allerin]A | ||
| 7 | APERITIF |
Blend of pear vermouth provided pre-prandial beverage (8)
|
| Anagram (blend of) PEAR + IT (vermouth) + IF (provided) | ||
| 8 | NUTRIENT |
That which sustains fanatic before Inter trips (8)
|
| NUT (fanatic) + anagram (trips) of INTER | ||
| 9 | PLASTIC SURGEON |
Theatre specialist working to support credit card escalation (7,7)
|
| PLASTIC (credit card) + SURGE (escalation) + ON (working) | ||
| 15 | ALEXANDER |
Great leader Times article probing American financier (9)
|
| A (American) + X(times) + A (article) in (probing) LENDER (financier) with the definition referring to Alexander The Great. | ||
| 16 | SCABBARD |
Steel casing periodically secured to protect Scandinavian group (8)
|
| ABBA (Scandinavian group) in (to protect) S[e]C[u]R[e]D | ||
| 17 | ASPIRANT |
Terribly partisan candidate (8)
|
| Anagram (terribly) of PARTISAN | ||
| 19 | DAKOTA |
Statistical info about fine revolutionary aeroplane (6)
|
| OK (fine) backwards (revolutionary) in (about) DATA (statistical info). The definition refers to the military version of the Douglas DC-3 which might just be the longest living aircraft in history. First made in the 1930s it was a plane I few on several times in the 1960s. And Wikipedia tells us that, “As of 2023, it was estimated about 150 were still flying.” | ||
| 20 | WHEEZE |
Funny trick goes on the radio (6)
|
| Homophone (on the radio) of “wees” (goes) | ||
| 22 | AMAZE |
Surprise advanced puzzle (5)
|
| A (advanced) + MAZE (puzzle) |
Thanks Julius and Pete. A couple of small points about the parsing:
13ac: I took “no1” as part of the indication for the final I. Although I agree that “Italy” on its own would be sufficient as the IVR code, I would argue that “conductor” on its own is a sufficient definition.
21ac: Here “British” must be indicating B not BR.
Julius is usually the master of the pithy clue, but he seemed to be struggling today with several clunky surfaces & obscurities. Similar to Pete, I spent some time in the bottom right quadrant.
I ticked RUMBA and ALABAMA
Thanks Julius and Pete
Thanks for the blog and the extra information on DAKOTA , very interesting .
Enjoyable puzzle with a good mix of clues and quite international .
I think of LAMBENT as subdued light but Chambers93 gives full cover in the sense of wit .
I bought my CHAUFFEUR a peaked cap but he refuses to wear it .
Never heard of REP for a material, but did know LACE so got the answer.
Looking at the clue for END ZONE for some reason I wondered if it might be an American sport so I looked up football teams and found the two birds as names of teams but then had to look up the sport to find the answer.
PERICLES was another word I didn’t know.
Liked: TOSCANINI, PIRACY, CHAUFFEUR, PLASTIC SURGEON (FOI), SCABBARD
Thanks Julius and Pete Maclean
Another super puzzle from Julius. I had the same favourites as Pete, with the addition of TOSCANINI, which I parsed as Pelham Barton did, LAMBENT (from the Latin verb ‘to lick’, usually describing (flickering) flames), CASH REGISTER and ENERVATE. I can’t believe my last two in were AWASH and WHEEZE.
DAKOTA brought back memories of my nervous first flight (unaccompanied) in 1963 (Pete, I think your digits got transposed!) from Belfast to Derby ‘Airport’, which I remember as a field, before it was superseded by East Midlands Airport.
Thanks, as always, to Julius and Pete.
Cash register was very good. Thanks both.
Why is IT vermouth?
We got stuck for a while in the SE corner before we got END ZONE (we knew the game alluded to but didn’t know the terminology) which then helped us to WHEEZE and DAKOTA.
An enjoyable solve, nevertheless. Thanks, Julius and Pete.
7dn re James@6: IT is short for Italian vermouth. Chambers 2016 p 810 has it both as an abbreviation It. and as a headword it² in its own right.
James P@6
Previous generations drank gin and it which gin and Italian vermouth, abbreviated to IT.
Which was gin and Italian vermouth rather!
Thanks Julius for an excellent crossword with my favourites being DITHER, ROPE IN, ELECTRIC GUITAR, APERITIF, and PLASTIC SURGEON. I couldn’t parse the PERI of PERICLES nor CHAUFFEUR but END ZONE was a write-in for me. Thanks Pete for the blog.
I solved 1a PERICLES right away, but initially wondered if there was another Cleese who wrote for Dad’s Army. Alas no, but it was still my favourite clue.
Roz#3, when my wife stopped driving she bought me a CHAUFFEUR’s cap, which I do wear when taking her to her appointments. I even have a chamois with which I pretend to buff the car on occasion.
Thanks J&T for the jolly time. (Is J&T a cocktail mixing an Arabian spirit with tonic?)
[ Cellomaniac@12 I have never driven so my chauffeur refuses to play along with my joke . For a few years I built up to four chauffers but it is now back down to one . ]
Found this fairly straightforward apart from the bottom right hand corner. Highlights were Pericles and Electric Guitar. Initially thought the capital letters on Falcons and Eagles were a rouse to misdirect to American Football rather then a straight pointer. Still not entirely sure that “wees” means “goes” though?
20dn: Chambers 2016 has “to urinate” as a definition for both go¹ (p 653) and wee² (p 1776). The first of these is marked as informal, but that should not require any special indication in the clue.