Crossword roundup: hidden Olympics … and a very orange secrets box | Crosswords

In the example clues below, I explain the two parts of each: the definition of the answer and the wordplay – the recipe for assembling its letters. In a genuine puzzle environment, of course, you also have the crossing letters, which greatly alleviate your solving load. The explanations contain links to previous entries in this series on such matters as spelling one word backwards to reveal another. And setters’ names tend to link to interviews, in case you feel like getting to know these people better.

The news in clues

The Financial Times’ news puzzle – solve it now to avoid spoilers – is back with a rich mix of politics (24d is LABOUR) and sport (2d is shamed equestrian Charlotte DUJARDIN) – and, in the case of its 10 down …

10d What seven 24 MPs lost, or what 2 used controversially (3,4)

… both, culminating in THE WHIP. The setter is Buccaneer, known locally as Picaroon, whose puzzle on the day of the Olympic opening ceremony was centred on a hidden treat. If this paper had the puzzle budget of the New York Times, the completed grid might have looked like this:

Latter patter

Pangakupu is not averse to a musical reference …

6d/18d Initially found delicate wind instrument in black box (6,8)
[ wordplay: first letter of (‘initially’) FOUND + synonym for ‘delicate’ + type of wind instrument ]
[ F + LIGHT + RECORDER ]
[ definition: black box ]

… but here the instrument is a different kind: the FLIGHT RECORDER, which is not always boxy and is assuredly not black: it is a bright orange so as to be easily found. This ambiguity was used in a classic question in the TV show Only Connect, in the subcategory “suitable for a non-tournament charity episode”. For three points, Andrew Motion, Stuart Maconie and Michael Bywater identified the connection as “Things that are orange” from the clues:

They did not need the fourth (“David Dickinson”) or the third, which is the subject of our next challenge. Reader, how would you clue GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE?

Puzzling elsewhere

My thanks for Pangakupu for alerting me to the possibility of looking through what appears to be Stephen Sondheim’s amazing collection of puzzle books; more on Sondheim and crosswords in our piece after his death in 2021.

And spread the word:

Cluing competition

Thanks for your clues for KENNEDY. Wellywearer2 gets the “inside baseball” nod for “Two boys, one on each … Yes? John? Bobby?”, which should be taken as a reference not to my book but to the clue that Rufus lent me to use as a title. And there’s an audacity award for Montano’s “As shot in Dallas – or was it Dynasty? (7)”

The runners-up are both timely: Harlobarlo’s “President giving up, as Yanks need change” and Newlaplandes’ “President in doghouse cut by Democratic Party, at last”; the winner is the charming “US politician’s known unknown”.

Kludos to KJBramble; please leave entries for the current competition – and especially non-print finds or picks that I might miss from broadsheet cryptics – in the comments.

The last decent place on the internet (part 2)

For the second time consecutively, I’m sharing a comment that’s well worth sharing: if you don’t normally read below the line, “shared honours and tweaking” is a phrase to ponder.

Clue from elsewhere of the fortnight

We’ve assumed that crosswords have said goodbye to the previous mob but one Telegraph setter can’t resist …

12a Classic text showing honest cry for help by Conservatives (4,2,7)
[ wordplay: synonym for ‘honest’ + inits indicating ‘cry for help’ + synonym for ‘Conservatives’ ]
[ definition: classic text ]

… making JUST SOS TORIES from the JUST SO STORIES. Onwards, though!

Crossword roundups will return on 26 August