Roger Blitz

The second in a new FT cryptic crossword series invites readers to solve clues about topical events

Colin Inman, who oversaw the Financial Times’s cryptic puzzles for more than four decades, on the art of the setter

A new FT cryptic crossword series invites readers to spot topical people and places

FT crossword editor Roger Blitz examines how compilers have used this year’s events in their clues

News, analysis and comment from the Financial Times, the worldʼs leading global business publication

Despite global growth, investors are struggling to find a driver, not just in foreign exchange but in other markets. What's causing this doubt and introspection? Helen Thomas of macro-economic consultancy Blonde Money tells Roger Blitz that three market tremors of recent weeks, related to electronically-traded funds, are behind investor uncertainty

If Mario Draghi was trying to talk down the euro this week, he failed, says Commerzbank's Max Kettner. He tells Roger Blitz what this means for the euro now and looks at other factors likely to move the currency

Investors look beyond risk of globalisation and oil going the wrong way

Ben Ainslie, most successful Olympic sailor, determined to make £80m British bid a success

The cruise industry has spent years trying to woo younger travellers on to their ships, struggling to convince them that sailing the seas is not the preserve of old people seeking comfort over adventure. These days cruise operators are getting excited about the opportunities that the world’s ageing population is creating, both in emerging and developed markets. According to World Travel Monitor, the generation known as baby boomers – those born between 1945 and 1964 – spend $120bn a year on tra…

Autobiography reopens debate about the value of an egotistical genius in team sport

Premier League concerned at extent betting is ‘part and parcel’ of watching live football

Liverpool, Monaco, AS Roma and Internazionale under scrutiny

News, analysis and comment from the Financial Times, the worldʼs leading global business publication

Real Madrid snapped up Colombian midfielder James Rodriguez, the World Cup’s hottest property, in a six-year deal expected to cost the Champions League winners €80m. The deal underlines the huge inflation taking place in European football, as the biggest clubs seek to capitalise on the growth in their income from TV and commercial rights deals to maintain their places at the top table. It is the third €50m-plus deal of the summer, following Luis Suárez’s move from Liverpool to Barcelona for ab…

Estimate found positive for morphine after Gold Cup

Manchester City scores global sponsorship deal with Nissan

Barcelona put aside any misgivings about Luis Suárez’s temperament by agreeing to buy him from Liverpool in what is expected to be the biggest transfer deal of the summer. The Uruguayan striker, banned for four months for biting Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini in the World Cup, cannot enter a stadium and will not be able to play for the Spanish giants until November, ruling him out of the start of the Champions League. But his value remains undiminished. Liverpool said it did everything in…

Adidas is primed to sign a 10-year deal to supply Manchester United’s kit that could be worth up to £750m after rival Nike declined to match the German company’s offer. Months of talks between Nike and the Premier League club to extend its 13-year kit deal ended with a statement from the US company saying the terms on offer “did not represent good value for Nike’s shareholders” and that its relationship would end after next season. Nike was given a period of exclusivity to extend the deal, but…

Beijing, Oslo and Almaty have been shortlisted to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, the three remaining cities in a bidding race that has again exposed dwindling appetite for bearing the costs of such mega-sporting events. Public opinion, particularly in Europe, has shifted noticeably against becoming a host, fuelled by the $50bn cost of hosting this year’s Winter Olympics in Sochi – four times the original budget – and protests in Brazil over the past 12 months over spending on the Fifa World Cup…