Small male soldiers unpleasantly polite

The answer to “Small male soldiers unpleasantly polite” in the The Times Quick Cryptic crossword is SMARMY — a 6-letter word. It most recently appeared in the The Times Quick Cryptic crossword on September 8, 2026, a Tuesday puzzle, at 11-Across. Below you'll find why that fill fits, every other answer we've recorded for this clue, and links into the puzzle it came from.

“Small male soldiers unpleasantly polite” answer

SMARMY (6 letters)

Reveal the solution one letter at a time with the tiles above if you'd rather nudge yourself toward it than see the whole word at once. Just want it outright? The answer is SMARMY.

What does SMARMY mean?

Reading the plain dictionary sense of SMARMY is often the fastest way to see why it answers this clue.

When else has “Small male soldiers unpleasantly polite” appeared?

The Times Quick Cryptic reuses clues across dates, sometimes with a different answer depending on the grid. Here's where this exact clue has shown up, and what the answer was each time — handy when you're checking whether today's fill is the only one.

September 8, 2026 (most recent) → SMARMY. We haven't indexed another appearance of this exact clue yet.

Frequently asked questions