Better than fair punishment(4 letters)

Below is the answer to the crossword clue “Better than fair punishment”, taken from the Evening Standard's Cryptic crossword on 27th January 2026.

The answer is

F I N E

4 letters · most recently seen on 27th January 2026

Other clues that solve to FINE

The same answer often re-appears with different clues over the years. Tap a clue to open its answer page, or the date to jump straight to that day's puzzle.

#8 across Being posh can make a person poorer (4) 11th August 2026
#22 across In between two notes, it's excellent (4) 4th July 2026
#36 across Excellent way to relieve a miscreant of his money (4) 26th June 2026
#40 across The financial penalty is fair (4) 17th April 2026
#26 down Better than fair punishment (4) 27th January 2026
#34 across Delicate (4) 12th January 2026
#34 across Delicate (4) 6th January 2026
#34 across Delicate (4) 31st December 2025
#1 across Penalty (4) 14th February 2025
#22 across Punishment for being thin? (4) 23rd January 2025
#34 down Penalty (4) 19th November 2024
#8 across Rather than imprisonment, it's great! (4) 28th October 2024
#15 across Monetary penalty (4) 10th June 2024
#15 across Compared to prison, it's splendid! (4) 21st May 2024
#40 across It's not raining? Good! (4) 10th May 2024
#14 across Lovely and thin (4) 20th December 2023
#8 down Better than prison? Jolly good! (4) 19th December 2023
#3 down Being very thin is perfectly OK (4) 22nd November 2023
#34 across Penalty (4) 30th October 2023
#33 down Penalty (4) 11th October 2023
#21 across Nice weather here, cool in America (4) 6th October 2023
#30 down Monetary penalty (4) 4th October 2023
#5 down For top quality, make a person pay (4) 17th July 2023
#26 down Penalty (4) 19th June 2023
#32 down Penalty (4) 14th November 2022
#32 down Monetary penalty (4) 11th April 2022
#22 across Penalty (4) 18th January 2022
#34 down Penalty (4) 18th August 2021
#6 across Thin (4) 15th July 2021
#8 across Being posh can make a person poorer (4) 14th July 2021
#36 across Excellent way to relieve a miscreant of his money (4) 18th June 2021
#22 across In between two notes, it's excellent (4) 18th May 2021
#40 across The financial penalty is fair (4) 9th April 2021
#26 down Better than fair punishment (4) 22nd September 2020
#34 across Delicate (4) 12th June 2020
#12 across Monetary penalty (4) 17th April 2020
#22 across Punishing weather? (4) 24th September 2019
#7 across Penalty (4) 10th June 2019
#40 across It’s not raining? Good! (4) 31st May 2019
#1 across Penalty (4) 12th December 2018

More clues from this puzzle

Other clues from the same Evening Standard Cryptic crossword on 27th January 2026. Tap Reveal to see an answer, or click the clue to open its own page.

#1 across Shot on the way to an assignation (5)
#2 down Make exposures about meat (6)
#3 down Stand around with a redhead on the beach (6)
#4 down Behave testily? (3)
#5 down Part of Twickenham where a try is only a start (5)
#6 across The area where Patrick goes to church (5)
#6 down He could fight a bull or rip a cod to pieces! (7)
#7 down Just a little bit catty? (4)
#8 down Belief in direct action? (6)
#9 across Movement of trains to Acton central (7)
#10 across Each woman has a right to a key part (5)