Posted on behalf of Mitz
The Guardian year in crosswords 2025
Never knowingly undersolved
Puzzle from the Weekend FT of January 3, 2026
This month’s geographically themed puzzle is brought to us by Gaff. Find it to solve online or download and print at ft.com/crossword
A very quick search suggests that Dice has previously only compiled Quick Cryptics for the Guardian (which are also blogged on Fifteensquared). So a welcome to her in the Quiptic slot.
Filbert on top form today
I’m writing this here with no fear that passers-by will get information that detracts from their enjoyment of the puzzle, because it is all quite open: nothing has to be discovered (except perhaps the hint from the first clue). Gemelo has quite brilliantly used the first letters in the words of a well-known poem (until there are no more clues) to restrict the words in the clues and he has achieved this with the minimum of strain, although it must have been incredibly difficult. In fact I solved it all before bothering to look at the preamble. It wouldn’t have helped me in my solving. No doubt because of the restrictions I found this rather harder than Gemelo’s usual.
Why Gemelo makes it so difficult for himself I’m not sure. I eagerly await the day when he produces a puzzle like one of Azed’s excellent Specials, where the solver has to discover something. He seems quite capable of doing so.
A pleasantly accessible crossword from Everyman this week. There is nothing so far as I can see that is controversial.
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Indicators (homophone, hidden, containment, anagram, juxtaposition, etc) in italics. Anagrams indicated *(like this) or (like this)*. Link-words in green.
Pangakupu provides December’s Genius
As 2026 begins Eccles supplies the first Saturday savoury of the year.
This week’s 11 x 11 crossword from the Guardian intended to teach cryptic crosswords, found here
And so this is Christmas, and what have you solved?…another year over, a new Cyclops Xmas jumbo special just begun…
I was slightly nervous that I might be getting the Grauniad Christmas Special by Maskarade as the Prize puzzle to blog, but it seems the new normal is to have a ‘regular’ Prize puzzle and the Maskarade as a ‘bonus’ on the side…
Demoniacal is back. We were last required to eat “nothing but peas” in 4756 on the play Woyzeck. What fate lies in store for us this time?
Phi’s first Independent puzzle of 2026 appears on his usual publication day of Friday, so all’s well with the world.
The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/29893.
A fun challenge from GUY!