Never knowingly undersolved
https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/2026/may/08/may-2026-bonus-genius-crossword
Apologies for the slightly later than usual blog, down mainly to the fact that it took me a longer than usual time to solve this Quiptic from Anto. Which might be an indication that its difficulty level is not quite appropriate for the slot. Those on the early steps of their cryptic crossword journey will no doubt be best placed to tell us below.
Being a regular blogger for the Independent on Sunday puzzle means I get to tussle with Filbert often. And it is a tussle: as usual, this took me two goes. But it’s always satisfying to complete because this compiler’s work is invariably marked by impeccable setting and fine surfaces.
A medium-difficulty crossword from Azed. There seemed to me to be lots of answers where the parsing involves an anagram, but now I count them it’s not so excessive (25%).
My guess is that anyone who does these crosswords will have a copy of Chambers to hand and so won’t need everything to be spelled out. In the parsing I have confined myself to explaining when the wordplay is not immediately clear.
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Anagrams indicated *(like this) or (like this)*
Not quite your standard Everyman…
Phi is moved to Saturday this week to make way for Coot’s celebratory puzzle yesterday.
This week’s 11 x 11 crossword from the Guardian intended to teach cryptic crosswords, found here
1 down is topical given that as I type this counting is still going on for the local elections. Lots of talk about swinging and most, like Jenrick, swinging to the right as if they are on an out of control anticlockwise merry-go-round. So many defective, sorry defecting, ex-Cons like him. I’ll say no more here – it’s all too depressing.
Anyway another great crossword from our one-eyed friend. I notice he will soon be starring in Christopher Nolan’s new blockbuster epic: “The Odyssey” trailer
It’s Leonidas, one of my favourite setters, providing our first Bank Holiday Jumbo.
The Guardian Prize crossword this week is set by Fed, who is a fairly regular Guardian setter these days. He has also set for the Independent as Bluth, but I haven’t seen his name there so far this year.
Congratulations to Charybdis on a 20th Listener puzzle, spread over nearly 30 years! Themes over such a period of time reach far and wide. Last time had us looking up The Merchant of Venice. What this time, and indeed What to Send?
Fun challenge from SOLOMON !
We were surprised to discover that we didn’t have a Phi today. We thought there must be a good reason ……..
Last time I blogged an Omnibus puzzle (speculated to be a compilation from multiple setters) I found some of the clues a bit clunky, but this one seems a lot smoother. Thanks to Omnibus.
The puzzle is available to solve online or download here.
Hello everyone. I hope you will forgive this impostor for bringing you the blog for a very special puzzle. When I agreed to cover for scchua I had no idea it would be number 30,000. Once I realised I felt a bit sheepish for taking this in place of one of the regular Guardian bloggers. But as it’s an Arachne I admit I don’t feel too bad!