Enigmatist presents us with a fitting challenge to complete the celebrations for The Guardian’s 30000th cryptic crossword.
This puzzle is the culmination of the Guardian’s celebration of its 30,000th crossword. That actual puzzle was published just over 3 weeks ago on 7th May. That puzzle can still be found on the Guardian website HERE
The blog for that puzzle can be found on this site HERE
There is a message in the grid of that puzzle where the top and bottom across entries spell out PERIMETER TODAY QUICK CROSSWORD. The Quick crossword that day had a Nina (hidden message) around the perimeter that turned out to be a bonus clue:
LEADER I TAILORED BADLY — an anagram of (… BADLY) I TAILORED leading to — EDITORIAL
The next step was to read that day’s EDITORIAL (the one about crosswords) looking for an ACROSTIC (one of the answers in cryptic puzzle 30000).
Taking the first letter of every paragraph of the editorial we find they spell ‘LAST THIRTY-FIVE PRIMES‘
The editorial itself can be found HERE
At comment 20 on the blog for Guardian 30000 we find that solver Askival has done some excellent research and has listed the letters in the bottom rows of all the thirty-five cryptic puzzles with puzzle numbers that are prime, and less than 30000, going all the way back to puzzle 29581 on 2nd January 2025, as shown below.
29581 WELL DONE
29587 BRAVO
29599 HERE
29611 IN CONCLUSION
29629 IS OUR F
29633 INAL CH
29641 ALLENG
29663 E ARE YOU
29669 KEEPING UP GREAT
29671 THERE WI
29683 LL BE A WON
29717 DERF
29723 UL PRIZ
29741 E BUT FIR
29753 ST YOU M
29759 UST ENT
29761 ER A RAC
29789 E NOT A N
29803 ACTUAL ATHLETIC
29819 RACE OF C
29833 OURSE TH
29837 AT WOULD
29851 BE WEIRD
29863 NOT THAT
29867 IT’S A CER
29873 EBRAL RA
29879 CE IN THE
29881 FORM OF A
29917 CROSSWORD PUZZLE
29921 IT’S A GEN
29927 IUS PUBL
29947 ISHED AT
29959 NOON BST
29983 TOMORROW
29989 GODSPEED
This can be transcribed to a more readable form as :
Well Done ! Bravo! Here is our final challenge. Are you keeping up? Great! There will be a wonderful prize, but first you must enter a race. Not an actual athletic race of course. That would be weird. Not that. It’s a cerebral race in the form of a crossword puzzle published at noon tomorrow. God speed!
I am somwhat in awe of the speed in which the message from the thirty-five puzzles was detected by Askival.
Finally, here we are at the blog of the extra puzzle published at midday on 8th May.
The puzzle was labelled as one in the Guardian Genius series, which implied it was likely to be harder than a normal daily cryptic. Genius puzzles also tend to have some kind of clueing or grid device to add to the difficulty (and the challenge and the fun).
The blank Genius puzzle can be found HERE
Like many Genius puzzles, there was a preamble that told us “Reading down clues to answers which (to varying extents) exemplify the theme may provide two further members of
the group; others will help resolve any difficulties which solvers might experience”
There were two indications of the likely difficulty of the puzzle when I noticed the setter was Enigmatist and there were no indications of answer lengths.
Starting to solve the puzzle I could see that a few answers were too long for the number of cells available in the grid. – e.g. DISNEY and EINSTEIN. It is sometimes the case with Genius puzzles that solvers have to enter more than one letter in a single cell, so my initial thought was that would be the case with this puzzle. Fairly soon though, it became clear that a few answers would only intersect properly if their first or last letters were placed OUTSIDE the grid.
It was also noticeable that there were many names as the solutions to clues, but I didn’t understand why at this stage.
Eventually, I had a complete grid as shown below:
The graphic shows four six-letter words outside the grid – RECKON, REASON, IDEATE and DEDUCE. All of these words can be associated with ‘think’ or ‘thinking’ and taken together could be regarded as THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX.
Eventually, I realised why this bonus puzzle was placed in the Guardian Genius series as many of the named entries could be considered as Geniuses in their fields.
Turning to the final part of the puzzle, using the preamble, I studied the clues that led to Geniuses. It is a fairly common device in Genius or other blocked puzzles such as the Inquisitor, Enigmatic Variations and The Listener, for the first letters of clues to form a message. Looking at the clues for the obvious Geniuses, I could see the possibility of BEETHOVEN appearing from the first letters. This led me to the second tier of Geniuses who helped complete BEETHOVEN, and subsequently to the identification of ARAUCARIA (a legendary Guardian crossword setter who certainly falls in the Genius category in the eyes of crossword solvers).
Looking at the remaining clues, we see that their first letters spell out IT IS WHAT GENIUSES DO This, of course, links back to the four words grouped above who THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX
The derivation of the two extra Geniuses and the second message is shown in the table below.
| Clue | Answer | Geniuses | Message |
| Across | |||
| 1 Involved in desperate act, spotted item that’s rolled behind gateway [hyphenated] | I | ||
| 5 Tumultuous disturbances helping to make you pro-Arsenal | T | ||
| 9 ‘B’ for boycotting batty boyfriends who brought Bambi to life? | DISNEY | B | |
| 10 Integral to Geneva, rigorous sporting arbiter | I | ||
| 11 Exponent of the illusory key that interrupts woman | ESCHER | E | |
| 12 Eminent scientist, losing no time, first to express e, m & c another way | EINSTEIN | E | |
| 14 Sharer of restricted accommodation picked up stock infusion | S | ||
| 16 Wishaw’s appropriate minor edit vetoes Guardian employees | W | ||
| 17 Hurriedly read about ambassador wanting a master diplomatic initiative | H | ||
| 18 A woman with party to arrange at opening | A | ||
| 19 The usual twisted cases to prosecute | T | ||
| 21 Academic institutions old girl designed for everyone? | A | ||
| 22 ‘Laid back’ street fight following mass driving checks [2 words] | L | ||
| 24 Three-time champion of Australia | ALI | T | |
| 25 Last of operatic plays adapted Old Style ballads | L | ||
| 27 Huge influence on culture, long time coming in Fat Duck | LEONARDO | H | |
| 28 One’s forged papers being withdrawn stops the Lightbulb Man | EDISON | O | |
| 30 Genius’s art’s forgotten Warnie’s curse | G | ||
| 31 Viewer’s question upon departure of Harvard’s top geneticist | WATSON | V | |
| 33 Eccentric asks university lecturer to carry a contorted shrub | E | ||
| 34 No mean feat, perhaps, novel from T.S. Eliot? | N | ||
| Down | |||
| 1 I come to a conclusion about murder on Mount Olympus? | I | ||
| 2 Upset, Orlando disposes of old horse | U | ||
| 3 European racer, in former days, appreciated event’s cycling king [2 words] | EDDY MERCKX | E | |
| 4 Novelist and poet who also did drama, seven-act plays with a touch of romance | CERVANTES | N | |
| 5 Audibly signal someone to support man at scene of shooting | KUBRICK | A | |
| 6 River runs quite a distance south of Ohio | ORWELL | R | |
| 7 Someone at the DEA smuggled over cocaine | S | ||
| 8 Earls in the Brompton area become more pleasant | E | ||
| 13 Above-board individual resorts put up | SPASSKY | A | |
| 15 Units that get me Los Angeles statesman | MANDELA | U | |
| 18 Chap’s barred from the Swan at Stow – mad Scottish scientist [hyphenated] | WATSON-WATT | C | |
| 20 Aintree’s last race: cross line ahead of Absent Critic [2 words] | EMILE ZOLA | A | |
| 21 Star on the rise keeps clapping birds | S | ||
| 23 Dull and dreary working outside | D | ||
| 24 Ratty’s pal remains primarily a benefactor of Oxford | ASHMOLE | R | |
| 26 Overturned stage, trapping Nebraska sailor | O | ||
| 29 Is carrying someone’s spirit up Munro | SAKI | I | |
| 32 Against a teenager adopting a sugar daddy | TATE | A |
This Genius puzzle was a tour-de-force and must have taken a while to set given the many constraints that had to be managed. It formed a splendid finale to the celebration of the Guardian’s 30000th puzzle which had clearly been in development since before 2nd January 2025 when the first letters of the message spread over thirty-five puzzles were made available.
You can argue among yourselves about the merit of all the individuals being designated Geniuses for the purposes of the puzzle, but I think they all have a significant claim to fame. In the detailed wordplay table below , I have explained some of the talents of the key individuals.
As is the case, with all Enigmatist puzzles, there is often a need to think laterally or even THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX to solve his clues. It took me a long time to suss out the parsing for EDDY MERCKX but I hope I have got it right.
I am also unsure of the wordplay for EINSTEIN, but again I think I have it almost right.
This has been a fairly complex blog to write, so almost certainly there will be the odd typo or other error remaining. Please accept my apologies if you spot one.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | Involved in desperate act, spotted item that’s rolled behind gateway [hyphenated]
DO OR DIE (to make a final desperate attempt to do or achieve something, no matter what the cost or consequences; [be] involved in a desperate act) DOOR (gateway) + DIE (a spotted item that’s rolled in many games) DO OR DIE |
| 5 | Tumultuous disturbances helping to make you pro-Arsenal
UPROARS (loud outcries or clamours; tumultuous disturbances) UPROARS (hidden word in [helping to make] yoU PRO ARSenal) UPROARS |
| 9 | ‘B’ for boycotting batty boyfriends who brought Bambi to life?
DISNEY (reference Walt DISNEY [1901 – 1966], American pioneer of animation. Walt Disney Productions created the Bambi animated film in 1942) Anagram of (batty) boYfrIENDS excluding (boycotting) B FOR DISNEY* |
| 10 | Integral to Geneva, rigorous sporting arbiter
VAR (Video Assistant Referee, an arbiter of some sporting decisions, predominantly football, where the term VAR is used. Video technology is used more successfully in other sports to help make the right decisions) VAR (hidden word in [integral to] GeneVA Rigorous) VAR |
| 11 | Exponent of the illusory key that interrupts woman
ESCHER (reference M C ESCHER [1898 – 1972], Dutch graphic artist whose work features mathematical objects and operations, including impossible objects, explorations of infinity, reflection, symmetry, perspective, truncated and stellated polyhedra, hyperbolic geometry and tessellations. He was an exponent of the illusory) ESC (the ESCape key on a computer keyboard is often used to interrupt a process) + HER (woman) ESC HER |
| 12 | Eminent scientist, losing no time, first to express e, m & c another way
EINSTEIN (reference Albert EINSTEIN [1879 – 1955], German-born theoretical physicist who formulated the equation e = mc2. EINSTEIN was a Nobel prize winner for Physics in 1921) I am not sure of the wordplay here. I can see that EMINENT SCIENTIST is an anagram of EINSTEIN and NT (no time, the end of a game? – I can’t find an abbreviation of that form) and IST (1st, first ?) and E, M and C. We could therefore take an anagram of (another way) of EmINENT ScIentist excluding (losing) NT, IST and E, M and C EINSTEIN* |
| 14 | Sharer of restricted accommodation picked up stock infusion
CELLMATE (someone with whom a prisoner shares a restricted space) CELL (sounds like [picked up] SELL [stock [keep for sale]) + MATE (an infusion of leaves and green shoots – see Chambers mate3) CELL MATE |
| 16 | Wishaw’s appropriate minor edit vetoes Guardian employees
TAK (Scottish word [Wishaw is a town in North Lanarkshire] for take [steal; appropriate]) TweAK (minor adjustment) excluding (vetoes) WE (employees of the Guardian newspaper where this puzzle is published) TAK |
| 17 | Hurriedly read about ambassador wanting a master diplomatic initiative
DÊMARCHE (a step, measure or initiative, especially a diplomatic one) CRAmMED (learnt or read hurriedly, for an examination, for instance) excluding (wanting) one of the (a) Ms (master) reversed (about) + HE (His / Her Excellency, a form of address for an ambassador) DEMARC< HE |
| 18 | A woman with party to arrange at opening
WINONA (a woman’s name) W (with ) + IN ON (aware of; party to) + A (first letter of [at opening] Arrange) W IN ON A |
| 19 | The usual twisted cases to prosecute
SUE (prosecute) SUE reversed [twisted] hidden word in [cases] thE USual) SUE< |
| 21 | Academic institutions old girl designed for everyone?
UNISEX (designed for everyone) UNIS (universities; unis) + EX (previous [old] girlfriend or partner) UNIS EX |
| 22 | ‘Laid back’ street fight following mass driving checks [2 words]
MOT TESTS (mandatory vehicle examinations once a vehicle has exceeded a certain age. For most vehicles in the UK this is three years, but there are some exemptions) M (mass) + (ST [street] + SET TO [fight]) reversed (laid back) M (OT TES TS<) |
| 24 | Three-time champion of Australia
ALI (reference Muhammad ALI [1942 -2016], American boxer who was Heavyweight Champion of the World on three separate occasions) ALI (hidden word in [of] austrALIa) ALI |
| 25 | Last of operatic plays adapted Old Style ballads
CALYPSOS (West Indian ballads dealing with topical events) C (final letter of [last of] operatiC) + an anagram of (adapted) PLAYS + OS (Old Style) C ALYPS* OS |
| 27 | Huge influence on culture, long time coming in Fat Duck
LEONARDO (reference LEONARDO Da Vinci [1452 – 1519], Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. A man who was a huge influence on culture) EON (a long period of time) contained in (coming in) (LARD [fat] + O [a character representing zero, the ‘duck’ core in cricket]) L (EON) ARD O |
| 28 | One’s forged papers being withdrawn stops the Lightbulb Man
EDISON (reference Thomas EDISON [1847 – 1931], American inventor and businessman credited with the invention of the lightbulb) ID (identity papers) reversed [being withdrawn) contained in (stops) an anagram of (forged) ONE’S E (DI<) SON* |
| 30 | Genius’s art’s forgotten Warnie’s curse
MOZ (Australian [Shane Warne was an Australian cricketer] word for ‘curse’) MOZart (Wofgang Amadeus Mozart [1756 – 1791], Austrian composer, is considered by many to be a musical genius) excluding (forgotten) ART MOZ |
| 31 | Viewer’s question upon departure of Harvard’s top geneticist
WATSON (reference James D WATSON [1928 – 2025], American geneticist who co-authored a 1953 paper with Francis Crick [1916 – 2004], English molecular biologist proposing the double helix structure of the DNA molecule. A lot of the detailed work was undertaken by Rosalind Franklin [1920 – 1958], English chemist, but her role was not recognised in the award of the Nobel Prize to WATSON and Crick in 1962) WhATS ON? (a question often asked by someone wanting to watch television or go to the cinema [viewer]) excluding (upon departure of) H (first letter of [top] Harvard) WATS ON |
| 33 | Eccentric asks university lecturer to carry a contorted shrub
SAKSAUL (alternative spelling of saxaul [a low, thick, grotesquely contorted tree]; contorted shrub) (Anagram of (eccentric) ASKS + U [university} + L [lecturer]) containing (to carry) A SAKS*(A) U L |
| 34 | No mean feat, perhaps, novel from T.S. Eliot?
LITOTES (understatement; especially affirmation by negation of the contrary e.g. ‘no mean feat’) Anagram of (novel from) T S ELIOT LITOTES* |
| Down | |
| 1 | I come to a conclusion about murder on Mount Olympus?
DEICIDE (the killing or killer of a god. Greek Gods lived on Mount Olympus, so a murder there could be described as DEICIDE) DECIDE (come to a conclusion) containing (about) I DE (I) CIDE |
| 2 | Upset, Orlando disposes of old horse
ROAN (horse coloured bay or dark with spots of grey, white and a mixed colour with a decided shade of red) Anagram of (upset) ORlANdo excluding (disposes of) OLD ROAN* |
| 3 | European racer, in former days, appreciated event’s cycling king [2 words]
EDDY MERCKX (reference EDDY MERCKX [born 1945], a Belgian [European] former professional road and track cyclist racer who is the most successful rider in the history of competitive cycling) (D [day] + D [day] giving days + YMERC [letters formed by cycling MERCY {a good thing regarded as derived from God; an appreciated event} one letter to the right with the original last letter Y going to the front] + K [king]) all contained in [in] EX– [former]) E (D D YMERC K) X |
| 4 | Novelist and poet who also did drama, seven-act plays with a touch of romance
CERVANTES (reference Miguel de CERVANTES [1547 – 1616] Saavedra was a Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world’s pre-eminent novelists. He is best known for his two-part novel Don Quixote, a work considered to be the first modern novel; novelist and poet who also did drama) Anagram of (plays) SEVEN-ACT and R (first letter of [touch of] Romance) CERVANTES* |
| 5 | Audibly signal someone to support man at scene of shooting
KUBRICK (reference Stanley KUBRICK [1928 – 1990], American filmmaker regarded as one of the greatest and influential of all time) KUBRICK (sounds like [audibly] CUE [signal] BRICK [a slab; a support]) KU BRICK |
| 6 | River runs quite a distance south of Ohio
ORWELL (name of a British river in the county of Suffolk) O (abbreviation for the American State of Ohio) + R (runs) + WELL (quite a distance) -as this is a down entry, the letters R and WELL are entered below (South of) the letter O O R WELL |
| 7 | Someone at the DEA smuggled over cocaine
NARC (a NARCotics agent at the American Drug Enforcement Administration [DEA]) RAN (smuggled) reversed (over) + C (cocaine) NAR< C |
| 8 | Earls in the Brompton area become more pleasant
SWEETEN (become more pleasant) (E [earl] + E [ear] giving earls) contained in (in) SW TEN (SW 10 [TEN] is a postcode in the Brompton area of London) SW (E E) TEN |
| 13 | Above-board individual resorts put up
SPASSKY (reference Bortis SPASSKY [1937 – 2025], Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster {[an individual who plays the pieces on [above] the chess board]) SPAS (mineral spring or resort where such a spring is found) + SKY (hit or throw high up into the air; put up) SPAS SKY |
| 15 | Units that get me Los Angeles statesman
MANDELA (reference Nelson MANDELA [1918 – 2013], South African President and statesman. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993) M AND E (the letters [units] that together form [get] ME) + LA (Los Angeles) M AND E LA |
| 18 | Chap’s barred from the Swan at Stow – mad Scottish scientist [hyphenated]
WATSON-WATT (reference Robert WATSON-WATT [1892 – 1973], Scottish radio engineer and pioneer of radio direction finding and radar) Anagram of (mad) The sWAN AT STOW excluding (barred from) HE’S (chap’s) WATSON-WATT* |
| 20 | Aintree’s last race: cross line ahead of Absent Critic [2 words]
EMILE ZOLA (reference EMILE ZOLA [1840 – 1902], French author and critic) E (final letter of [last] aintreE) + MILE (distance of a race) + ZO (hybrid; cross between the male yak and the common cow) + L (line) + A (absent) E MILE ZO L A |
| 21 | Star on the rise keeps clapping birds
NHANDUS (rheas or South |merican ostriches; birds) SUN (star) reversed (on the rise; down entry) containing (keeps) HAND (applause) N (HAND) US< |
| 23 | Dull and dreary working outside
TEDIOUS (dull and dreary) Anagram of (working) OUTSIDE TEDIOUS* |
| 24 | Ratty’s pal remains primarily a benefactor of Oxford
ASHMOLE (reference Elias ASHMOLE [1617 – 1692], English antiquary and politician who donated his collection of curiosities and other artefacts to form the basis of the ASHMOLEan museum in Oxford) ASH (remains) + MOLE (friend [pal] of Ratty in The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame [1859 – 1932]) ASH MOLE |
| 26 | Overturned stage, trapping Nebraska sailor
SINBAD (sailor hero of a 1930 Indian silent action-adventure film) DAIS (platform; stage) reversed (overturned) containing (trapping) NB (abbreviation for the American State of Nebraska) SI (NB) AD< |
| 29 | Is carrying someone’s spirit up Munro
SAKI (Hector Hugh Munro [1870 – 1916], popularly known by his pen name SAKI was considered to eb the master of the short story) (IS containing [carrying] KA [the spirit or soul with a person; someone’s spirit]) all reversed (up; down entry) (S (AK) I)< |
| 32 | Against a teenager adopting a sugar daddy
TATE (reference Henry TATE [1819 – 1899], British sugar merchant and philanthropist, known for establishing the TATE Gallery and Henry TATE and Sons, which later became TATE & Lyle; ‘sugar daddy’) TATE (hidden word in (adopting) againsT A TEenager) TATE |
Wow, what a workout. First time attempting a Genius and I was able to complete it, albeit with lots of help from the three Ds: DuckDuck and Dictionary. Nonetheless, feeling very pleased with myself. Very slow going at first, until I realized the outer entries had an extra letter. Then it fell slowly but steadily. Took a little over a week. Also got the outer Ninas, the two additional geniuses, and the additional message. With respect to the geniuses in the grid, I think Enigmatist is on safe ground, having qualified the preamble with “(to varying extents)”
Some of the parsing was very tricky, but all parsed except 14a CELLMATE. I parsed 12a EINSTEIN as you did duncanshiell. For NT, could it just be N = no, and T = time?
duncanshiell I think the definition for 3d EDDY MERCKX is “European racer”. “Cycling” and “king” are part of the wordplay, though apt
Not to be greedy, but was there even more hidden here? Did it relate to puzzle 30,000 in some way?
Favourites 9a DISNEY (alliteration), 18a WINONA (“party” = INON), 4d CERVANTES (excellent appropriate surface), 7d NARC (funny), 13d SPASSKY (“Above-board individual”), 23d TEDIOUS (readable surface)
15d MANDELA, I was worried it was going to be MELANIA!
Brilliant puzzle. Enigmatist, I’m in awe — thank you
And thank you duncanshiell for an outstanding blog
Happy 30,000 everyone! 🙂
I live in New Zealand so the puzzle was available at 11pm, but it was Friday so I thought I could sit up a little late to look at it. When I saw the setter was Enigmatist I didn’t expect to be able to solve the puzzle before going to bed. For the first time I tried solving a Genius puzzle on my computer rather than printing it, and I thought I made good progress in the half hour I looked at it before I decided to get ready for bed. I probably shouldn’t have, but I looked at the puzzle a bit more and then I had solved so much of it that I just had to finish and submit my solution before I went to bed at an hour I’m not going to admit to.
I really liked the letters appearing outside the grid and the information gleaned from the first letters of the clues, which helped a bit at the end to decide if the answer was a genius or not. I’m noticed that the letters outside the grid formed words meaning ‘think’, but was embarrassed that I only thought of ‘think outside the box’ after I had submitted my entry.
I knew that NE is the postal abbreviation for Nebraska, so I wondered if there was there was an Irish sailor named Sinéad before finding that NB was formerly used but was changed to avoid confusion with New Brunswick. I think it’s odd to say Sinbad is the hero of a 1930 film since his story is much older. I also thought that 18a was WINONA (or WYNONA) for a while before seeing ‘party to’ could be IN ON.
I agree with Mig@1 that ‘European racer’ is the definition for 3d, but the wordplay could also be seen as an extended definition, and that ‘no’ is supposed to indicate N in 12a, which I think is a common abbreviation even if it doesn’t appear in Chambers.
Thanks, duncanshiell and Enigmatist.
For a long while, I chipped at this puzzle, sometimes one word a day. Then, realising I’m getting nowhere, I allowed myself to use Google, et voilà – all done and parsed as a matter of two days, even ZO and KA. Alas, the (now obvious) theme phrase “think outside the box” didn’t occur to me.
A truly genius puzzle; if I pick top entries, it would be my favourite graphist ESCHER, along with SPASSKY, SAKSAUL, which is a great wood for barbecue (me having spent a while in Kazakhstan) and a very hard-to-parse WINONA.
It turns out that I parsed DEMARCHE incorrectly, or at least Duncan’s parsing is much better: I thought it was (READ + CA + HE + M – A)*. And parsing KUBRICK gave me some trouble, as I first thought it was coo-brick but then I realised that the setter’s intended parsing was (incorrectly pronounced) cue-brick. On EDDY MERCKX, I agree with Mig@1, and I parsed EINSTEIN the same way as the blogger.
Thanks Enigmatist and Duncan!
I also parsed EINSTEIN with eminent scientist ‘losing’ N (no) T (time) IST and ‘to express’ E M C.
Solving WATSON (‘geneticist’) helped me understand the grid device and lack of enumeration.
I found the exterior words useful, getting IDEATE and DEDUCE from the clues helped me pencil in the rest of REASON and RECKON which made the top half of the puzzle a bit easier.
I finished at solving BEETHOVEN and ARAUCARIA but as I knee the corresponding clues by that point didn’t see the other acrostic , very neat.
I am disappointed that all the geniuses are men.
Thanks for the blog.
As above, I wondered about the use of NB for Nebraska in Sinbad, as that has been superseded by NE, which would give Sinead. I asked AI (Gemini 3 Flash) and, hilariously, it suggested that the setter might have meant to say “singer” not “sailor” … which I sharply shot down by pointing out that Enigmatist is as elite as it gets, if he says sailor he means sailor. Gemini grovelled very humbly in response. That said, I would’ve preferred (and saved time) if there had been a “former” indicator. Brilliant puzzle though.
What a brilliant puzzle! I sadly missed the 30,000 connexion and all the extra trail of puzzles, as I only do the daily cryptics on random occasions.
By happenstance, Araucaria emerged from the mist for me well before Beethoven, so the rubric “Reading down clues to answers which (to varying extents) exemplify the theme may provide two further members of the group; others will help resolve any difficulties which solvers might experience”, and the fact that the setter was Enigmatist brought the 4-headed setter Biggles to mind, so I spent a little time searching in vain for Paul and Soup.
A brilliant puzzle – and a clear and painstaking blog, for both of which many thanks. I thought I had completely solved it but I failed to see think outside the box, which is the icing on the cake … not that I’m sure Ali and Eddie Merckx did that. In the last paragraph of the intro, there’s an “all” missing before GENIUSES.
Second time with the genius after I somehow managed to do the previous one this month.
I didn’t find the clues particularly more difficult than Enigmatist’s offerings in the main crossword (so very hard then) but what to do with them proved challenging.
Spotted our esteemed late setter (who I was half expecting) but took an age to spot the second name of Beethoven.
Thanks Duncan and Enigmatist.
I had a much harder time than I needed to–while I figured out that some of the words were missing a letter, I didn’t see that they were all outside the box and I was just keeping a list of the ones I was sure of. Which meant that for a while I thought the hidden message was going to end “Ta, Edie.” (The missing letters from 18 to 32 down in numerical order.)
Also had the Sinead issue with 26d. I’d think there are more sailors in New Brunswick than Nebraska, in any case.
All in all, a tremendous effort, especially given the planning it took to conceal that message in all those old puzzles. Thanks Enigmatist, bridgesong, and the whole crew!
Matt w @9: it’s duncanshiell whom you need to thank, not me. I was too slow to put myself forward to blog this puzzle, but I am down to blog July’s.
As a stand-alone Genius puzzle, this feels a fine example of the genre. I completed the grid, including the words outside the box, but never made the leap to find the various Genius clues and therefore the final messages; many thanks to Enigmatist for the puzzle (though I think Rich@4 has a fair point about the gender imbalance), and to Duncan for all the elucidations.
On the other hand, thinking about this as part of the recognition of the 30.000th Guardian crossword (Duncan helpfully blogs it all above) I feel a bit more ambivalent. The whole thing has obviously required a colossal amount of planning and thought, and those behind it must have had a lot of fun working it out. The “Guardian Crossword” in 2026 has grown to encompass the Quick and the Genius alongside the old Cryptic, and it’s a logical extension to bring them all into the 30,000th celebrations, The end result has been a complicated treasure hunt for those who are prepared to follow the acrostic, find the last 35 prime-numbered crosswords, and then apply themselves to the specialist world of the Genius; a sort of MI6 aptitude test. Nothing wrong with that, but it’s not a trail that many regular solvers will be able to follow, or want to follow, and that seems a bit of a pity. I am happy to salute it for what it is, but my own tastes would have tended more towards whimsy, humour and subversive definitions, and less towards Bletchley Park.
Still, nobody can deny that trouble has been taken to acknowledge the 30,000 landmark, and all concerned should be congratulated for that..
An absolute tour de force. For #30,000 I’m sure many (like me) were delighted simply to see Arachne’s name above the daily crossword. For that to be just the first step in a wonderful treasure hunt was beyond all expectations.
I hugely enjoyed teasing out everything from Enigmatist’s beautiful bonus Genius – or at least I thought I had. I completely missed the extra message from the first letters of the non-genius clues – bravo Duncan!
@Sagittarius – I feel about your comments much as I do when people complain about puzzles with ghost themes that have no impact on solving (or not) the clues. Why does the whole thing, to you, seem like a pity? Those that followed the treasure trail have been massively entertained, far, far above and beyond the usual, as is befitting for such a once-in-32-years landmark. Those who had no inclination to follow all the clues (and I’m sure you are right in thinking that will be the majority) have merely (!) been given a pair of wonderful puzzles, from Arachne on the landmark day itself, and from Enigmatist to cap it all off.
I really enjoyed this puzzle and am pleased to see from this blog that I got all the entered answers correct.
However I only got Araucaria of the “two further members” because the rubric said “reading down clues”, so I, pretty mystified, entered EN and ARAUCARIA for the two further members. I assumed En must be a famous crossword setter that I had never heard of.
And because I never thought to read the initial letters of the across clues I completely missed the “IT IS WHAT GENIUSES DO” thing as well (I just had IUSESDO which again I didn’t know what to do with). I love Genius puzzles but sometimes the lack of clarity in the instructions leaves me frustrated.
I agree with Sagittarius@11 . I know a lot of Guardian readers and many dabble in the crossword . The universal reaction to 30000 was disappointment , a poor grid and nothing special . I told them about all the extras and they just shrugged and shook their heads . I told them to follow it through on this site and they rolled their eyes and looked at me as though I am nuts . People are just not that interested and just wanted a special puzzle on the day and this whole scheme prevented that . Fine for a small minority , a letdown for the rest .
And then we get this Genius theme , 20 men , did nobody notice this and point out that we are no longer in the 1950s ?
I agree that it is a shame that all of the geniuses referenced were men.
Apart from that, my experience is diametrically opposite. Friends and family, cruciverbalists and not – all were bowled over by the effort, intricacy and execution of the whole shebang. I take Mrs Mitz as the no. 1 litmus test in these things. In nearly 40 years I have never succeeded in getting her interested in crosswords. For her to concede that a clue is better than “mmm” when I have snorted my morning coffee across the table at it means it must be an absolute belter. Even she was impressed.
The universal reaction I got , from casual solvers , was MEH as my students would say . People simply wanted a crossword on the day a bit special , inclusive and accessible to all .
In what sense was this crossword celebratory? I was expecting to uncover a message of heartfelt thanks to solvers of the cryptic crossword for their many years of dedication to solving. Instead we get the somewhat dubious message that setting a crossword can be an act of genius on a par with the achievements of Einstein. In order to gladden a tiny minority, all the average Guardian reader got was the return of Arachne and a whole series of earlier crosswords that we find were tainted by the constraint of having to contain parts of a hidden message in the bottom line.
Okay, sorry to be positive, but …
First of all, thanks to duncanshiell. Your blog is terrific – it must have taken you ages!
And then thanks to Enigmatist for this extraordinary puzzle, to Arachne, and to all the other setters who were somehow involved over the past year and a half. And to Askival for such patience!
And how nice that the long and winding road of the 30,000th puzzle should end with ARAUCARIA.
This was the first Genius I ever attempted, and only because it was the end of the breadcrumb trail from 30000 and, despite being a tough go, needing to look up the never-heard-of Eddy Merckx and Watson-Watt, and entering several unparsed, I actually enjoyed myself. I missed the clue acrostics and the hidden meaning of the perimeter words, but agree with Clyde@18 that ending with the still-much-missed Araucaria is a fitting “prize” at the end. I also agree with Mig@1 that the definition for 3D is “European racer”, and my opinion is that 12A is an &lit. Many thanks to duncanshiell for the incredible blog, and to Enigmatist for the many-layered puzzle.
Mitz@12 – the reason I thought it a bit of a pity is exemplified by the fact that this current discussion is taking place between a tiny handful of people, several weeks after puzzle 30,000 actually appeared. I have very willingly paid tribute to the ingenuity of those who planned the whole enterprise, the skill of the compilers who enabled it, and the quality of the different puzzles that we have been given. Most people would be impressed, rightly. But how many thought “Gosh, that sounds an enjoyable thing to try; I’ll have a go”, and how many thought “Life is too short “? Has the ingenuity been spent creating complexity for its own sake, targeted at those who like complexity, and off-putting to the normal human, who might have quite liked to tackle a 1-off special occasion puzzle ? There’s no “right” way to mark a milestone number, and it’s the crossword editor’s prerogative to decide. I am just not sure that the choice made here was in the spirit of the Guardian crossword as it’s been over the decades; pithy, quirky, witty, irreverent, variable, topical, with plenty of clues that will raise a groan, a smile or an argument. However, it’s only a crossword and it really doesn’t matter either way!
Late thanks for going through all the stages of this puzzle, Duncan, I enjoyed Arachne’s 30k puzzle but while appreciating the meta-trail and effort involved, would probably never have bothered following the crumbs all the way so am indebted to Askival and think that his/her pointer was no happy coincidence. I was initially slightly downhearted at finding an Enigmatistic Genius as the ‘end of level boss’ but remembered faring quite well with one previously, so got stuck in and, while I needed plenty of time and some ‘study aids’, managed to fill the extended grid thanks to crossing NARC and ESCHER tipping me off ( with later help from the extramural NINAs). The ‘extras’ proved trickier as I interpreted “down” in the same way as Fran Barton@13 – this gave ARAUCARIA but left a couple of unused Geniuses, so I decided there must be a European Novelist hidden, and looking at other first words of down clues I arrived somewhat easily at either Flaubert (Flau = flow = audibly river + Chap) or Voltaire (Unit + River) – both not very satisfactory – luckily I remembered the instructions to look for a further message, noticed the lower case of “down”, and found BEETHOVEN lurking along with the rest. Thanks to you Duncan, Enigmatist, and all involved along the way, I thought this was a superb celebration of the milestone and contained some lovely clues in its own right.
Blimey. A lot going on here. I had DEDUCE, REASON, RECKON and TAEDIE because I was writing by the clues rather than the answers. Lucky it wasn’t needed.
I don’t normally tackle the Genius puzzles, but the 30000 milestone and the paper trail revealed in it motivated me to try this one. I found it to be an utterly absorbing puzzle and was delighted to finally finish it after a few days of struggling. I never did quite parse TAK, being stuck on out-take as a minor edit and therefore being unable to fathom the rest. I more or less parsed all the others, with a little further headscratching on the wordplay for EINSTEIN.
I didn’t fully appreciate all the hidden messages either, so the blog was extremely helpful for me.
I think this whole exercise was a rather brilliant concept and to me, it shows just what is possible in the realm of cryptic puzzles. Rather reminded me of the famous D-Day codenames crossword incident many moons ago.
Many thanks to all the setters involved and also to duncanshiell for the excellent blog. Bravo, Graun!
I was truly delighted with the trail, the challenge, the effort over such a long time taken to make a puzzler’s delight. It’s good to have accessible entries and also good to have a celebration for folk who love something tough to enjoy for a couple of days. I cleared my afternoon and solved this one in 2.5 hours and was very proud of myself.
I will say though that the all-male genius line-up left a very bitter taste in my mouth. I’m used to that daftness in crypticland but it was sad to encounter at the end of such a fun hunt.
I’ve just spent two or three days on this. I couldn’t parse EINSTEIN but was fairly sure that was the answer. I didn’t get ORWELL (I got stuck because the abbreviation for Ohio is OH. And how does “well” mean “quite a distance”? Is it as in “stand well back”?) and I didn’t get ESCHER till I’d come here for ORWELL (waylaid by “interrupts” as a direction to insert rather than part of a definitional phrase).
I didn’t spot that the extra letters all lay outside the grid, nor their connection with the acrostic in the leftover clues.
I was disappointed to work out that WINONA (and SUE?) evidently weren’t considered geniuses