Guardian Quick Cryptic Special July 2026

This puzzle was published in the puzzle extra booklet on 25 July and could be downloaded from the Guardian Editions app on the day (requires an e-subscription with the Guardian). I haven’t checked if the Guardian Archives app allows access.

This extra puzzle is the 11th Quick Crytic from Dice, including this and another special printed only version. This puzzle has anagrams and hidden words with all the letters in the clues, and charades and deletions where the words and letters need to be found by the solver. And in common with most of Dice’s puzzles, this one comes with a theme to match the supplement theme.

Apologies no grid as it would either be a photo of the print out I filled in or I’d have to build it, and I’m cobbling this together.

The whole point of these crosswords is support and encouragement of new solvers, so special rules for these crosswords apply – see here – those rules include not posting solving times.

This blog was developed in response to suggestions. We hide the answers and the wordplay descriptions (parsing) too. To find the solution click on “Answer” and to find how the word play works, click on “Parsing” which will reveal the hidden information. You can choose to reveal everything using the “Expand All” button. If you have partially revealed the page, refreshing it will clear that, and allow you to expand all. The definition is in bold and underlined, the indicator is in red.

For additional help click here

There is a summary of the tricks used in the first six months here and a Guardian Crossword blog called the ultimate beginner’s guide has tips which may be useful for some solvers.

For abbreviations and clue tips click here

Fifteen Squared uses several abbreviations and jargon tricks, there’s a full list here, of which I’ve used the following in this blog:

underlining the definition in the clue – this is either at the beginning or end of the clue
indicators are in red.
CAPITALS to indicate which bits are part of the answer, e.g. haVE ALtered for the example.
anagram – letters being used shown in brackets (SENATOR)* for the clue below to give TREASON.
anagram minus – letters being used are shown as capitals in brackets, with the unused letter in lower case and square brackets – so fluttering (OWLET[s])* becomes TOWEL.
anagrind – anagram indicator – in the case below it is “arranged”
soundalike – is indicated by “Wilde” – so in the example, Oscar “Wilde”, the playwright and author, is indicating the soundalike WILD.
charades – the description below only gives the example of words being added together, but charades can be more complicated, adding abbreviations or single letters to another word. Examples previously used in this series are: Son ridicules loose overgarments (6) S (son) + MOCKS (ridicules), Get rid of dead pine (5) D(dead) + ITCH (pine) – D ITCH, and early on DR (doctor) + IVE (I have) to give DRIVE.
reversals – the reversal element of a clue is indicated by < – so in the example clue below, VieTNAm <.
CAD or clue as definition– where the whole clue gives the definition, sometimes called an &lit. These are rare.
DBE or definition by example – e.g. where a dog might be clued as a setter – often using a question mark, maybe, possibly or e.g. to show that this is an example rather than a definition.
surface – the meaning from reading the clue – so often cryptic clues use an English that could only be found in a cryptic crossword, but a smooth surface is a clue that has a meaning in English, which can be pointed or misleading.

TODAY’S TRICKS – from the crossword site – because the clues have moved on from the clue descriptions below, I am now adding more to the descriptions hidden above. Clues begin or end with a definition of the answer. The rest is one of these:

Anagram Anagram of answer and hint that there’s an anagram
‘Senator arranged crime (7)’ gives TREASON (crime)
Hidden word(s) Answer hidden in clue’s words
‘Some haVE ALtered meat (4)’ gives VEAL
Charade Combination of synonyms/abbrevs
‘Qualify to get drink for ID (8)’ gives PASSPORT (pass + port)
(see also above as this description misses abbreviations).
Deletions Remove letters from another word for the answeer,
‘Car trip with no parking, bad thing’ = SpIN (car trip) – P (parking) = SIN (bad thing).

	ACROSS	Click on “Answer” to see the solutions
1	Small Scottish river mammal, one on holiday, not going away (10)	Answer STAYCATION
	Parsing charade of S (small – clothing sizes) + TAY (Scottish river) + CAT (mammal) + I (one – Roman numerals) + ON (from the clue).
7	Name of Marilyn‘s routine with line forgotten (5)	Answer NORMA
	Parsing deletion (line forgotten) from NORMA[L] (routine) without L (line forgotten) L for line is used in literature (lines in Shakespeare plays), and the name is referring to Marilyn Monroe’s birth name.
8	Jennie celebrated including relative. (5)	Answer NIECE
	Parsing hidden word(s) (including) in JenNIE CElebrating.
9	Prepared company satisfactory education (6)	Answer COOKED
	Parsing charade of CO (company – as in &Co signs) + OK (satisfactory) + ED (education – as in BEd).
10	Thinly sliced beef in exquisite sandwiches (4)	Answer FINE
	Parsing hidden word(s) (sandwiches) in beeF IN Exquisite – sandwiches is one of the options for a hidden indicator, but also for inclusion.
13	Position furniture set university’s thrown out (4)	Answer SITE
	Parsing deletion (university’s thrown out) of S[U]ITE (furniture set) – U for university turns up in most of their abbreviations.
14	Bag Zoe’s fancy summer shelter (6)	Answer GAZEBO
	Parsing anagram of (BAG ZOE)* with an anagrind of “fancy”.
16	Indiscriminately ogled base for masonry (5)	Answer LODGE
	Parsing anagram of (OGLED)* with an anagrind of “indiscriminately” (which I’m sure is new for this slot. The masonry refers to Freemasonry.
18	International group of students – European – currently employed (2,3)	Answer IN USE
	Parsing charade of I (international) + NUS (group of students – National Union of Students) + E (European).
19	Visitor weirdly uses toe – ugh! (5,5)	Answer HOUSE GUEST
	Parsing anagram of (USES TOE UGH)* with an anagrind of “weirdly”.

	DOWN
1	Succeeded and got rid of the French coastal feature (10)	Answer SANDCASTLE
	Parsing charade of S (succeeded – as in genealogy) + AND (from the clue) + CAST (got rid of – horseshoes) + LE (the French) – and, in case anyone is new to this, “the French” means translate “the” into French.
2	Rap trio flying planes take off from here. (7)	Answer AIRPORT
	Parsing anagram of (RAP TRIO)* with an anagrind of “flying”.
3	Dispatch a letter only partially written for villa (6)	Answer CHALET
	Parsing hidden word(s) (only partally written) in dispatCH A LETter.
4	Note new Tesla, essential for camping. (4)	Answer TENT
	Parsing charade of TE (note – from sol-fa scale) + N (new) + T (Tesla – SI unit in physics). N for new as in New Testament. Te also gets spelled ti.
5	Went by horse to drop off King‘s poem. (3)	Answer ODE
	Parsing deletion (drop off king) from [R]ODE (went by horse) losing R (drop off King – as in Rex in the CRIII of the current monarch’s monogram).
6	Charitable event noble organised (10)	Answer BENEVOLENT
	Parsing anagram of (EVENT NOBLE)* with an anagrind of “organised” – and a nice misleading trick here as we read “charitable event” as one thing, so have to make an effort to split them into both the definition and part of the word play.
11	Inside notice cub emptying drink chiller (3,4)	Answer ICE CUBE
	Parsing hidden word(s) (inside) in notICE CUB Emptying.
12	On fire – not born being idle (6)	Answer LAZING
	Parsing deletion (not born) from [B]LAZING (on fire) without the B (not born) – and B for born comes from genealogy.
15	Marine creatures spurning lake waters (4)	Answer SEAS
	Parsing deletion (spurning lake) from SEA[L]S (marine creatures) without L (spurning lake). L for lake comes from maps.
17	Pair of Hindu ornaments (3)	Answer DUO
	Parsing hidden word(s) (of) in HinDU Ornament.

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