Hands up all those who thought Stick Insect was going to get us to do a bit of ‘simple’ Left to Right (L-to-R) manipulation of letters to create something thematic in the grid?!…
mc_rapper67
Guardian Saturday Prize Crossword 30,152 by Brockwell (31 October 2026)
25A looks to be the key to this Brockwell Prize Puzzle, with several cross-references to it amongst the other clues…
Guardian Genius 280 by Enigmatist
I approached this like a golfer about to tee off over a pond…’Don’t think about the water!‘, ‘Ignore the water!‘, ‘Just hit the ball like a normal tee shot!‘…’Don’t think about the fact that it is an Enigmatist!‘, ‘Ignore the name Enigmatist at the top!‘, ‘Just solve it like a normal jigsaw!‘…
S&B 2026 – A puzzle by tpg
tpg (Anthony Barra) has kindly provided a puzzle for the York gathering…if you want to solve the puzzle before reading the blog, it can be found here.
Enigmatic Variations No. 1767: Great Leaders by Vismut
There have been many GREAT LEADERS in history…and some not-so-great ones at present… Who could Vismut be referring to in this puzzle?
Guardian Saturday Prize Crossword 30,110 by Pangakupu (12 September 2026)
I’m standing in for Bridgesong this week, as he takes some well-earned R&R – and after last week’s exertions with Enigmatist, we have a Pangakupu (which is, fittingly*, Maori for ‘word puzzle’…)
Enigmatic Variations No. 1763: Magic Square by Kcit
A ‘MAGIC SQUARE’ from Kcit this week – maybe blurring the boundaries between word puzzles and number puzzles, and a bit of a jigsaw puzzle as well!
Guardian Saturday Prize Crossword 30,104 by Enigmatist (5 September 2026)
Another epic journey through the devious mind of the Enigmatist in Saturday Prize mode – with some brain-stretching definitions, imaginative surface reads, tricksy word-play and (for your blogger) one un-parseable clue at 14A…
Spectator 2764: Placenames by Doc
A fairly well telegraphed theme, or so it seemed, from Doc this week, with the puzzle title and reference to a ‘section in Chambers‘…
Enigmatic Variations No. 1759: Chorus Line by Gaston
Gaston has a CHORUS LINE for us this week – but will be all be singing from the same hymn-sheet?…
Guardian Saturday Prize Crossword 30,080 by Vlad (8 August 2026)
After a tough workout with an Enigmatist last time out, a relatively gentle impaling by Vlad…
Spectator 2760: Metalwork by Madrigal
Another circular Spectator puzzle – fairly rare I believe, so interesting to see two come along in quite close succession, after Fieldfare’s 2754 with Dante’s circles of Hell…looks like Madrigal is asking us to do some METALWORK this time…