A new setter for this month’s Genius (Ifay), and a puzzle with a new twist.
Guardian Genius
Guardian Genius 180 / Boatman
Preamble: Each clue or solution involves a word in common. To reach the defined solution to be entered in the grid, in some cases it must be added to the wordplay; in others … Read more >>
Genius 179 / Crucible
I found this one to be very much towards the easier end of the Genius spectrum (probably welcome to some after last month’s Enigmatist), perhaps because I started with the down clues and … Read more >>
Guardian Genius 178 by Enigmatist
First thought – oh dear, it’s Enigmatist this month…oh, well, at least I have 4-5 weeks to solve and blog it… A strange looking grid, with two large areas of black squares – … Read more >>
Genius 177 / Picaroon
Picaroon has set the March Guardian Genius puzzle The preamble was short and clear – "Several clues are consistently incomplete" I deduced the theme fairly quickly when I solved 14 … Read more >>
Guardian Genius 176 – Paul
“Six of the 11 clues marked * contain only wordplay, their solutions being 21. The solutions to the other five clues marked * should be entered in the grid 21 (Roman or otherwise), … Read more >>
Genius No 175 Fake News by Arachne
A characteristically devious and topical puzzle for this month’s Genius competition.
Guardian Genius no. 174 / Soup – December 2017
The Instructions: In each clue the wordplay indicates an extra letter, not required for its solution. These extras letters in clue order spell out an instruction as to how a number of solutions … Read more >>
Genius 173 / Enigmatist
I found this very easy (for an Enigmatist!). Having read the instructions, it seemed logical to start with the down clues, which I did, and 1, 2, 3, 7, 11,17 and 28 went … Read more >>
Guardian Genius 172 by Chandler
‘Chandler’ is a new name to me, and not obviously present on this site or the inter-web generally, so either a debutant(e?) or yet another collaboration of existing setters… The preamble states that: … Read more >>
Genius 171 / Qaos
The Genius puzzle this month is set by Qaos There was a fairly short preamble – Nine letter clashes between across and down solutions are to be resolved, using a … Read more >>
Guardian Genius 170 – Puck
Not too much genius needed to solve this one – I found it not much harder than a typical jigsaw puzzle (and a lot easier than Maskarade’s Bank Holiday monster). The fact that … Read more >>
Guardian Genius No 169
Welcome to a new setter, Jack, with a well-crafted puzzle.
Guardian Genius 168 / Boatman
Well – this was a proper genius puzzle!! A mind-boggling set of instructions that not only had us wondering how and where to start, but once we were getting into the puzzle, how … Read more >>
Guardian Genius 167 – Paul
A relatively easy Genius, or so I found, with plenty of simple entry clues peppered around the grid to enable a foothold to be gained. Given that 10ac was unclued, and a key … Read more >>