Guardian Genius

The preamble to Genius 166 by Picaroon states that: “Two across solutions taken together indicate something missing from all the other 14 across clues, either as the definition or as part of their … Read more >>

Vlad set a challenging but very enjoyable Genius puzzle this month.       The preamble told us that eight solutions (four being of two words) comprise 6 across 29, which is clued … Read more >>

I’m sure the idea of replacing an answer with its ‘pair’ has been done in the Genius series before, but it gives plenty of scope to the setter. Some of the pairings here … Read more >>

The preamble states: The puzzle is a tribute to two people whose names appear in the completed grid. (There is a numerical link between them.) X and two of his products are in a … Read more >>

Well, the instructions told us that “The solution indicated by the wordplay in each of the 26 clues is lacking a required letter. Each letter of the alphabet is missing from a particular … Read more >>

What flight of fancy will Puck – the mischievous, fun-loving sprite from ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ –  take us on with Genius 160?… Well thankfully, for your correspondent at least, this was a … Read more >>

Jack provides the puzzle for my biannual Genius blog     We were told that ten solutions contain a slice of 2, not included in the wordplay of their clues. The first clue … Read more >>

As seems to happen with monotonous regularity with the Genius, the first challenge was to get hold a usable copy of the puzzle. First the “printable version” link led to a blank grid … Read more >>

The Instructions: Eleven clues are identically deficient in their cryptic component, reflecting the passing of the solution to one of them. We seem to have another gremlin in this month’s Genius. We printed … Read more >>

6 months comes around quickly, and it’s my turn on the Genius slot once more. I thought this was a great puzzle. The device was fairly straightforward, but the standard of clueing, misdirection, … Read more >>

The preamble to Genius 154 tells us: “Solutions to the clues are to be entered in one of two ways to be determined by the solver, which are confirmed by a message that … Read more >>

It’s time for my biannual Guardian Genius blog and this time Vlad is the setter       The preamble stated "Fourteen solutions are derived from seven common word pairs, each having a … Read more >>

It’s always a bit worrying for a blogger to see Enigmatist’s name on a puzzle, especially a Genius, but here I was lucky to spot the theme almost immediately, when I tentatively solved … Read more >>