Friday 23rd-Sunday 25th October 2026
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…
Listener No 4934 Yet Another Sudoku by IOA
This is IOA’s tenth Listener Crossword (or crossnumber – it seems that most of them were numerical puzzles).
Guardian 30,109 / Kite
Kite rounds off the weekday puzzles
Independent 12458 / Phi
It’s a normal Friday for Independent solvers with a puzzle from Phi.
Financial Times 18,477 by NEO
A fun challenge with a couple of obscure parses.
Guardian Cryptic crossword No 30,108 by Paul
Thanks Paul – this was an enjoyable struggle, with some tricky parsing to work through afterwards. My favourites were 15ac, 3/24, and 5dn.
Independent 12,457 by Tack
Tack appears a few times a year in the Independent, but hasn’t landed in my blogging rota slot until now. The original puzzle is at https://puzzles.independent.co.uk/games/cryptic-crossword-independent/?puzzleDate=20260910.
Financial Times 18,476 by Slormgorm
A typically fun puzzle from Slormgorm today.
Enigmatic Variations No.1762 – Onlookers by Ifor
“Each clue is actually two clues run together. Either entry may be clued first; punctuation may mislead. Some answers are too short for their slots, and several others require two letters to occupy one cell; all enumerations count cells available. Cells in the latter group must each be divided by a diagonal line in a consistent way, entering one letter in each half such that entries read normally. Using the contents of these cells as a guide, solvers must insert an arrow in each vacant cell so that new words or phrases appropriate to the positions of the ONLOOKERS in the grid are symbolised. The Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended, but does not give the entry at 11 (in Collins and others).”
Financial Times 18,475 by IO
A tricky tribute puzzle.
Independent 12,456 by Nimrod
Oh no! It’s Nimrod on a Wednesday!
Guardian 30,107: Brummie
It’s me again, with my scheduled blog this time. Thanks to Brummie for a typically entertaining puzzle. No theme that I can see, but you never know.
Guardian 30,106: Budmo
The scheduled blogger is unavailable, so here’s a quick rundown. I solved the puzzle first thing this morning: from what I remember it didn’t hold me up for long. Thanks to Budmo.
Independent 12,455 / Coot
Coot has provided our Tuesday teaser today, on what is usually theme day.
Inquisitor 1975: Country Profile by Phi
Inquisitor 1975: Country Profile by Phi Apologies for the lateness of the blog. Our power went out about two minutes after cooking dinner and didn’t come back on until ten minutes after … Read more >>