Guardian Round-up 2021

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The following round-up has been provided by Mitz. Many thanks to him.

There were records galore in the Guardian crossword during 2021: 4 debuts (the most in a calendar year in the history of the archive) plus a first-time collaboration, 6 new personal frequency records and another 4 personal records matched, two setters reaching the landmark of 200 puzzles and one (no prizes for guessing who) reaching 900 in the archive, and finally the setters collectively surpassing the count of 7,000 daily puzzles in the archive.

First, here are the setters’ individual totals – 25 were active individually and there were 2 collaborations:

Paul – 44 (up 5)
Picaroon – 26 (up 2 – new record)
Vulcan – 25 (level – joint record)
Nutmeg – 23 (down 1)
Brendan – 21 (up 6 – new record)
Brummie – 18 (down 1)
Vlad – 17 (up 2 – new record)
Qaos – 16 (down 7)
Tramp – 15 (level – joint record)
Pan – 14 (up 3 – new record)
Crucible – 12 (level – joint record)
Imogen – 12 (level)
Philistine – 12 (down 5)
Pasquale – 11 (down 1)
Anto – 8 (up 3 – new record)
Matilda – 7 (up 2 – new record)
Boatman – 6 (down 2)
Puck – 6 (down 6)
Maskarade – 5 (level)
Fed – 4 (debut)
Carpathian – 3 (down 1)
Enigmatist – 2 (level)
Bogus (Arachne, Nutmeg & Puck) – 1 (joint record)
Enigmatist & Soup – 1 (first collaboration)
Harpo – 1 (debut)
Kite – 1 (debut)
Soup – 1 (debut)

There was still no sign of Arachne (save for her contribution to the Bogus puzzle), Orlando or Shed.  I am also aware that the fall in Puck’s output during the second half of the year is due to illness. I wish all of them the very best and hope that we will hear good news from them in 2022.

The landmark puzzles of the year were as follows:

200th puzzle
Brendan – 28,476 – 19th June 2021 – 2nd setter whose debut was since 1999, 9th in all, 6th fastest
Picaroon – 28,614 – 27th November 2021 – 3rd setter whose debut was since 1999, 10th in all, 5th fastest

900th Puzzle in the archive
Paul – 28,558 – 23rd September 2021 – 1st to reach this landmark

7,000th daily puzzle in the archive
Vlad – 28,618 – 3rd December 2021

Debuts

Fed – 28,483 – 28th June 2021
Soup – 28,509 – 28th July 2021
Kite – 28,600 – 11th November 2021
Harpo – 28,642 – 31st December 2021

First collaboration
Enigmatist & Soup – 28,370 – 16th February 2021 – celebrating Araucaria’s 100th birthday

In the coming year 3 more setters are likely to make it to their first century.  Well, I say that – it’s two setters really, with one of them doing it twice.  Imogen will probably get there first as he is on 98 now and should make it in February.  Vulcan (89) will follow in May at his current rate making for a unique 1-2.  Finally, Boatman just needs another 6 to be ready to publish his “Second 50” book, but if his rate from 2021 remains steady he’ll only get there right at the end of the year.  Vlad will need another 18 as he is currently on 82 – this would constitute a new record for him, but this shouldn’t be counted out as this year was the 6th on the trot following debut that has seen him appear more often than the year before.

Paul and Brendan both appeared at least once on each day of the week.  This was the third time doing so for Paul – i.e. every year in which he has contributed an unusual Monday puzzle – and the 4th time for Brendan (who has incidentally just provided the New Year’s Day puzzle for the second time on the trot).

The Saturday puzzles, which late in the year at last became prize puzzles again, were distributed as follows:

Paul – 14; Picaroon – 8; Brendan – 6; Philistine – 5; Tramp – 4; Crucible and Maskarade – 3; Brummie, Vlad and Qaos – 2; Pan and Bogus – 1.

With Orlando and Shed not appearing, the only pre-archive setters who were active were Paul, Pasquale and Enigmatist.

In the all-time top 10, as predicted this time last year Brummie (255) moved ahead of Pasquale (250) into 6th place and at his current rate of frequency will overtake Chifonie (274) to enter the top 5 either late this year or early in 2023.  Picaroon (201) supplanted Orlando (188) to enter the top 10.

In Quipticland there were 8 contributors, and Hectence topped the tree yet again:

Hectence – 11
Anto – 9
Carpathian – 8
Pan – 8
Matilda – 7
Pasquale – 6
Beale – 2
Philistine – 1

Hectence is well in the lead on the all-time Quiptic table with 183, followed by Moley (147), Pan (115), Arachne (101) and Don Putnam (aka Logodaedalus) (83).

Qaos was the only setter to take two of the Genius puzzles, in March and October.  The other Genius setters were Chameleon (January), Karla (February – debut), Puck (April), Picaroon (May), Monk (June), Enigmatist (July), Vlad (August), Kite (September), Pangakupu (November – debut) and Jack (December).

The Genius archive has a lot of holes in the early days, but I can say with certainty that 2021 was the first year since at least 2010 that Paul has not contributed a Genius puzzle, and it is entirely possible that it is the first time he has been absent in the slot since the series started.  In terms of attributable puzzles, the all-time top 5 Genius setters are Paul (19), Enigmatist (15), Puck (14), Picaroon (12) and Qaos (12).

Incidentally, there are only two setters that have set at least one daily puzzle for every day of the week, at least one Quiptic and at least one Genius – they are Arachne and Pasquale.  Nutmeg and Pan would both complete the set with a Genius; perhaps more unlikely would be Paul, Tramp, Qaos, Crucible or Enigmatist doing so if they ever appear in the Quiptic slot!

25 comments on “Guardian Round-up 2021”

  2. +1 to what Alphalpha said.

    I got properly back into crosswords in 2021 after a lapse of several years, so several of these setters were new to me, not just the ones making their debut.

    My new year’s resolution for 2022 is to make some proper attempts at getting into the Genius, which I have only half-heartedly dabbled with so far.

  3. Huge thanks, Mitz: we haven’t seen you commenting here for quite a while, I think – good to see you back. A real tour de force and, I hope, a labour of love. (Harpo’s very-last-minute appearance perhaps put a kitten among the pigeons. 😉 )

    I shall ponder on this – lots to absorb – but, in the meantime, I want to add my own very best wishes to Arachne, Orlando, Puck and Shed – all long-standing and dear favourites of mine

    Huge thanks, too, to all you setters – and more power to your respective elbows!

  4. No Arachne makes me very sad. She’s such a lovely setter. Interesting round-up though, Thanks for the work.

  5. Extraordinary stuff, seeing all the stats laid out like this. Answers quite a few of my own questions that I hadn’t quite got around to asking. Many thanks indeed, Mitz!

  6. …I have to admit, too, to my total ignorance about the existence of the Genius Crossword, apparently on the first Monday of every month. Must look out for the next one…

  7. Ronald @6 – a new one went up yesterday, from Picaroon. Should be a nice easy one – only has 14 clues to tax you! 😉

  9. Thank you Mitz, that is fascinating.

    Sorry to hear why we’ve not seen much of Puck recently – best wishes to him for a speedy recovery.

  10. Tad sad for me as IMO Arachne, Orlando and Shed are three of the very best ever to have set puzzles in The Guardian.

    Ta Mitz.

  11. Thanks for your archiving excellence MItz-any chance of a puzzle from you this year?
    And hopes for a recovery for Mr Goddfellow

  12. Thank you Mitz, very interesting and seeing those numbers leaves me in even greater admiration of those who produce so many consistently entertaining and strong puzzles (plus of course even more that they probably set for other publications, and probably while doing a “day job” too in many cases). I hope for a full recovery for all those incapacitated for whatever reason, but at the same time look forward to more new names appearing in 2022. PS On my relatively brief acquaintance with all 5 setters, i agree that it might be too much for Paul and Enigmatist to confine themselves to the tighter remit but I reckon that the other 3 mentioned could all produce a very good Quiptic with relatively little deviation from their usual practice.

  13. Thanks for the round up, Mitz. Great fun to read your summary.

    An excellent year of setting from our taskmasters. Missed Arachne in particular so thoughts are with those names currently missing from the stats.

  14. Many thanks to Mitz for the summary, to the setters for providing countless hours of fun and torture and indeed the admins and wider 15sq community – I left it late to discover this wonderful pastime but am so glad I eventually did find it.

  15. Thank you Mitz.
    I echo Eileen’s wishes for good health for Arachne, Orlando, Puck and Shed. I imagine that, for each of them, for whatever reason they’re unable to create the quality to their own standards, they would rather not. Or they’ve made a decision which we may not know but would all respect. Hope it’s not more serious than that.

    And special good wishes to Gaufrid, who makes this all possible, and who was not well in the latter part of 2021.

  16. Thanks for compiling all this Mitz: very interesting, and a reminder of how much pleasure our favourite setters give us, so regularly. Thanks to all of them.

    Thanks also to the people who make this site available, to the brilliant bloggers who untangle the bits we have missed and thus prevent a few sleepless nights. Thanks too to the the many posters, some reliable and indefatigable, and some – like me – occasional and often late.

  17. I am not sure why but stats like this please me – perhaps they appeal to my need for a tidy mind. Thanks for doing the compilation, Mitz – it makes for interesting reading. And just to echo the gratitude ohters have expressed above: to Gaufrid, the setters, the bloggers and contributors to this forum. Also sending best wishes to those members of our cryptic community who are unwell or taking a break from setting or commenting for other reasons.

  18. Just another voice of gratitude here. I don’t often comment, but I appreciate the extreme hard work setting a really good puzzle is (and how thick-skinned the setters often must feel they have to be when someone writes on the Guardian blog something like: “Didn’t think this was up to much” or some such nonsense). I have to say I enjoy this every single day, and I never miss one (even if it is a day or two late attempted). In truth, I never spot a theme (I grew up with The Times, and there was never one, but then again in the old days they often had a clue which was not cryptic, but just a quote from an old poem or play one was supposed to know as part of one’s GK), and I really don’t care about themes, frankly – the excellent cluing almost always leads to the answer anyway, as it should. But 225 is the final godsend – there are just occasionally clues which one cannot get one’s head around to parse, so the relief of coming here for the teatray moment is palpable. Thank you to all – setters, bloggers, commenters all. Happy 2022.

  19. I thought it might be fun to go back to the beginning of the Genius archive and start working through the puzzles that I had missed. The very early puzzles resemble what today might be published as a Prize puzzle–not nearly so complicated as recent Genius offerings. The Guardian site has Genius puzzles going back to No 1, but solutions going back only a few years. I think Fifteensquared has solutions going back only to No 44 or something like that. Does anyone know where to find the solutions to the earliest puzzles (besides rummaging through back issues of the Guardian in a library, I guess)? I would like to know whether I have solved these old puzzles correctly, or find out what the correct solution was supposed to be when I get stuck. Is there some resource that I am missing? Thanks.

  20. Thanks to everyone for their comments. Keeping these records is a labour of love, so it is gratifying to hear that I’m not the only one who is interested!

    If anyone would like a copy of the spreadsheeet from which all of the data comes – it also contains links to every single puzzle that is available in the Guardian archive – feel free to drop me a line: MitzCrosswords at gmail dot com

  21. I’m so pleased to have looked at this site today and for the Guardian answers for being late. It meant I looked at this instead. I had no idea stats of this kind were being kept. It satisfies some deep psychological part of my soul!
    As a very, very occasional drop in to The G crossword over 50+ years, more so now retired, I am fascinated by this history and give my thanks not only to the “stato” and also to those who unscramble the clues for people like me who need help.

  22. Must admit, I only read this because waiting for the blog for today’s cryptic. Fascinating to read this summary, even though stats do not excite me. Thank you for the labour of love, Mitz. The round-up brings home to me how very fortunate we are to have such fantastic wit, entertainment and mental exercise provided free (for those who do not subscribe) and what a very high standard is set by the Guardian setters. I am in awe of their brilliance. I have also only just learned that the Saturday Prize really is a prize draw again – I never spotted that even though I never miss doing it. I can also see very clearly now how prolific some setters are and we owe all of them (and their bloggers) a deep debt of gratitude.

  23. I couldn’t agree more with all the accolades from earlier commenters and echo them with heartfelt thanks to all. I only joined this club in recent years and so enjoy not just the puzzles in their infinite variety, but also the “splother”. It has all been a source of amusement, and almost company, during these past two pandemic years. Having left the UK in 1968 I find it quite fascinating to see how common parlance has changed over the years, and how neologisms develop differently on the two sides of the pond.

  24. When I first started Guardian cryptic in the 1960’s, I used to enjoy Custos. Does anyone know what became of him?

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