Never knowingly undersolved
The preamble for Genius 142, when you can work your way through the hotch-potch of ‘temporary’ (?) workarounds the Grauniad have built around this ‘non-standard’ puzzle which has been there for 10-plus years, … Read more >>
The preamble told us that in 11 clues the wordplay produces a letter surplus to the solution. In order, these 11 letters provide a cryptic definition for 10 other solutions, represented in their … Read more >>
The special instructions seemed vaguely familiar, and after a bit of searching I found that the idea of the definition applying to the answer of a different clue was used a couple of … Read more >>
I should never have said that the December Genius was easier than the Christmas special puzzle; this Genius was much harder than December’s.
A message from Joyce: Before you read the preamble, I would like to apologise for my error in scheduling the date for publication. What I forgot to change was the year. I would like … Read more >>
For Genius 136, Puck tells us that “Eight solutions include one or more thematic elements that are absent from their clues. Before submitting your completed entry you must make a single numerical adjustment in … Read more >>
The preamble told us that all solutions are thematic, wholly or in part. All clues contain normal definitions but, with 18 of them, the wordplay ignores the thematic element. I … Read more >>
A Genius puzzle by Enigmatist – words to strike fear in a blogger’s heart. Fortunately this turned out to be one of his slightly more merciful offerings, though in traditional style it started … Read more >>
A tough but satisfying challenge this month from a setter whose name is new to me.
I can usually finish a Genius puzzle in about an hour, 90 minutes at the outside, but this one took nearly a whole morning before the grid was filled, and I had to … Read more >>
We haven’t done the Genius crossword for a while, but this was a very enjoyable one. We found it hard going for the first week or so, but eventually figured out that what … Read more >>
The preamble to Genius 130 states: “Before being entered in the grid, six solutions must undergo 24 down 9, while another six must undergo 26 15. In the process only valid words may … Read more >>
The preamble told us that eleven clues lead to the second part of a thematically related solution, not further defined. However, the letter counts with these clues refer to the first part of … Read more >>
I had heard in advance that Boatman was to be the setter of this Genius, so I was a little apprehensive about it, as I often find even his regular puzzles quite hard. … Read more >>