Never knowingly undersolved
Kite sets the last Genius challenge of 2024.
The preamble says:
Related features are omitted from wordplay in half the clues. Wordplay in other clues indicates an extra letter in each. The additional letters can be arranged to identify the related features.
I believe this is the first Genius to be set by Twin. Indeed, it may be his/her first Guardian puzzle. But I’m informed by the excellent Crossword Forum that Twin won the Ascot Gold Cup in 2020 and 2022 for Listener puzzles (voted so by correct solvers) and has set crosswords as Prime for the Telegraph Toughie and as Agenor in the TLS. And the day after I compose this post, November 7th, Twin sets the Independent Cryptic.
Is it Groundhog Month? This time last year I had a Claw October Genius to blog, I went to the Times Champs and met Claw at the pub afterwards, and then met him again at the York get-together… Can you guess what happened this year?!
Soup has set quite a few Guardian Geniuses in recent years and he usually provides challenging and original puzzles.
Pangakupu is quite a regular in the Genius slot, and his last appearance was only 3 months ago. This was a fairly easy-going puzzle as Geniuses go, though I was helped by spotting … Read more >>
There’s an unusual, (possibly unique), theme in this month’s Genius puzzle.
Picaroon sets this month’s Genius challenge.
Pangakupu set this month’s offering and it was a fun, if not too taxing, solve. It can be found here: https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/2024/may/06/genius-crossword-no-251 The instructions read as follows: Two chains of words run from * … Read more >>
“More Soup, vicar?” No sooner had I finished blogging his recent Saturday Grauniad Prize puzzle than I got a second helping, with this Genius…not that I am complaining, I could cope with Soup for starter, main and dessert, if the opportunity arose!
Six months has passed since I last blogged a Guardian Genius, although I do try and solve them every month. This month we have a puzzle from Karla whose history on fifteensquared shows … Read more >>
“Across answers must be entered in a consistent manner, always producing a real word or phrase as the grid entry.” After getting a few downs in the grid it didn’t take me long … Read more >>
Not as difficult as some recent Genius puzzles, but how does The Guardian expect you to comply with the requirements of the preamble?
This is Eccles’ first Genius puzzle. We are very familiar with this setter as he is a regular in the Independent and we always enjoy his puzzles there, so we were very excited … Read more >>
This was a fun solve, with Pangakupu’s obligatory New Zealand contribution appearing in the final version – so obscure that it had to be googled to be believed.