Guardian Genius

Qaos provides the March Genius challenge       The preamble told us that the letters in 16 squares are not allowed for in the wordplay of the clues involved. Taken as a … Read more >>

A new setter, or at least a new pseudonym, for the Genius slot: perhaps a John le Carré fan? The rather strangely-worded instructions tell us that “Fourteen clues contain no definition of their … Read more >>

This is the second Genius puzzle by Chameleon (his first was No 202, back in April last year). The special instructions said: “In six clues their wordplay element contains surplus letters, to be … Read more >>

Well, this was a real Genius puzzle. We knew we were in for a serious challenge this month when we read (or tried to read) the preamble: Tjyuffo tpmvujpot nvtu cf fodjqifsfe cfgpsf … Read more >>

This month we have another of Paul’s whimsical puzzles with which to do battle. Having read the preamble regarding possible book titles and authors, my first step was to highlight the clue numbers … Read more >>

Pasquale has set the September Genius       There was a fairly short preamble that told us: Wordplay in nine of the across clues and all the down clues omits one or … Read more >>

The instruction “the wordplay in each clue leads to a solution where two letters require an elementary substitution before entry in the grid” may have been intended as cryptic , but I guessed … Read more >>

A puzzle by Enigmatist is always a challenge, but this wasn’t as hard as some recent Geniuses. The instructions read as follows: “Thirteen clues consist of wordplay alone and share the same missing … Read more >>

Soup provides this month’s challenge for the old grey matter The preamble reads: Definitions in all clues are normal, but you must count on a knowledge of French and German (as well as … Read more >>

It’s the first Monday in May and up comes a most enjoyable tussle with Vlad. We were told that: Twelve thematic solutions are to be entered in the grid incompletely. Their clues contain … Read more >>

The March Genius is one of the hardest puzzles I have encountered in this series of puzzles.       The changes used to get from defined answers to treated answers were more … Read more >>

Another tough Genius this month, after last month’s relatively gentle puzzle. This puzzle was of a kind that we have seen before in the Genius series, with a number of solutions representing partners … Read more >>