The Guardian summer puzzles supplement 2026: all solutions

Alex Bellos's puzzles

25.
See the solution diagram in the supplement.
Alternate, appropriate, content, delegate, discount, entrance, minute, present, produce, refuse, upset.
22+2+2; 33–3/3; 4+(44×4/(4+4)); 5×5+(5/5); 6×6+(6−66)/6; 7+7+((77+7)/7); 8+8+8+((8+8)/8); 9+9+9−(9/9).
downside/sideshow/showdown, backside/sidesaddle/saddleback, piecemeal/mealtime/timepiece.
42.
Passage A needs a loop longer than the small snake but shorter than the long one; the tube has the same diameter as the snake, so the long snake gets blocked by its own body when doubling back, while the short one passes. Passage B simply needs a hole in the floor that the short snake cannot cross without falling in but the long snake can (assuming non-zero rigidity).
All's well that ends well; There but for the grace of God go I; All the world's a stage; Out of the frying pan and into the fire; Curiosity killed the cat; Neither a borrower nor a lender be; All that glisters is not gold; All roads lead to Rome; Cleanliness is next to godliness; Love is blind.
From the top, reading left to right: 7, 3, 1, 4, 5, 8, 6, 2.

Metapuzzle: The blue-highlighted words throughout the supplement combine to form the opening lyrics to Bob Dylan's 'Like a Rolling Stone'. It was the second song Dylan played when he famously 'went electric' at the Newport Folk Festival on 25 July 1965. An editing error meant the sixth word indicated six letters rather than seven.

Slitherlink and Suguru

Both Slitherlink puzzles (easy and tricky) are solved in the published diagrams. The three Suguru grids also have completed solutions shown.

Thomas Eaton's quiz

Jakarta, Indonesia.
Julie Andrews (1965) and Julie Christie (1966).
Golden apple (apple of discord).
Time.
Blackpool Tower.
Minecraft.
Phil Mickelson (behind Tiger Woods).
The Fall.
Che Guevara.
Direct from a corner kick (without touching another player).
Greta Thunberg.
Stuarts.
Snow globe.
Utsira (North and South Utsire).
The Hermitage, St Petersburg.
Sinking of the Titanic.
David Hockney themes.
Latter completed/edited the former's work after their death: Requiem; various paintings; The Last Tycoon.
Daughters of title characters in Shakespeare plays: King Lear; Cymbeline; Pericles.
Design on the reverse of the halfpenny coin.
Expensive foodstuffs.
Harvard/Radcliffe dropouts.
Terms of endearment: (written by Terry) Deary; sugar; (Alistair) Darling; Babe; pumpkin.
Highest peaks in the Sierra Nevada mountain ranges (US and Spain).
Known as Mother of ...: Mother of all battles; mother of pearl; Mother of Parliaments; Mother of Presidents (nickname).
Alfred Hitchcock cameos: Strangers on a Train; North by Northwest; The Birds; Psycho; Rear Window.
Prime numbers.
Forms variously taken by the god Zeus.
Birthplaces of wives of Donald Trump: Ivana; Marla; Melania.
Meanings of the names of Italian desserts: affogato; panettone; tiramisù; semifreddo.

Letterloop, Letterlines and The Cabinetmaker

The two Letterloop and two Letterlines puzzles have completed diagrams. The Cabinetmaker assignment is:

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Wide Pickt banner — collaborative shopping lists app for Telegram, phone mockup with grocery list

Simon Socialist: Southtown, Home Office, 34.
Lisa Libertarian: Capitalopolis, Culture, 25.
Nick Neoliberal: Northville, Education, 68.
Penelope Progressive: Westburgh, Treasury, 85.
Cecil Centrist: Eastgate, Foreign Office, 54.

Word wheels: Piecemeal, Backwater.

Pickt after-article banner — collaborative shopping lists app with family illustration

Sudoku and variants

Sudoku Beginner 1 and 2: see diagrams.
Sudoku Easy 1 and 2: see diagrams.
Sudoku Medium 1 and 2: see diagrams.
Sudoku Hard 1 and 2: see diagrams.
Samurai sudoku: see diagram.
Easy as ABC puzzles 1 and 2: see diagrams.

Who were we talking about?

31 December 1978: Kate Bush.
31 March 1985: Gary Lineker.
27 October 1985: Alan Sugar.
19 Dec 1992: Kate Moss.
13 June 1993: Björk.
11 September 1993: Quentin Tarantino.
22 March 1998: Cate Blanchett.
8 August 2008: Charli xcx.
6 Dec 2008: Robert Pattinson.
6 April 2018: Timothée Chalamet.

First lines and combination lock

First lines: Pale Fire; To the Lighthouse; Ulysses; Frankenstein; Beloved; The Great Gatsby; Jane Eyre; Disgrace; White Teeth; Jude the Obscure; David Copperfield; Rebecca.

Combination lock four letters: amok, blue, rink, they, when. Five letters: bound, china, lyric, sassy, worth. Six letters: abject, glossy, orange, salmon, wooden.

Kakuro, Codeword and Totalise

Kakuro and Codeword solutions are shown in diagrams. Totalise answers: Easy 226, Medium 365, Hard 2,343.

Where in the world

Mountains: Etna, Italy; Mount Rainier, US; Kilimanjaro, Tanzania; Vesuvius, Italy; Ben Nevis, Scotland; Table Mountain, South Africa; Sugarloaf Mountain, Brazil; Matterhorn, Switzerland and Italy.

Bridges: Stari Most, Neretva River (Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina); Clifton Suspension Bridge, River Avon (Bristol, England); Brooklyn Bridge, East River (New York, US); Forth Bridge, Firth of Forth (Queensferry and Jamestown, Scotland); Øresund bridge, Øresund strait (Denmark and Sweden); Millau Viaduct, Tarn River (France); Victoria Falls Bridge, Zambezi River (Zambia and Zimbabwe); Ponte Vecchio, Arno River (Florence, Italy).

Tour of Britain

Glasgow: Landmark Kelvingrove art gallery (A); local hero Kirsty Wark (D); cultural export Screamadelica by Primal Scream (B); football stadium Ibrox (C).

Brighton: Landmark Royal Pavilion (B); local hero Fatboy Slim (C); cultural export Quadrophenia (D); football stadium Falmer Stadium/the Amex (D).

Newcastle: Landmark Tyne Bridge (D); local hero Sting (B); cultural export Byker Grove (C); stadium St James' Park (A).

Liverpool: Landmark Liver Building (C); local hero Katarina Johnson-Thompson (A); cultural thing Frankie Goes to Hollywood (A); football stadium Hill Dickinson Stadium (B).

Children's page

Add up: solution diagram. Missing pieces: CRICKET, FRISBEE. Crossword, wordsearch, kriss kross, shortcode and set square: see diagrams. Splitz: mirror, engine, indicator, brake, tyres, windscreen, battery.

Antipodes and insertions

Auckland (New Zealand) — Seville (Spain).
Shanghai (China) — Buenos Aires (Argentina).
Taipei (Taiwan) — Asunción (Paraguay).
Phnom Penh (Cambodia) — Lima (Peru).
Montevideo (Uruguay) — Seoul (South Korea).
Bogotá (Colombia) — Jakarta (Indonesia).
Suva (Fiji) — Timbuktu (Mali).
Manila (Philippines) — Cuiabá (Brazil).
Singapore — Quito (Ecuador).
Doha (Qatar) — Pitcairn Island (British Overseas Territory).

Insertions - add the landform: resent/respondent; aces/Achilles; Ayah/Ayatollah; vicious/victorious; end/engorged; coming/complaining; cot/comes at; shear/Shea butter.

Add the garment: haring/harvesting; swatch/stopwatch; pants/patients; dreamt/dreamboat; Pete/pet hate; roan/Rosarian; deed/defrocked; ret/remittent.

Add the drink: mouthing/mouthwatering; prose/protease; Des/deciders; comment/comportment; coo/choo-choo; spring/splattering; lie/limeade; droll/drumroll.