The Guardian's 2026 summer puzzles supplement has been solved. This comprehensive guide provides the answers to every puzzle, from Alex Bellos's mathematical challenges to the Slitherlink, Suguru, and the metapuzzle that reveals a Bob Dylan classic.
Alex Bellos's Puzzles: Answers and Explanations
Alex Bellos's puzzles offered a mix of number play, word games, and logic. Here are the solutions:
- Puzzle 1: 25.
- Puzzle 2: The solution is shown in the accompanying diagram.
- Puzzle 3: Words that can be both nouns and verbs: alternate, appropriate, content, delegate, discount, entrance, minute, present, produce, refuse, upset.
- Puzzle 4: Expressions using arithmetic operations to reach numbers 2 to 9: 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).
- Puzzle 5: Word chains: downside/sideshow/showdown, backside/sidesaddle/saddleback, piecemeal/mealtime/timepiece.
- Puzzle 6: 42.
- Puzzle 7: Passage A: The tube must have a loop longer than the small snake but shorter than the long one. When the long snake doubles back, it blocks its own path, while the short snake can pass. Passage B: A hole in the floor that the short snake cannot cross but the long one can, assuming non-zero rigidity.
- Puzzle 8: Proverbs and sayings: 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.
- Puzzle 9: From the top, reading left to right: 7, 3, 1, 4, 5, 8, 6, 2.
Metapuzzle: Bob Dylan's Electric Moment
The metapuzzle revealed lyrics from Bob Dylan's "Like A Rolling Stone": "Once upon a time you dressed so fine / Threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you? / People call, say 'Beware doll, you're bound to fall' / You thought they were all kidding you." These are the opening words to the song Dylan famously played at the Newport Folk Festival on 25 July 1965, when he "went electric." An editing error indicated six letters for the sixth word instead of seven.
Slitherlink and Suguru Solutions
Slitherlink puzzles (easy and tricky) and Suguru puzzles (1, 2, 3) were solved as shown in the diagrams.
Thomas Eaton's Quiz Answers
The quiz covered a wide range of topics: 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; Greta Thunberg; Stuarts; snow globe; Utsira (North and South Utsire); The Hermitage, St Petersburg; sinking of the Titanic; David Hockney themes; completion of unfinished works (Requiem, paintings, The Last Tycoon); daughters of Shakespeare characters; halfpenny coin design; expensive foodstuffs; Harvard/Radcliffe dropouts; terms of endearment; highest peaks in Sierra Nevada ranges; "Mother of" nicknames; Alfred Hitchcock cameos; prime numbers; forms of Zeus; birthplaces of Donald Trump's wives; meanings of Italian dessert names.
Letterloop and Letterlines
Letterloop and Letterlines puzzles were solved as shown in the diagrams.
The Cabinetmaker Puzzle
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 and Sudoku
Word wheels: Piecemeal, Backwater. Sudoku puzzles (Beginner 1 & 2, Easy 1 & 2, Medium 1 & 2, Hard 1 & 2, Samurai) were solved as shown.
Easy as ABC and Who Were We Talking About?
Easy as ABC solutions were provided. The "Who were we talking about?" answers: 31 Dec 1978: Kate Bush; 31 Mar 1985: Gary Lineker; 27 Oct 1985: Alan Sugar; 19 Dec 1992: Kate Moss; 13 Jun 1993: Björk; 11 Sep 1993: Quentin Tarantino; 22 Mar 1998: Cate Blanchett; 8 Aug 2008: Charli xcx; 6 Dec 2008: Robert Pattinson; 6 Apr 2018: Timothée Chalamet.
First Lines and Combination Lock
First lines were identified from novels: 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-letter words (amok, blue, rink, they, when), five-letter (bound, china, lyric, sassy, worth), six-letter (abject, glossy, orange, salmon, wooden).
Kakuro, Codeword, Totalise, and Where in the World
Kakuro and Codeword solutions were shown. Totalise answers: Easy: 226, Medium: 365, Hard: 2,343. Mountains: Etna (Italy), Mount Rainier (US), Kilimanjaro (Tanzania), Vesuvius (Italy), Ben Nevis (Scotland), Table Mountain (South Africa), Sugarloaf Mountain (Brazil), Matterhorn (Switzerland/Italy). Bridges: Stari Most (Mostar), Clifton Suspension Bridge (Bristol), Brooklyn Bridge (New York), Forth Bridge (Scotland), Øresund bridge (Denmark/Sweden), Millau Viaduct (France), Victoria Falls Bridge (Zambia/Zimbabwe), Ponte Vecchio (Florence).
Tour of Britain and Children's Page
Tour of Britain answers for Glasgow, Brighton, Newcastle, and Liverpool were provided. Children's page solutions included Add up, Missing pieces (CRICKET, FRISBEE), Crossword, Wordsearch, Kriss kross, Shortcode, Set square, and Splitz (mirror, engine, indicator, brake, tyres, windscreen, battery).
Antipodes and Insertions
Antipodes: Auckland–Seville, Shanghai–Buenos Aires, Taipei–Asunción, Phnom Penh–Lima, Montevideo–Seoul, Bogotá–Jakarta, Suva–Timbuktu, Manila–Cuiabá, Singapore–Quito, Doha–Pitcairn Island. Insertions: Add the landform, garment, and drink answers were listed.
Crosswords and More
Jumbo cryptic, quick cryptic, minis, maxi, general knowledge, quick crosswords, and "The most Guardian crossword ever" solutions were shown in diagrams.
