Setters Of Old Guardian Genius Puzzles

[Moaljodad]

I am researching the setters of the early Guardian Genius crosswords but unfortunately the online archive is a bit sketchy.  If anyone can confirm who set any of the following puzzles I would be very grateful:

4 - October 2003; 5 - November 2003; 6 - December 2003; 7 - January 2004; 8 - February 2004; 9 - March 2004; 10 - April 2004; 11 - May 2004; 13 - July 2004; 14 - August 2004; 16 - October 2004; 17 - November 2004; 19 - January 2005; 22 - April 2005; 24 - June 2005; 26 - August 2005; 28 - October 2005; 29 - November 2005; 30 - December 2005; 31 - January 2006; 32 - February 2006; 33 - March 2006; 34 - April 2006; 36 - June 2006; 56 - February 2008

Thanks in advance!

 

[Lie-in King]

My first thought would be to contact the Guardian directly, some info here, though I can't see a Crossword Editor's desk -

https://tinyurl.com/3kyjas97

The Everyman compiler is looking into filling the gaps as well -

https://tinyurl.com/s2h9bfzj

Perhaps a message to him at either the Observer or Guardian, using the info in the first link, eg -

[email protected]
[email protected]

I'm sorry I can't be of more immediate assistance right now.

[Moaljodad]

Thanks Lie-in King! I have already tried pretty much every official avenue, including contacting the Guardian Crossword Editor and many of the surviving setters from the period in question (Paul and Picaroon have been particularly helpful) so I am now clutching at straws a little, hoping that someone will have kept a personal record...

[Moaljodad]

Oh, and I am Mitz, the researcher of the article in your second link that Alan Connor kindly helped me to get published. (Mitz was already taken as a user name when I signed up here!)

[Lie-in King]

Hi Moaljodad & welcome to AB! 🙂

I hope someone can help you - such folk do exist with their various lists & fingers crossed we've someone here with the right one.

Further info - if you need/want to nudge folks' attention, just adding another post to this thread will put it back into "Latest Posts" for a calendar month.

[Lie-in King]

Sorry for the delay replying & for crossing posts there, I hadn't refreshed the screen.

I'm sorry to say I don't think I've ever looked at a Genius puzzle, but it's nice to meet another setter!  The estimable Dean Mayer is a member here as well, as "anaxcrosswords".

^That's well-known, so I'm not giving away secrets...

[Lie-in King]

Moal' - is there anything here that might help? -

https://tinyurl.com/2m3fuerf

I'm sorry I haven't time to research further right now & if there are fees involved (unsure), then I can't explore further.

Apologies if you've covered all that before 🤷‍♂️

[Moaljodad]

Searching through the archives of the newspaper both via resources such as ProQuest and the old fashioned way at the British Library helped me fill in all of the gaps regarding the daily crosswords going back to 1970, but unfortunately the Genius was only ever published online, so if there is a gap in the internet archive there's not a lot we can do about it.

Good to meet you too, and thanks for your tip re: refreshing the question.

[Lie-in King]

Ah, I didn't know that about the Genius! 

I'll guess you've tried it, but just in case, might the Wayback Machine be of any use? - https://web.archive.org/

On refreshing the thread - after a month, if you're still looking for assistance, my suggestion would be to start a new thread with a link included to this one.

I wish you luck with your endeavours! 🙂

[Buenchico]

I suspect that many crossword setters will know each other.  So perhaps Dean Mayer (who's an AB member, although I've not seen him posting lately) might be able to point you in the right direction?

His email address is on his website:
https://anaxcrosswords.wordpress.com/about/