nmsindy

After 7 days of the Lenten season last week, this time Virgilius gives us the 7 deadly sins, familiar (in theory, of course) to most, I’m sure.     This made it an easy puzzle, … Read more >>

Difficulty with 16 across, but got it in the end – always a bit weak on plants – one of the crossing clues took me a while to understand also, covered below. Solving … Read more >>

As usual, Virgilius gives us an excellent themed puzzle.    This one is based on days of the week appearing appropriately midway through Lent taking seven days (all fairly well-known, I’d say).     Very impressed … Read more >>

Solved this during a flight, confident that Quixote’s clues would be accessible and fully understood. Solving time: 25 mins * = anagram ACROSS 1 DI RECTOR’S HIP You expect a church reference from … Read more >>

A pleasing and not too difficult puzzle by Hypnos, one of the occasional setters.   Quite a few anagrams among the 22 clues.    When I saw the central across clue contained “theme”, I thought the puzzle … Read more >>

Well, just a personal record. I’ve done the great majority of the Indy cryptics since the paper first appeared in 1986 and this was my fastest solve ever. Last year I broke my … Read more >>

Another tour de force from Virgilius.    Each row containing a part of the body in approximately correct order from the head to the feet.    Despite this constraint, the remainder of the grid contains normal … Read more >>

This had everything I expect from Phi, clear precise, clues, easier wordplay to the less familiar words, everything fully understood.    The extra bit was that, like some other of this week’s puzzles, there … Read more >>

Fairly straightforward, with the SW corner the slowest. As always with Quixote, everything stacks up unambiguously. Solving time: 21 mins * = anagram ACROSS 8 TI PP ER Slightly unusual construction in which … Read more >>

This was my slowest Quixote solve of 2007 – contains some good stuff as set out below. Solving time: 34 mins * = anagram ACROSS 1 B(AIL)IFF Jointly with 5 down, my favourite … Read more >>

Mass is the only one of the setters, there when I first tackled the Indy, who still sets in the daily paper, though he appears less often.     His puzzles were among the hardest with great skill … Read more >>

Not quite as easy as some recent puzzles in this series, but all clear in the end. Solving time: 21 mins ACROSS 1 GE(R)T RUDE R = King Queen Gertrude of Denmark, mother … Read more >>

When Eimi indicated on this Board that Virgilius, whose themed puzzles appear on Tuesdays, was moving to Wednesday this week, I was pretty sure we would get a themed puzzle for the day.     I … Read more >>

Sometimes you can be lucky with a puzzle – the words are familiar or you quickly see how most things work and go through it fast. This happened me with this one to … Read more >>

No major problems with this, which had some clever ideas. Solving time:    12 mins (fast for me)  * =  anagram ACROSS 1  BUCK    Double definition 11 SHAM (BL) E      BL was British Leyland 12 Martin … Read more >>