*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def, sp=spoonerism
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Repaid: Rep + aid. |
| 5 | Octopus: (Cops out)*. |
| 9 | Secularisation: (Antisocial sure)*. |
| 11 | Pointless: CD. |
| 12 | Fall: F + all (fall being autumn to Americans, so a significant time for gardens). |
| 14 | Escort: Cortes with last two letters moved to the front. |
| 15 | Pooh pooh: Hoop< twice – nice surface. |
| 17 | Rebutted: Butt in reed. |
| 19 | Spavin: V in Spain. Spavin is a joint disease in horses. |
| 22 | Arum: A + rum. |
| 23 | Discharge: Disc + g in hare. |
| 25 | In the same class: CD. |
| 26 | Garbage: Brag< + age. |
| 27 | Locust: Locus + t. | Down |
| 2 | Elegiac: EC (London postcode) around leg + AI<. |
| 3 | Adulterate: Adult + [peopl]e + rate. This one puzzled me a bit until I’d consulted a dictionary to find that adulterate can be used as an adjective. |
| 4 | Drawer: DD. |
| 5 | Omission: O + mission. |
| 6 | Thai: Hom of tie. |
| 7 | Paisano: PO around Asian*. |
| 8 | Single handed: CD. |
| 10 | Speed reading: See around p + dreading. |
| 13 | Shopaholic: CD. |
| 16 | Reed mace: (Deem acre)*. |
| 18 | Bluster: B + luster. |
| 20 | Viruses: Vi + ruses. |
| 21 | Osteal: Os (ordinary seaman) + tea + l[anguish]. |
| 24 | Mesa: Mes[s] + a. |
Unfortunately the Indy’s website has got the wrong puzzle (Quixote from 3rd October) and Crossword Solver only gives an error message when attempting to download today’s puzzle.
Can anyone point frustrated would-be sovers in the direction of getting the correct puzzle (other than the dead tree version)?
(I’ve quickly scrolled down so as not to read the blog/discover the solution.)
I suspect Crossword Solver is effectively useless now, but I’d be glad to know of the newly designed website’s crossword URL – I can’t find it!
http://independent.co.uk/independent.co.uk/editorial/xword/c_ddmmyy.bin
works in Solver, you need to Ctrl + v to paste.
I found this to be a fairly easy puzzle tho 7 down was new to me – I think 11 is a little more though than a CD with unprofitable the definition and the rest referring to point less ie advice etc. Thanks, NealH and Quixote.
sidey @3: Even pasting the URL gives the same error message, viz
Puzzle download failed (check your internet connection)
Server returned HTTP response code: 503 for URL:http://independent.co.uk/independent.co.uk/editorial/xword/c_311011.bin
But thanks for the advice.
(My internet connection is obviously OK or I wouldn’t be able to post this.)
In view of Allan_C’s comment, I’m hoping I’ve blogged the right puzzle here. The sequence number seems to be correct and I don’t recall seeing it before. I did it last night when the Indy site seemed to be in its old format – they’ve obviously done a rebranding since then, since the look of it has completely changed. I can’t see a link to the crossword on the front page any more.
Neal, yes you’ve blogged the right puzzle, I’ve had a peek at the first across answer. The puzzle currently on the website is Quixote 7789 which appeared on 3rd October, so something’s obviously gone wrong in the change to the website.
Same problems here, both on the website and in Solver.
It’s definitely the right puzzle, Neal. I have today’s Indy and solved it there.
Using the quoted url worked for me at about 1am, it fails now so there must be a problem at the Indy. It’s still wrong on the site too.
If I get tomorrows I’ll save it and mail it to any who want it.
I’ll be doing the blog for tomorrow’s paper which I’ll do dead tree but if I can’t get the paper may take you up on that sidey @10. A lot of the Indy’s new web site seems to have problems at the moment, but I couldn’t even find a link to the crossword when I looked a few minutes ago.
Back to today, lucky correct guesses for paisano and spavin but otherwise quite a pleasant monday solve thanks Don and NealH