The Independent has changed its crossword (and other puzzles) format and location. The result is that Crossword Solver can no longer be used to download and print the puzzle.
Another change is that the on-line puzzle will be the one that was in the paper the previous day (for example today’s on-line cryptic is yesterday’s IoS 1329/Hypnos). Accessing the puzzle from the paper’s home page is not easy so here is the URL for the puzzles:
http://puzzles.independent.co.uk/
If you want to go straight to the cryptic then it can be found here:
http://puzzles.independent.co.uk/games/cryptic-crossword-independents/
Thanks, Gaufrid. The URL is better than nothing (much) but the changes still mean that I, and I suspect many others, will not be able to engage in the daily discussions. A shame, as lately the Indy cryptics have been among the most interesting.
At least there’s now a print option, and access to previous puzzles. I’m not so keen on the primary school colour scheme, though.
On my computer using Windows 7 and IE11 when I open a crossword, I get a flashing screen full of indecipherable characters, no grid and it is very difficult to see the clues. Not sure what the issue is. Both Java and JavaScript are enabled. I will try on other machines later on to see if a different set up resolves the problem.
Hi Kairos
I too use Windows 7 & IE11 and have no problems viewing the puzzles (apart from the colour scheme, hazy text etc!).
Great timing – just as I’m about to go on holiday at of range of the paper edition!
I do the paper version so makes no difference to me but why don’t we just have the blog a day later? We already have Sat and Sun blogs a week after publication so it wouldn’t be that big a deal …
I can’t get anything at all on Firefox on my desktop. Haven’t tried any other browsers.
Thanks Andrew@2 for mentioning the print option. Works fine with Windows 10/Edge – and cheers me up a little!
Oh dear, if you select Sunday it gives 8991, Saturday’s current prize puzzle with the solve functions active, that sort of ruins things.
At least it doesn’t use Java. I can’t type into the cells though on my main browser.
Shame about the use of US dates.
I use Firefox with Windows 8 and I’m not having a problem accessing the puzzles, albeit a day late. Although the colour scheme of the new format is a little annoying I’m sure I’ll get used to it, and as has been said above it is good to be able to access the older puzzles.
Thanks for the info. It saved me (and others too, no doubt)from wasting time wondering why Crossword Solver wasn’t working.
I think we’ll get used to the time lag, and Geebs’s suggestion is a good one. Why not blog the puzzles after everyone’s had a chance to see both paper and online versions?
My grumble is the print version. The grid is a mess – the numbers are very hard to see and the dividing lines are more visible between black squares than white ones. There’s no ink-saving version either. Let’s hope this improves!
I appreciate not everyone on here is in a location where buying the print version is an option, but if you are I recommend the Indy’s voucher scheme to you. £5 for 7 days’ papers, plus an online account. Most newsagents (in my experience) are happy to accept the voucher.
This is a pain in the arse. I live in rural Derbyshire where my nearest newsagents is a twelve-mile round trip. And what is the point of only being able to access yesterday’s puzzle? If they’re being given for free online what’s the big deal with giving us today’s?
Wouldn’t want to see a twenty-four hour delay in the blogging, but what we will see is a much reduced discussion on the Indy thread (which is pretty thin on contributions as it is).
I can access the URL fine on Firefox and Windows 7. It’s like Playschool colours: today’s puzzle, children, is through the square window …
When will papers ever learn the cardinal rule? DON’T EFF ABOUT WITH THE CROSSWORD! Grrrr.
Fairly pointless exercise and I can still access the old JAVA version via http://www.independent.co.uk/extras/puzzles/crosswords/cryptic/ although it is yesterday’s. As NMS posts on the Indy, you can also get it via http://independent.co.uk/independent.co.uk/editorial/xword/c_ddmmyy.bin but you have to put in yesterday’s date!
I take the Guardian, so won’t be paying for the Indy as well!
That’s great Robi, but I’m worried it may not work tomorrow, as that’ll be the first puzzle under the new regime. Let’s hope I’m wrong!
Before ’discovering’ Crossword Solver I hardly ever solved an Independent puzzle. Although my heart’s on the left, my personal opinion is that the paper isn’t good enough to be a real match for either The Guardian or The Times.
Also, I am not the kind of person that would buy a newspaper just for the crossword. Never bought a Guardian just because it had an Araucarian alphabetical in it.
So, Crossword Solver was my way in to the world of the (excellent) Indy crosswords.
I loved the fact that this programme made these puzzles even available one week in advance, so I could tackle them whenever I wanted to.
Having said that, that option was really unusual as the other broadsheets only publish the crossword on the day itself. Which is fair enough, I think.
From that perspective, the Independent cannot be blamed to have changed its policy.
However, to publish a puzzle only the day after on their website (and Crossword Solver) seems kind of ludicrous to me.
What’s the point in doing that?
In their new format, the Indy has now introduced their own ‘blog’ – however, still a day late.
Yes, as Andrew says, you can print off the puzzle now but Neil Shepherd (aka Klingsor/Alberich) said in a comment there ‘why not give a print option that saves ink’ (like the Guardian does)?
A proper ink-saving print-off is still possible using Crossword Solver.
Meanwhile, I am still puzzled by the decision to give us the crossword of the previous day.
Or is there really someone at that place who thinks more people will buy the Indy?
I fear less rather than more people will visit the Indy website from now on (if that was their aim).
As to Fifteensquared, today we had a blog of a Crosophile puzzle.
Within the new regime this blog should have been published tomorrow, not today.
Very unsatisfactory.
In the end, it will be the Indy subscribers that have to wait one extra day for the blog – is that what they wanted?
One can get used to anything (Dac on a Thursday, for example, or Phi on a Saturday) but this looks like a decision of someone who is more in love with making decisions and his tie than with – ah well, so be it.
I have a gut feeling that the last word hasn’t been said yet.
In my opinion, it’s a mistake.
The Guardian is also having a redesign: http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/crossword-blog/2015/aug/10/new-guardian-crosswords-beta-testing
Please don’t move the blogs back to accommodate this. On the rare occasions I do the Indie, I prefer to buy the paper, but I need to know who the setter is to justify doing that. As others have said, it seems a perverse decision – I think the Guardian is handling it much better – the biggest worry there is that they haven’t yet said what will happen to the priceless archive.
For the record, I’ve just tried to load yesterday’s puzzle to Crossword solver, and it doesn’t work. I think it worked yesterday for Sunday’s puzzle as that was the last puzzle of the old regime. Indeed, the puzzle you got was the one in the paper on 2nd August, the one you got from the Indie website was for the 9th.
Anyone else managed to get yesterday’s on Crossword Solver?
You’re right, Dormouse.
Yesterday’s Crosophile is not available through Crossword Solver.
They probably changed the URL.
Unless something changes, Crossword Solver will be useless from now on.
Perhaps (as beery hiker @18 hopes) it will retain the Indy archives.
I do not like solving on-line, so I need/prefer a print-off.
Fortunately, the new Indy website gives me one – a fancy one, not printer-friendly (yet), but fine.
As a non-Indy subscriber/buyer, I will treat Crosophile’s puzzle as the Tuesday one.
A bit odd but I can live with that.
One who does buy the Indy gets the puzzle a day early – wow!
Unfortunately, this person still has to wait a day for the solution.
Unless Fifteensquared continues blogging these puzzles on the day itself (as suggested by beery hiker @18).
In that case the Indy’s own (new) blog will appear later than the one here.
They are shooting themselves in the foot, don’t they.
Let’s hope The Guardian will behave itself ….
What, no comment from eimi?
Sil, you say “Unfortunately, this person still has to wait a day for the solution.”
I imagine that’s the situation for most people who do the Indy crossword, whether in print or online, and only get to see the solution in next day’s paper. We shouldn’t think for a moment that here in the Fifteensquared bubble we represent the totality of Indy solvers.
Hello all,
I am managing the new Indy Crosswords site (http://puzzles.independent.co.uk/).
I apologise for any issues you have with the new site but I do think that overall, we have improved our crosswords offering. We are constantly trying to make improvements e.g. the colour scheme, US date format, ink saving option for printing etc. so feel free to make other suggestions and bear with us as we try to make these.
The reason the crosswords are published on the website a day later than the print edition is because the website has the option to reveal answers. Some of you have commented on Crossword Solver not being compatible with the new format; can you clarify why you use Crossword Solver when the solutions are provided on our own website?
If you have any other queries or feedback on this, feel free to email games@independent.co.uk
The Independent is not a charity for providing free crosswords to those who do not want to pay for them. It costs money to provide the crosswords and need to recover that cost somehow. Either people pay to buy a paper, of they generate advertising revenue by visiting the website.
Personally I think it is great that they provide the crossword free. If I don’t/can’t buy a paper then I get it a day late for free. So what? If I don’t get the paper then I won’t know any difference anyway.
As for using applications such as Crossword Solver to print the crossword, it sounds great, but really I am depriving the Independent of advertising revenue by cutting out their website.
The Independent provides excellent puzzles, lets not kill the goose that lays the golden eggs?
Indy Crosswords have you noticed that you’ve given away the answers to Saturday’s prize puzzle?
I’m still not sure how I feel about all this, but three things strike me:
a) If The Independent puts its crossword on the website for free on the day it is published, that should impact on the number of copies of the paper that are bought; and they are in the business of making money. It’s very good of them to put it up for free a day late.
b) I can’t see that it’s the end of the world if the blog goes up on the day as it always has done, and some of the comments come a day later. Those who only solve online will be able to see the blog straight away rather than waiting, as probably happens at present when they solve the puzzle early in the morning.
c) I will be very sad as a blogger not being able to use PeeDee’s excellent software.
An addendum to what I have just written: how nice it is to hear from someone at The Indy who obviously wants to get things right. I do The Times crossword every day but buy a hard copy; if I had to rely on the Times Crossword Club, or whatever it’s called, it would be agony, to go by the horror stories you read. Snafu Central, they call it.
@Wil, PD, Indy Crosswords – indeed it would be very useful for us bloggers if the bin files were made available on some otherwise secret URL that PD’s software could pick up the crossword to enable the templates for the blogs to be continued to be used.
@Sidey yes the prize answers being available like this rather blows away our policy of not blogging prize puzzles until a week later.
I can’t get the latest puzzle on the site to load (that’s yesterday’s Crosophile. There is a black square where the puzzle should be. The other puzzles load but oh the site is so slooooow. Anyone else experiencing this?
Thanks to Indy Crosswords for dropping in. I can’t speak for others but I used Crossword Solver simply to print the puzzle. The alternative was a laborious set of screenshots, and Crossword Solver offered a convenient way to print the puzzle in a tidy, well-presented layout. If the print version from the new site was of similar quality I would be happy to use that. Not everyone wants to do the puzzles online.
There’s an argument that the puzzles are free and so we should stop whining and be grateful (or otherwise buy the paper), but then again if the Indy is kind enough to offer the puzzles online, surely it makes sense to provide the puzzles in a format that people are happy to work with?
Indy Crosswords @23, thanks for the clarification.
“can you clarify why you use Crossword Solver when the solutions are provided on our own website?”
The Indy did not have a print option before and Crossword Solver did, that’s why.
It’s not about the solutions, I never look at these, I always go to Fifteensquared after solving, finished or unfinished.
“The reason the crosswords are published on the website a day later than the print edition is because the website has the option to reveal answers”.
That’s a very odd reason. The Guardian has that option as well. This is only relevant for a prize puzzle (Saturday/Sunday). Why not continue publishing these a week late? Or publish these without the option to reveal answers? (again, like The Guardian does)
Meanwhile, I agree that it was time to give the Indy website (for crosswords) a face-lift.
There is space for giving feedback on a puzzle and – as I said before – one can make a print now (although not save the crossword).
Furthermore to Crossword Solver, I am quite sure that some bloggers at Fifteensquared relied on the early availability of Indy crosswords (indeed an unusual, curious thing).
From now on, blogs will have to be written on the day itself unless one buys the newspaper.
Let’s at least hope for those bloggers that the new URL, confidentially, can be implemented in PeeDee’s excellent software.
My earlier comment was probably too unsympathetic to the poor bloggers who are most inconvenienced by this. I suspect that the problem with secret URLs is that they don’t stay secret for long!
My usual reason for using Crossword Solver was when I am travelling. I get the Indie delivered at home and usually do the print version. But when I’m abroad and can’t get the paper, it was useful to download the latest puzzle using the hotel wi-fi in the morning and then being able to solve it on the move when I couldn’t get a (free) wi-fi connection, such as on a train.
And I also found a couple of years ago that I couldn’t get the puzzle from the Indie website when I was in the USA, but could using Crossword Solver. I recall some mention about changing the paywall for outside the UK a few months ago. As I’m in the US next week, I’ll see what happens. I’m sure I won’t be totally devastated if I can’t do a crossword for a fortnight.
Indy Crosswords, Is it too late to think better of it and change your mind? I’m sure you’ve heard of IIABDFI.
IIABDFI Was that something from a recent Inquisitor?
tipnrun – the previous Java version of online crossword looked pretty broken to me, it only just managed the job. Probably why so many here resorted to Crossword Solver. From a technological standpoint there was no future in trying to continue with such an out-of-date solution, starting again from fresh with a more web-friendly technology seems to me their only option.
Today’s (Crosophile) still only offering a black square in place of the puzzle, but other two OK. Is it just me?
Getting rid of anything based on Java ( NOT Javascript which is completely different) which is an insecure pile of ordure is an excellent thing to do.
cruciverbophile try pressing Ctrl and F5 at the same time and see if the crossword appears.
@cruciverbophile 36
It’s not just you. Humph.
Thanks for the confirmation Alchemi. Tried Ctrl + f5 and it just returned me to the main menu. Humph and indeed, hurrumph.
Sure it was working first thing this morning, but definitely not now.
IIABDFI? It will have to be confirmed by tipnrun, but I fancy it’s an acronym for ‘if it’s not completely bollocksed, don’t fix it’. Or something similar. My thoughts entirely.
Shouldn’t it be if it already [W]orks rather than B?
That the new format at the moment doesn’t work is, of course, a problem but I am sure the technical guys at the Indy will sort this out.
Tomorrow is another day.
For me, the main issue remains the fact that they will publish the puzzle of the previous day.
I really cannot see a justification for that and the reason given @23 makes no sense at all.
It was never a problem at the Indy website and now, all at once, it is.
Some say that non-subscribers should be happy with a puzzle anyway and therefore should not complain.
Well, you either let people pay for access to crosswords or you don’t.
That’s a choice.
The Indy decided to keep them freely available to everyone.
In my opinion, it’s then in everyone’s interest (also the newspaper’s) that what’s on offer is as user-friendly as possible.
Including print-outs with greyscale instead of black – just like in the Guardian’s print version.
It may not be my place to point it out, but the underlying data for the puzzles is accessible online, albeit in an XML format rather than the .bin, and some time in advance too.
This may be of no help to ordinary solvers, but perhaps it leaves open the possibility of PeeDee’s blogging tool being adapted.
Really Simon? I looked and just got access denied messages, perhaps changes are afoot behind the scenes then.
I think I’ve said enough by now and I think I’ve made my point clear.
So, that’s it then?
Well, I just went to the ‘old’ Indy crossword (Java) link.
There was a new puzzle!
IoS 1330, Lohengrin.
Must be this Sunday’s prize puzzle.
Including solutions ….. 🙂
Since CrosswordSolver stopped working for me in April (browsers Firefox and Safari) I’ve been using a reasonably priced app (cost around a tenner) called Crosswords from Standalone Inc to download and print the Independent Cryptic on the days I don’t buy a paper. With the new format from 10 August I can’t access the online version at all from the Independent website – just get a black rectangle. I’m using a (fairly old) MacBook Air and Firefox.
You could email the link in post 23.
Indy crossword @23,
The main reasons I used Crossword Solver was that the paper’s own site required me to solve in one go on the day the crossword was published, which wasn’t always convenient. Crossword Solver enabled me (1) to access an archive of older Indy crosswords, (2) to save my progress if I was interrupted in solving, (3) to print the crossword if desired, and (4) to see the crossword in a more appealing and user-friendly format than the online one at the Indy.
I stopped doing the Indy crossword a couple of months ago when its interface with Crossword Solver became less convenient and no one at the Indy seemed to know what was going on. I would be glad to return to it if the new version turns out to works well enough. I am gratified to see the suggestion that the new version will allow access to an archive of older puzzles, but I do not know yet how this or any of the other features will work, as all I get is a black rectangle.
Back to the black square again today for me.
Black square again here too, on IE and Firefox.
I have found that the crosswords from 17/08/15 to 23/08/15 inclusive (next week’s puzzles) can still be downloaded using Crossword Solver. Better be quick though as they’ll probably remove them once they get wind of it!
I just can’t understand.
Same machine, same browser, same setting, same fingers of mine.
One day it works. Another day it doesn’t.
One day’s crossword comes up, another (previous) day’s is a black square.
I would appreciate consistency of one or the other.
RIP Crossword Solver, it was good while it lasted and I’ll miss you.
Yes, I was faced with a black square for today’s (ie yesterday’s) crossword too so if there’s too much more of that The Grauniad will become my default crossie which is no bad thing I suppose – there was even a nice Nina from Nutmeg today. I’ll also ride to the defence of The Times site which works OK for me – at a price of course!
I’m probably being very artless here and everyone has already worked it out, but for those few of you who haven’t, IIABDFI = If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
@sidey – yes, we know we’ve given the solutions away to the Saturday crossword and will probably stop providing the solutions to Saturday crosswords. Couldn’t you always use Crossword Solver for the solutions anyway?
Apologies for the black square showing for today’s and yesterday’s crossword – it should be resolved in the next hour or so and shouldn’t happen again
Indy Crosswords @54
“Couldn’t you always use Crossword Solver for the solutions anyway?”
Yes but the prize puzzles didn’t appear on-line until after the closing date for entries.
We are working to ensure the new crossword website works well on Firefox and Internet Explorer but in the meantime, can I suggest using Google Chrome for an optimal experience.
@flashing – where you’ve said;
“@Wil, PD, Indy Crosswords – indeed it would be very useful for us bloggers if the bin files were made available on some otherwise secret URL that PD’s software could pick up the crossword to enable the templates for the blogs to be continued to be used.”
Can you clarify what you mean here and what you’re trying to achieve? To clarify, currently, all the crosswords from July 18th onwards are available on the new site but the crosswords don’t have their own individual URLs; however, they should have soon
For the record, I got today’s (i.e. yesterday’s) puzzle for the first time just now. (I am using Chrome.)
Yes, I can get it too on Chrome instead of the black blob, but I notice that the italics have disappeared. Not too important in this particular puzzle, but in some crosswords the typeface (bold or italic) is crucial to the solution. I have to say I like the look of the new format, but I’m sure there are a few tweaks that could improve the solving experience.
I got “today”‘s in Firefox just now, and generally enjoyed the experience. (Nice puzzle, O great and wise overlord.) The one from “yesterday” is still a black blob, but presumably that will get fixed in a bit.
For what it’s worth, the Indy App for the iPad seems to have today’s crossword on it. I used to download the crossword to a lovely app called Crux because the Indy App was so terrible. Of course, Crux can no longer download the crossword now so I may have to use the inferior version on the app from now on. I got the app in a “bundle” when I went over to buying vouchers for the dead tree version but the app was so awful and unreliable I gave up using it some time ago. My paper copy doesn’t arrive till mid-morning so I relied on the version downloaded to Crux to enable me to do the crossword over breakfast. Consequently breakfast times have been a somewhat sullen affair so far this week, but my discovery may help lighten the mood tomorrow – unless Indy Crosswords are going to correct the anomaly (please don’t).
Further to my comment @61, Indy App users should be entitled to the current day’s version as they have paid for the app so there is no anomaly to correct.
Regarding Chrome. It worked for me this morning using Chrome, but was showing just a black square on two different machines using Chrome this afternoon.
Re my comment @47, I can now see the Cryptic on the website (using Firefox). Got a very prompt reply from the Indy Games guy as well. The app I mentioned earlier (Crosswords from Standalone) does still seem to have the current puzzle on it rather than yesterday’s, but I can’t say how soon in our day it appears as I only get to it in the evening.
Howard L @61: Crux are usually very responsive when you e-mail them with issues. I have asked if they are able to update Crux to enable the Independent to be downloaded.
Eleanor @64: Crosswords from Standalone does enable the crossword to be downloaded. The only issue I have noticed is that on the iPhone/iPad version is that enumerations are not shown correctly for multi-word entries so that if the printed version is (5,5) it appears on the app as (10). It seems to be late evening on the date of the printed version that you can download it.
On Firefox all I get when I click the ‘Play Now’ button is the message ‘Contacting Server’ and three red balls endlessly spinning round. Contact is never established.
I did get the puzzle up on Microsoft Edge yesterday but it took a long time to load.
I note the advice is to use Google Chrome but I don’t want to run browsers from either Google or Microsoft.
These apps that people keep mentioning: are they for smartphones or would they also work on desktops?
At least Crossword Solver can still be used for Private Eye, for what that’s worth. There may be other papers whose crossword archives can also be opened with it, but I don’t know of any other URLs. I agree it was a great little application, and it would be a shame if the new Indy format rendered it obsolete.
On the new Indy. I’ll wait till all the bugs are worked out rather than monkey around with a new browser (especially an evil one). I am pleased to see the tech team for the new Indy are responsive and eager to please, but I’m a bit puzzled how this could have been rolled out without such major bugs resolved out on all the main browsers.
Ian SW3
The Indy has a circulation of 58,000 and by all accounts relies on interns for much of its operation, so we maybe shouldn’t be expecting NASA levels if technical expertise here.
I’ve also been in touch with Sam at the Independent who gave the games@ address above and invited feedback. In fact I’ve probably been his/her nightmare user, since I’ve raised a whole load of issues. To their credit, they’ve consistently responded promptly and shown a real wish to sort out the things that people care about. I also think the fundamentals of the user experience are pretty good. So I expect that with some wrinkles ironed out we will learn to love the new site. Having past puzzles available and not using Java are both already enormous improvements.
On the specific issue of the publication date: as far as I understand, TPTB don’t have any objection in principle to publishing the current day’s puzzle online, so I’m hoping that’ll come in time. (If nothing else, I hope that the puzzles will be shown online with the same date as they were printed, rather than the following day. The latter makes it impossible to set a special puzzle for an anniversary or April Fool’s Day or whatever.)
Daedalus .. heartening to hear of the positive response you’re getting from the Indy, but worth emphasising one thing, I think. There will be no problem with “On-the-day” puzzles – April Fool, whatever – for anyone who pays for the Indy, whether in print or via digital subscription. They both currently work fine and unaffected. What you are talking about is making these puzzles available free of charge and on-time for non-customers. In my opinion, a little acknowledgment of Indy’s willingness to try and do this, when it has absolutely no obligation to, would not go amiss in some instances on this thread.
@Indy crosswords don’t worry, was just trying to get our blogs out on time and in a user friendly way. If it means they are delayed and don’t look as pretty so be it. We’ll live. Mind you at least you’ve done something on my locked down work computer I’ve never been able to get the old site to work and I am the systems admin – that java stuff just broke too many of our rules.
Geebs @70: You are right to emphasise the Indy’s goodwill in providing puzzles on time, which I think is great. But so far as April Fool (etc) puzzles are concerned, I was talking about something else – though in retrospect I wasn’t clear enough – namely, simply listing the correct date against the puzzle (for web users), whether it is published on the day, or a day late or a week late or whatever. I think this is very much in the interest of the Indy as well as its readers. From a commercial viewpoint the website is both a vehicle for advertisers and itself an advertisement for the paper, and it doesn’t look so good if it seems to think that St George’s Day is on 24 April or New Year’s Day on 2 January. (In practice, probably, specials of this kind would be less likely to get written or published.)
Newmarketsausage @66 Crosswords should work on a desktop. There are versions for PCs and Macs.
Since the Independent crossword is available for solving online one day late, can’t we have the blog on that day so that those who don’t take the print edition or solvers around the world who do it online can visit the blog after their engagement with the puzzle?
If the blog is written by someone after solving it on paper on the the day of publication, it could be scheduled for uploading the next day.
Thanks, Eleanor. I’ll take a look.
I’m not sure it’s quite right to describe the Indy puzzle as being ‘free’ when you do it online. It’s true no money changes hands but what visitors to the site do provide is their data, which does have a monetary value.
If the Indy wants to increase the traffic on their site, which I’m sure they do (think of all the lovely data they can collect), they will revert to the (standard practice) of having the same puzzle online as is in that day’s paper.
I might be wrong, but I can’t imagine people rushing to the site to do a day old puzzle.
On the other hand, I agree with Daedalus and others that having an archive of past puzzles available will be a great step forward.
Just to make everyone aware; in the next week or so, the crosswords online should appear on the same day as they appear in the print edition.
Apologies for the error that occurred this week; it is fixed now and shouldn’t happen again.
Please feel free to get in touch with any feedback on the new Indy crossword site; games@independent.co.uk
That is good news. Well done Indy Crosswords.
Thank you for the update Indy Crosswords.
Good news about getting the puzzle on the correct day – thanks, Indy Crosswords.
One little gripe about the new format; once the grid is completed the clues disappear, which means you can’t go back and work out the subtleties of the clues for the entries you only guessed but got right. Or have I missed an option somewhere?
Thank you, Indy Crosswords. That is great news about the online version appearing on the day itself.
I echo Geebs@68 – the Indy are getting there with limited resources. The new format is a clear improvement on the old and it is welcome news that the puzzles will soon be available same day. Thanks and keep up the good work!
All working for me today in Safari; had black screens all week until today. Fair play, it’s much nicer than the old version when it’s working.
allan_c@79: For the record, I completed the Friday Phi puzzle online this morning, shut down the computer, spent the day walking around Seattle and just came back and checked. Not only are the clues still there but so is the completed puzzle
Works fine for me, but what I’d really like is to be able to get the Beelzebub crossword from the IoS.
Does anyone know whether there are any plans for this?
Thanks, Dormouse@83, I must have been a bit dim; I’ve now found how to get the clues back with the completed puzzle. (For anyone else who’s wondering, after completing the puzzle click on ‘continue’ and then on ‘play again’)
@meic – We plan to integrate all our puzzles, including Beelzebub, in the near future.
Today (Tuesday) we have Kairos 8999, well listened Indy Crosswords. Thanks.
Yes, sidey@87 I second that. A v. big thanks to Indy Crosswords@86 and elsewhere. Much better to be doing the crossword on the day it appears in the paper. I’m impressed the Independent has been so responsive and has taken our concerns seriously. You will be rewarded… well somewhere anyway.
All I get from http://puzzles.independent.co.uk is the 3 revolving dots then ‘Sorry, cannot connect to the network at this time’ 🙁
@Paul A; sorry to hear you’re having issues with the loading screen. It may have something to do with your internet connection. We are working on improving loading times but can I suggest trying to reload the page?
I’m extremely impressed with the speed with which the changes have been brought about; let’s face it, the launch was a shocker.
I’ve solved all the puzzles this week interactively and have found the online tool to be working well. Great stuff.
Am I right in thinking that no Facebook account= no comments? If so, I’ll have to stay in the “adorable old men” snug over at The Graun
Back from hols and ready to give new Indy another chance. I’m glad to see the black rectangle is gone, but how on earth are we meant to type in our answers? No matter how insistently I click on the square I want to type in, no cursor appears and Firefox just starts searching the page for the letter types. I couldn’t find and instructions on the new website. Does it work for others?
@baerhen; thanks for the feedback. I will try and create a system that allows for comments to be made without needing a Facebook account.
@ Ian SW3; I think we discussed this over email today but to clarify; we are working to improve the experience on Firefox but the site works best on Chrome (as most sites do nowadays).
@Ian SW3 and @Indy Crosswords
I use Firefox and it works like a dream
The website link yesterday was a repeat of last Saturday’s prize puzzle 8997 by Nimrod and today the link is to the same puzzle.
The Sunday puzzle appeared on Monday 3rd and Monday 10th but as far as I can see has not appeared since.
Has there been a rethink on the Saturday and Sunday puzzles available on the website?
@Indy Crosswords
I’m a bit surprised that you haven’t posted anything on this thread or on today’s Alchemi thread to explain what has gone wrong with the new system; the puzzles were loading fine on the new site up until Saturday
@TonyP apologies for the confusion here; as of the weekend just gone, we’re now publishing the Saturday and Sunday Cryptic crosswords a week after they appear in print as they are prize crosswords. This Saturday and Sunday, you will the see on the website the print Saturday and Sunday Cryptic crosswords from the weekend just gone. A note was supposed to appear on the website to explain this but it wasn’t sorted in time. Please let me know if you have any other feedback.
@baerchen please see my response just now to TonyP. Let me know if you have any feedback on this. Also, can you clarify the URL for teh Alchemi thread please?
http://www.fifteensquared.net/2015/08/24/independent-9004-by-alchemi/#comments
@Indy Crosswords
Above is the thread for Alchemi’s puzzle today; you’ll see the blogger was unable to see the puzzle online, and there are only four comments, suggesting a lack of users.
I looked at the puzzle this morning and saw Nitsy’s Sunday puzzle – now, at the time of writing, I get Alchemi so we seem to be back in cycle.
If the plan is to delay the prize crosswords by a week, then I guess we will get used to it, no problem.
Although two suggestions worth thinking about could be 1) the cheat buttons could be disabled for prize puzzles, as they are at The Guardian, where the 15sq blogs are delayed by a week and 2) The Indy might want to open the field to online solvers, especiallly those from overseas who cn’t buy the paper.
Thanks for your response, anyhow.
@Indy Crosswords 98 and @baerchen 100
Presumably yesterday’s prize puzzle by Nitsy will be appearing on the website next Sunday.
May I suggest that yesterday’s repeated Nimrod prize crossword is replaced by last Sunday’s prize puzzle by Lohengrin number 1330 as I don’t think this in currently available on the website.
@bearchen – thanks for the feedback. I’m not sure what happended with Alchemi puzzle. If you notice any errors in the future, please feel free to email me directly at Games@independent.co.uk so I can deal with the issue as quickly as possible.
The plan is to delay the prize crosswords (Saturday and Sunday Cryptics) by a week and publish all other crosswords on the same day. Unfortunately we’re unable to simply turn off solutions just for those – perhaps in the future though. By ‘open the field’ do you mean publish the crosswords on the same day only for overseas users?
@TonyP; I’ll see if this is possible. however, it might be the case that one crossword is ‘lost’ in the transition. we do plan to make all crosswords (for the last few years) available to play on line in the near future.
Please continue to provide suggestions and feedback and I’ll implement as much as I can as quickly as I can.
Further to my last message about the Saturday and Sunday Cryptic crosswords – the wrong ones were used at the weekend – apologies for that. From this weekend onwards, the Cryptic crosswords used in previous week’s print edition will be shown online e.g. this Saturday 29th August, the Cryptic from the 22nd of August print edition will be used online.
@TonyP – Lohengrin number 1330 has now replaced Nimrod for Sunday 23rd’s Cryptic. Apologies again for the error – this shouldn’t happen again.