Listener 4106 A Change of Clothing by Elgin

[Ruthrobin]

A step up in difficulty here. We've floundered our way to a complete grid with crime fighters, an item of clothing and a set of villains, though I am not sure which one is the appropriate one to highlight. This one has been the most difficult for us for some time.

[Mysterons]

Cracking Puzzle Elgin, though early detection of the theme did assist greatly in solving the remaining half of the clues/identifying the usual suspects.

[Jogler]

Has anyone looked at the new Times website yet.......?

[dr b]

I see that you have. What a blunder. Also, what a crappy layout for the site. Apparently subscribing to the philosophy, if it's not broke, break it.

[Jogler]

Indeed, dr b. I had to tone down the h-g's language on the post. They have also given the answers to last week's (one day to go) and the Mephisto. What a bunch of Salad Chefs. (Ok I succumbed to letting it go through on this site!) Some of the layout is quite nice but having become used to the old. clunky website it is not an improvement overall. I haven't tried printing out yet but I am prepared to bet they haven't solved the issues there,which are by far and away the most annoying! . Speccie rules big time on printing out of puzzles - you would think other sites would take a look at their competition.

[BlackHugh]

And to cap it all - I see I have entered the wrong (in 1 letter) answer for 20 down - doh

[Jogler]

oh noes...... just got to have a quick check ourselves now!

[Clamzy]

For those of us without access to the Times Website, will you please explain the blunder?

[Jogler]

There is a squeeky new website being trialled - as a beta test it leaves much to be desired as it has printed all the answers to all the crosswords - mephisto, listener - all the cryptics.

[Clamzy]

JEG will not be pleased. After all the criticism of this site, what's this going to do for the integrity of the statistics?

[contendo]

I've managed to restrain myself from looking up the answer so far. Am I alone in having problems with the 2nd letter of 1d?

[easterfool]

Contendo - 1down. Every word in the clue is important (naturally) especially the 4th. Don't forget that proper names are allowed if in the relevant reference books

[contendo]

Thanks Easterfool. There was a possible alternative which gave an invalid proper name, but, yes, the 4th word would have had to be repeated. I seem to have reached the stage described by Ruthrobin in the very first post on this site. Am trying to make sense of 20d.

[perseverer]

Sent an e-mail to Times about the published solutions - got a reply saying they have now been removed, and they have - including older ones which have previously been published!

[JackDeCrow]

Better that way round I guess, perseverer - I get the impression it hasn't been a great morning at the Times Crossword Club!

[Jogler]

Well done, Perseverer. As there seemed to be a moderator on line last night it is a pity that they didn't do it then and if they are having a bad morning perhaps they deserve it for the disservice they have done their compilers. A thankless task at the best of times, it must be particularly galling to see your hard work treated so lightly. To be fair, one can hardly blame the IT guys who were presumably just doing what was asked of them (probably none too clearly!). Oh and I see that the thought police have censored the h-g's earlier rant - though I quite like Salad Chefs as an alternative!

[contendo]

I am now thoroughly confused. I have the garment in place, which reveals the names of two crime fighters. However it also reveals a third crime fighter, unrelated to the other two. I assume the first two are red herrings, but I cannot find the companion of the third one. The garment relates more logically to the third one than to the first two. And, like so many others, I don't have a real word at 32a.

[7lattens]

Contendo - If I am right then a fire in Bristol on 10th October 2005 may have destroyed valuable assistance !!!

[AndrewG-S]

contendo, the companion should be there if you look hard enough, does not quite follow the same alignment as the other three

[contendo]

7lattens - Thanks (though maybe you've given a bit too much away...). You confirm that I'm on the right track. Andrew G-S - Well, yes, but that's wrecked my item of clothing.

[IntoTheBlue]

Hi contendo, think about the title of the puzzle and all should fall into place.

IntoTheBlue