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Sorry, I don't follow, ixion: understandably, my brain hurts! If you could put that a little more clearly perhaps without letting the cat etc..............

GK on looking at my answer again I'm not sure I've parsed it correctly, however I can't see past the answer(it's submitted now anyway!)

The smallest possible 26, 14 is a "p" - the defn part is "it can be packed" and "there's no such thing as a free ?????"

Oh, right, ixion: I was beginning to go bonkers looking at all 10 again! Actually a fine puzzle, don't you think? And now for some sleep (Did Viz as well this afternoon, and I'm a bit under the weather with some kind of flu). Good job you were still up!

One further word on this otherwise brilliant puzzle: whatever I do I am still unable to download & submit online here in France. I have complained to the G. as I have finished it & would not like to have to regard those hours merely as an intellectual challenge.Using snail mail to send in Saturday's Prize puzzle every week seems to put us "exiles" in a ridiculous position anyway.Maybe a few others would like to join in the protest. It's such a shame with one of the best papers AND puzzles in the world, in my opinion!

My take on 23ac is that "pint served topless" = int, or 'int to a Cockney. This leads to a synonym for "hint" with the "h" dropped. The original answer starts with one of the themed letters to give something that can be "packed" and "palatable" and "there's no such thing as a ...". That initial letter is then replaced with a "p", as per the Special Instructions. Hope that makes sense.

GK: I also live in France and have no problems with submission.

greedykite, I'm with you on that protest! Here in the UK I wouldn't be able to see genius 115 at all if it weren't for the kindness of sudokulover who provided a link to the correct print version (how?).

Unlike you, I do 'regard those hours merely as an intellectual challenge' as the odds against winning must be pretty high. I just want to enjoy the experience of having a high-quality, challenging crossword to do and knowing you guys are here to discuss it. The process is enough, for me.

However, for the last few geniuses, by the time I've struggled to even see the puzzle, and have then been further hampered by misprints and the odd dodgy clue, I'm intellectually cream-crackered before I even start the puzzle and am no longer in the happy anticipatory mood I was when I began - especially since I got into the habit of getting up in the early hours to do the puzzle (once completing it in one go at about 3am: my finest hour!).

Yesterday was an absolute nightmare, starting with trying to get the puzzle in the middle of the night and again in the morning; then trying to keep pace with errors; then trying to figure out why I couldn't see the thing properly, spending hours investigating, reinstalling java multiple times and STILL being unable to see it, emailing the Guardian and getting no replies, etc, etc.

The clues I've solved so far were mostly fine and the theme (now solved) looks interesting. But I just can't bear to look at the thing at the moment because of all the frustration which surrounds it which has nothing to do with the actual content of the puzzle.

This is not how solving crossword puzzles is supposed to be!

I'm still trying to parse 22.

Can someone just tell me if the following is way off target.

First word of clue = "ready". Remove RED (litmus test for acid) to leave AY. AY = last two letters of answer.

Ach. Forget that.

Thank you, peterm, for your parsing of 23: the proverbial penny 'as dropped on that synonym for 'int!
To the rest: I can only hope the Graudian does a bit more to repair its service: I've tried everything online & still get a notice (in several different forms) indicating "You can't do that today, Sir!" It's bad enough not being able to receive the paper itself within a reasonable time limit via an expensive subscription-- now it seems the chances of submitting a crossword solution are reuced to zero, at least in my case.