Colossus No.183-the stinker

[kellee]

Help, have a question no268a, sparkling(wine)it could spumante but the letters I have do not fit S-R-U -IG have checked all down answers and seem correct,if anyone elses is in the same quandary could you please help,MANY THANKS IN ADVANCE.

[gen2]

spritzig

[kellee]

Many many thanks gen 2,I will have to check one of my down ?sNo255d.v-shaped cut r---h. once again thanks

[gen2]

That looks like notch ! which has a knock-on effect to where the R came from?

[kellee]

Gen2, the r comes from clue former-hence "before",could your cleverer brain than mine help on this one,if I am wrong again then I will have several others answers wrong AGAIN,so back to square one for me.

[gen2]

You are OK with 'before', I am am therefore wrong with 'notch'. I have just looked up RATCH which is the same as 'ratchet' (into which a pawl engages).

[kellee]

Thanks gen2, I did look up ratch myself but the explanation did not look right,but have put it in an hope for the best, just when I think I have got the hang of the stin ker I find I am not as clever as I thought I was,thanks.

[johnalex]

Hi Kellee - I reckon 'notch' beats 'ratch'. Try 'avaunt' for 'hence' and let us know how things look. ☺ja

[johnalex]

Kellee - I've just re-read your earlier post, thinking the clue was 'hence' (avaunt) but this won't work for 'before'. Apologies for confusion. ja

[johnalex]

Try 'bygone' !

[kellee]

i would like to apologise for any confusion with thewording of my posting (hence)it was just a word i used to word to express the word i was talking about.,johnalex the word you offered (bygone)does not fit into configuration at all,thank you though.have completed the page now and hope it will be accepted.onto the next comp,(another stinker in puzzle colection)probably be back on the site again soon.