YESTERDAY’S SOLUTION

ACROSS: 1 Violate, 5 Speak, 11 From stem to stern, 12 Rite, 13 Chair, 14 Time, 17 Utmost, 18 Earlobe, 20 Gangers, 22 On duty, 24 Toff, 25 Bison, 26 Beta, 29 Straightforward, 30 Ether, 31 Granite.

DOWN: 2 I won’t stand for it, 3 and 6 Last post, 4 Tee shot, 7 A relic of the past, 8 Afore, 9 Strike, 10 Integer, 15 Toned, 16 Credo, 19 Egotist, 21 Smithy, 22 On offer, 23 Haydn, 27 and 28 Five iron.

Material at the heart of claims of a conspiracy against former first minister Alex Salmond has been passed to Holyrood’s harassment complaints committee.

Thecrownofficehasreleased theinformationtothesalmond inquiry following a second section24orderissuedbythecommittee last week.

Mr Salmond claims the content of messages held by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) prove the existence of a conspiracy to have him jailed in order for the

Scottish government’s botched complaints process and subsequentjudicialreviewtobeovershadowed.

Ascottishparliamentspokesperson said the messages will not be published today.

Confirmingmaterialhasbeen passed to the Salmond inquiry, a spokesperson for the Crown said: “It is vitally important that people who believe they have been the victim of crime, and those who can provide evidence to crime, feel able to come forward to report that in the confidence that they will be treated with respect, sensitivity and confidentiality by the police and COPFS.

“In order to protect that publicconfidenceandtrust,copfs must process the information it holds carefully, thoughtfully and lawfully.

“Material has now been provided to the committee and it has been respectfully asked to give careful consideration as to whether or not it is appropriate and in the public interest for it to be published.”

The committee is examining the botched handling of harassment complaints against Mr Salmond by the Scottish government, which led to a £500,000 legal bill after the government conceded a judicial review challenge.