diff --git a/src/ellipse.jl b/src/ellipse.jl
index a0180a7..5db9bd1 100644
--- a/src/ellipse.jl
+++ b/src/ellipse.jl
@@ -1,14 +1,15 @@
+import Base.getindex, Base.setindex!
+const .. = Val{:...}
 
-  import Base.getindex, Base.setindex!
-  const ..   = Val{:..}
+setindex!{T<:Any, Ti<:Integer}(A::AbstractArray{T,Ti}, x, ::Type{Val{:...}}, ::Base.Colon) = throw( ArgumentError("cannot combine ellipse with colon this way"))
+getindex(::Base.SparseArrays.SparseMatrixCSC, ::Type{Val{:...}}, ::Base.Colon) = throw( ArgumentError("cannot combine ellipse with colon this way"))
 
-  setindex!{T,N,N2}(A::AbstractArray{T,N}, x, ::Type{Val{:..}}, n::Vararg{Int,N2}) = A[(Colon() for i in 1:N-N2)..., n...] = x
-  getindex{T,N,N2}(A::AbstractArray{T,N}, ::Type{Val{:..}}, n::Vararg{Int,N2}) = A[(Colon() for i in 1:N-N2)..., n...]
+setindex!{T}(A::AbstractArray{T,1}, x, ::Type{Val{:...}}, n) = A[n] = x
+setindex!{T}(A::AbstractArray{T,2}, x, ::Type{Val{:...}}, n) = A[ :, n] = x
+setindex!{T}(A::AbstractArray{T,3}, x, ::Type{Val{:...}}, n) = A[ :, :, n] =x
 
-  setindex!{T,N}(A::AbstractArray{T,N}, x, n::Int, ::Type{Val{:..}}) = A[n, (Colon() for i in 1:N-1)...] = x
-  #setindex!{T,N,N2}(A::AbstractArray{T,N}, x, n::Vararg{Int,N2}, ::Type{Val{:..}}) = A[n, (Colon() for i in 1:N-N2-1)...] = x
+getindex{T}(A::AbstractArray{T,1}, ::Type{Val{:...}}, n) = A[n]
+getindex{T}(A::AbstractArray{T,2}, ::Type{Val{:...}}, n) = A[ :, n]
+getindex{T}(A::AbstractArray{T,3}, ::Type{Val{:...}}, n) = A[ :, :, n]
 
-  getindex{T,N}(A::AbstractArray{T,N}, n::Int, ::Type{Val{:..}}) = A[n,(Colon() for i in 1:N-1)...]
-  #getindex{T,N,N2}(A::AbstractArray{T,N}, n::Vararg{Int,N2}, ::Type{Val{:..}}) = A[n,(Colon() for i in 1:N-N2-1)...]
-
-  export .., getindex, setindex!
+export .., getindex, setindex!