diff --git a/mod/quiz/questiontypes/multianswer/editquestion.php b/mod/quiz/questiontypes/multianswer/editquestion.php
index 4d54cae51fb..1cb6ad9bfd3 100644
--- a/mod/quiz/questiontypes/multianswer/editquestion.php
+++ b/mod/quiz/questiontypes/multianswer/editquestion.php
@@ -42,10 +42,8 @@
                 // Fix the questiontext fields of old questions
                 set_field('quiz_questions', 'questiontext', addslashes($parsableanswerdef), 'id', $wrapped->id);
             } else {
-                $parsableanswerdef = str_replace('&#', '&\#', $wrapped->questiontext);
+                $parsableanswerdef = $wrapped->questiontext;
             }
-            //echo "{#$key}<br />";
-            //echo $parsableanswerdef.'<br />';
             $question->questiontext = str_replace("{#$key}", $parsableanswerdef, $question->questiontext);
         }
     }
diff --git a/mod/quiz/questiontypes/multianswer/questiontype.php b/mod/quiz/questiontypes/multianswer/questiontype.php
index 55c57594af3..5c58c493317 100644
--- a/mod/quiz/questiontypes/multianswer/questiontype.php
+++ b/mod/quiz/questiontypes/multianswer/questiontype.php
@@ -308,6 +308,7 @@ class quiz_embedded_cloze_qtype extends quiz_default_questiontype {
         $teststate = clone($state);
         $state->raw_grade = 0;
         foreach($question->options->questions as $key => $wrapped) {
+            $state->responses[$key] = html_entity_decode($state->responses[$key]);
             $teststate->responses = array('' => $state->responses[$key]);
             $teststate->raw_grade = 0;
             if (false === $QUIZ_QTYPES[$wrapped->qtype]
@@ -356,20 +357,32 @@ function quiz_qtype_multianswer_extract_question($text) {
 //// quiz/format/multianswer/format.php
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////
 
+
+    // Undo the automatic addslashes, because we want to analyze the text - we need to remember this later and addslashes again!
+    $text = stripslashes($text);
+
+    // We need to allow entities (e.g. &#1085;) in answers. This is difficulty,
+    // because the '#' character is used as delimiter between answer and
+    // feedback as well as inside entities. The HTML editor automatically
+    // replaces '&' with '&amp;', so we undo this to get back the entities we
+    // originally wanted. However, this code leaves all &amp; alone, if they
+    // are not followed by 2 to 9 characters and a final semicolon. This allows
+    // to have an answer end on '&' with the feedback (e.g. answer&amp;#feedback).
+    // When the plain text editor is used, the &amp; needs to be typed out
+    // explicitly in this case.
+    $text = preg_replace('/&amp;(#[0-9a-fx]{2,6}?);/', '&$1;', $text);
+
     // REGULAR EXPRESSION CONSTANTS
     // I do not know any way to make this easier
     // Regexes are always awkard when defined but more comprehensible
     // when used as constants in the executive code
 
-    // Handle the entity encoded ampersand in entities (e.g. &amp;lt; -> &lt;)
-    $text = preg_replace('/&amp;(.{2,9}?;)/', '&${1}', $text);
-    $text = stripslashes($text);
-
     // ANSWER_ALTERNATIVE regexes
     define("ANSWER_ALTERNATIVE_FRACTION_REGEX",
            '=|%(-?[0-9]+)%');
+    // for the syntax '(?<!' see http://www.perl.com/doc/manual/html/pod/perlre.html#item_C
     define("ANSWER_ALTERNATIVE_ANSWER_REGEX",
-            '.+?(?<!\\\\)(?=[~#}]|$)');
+            '.+?(?<!\\\\|&)(?=[~#}]|$)');
             //'[^~#}]+');
     define("ANSWER_ALTERNATIVE_FEEDBACK_REGEX",
             '.*?(?<!\\\\)(?=[~}]|$)');
@@ -453,7 +466,7 @@ function quiz_qtype_multianswer_extract_question($text) {
         $wrapped->answer   = array();
         $wrapped->fraction = array();
         $wrapped->feedback = array();
-        $wrapped->questiontext = addslashes(str_replace('&\#', '&#', $answerregs[0]));
+        $wrapped->questiontext = addslashes($answerregs[0]); // here we don't want multianswer_escape, because this is editing time information
         $wrapped->questiontextformat = 0;
 
         $remainingalts = $answerregs[ANSWER_REGEX_ALTERNATIVES];
@@ -466,16 +479,16 @@ function quiz_qtype_multianswer_extract_question($text) {
             } else {
                 $wrapped->fraction[] = '0';
             }
-            $wrapped->feedback[] = addslashes(str_replace('&\#', '&#',
+            $wrapped->feedback[] = multianswer_escape(
              isset($altregs[ANSWER_ALTERNATIVE_REGEX_FEEDBACK])
-             ? $altregs[ANSWER_ALTERNATIVE_REGEX_FEEDBACK] : ''));
+             ? $altregs[ANSWER_ALTERNATIVE_REGEX_FEEDBACK] : '');
             if (!empty($answerregs[ANSWER_REGEX_ANSWER_TYPE_NUMERICAL])
                     && ereg(NUMERICAL_ALTERNATIVE_REGEX,
                             $altregs[ANSWER_ALTERNATIVE_REGEX_ANSWER],
                             $numregs) )
             {
                 $wrapped->answer[] =
-                 addslashes($numregs[NUMERICAL_CORRECT_ANSWER]);
+                 multianswer_escape($numregs[NUMERICAL_CORRECT_ANSWER]);
                 if ($numregs[NUMERICAL_ABS_ERROR_MARGIN]) {
                     $wrapped->tolerance[] =
                      $numregs[NUMERICAL_ABS_ERROR_MARGIN];
@@ -483,8 +496,8 @@ function quiz_qtype_multianswer_extract_question($text) {
                     $wrapped->tolerance[] = 0;
                 }
             } else { // Tolerance can stay undefined for non numerical questions
-                $wrapped->answer[] = addslashes(str_replace('&\#', '&#',
-                 $altregs[ANSWER_ALTERNATIVE_REGEX_ANSWER]));
+                $wrapped->answer[] = multianswer_escape(
+                 $altregs[ANSWER_ALTERNATIVE_REGEX_ANSWER]);
             }
             $tmp = explode($altregs[0], $remainingalts, 2);
             $remainingalts = $tmp[1];
@@ -495,8 +508,15 @@ function quiz_qtype_multianswer_extract_question($text) {
         $question->questiontext = implode("{#$positionkey}",
                     explode($answerregs[0], $question->questiontext, 2));
     }
-    $question->questiontext = addslashes(str_replace('&\#', '&#', $question->questiontext));
+    $question->questiontext = multianswer_escape($question->questiontext);
     return $question;
 }
 
+function multianswer_escape($text) {
+    $text = str_replace("&amp;", "&", $text);
+    $text = str_replace('\#', '#', $text);
+    $text = html_entity_decode($text);
+    return addslashes($text);
+}
+
 ?>