Comments on: Independent – Puzzle/Clue of the Month – January 2013

By: PeeDee

PeeDee — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 11:17:23 +0000

Thanks Gaufrid. Please let me know if I can help with testing or any other activities that you would find useful.

By: Paul B

Paul B — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 02:01:02 +0000

‘Frustrated’ of Peckham writes, sorry for missing your reply to PeeDee, but it doesn’t really address the point, namely that silly stuff about best clues and best puzzles is obscuring the flow of information and comment that makes 15^2 such a valuable resource.

What must be transparently obvious to you is that having a great number of ‘vote for this, vote for that’ threads is off-putting to people who might like to add to a thread about a particular puzzle, and so detrimental to the site’s popularity. All you have to do is open the home page to see how ridiculous the whole thing is right now.

But, as I have said to you in the past, it’s your baby.

By: Gaufrid

Gaufrid — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 13:44:21 +0000

Hi Paul B
I understand your frustration and I hope you have seen my reply to PeeDee. Your suggestion of a page containing links to the appropriate posts is one option I had considered. The downside is that I would have to edit the page every month (not a major job, more of an inconvenience).

Of greater concern is that this would not prevent the posts from appearing on the home page on the last day of the month and staying there until sufficient blogs had been posted for them to scroll off the page (which would be a week if I revert to the number of posts on the home page that we had before the hosting company server problem.

As indicated above, I will see what can be done to improve the situation before the next call for nominations comes round.

By: Gaufrid

Gaufrid — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 13:35:13 +0000

Hi Eimi
“I’m not sure who’s eligible to vote in these things, editors, fellow setters? Does anyone know?”

You will need to ask John Halpern for the definitive answer but his initial email was along the lines of giving all visitors to 15², and the other crossword blogging sites, the opportunity to nominate their puzzle/clue of the month.

By: Paul B

Paul B — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 13:23:03 +0000

PS PS which is what PeeDee’s already said, I now see. Sorry sorry.

By: Paul B

Paul B — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 13:21:00 +0000

PS what I mean, of course, is having a separate heading at the top of the home page, as in ‘general discussion’. Sorry.

By: Paul B

Paul B — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 13:19:30 +0000

Would it not be a better idea to have the new crossword puzzle and clue ‘competition’ sections relegated to their own thread, as we see, say, for the off-topic discussion? Perhaps because I’ll always lose, I’m not really interested in this item, and I find currently I’m having to scroll down many fathoms, or extra fathoms, to get to what I consider to be the meat of 15^2, i.e. the discussion attached to the daily blogs – escpecially given the now much shorter length of page. Maybe there are others who aren’t much bothered too, who would support such a move.

Cheers PB.

By: eimi

eimi — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 13:10:59 +0000

#6 It’s a great clue, but I’ve spent several years trying to forget Mido

I’m not sure who’s eligible to vote in these things, editors, fellow setters? Does anyone know?

By: allybazz

allybazz — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 11:58:15 +0000

Puzzle: Jan 10th, 8187, Anax, http://www.fifteensquared.net/2013/01/10/independent-8187-anax/#more-53756

Clue: Jan 10th, 8187, Anax,19/6D/21. I think the actual clue was “maybe reason one has one damn poor life today”

By: Rorschach

Rorschach — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 02:04:10 +0000

The crossword is Donk, 15 January 2013, Independent 8191 and the clue is 14/22… Sorry for spamming – didn’t read the rules…