Well, we can now change into long trousers and go to big school. Yes, that’s right, we’ve reached that age, 11 today!
This time last year I bored you with some statistics (which I will update below) and some thoughts/observations that are still relevant, though I’m not going to repeat them today (see here if you are inquisitive).
Instead, perhaps Harry Hoskins would ask Mrs Jalopy, the keeper of the fabled Fifteensquared drinks trolley, to bring it round so that we can all have a celebratory Babycham (or in my case something similar in colour – if my memory is correct, it’s been a very long time since I’ve seen a Babycham – but distilled in Scotland).
Here’s to the next twelve months and the next 1285 or so blogs.
Geoff (aka Gaufrid)
Cryptic puzzle blogs – nearly 14,000
Associated comments – 195,000+
Edit 31/10/17: The foregoing was written last week but now seems rather apt in view of a recent event. I received an email yesterday telling me to expect a special delivery today “as a thank you from all the setters, bloggers and commenters who were at York on Saturday”. When it arrived, the delivery turned out to be a large quantity of amber liquid distilled north of the border.
I would like to express my thanks to all those who contributed towards this very kind, thoughtful and generous gesture, and particularly to whoever organised it. I don’t get many surprises these days but this was a most enjoyable one.
I now have an excuse to raise more than one glass tomorrow (or today as it will be when you read this) — to Fifteensquared, to all its participants, to the generous people I’ve never met (but would like to be able to do so), to … I could go on but I don’t want to get tipsy.
Cheers Geoff/Gaufrid
Just dropped by to say how much your efforts are appreciated by us mere mortals. More power to your (drinking) elbow. A million thanks.
Hi Geoff,
Many thanks to you, and to all those involved in the nurturing of young master fifteensquared, for your sterling efforts over the past 11 years. I have been trawling through the Prize puzzle archive for about a year now, and am currently in August 2008. Don’t know how I’ll survive without these blogs when I reach the pre-natal years!
Keep up the good work. Cheers!
Happy Anniversary, and thanks for all of your hard work Geoff – the site is as valuable as ever!
Happy Anniversary and thank you from me too
The forum and all you do for it are very much appreciated, Geoff/Gaufrid. I really value fifteensquared for the way it enhances my experience of solving The Guardian cryptics and connects me to an interesting and supportive online solving community. With sincere thanks.
Thanks for all your hard work Geoff, this site has been a godsend at times.
Many thanks for all you do. This site has been a great help to me in improving my limited crosswording abilities.
This site is an excellent resource. Many thanks for all your hard work
Thanks to you and to others on this site. It remains an integral part of my crossword enjoyment – and education..
Cheers, Geoff.
You deserve it!
Thank you for your hard work. A very useful and entertaining corner of the internet.
Thank you Geoff/Gaufrid for all that you do, and thanks also to all the bloggers – fifteensquared is a wonderful site.
Happy anniversary! 11 years, really? Here’s to many more.
Just popping in to add a “hear hear!” to the above comments. Thanks Geoff. Or should I say, Cheers!
Thanks Gaufrid – Happy Birthday to one and all.
As Kitty has said already – Cheers!
Cheers Gaufriid – many thanks for all your hard work.
Many thanks, Gaufrid. Thanks also to the bloggers and my fellow solvers. I have learned, and continue to learn, a lot from this site. I know from personal experience what a lot of effort, care and skill it takes to keep a website running harmoniously for years.
Thanks, Gaufrid, for everything you have done for all of us. The site speaks for itself. Cheers!
Many thanks and happy anniversary.
Many thanks, especially to Geoff/Gaufrid, but also to all the bloggers. Happy Anniversary to all here!
Many thanks Gaufrid for all you have done for this wonderful site – a haven of sanity, sharing and education. Long may it continue.
I was delighted to be involved with this site as a blogger from its very start and even more delighted to see it subsequently go from strength to strength.
Many thanks, Gaufrid, without whom…
What everyone else said. Sorry you couldn’t be at York, many thanks and Happy Anniversary.
Very many happy returns to the best crossword site on the net.
My personal thanks also to Geoff and all the bloggers and solvers who make it all work (in front of and behind the scenes) and be such a fun and edumacational place to hang out and learn.
Now, where’s that Mrs Jalopy when you need her? Aha! I think I hear the rumble of the trolley approaching and so its birthday Babychams all round and hangovers be damned!
Here’s to seeing the site continue to prosper and I look forward to it reaching drinking age so I can buy it a couple of bevvies in return for all its given to me.
Were I to write `Seven Years a Solver` in three chapters, Gaufrid, your name(or site)would head-line one of them – your generous Graun-tourage would therein be warmly thanked.
I guess `GUINESS` could be Chapter Three but hope it’s only Two…
I’m (not alone in being) grateful for years, to you.
db
x
Cheers, Gaufrid, and THANKS!
What baerchen said.
A very big thanks to you Geoff for keeping fifteensquared going for 11 years. One of life’s little pleasures to call in daily and enjoy the blogs and comments. May you, and the site, continue to thrive for many more years
Thanks from me too. As a York ‘regular’ I can confirm what a nice bunch they are.
To echo the above, this is a great site – thank you Geoff and All who contribute!
Thanks from me as well to Gaufrid, and to all who contribute to the site – setters, bloggers, commenters. I have learned lots from 225 – not just about how to get better at cryptics, but about shedloads of other stuff as well. And I have made many new friends, both online and in the flesh, through the site. Long may it continue, with Geoff to guide us and keep us in order.
What Kathryn’s Dad said, exactly.
Yes, I echo KDs comment @31; I would never have got into pleasantly using so much of my time without this assistance.
What Kathryn’s Dad and others said. Keep up the good work!
Ditto all above. I’d be lost without this wonderful site. Long may it continue!
One thing I am really grateful for is when the blogger (thanks to all of them!) and/or the responders say something like “Had a bit of trouble with the bottom left corner” or “Could not parse 15A” and I think “YES! me too, so I am not as thick as I thought”
Many happy returns!
A belated hearty handclasp from me too. Thank you for all the fun and enlightenment.
Congratulations Gaufrid, and to all who have contributed to fifteensquared over the years, from an early slogger, now better – which is, coincidentally, what the site has made the cruciverbal world immeasurably. Cheers!
Mick/Morph/Micawber.
Thanks to you, Gaufrid, and all who contribute to this marvellous site, which has unlocked the door to a new wing in the mansion of my life.
I am another dedicated and very grateful follower. I have learned so much from all you solvers and bloggers. Entertaining too. The only drawback is that I am sometimes tempted to seek help here before trying that bit harder on my own. Many thanks to all, many happy returns
You’ve enriched many lives with this site – mine included, and I shall always be grateful. Here’s to the next 11 years.
Happy aaniversary..
Giggle…anniversary
Geoff/Gaufrid,
I’m chiming in late (but better than never) to add my congratulations on the anniversary and my sincere thanks for all you do, and to echo the sentiments expressed so beautifully by the other commenters above.
I began visiting this site only a few years ago (for the first year or more as a lurker only), but in that short time this site has helped me expand my understanding of, deepen my enjoyment of, intensify my love for, and greatly improve my skill at, solving cryptic crosswords (pretty much exclusively the Guardian Cryptic, up to this point). The blogs and commentary on this site provide not only great explanations of definitions, parsings and wordplay, but also — and this is something invaluable to a non-UK solver like me — the chance to learn about and appreciate the societal and cultural references and nuances in the setters’ offerings that would otherwise elude me completely, even if I managed to get the right answers to some or all of the clues. And besides, as others have noted above, the blogs and commentary routinely contain so many sparkling, lively, informative and entertaining observations that coming here after solving a puzzle is a pleasurable pastime unto itself. For me, fifteensquared is like “Enjoy the Guardian Cryptic – squared”!
So thank you thank you thank you again for all you do to make this site possible, and thanks also to the wonderful bloggers and commentators. It is so nice to be able to share a passion and enthusiasm for crosswords among (in cyberspace anyway) a group of like-minded people. I hope you and this site will celebrate many, many more happy anniversaries in years to come.
Me @43
Haha, by “like-minded people” I am referring merely to our all being crossword lovers. The commentary in every blog proves that we all have our unique solving styles and approaches, and sometimes widely divergent interpretations of clues and opinions of what constitutes an enjoyable solving experience.
@DaveMc
Pretty obvious observation, but branching out into the (free) Indy and FT crosswords, also blogged on this excellent site, would be my red hot tip…
Congratulations and a big thank you Gaufrid for running a forum largely free from trolls, Trumpesque capital letters, and which stays pretty much on topic. A sane refuge in an increasingly mad world.
Also echo what Baerchen just wrote.
What jmac@46 and everyone else has said. Life would be poorer without my daily visit to the site.
Happy Birthday to 15^2. Its been an awesome experience to have been part of this community. Special shout out to Geoff for being the Force to keep things moving. And of course, thanks to all the Setters, Bloggers and Transit Passengers … really do hope to make it to one of the S&B events in 2018.
Regards,
Turbolegs / Mahesh