I am reluctant to post this because I don’t want to detract from the sad announcement regarding the passing of David Crossland (Dac) and it doesn’t seem right to celebrate after such unwelcome news.
However, today is the twelfth anniversary of the creation of Fifteensquared, the first post being one by neildubya (the site’s founder), a blog of a Janus puzzle in the Guardian on 1/11/06.
I would like to thank all contributors, bloggers and those who post comments, past and present, for their input in making this site what it is today, a resource for new solvers and an informed discussion (for the most part) about the cryptic crosswords that we cover each day.
Congratulations Geoff
It’s an amazing site and I’m so glad to have found it a few years ago. It has certainly re-aroused my passion for the English paper cryptic crossword. Through the blogs and the community in general, it has really brought a human side to the pastime of doing the daily puzzle. I’m sure it would be a wondrous help to any newcomers to the game and still find myself needing to ‘check the logic’ from time to time with some clues.
I can only hope that it continues for many more years to come! Thank you again for your work in keeping it going.
Gratters all round. Echoing brucew@aus, this site has entertained and inspired me – long may it continue.
Congratulations – long may this site continue
What crypticsue said
It is always interesting to visit this site. Thank you.
Congratulations, Geoff. You’re doing a great job. And I’m sure Dac wouldn’t mind – he didn’t comment here, but I know he was a fan.
Congratulations and long may you continue. This site has come to my rescue on countless occasions and the comments have provided much entertainment. It is a good deed in a naughty world.
In the days before fifteensquared I often used to wish that the published solutions to crosswords would include explanations of the clues. Then one day I was struggling with one clue in the Indy crossword; I had all the crossing letters but the only way to fill the blanks that looked like a sensible word wasn’t in my outdated Chambers. So I googled to see if the word existed and the first reference that came up was to that day’s blog on fifteensquared! And since then there haven’t been many days when I haven’t visited the site, even if only as a lurker.
So congratulations and keep up the good work.
this site is a great resource. As a solver there are always new things which need explaining and I’m grateful to the smarter than your average baerchen for pointing out little tidbits which I mght otherwise have missed.
Also, as a fairly new setter it is extremely useful to receive helpful criticism from the fifteensquared community so thanks to Gaufrid and everyone who takes the trouble to post an observation
Congratulations! And long may it continue.
I started a daily Guardian cryptic a couple of years ago – tricky at first but I persevered thanks to this site – always informative and entertaining.
Many Thanks.
All the best things are born on November 1st! Congratulations on the anniversary – keep up the (very) good work.
Congratulations for 12 years of this invaluable site.
12 years of fun, keep it up and sorry to learn about the passing away of David Crossland. l rarely comment here on 15 squared but read the blog daily. l am Chadwick Ong’ara of Kenya.
Well it has been a fun few years blogging here. I’m taking a haitus for a while. This site has introduced us to many great friends and for that alone thanks for the privilege of blogging here. I’ve enjoyed it even in the Nimrod ‘oh god not again’ days
Great to mark another anniversary. I was delighted to have been blogging on this site from the very start. I don’t think we would ever have envisaged then how many would be involved in it as it has turned out. Many thanks to Gaufrid without whom as they say… Also thanks to neildubya for the original vision.
Wonderful site for learners like me
Happy to endorse all the above comments
15² means a lot to me – I sometimes reflect on what a lonely exercise cryptic solving would be if I didn’t have this connection. Of course it might still be satisfying to tackle the crosswords, but understanding the parsing of the solutions is such a bonus. The comments on the blog always broaden my thinking. For an introvert like me, it is important to be able to connect with like-minded people online. I enjoy the robust debates, the tangents and even the disagreements. I learn so much from the site. I am grateful to all those who participate and keep it going, but especially to Geoff and the bloggers for their fidelity to our world-wide solving community. As a relative “newbie” I would like to offer my congratulations on a milestone anniversary.
Congratulations on another year. I think I first posted a comment in 2014, and since then I have always enjoyed reading other solvers’ experiences of the crosswords – for most of that time on the Guardian thread. I don’t often need help with solutions, but I very often need help with explanations, which come primarily from the bloggers but are amplified, and sometimes even supplied, by other solvers posting here. The design and format of the site make it effortlessly readable. Keep it up!
What Andy from Oz said. As a relative newcomer, the 225 blog is one of the pleasures of my day; wit, erudition, threads of gk and discussion about a great range of subjects. Long may it live!
Sad news about Dac (I’ve often, until the Indy turned off its rollers, pointed newer solvers to any Wednesday issue in full confidence that they would find an accessible Dac – unfailingly a beautiful work of cut-glass perfection.) A class act.
Speaking of which, my particular thanks must go to Gaufrid/Geoff who manages this site (and us!) with just the right mix of light touch and occasional sternness….like a rather smart, avuncular headmaster. Without his management who knows whether fifteensquared would have thrived as it has while remaining one of the more pleasant meeting places in cyberspace.
Congratulations to us all!!
[btw – I’ve wondered before: is neildubya related to our current NeilW?]
Many thanks Geoff, and many Happy Returns to 225. May it continue to go from strength to strength.
I’ll be sure to raise a glass at the Times event in London tomorrow, to you and to Dac.
Congratulations on reaching that milestone, here’s to the next 12. 225 continues to be an invaluable resource.
Congratulations. I’ve started recommending 225 to friends in the US who want to get started with UK cryptic crosswords. It certainly made a huge difference to me and continues to be source of enlightenment and fun.
I keep forgetting that fifteensquared is exactly 52 years younger than me.
Will I still need you, will I still read you, when I’m 76?
(With apologies to Sir Paul)
Keep up the good work.
Happy Birthday to all the 15^2 community. One of the few truly friendly oases on the WWW.
As multos annos
Waited til the 3rd to share my own Beetles landmark birthday. (‘Will you still need me…?’ Which I do). Hope the site lives long enough to match it. I’ll be long gone but hope & trust this pleasantly pointless pastime continues long into the future.
Congratulations, and Thanks, Gaufrid.
I must be one of many who don’t finish/give up on the solving until the next day. Usually with the morning tea in bed! By this time the regulars are already posting on the latest puzzle. This means however that I get to see the majority of comments all in one go. So I don’t post but do enjoy lurking around this wonderful site. Many thanks Gaufrid and all who post.
As an American who discovered cryptics by accident and quite literally doesn’t know a single other person on the planet who does them, it is not an understatement to say that there’s no way I’d still be doing them if not for this site and the amazing and patient bloggers and commenters who give their time and energy to educate me. I am so grateful to Gaufrid and to all of you!