I’m announcing this rather later than usual, for which I apologise. For two reasons, S & B 7 will take place on Wednesday 1st December.
The first reason is that “Uncle Yap”, who writes here and on the Times blog, is visiting relatives in the UK and would like to get together with other solvers and setters again.
The second reason is a 5th anniversary – the first “Times for the Times” posting appeared on 2 December 2005 – as far as I know this was the first regular blog about a national paper in the UK. My reason for not having the get-together on the 2nd is that we’ve had the last two or three on Thursdays and at least once someone has said “I can’t do Thursdays”.
Location: The Salisbury, Leicester Square, London – from about 6 pm officially, but I know some will be there earlier. I haven’t worried about a restaurant for dining, but there are plenty of choices around there for those who don’t fancy the pub’s offerings.
If you haven’t been to one of these before and wonder what goes on: some solvers, bloggers and setters meet in a pub and can happily talk shop all night with no risk of boring people rigid.
And if you’re thinking “not London again?”, I believe there are moves afoot to have a Sloggers and Betters meeting somewhere north of Watford Gap.
Thanks, Peter. There are no secrets on 225, are there?
I know you’ll have a great get together next month, but just to confirm that the feet have indeed moved and there will be a similar, lunchtime, event in Derby on Saturday 29th January 2011 (with several high profile setters already confirmed!) I’m just checking out some venues this weekend and then with Gaufrid’s help hope to have a post up early next week with the details.
Derby, Leicester Square … no contest.
Have fun on the 1st.
I’ll try to make both, depends on work for the London one as Wednesdays are usually bad for me. Still would be good to get know who we really are and who we battle against.
Hi Peter
It’s not just the rather short notice, nor even the metropolitan venue that make it just a little bit difficult for those of us North of Watford. The main thing is, I think, [certainly as far as I am concerned] the evening timing, which makes things difficult for those without conveniently based London friends for an over-night stop.
Some of us are hoping that a mid-day event, at the weekend, might be accessible to a wider range of solvers and setters. We’d really love to see you in Derby! 🙂
The Derby date is a firmly fixed diary date for me, but fingers crossed I might make London too – tentative arrangements in place for a visit to IOW so might get to London if I make a week of it.
Either date makes it incredibly difficult for those of us who do not exist. Drat.
Devolution of S and B ?
Are there enough Irish participants to make an event in Belfast, Derry or Dublin worthwhile?
I know Bannsider and Crucible are Irish and there as are several contributors to 225.
A group of us do meet every Saturday during the day, in a different pub each week — usually somewhere in London, but sometimes further afield; for example, on 4 December we will be in Hatfield. The size of the group varies from week to week, from three or four up to a dozen or more, and some people just drop by for an hour or so. All crossword-minded people are welcome. If you would like to be put on the mailing list, contact me at jane dot teather at jetdoc dot co dot uk. We will bear Derby in mind as our venue for 29 Jan.
Looking forward to seeing some of you on 1 December.
I’m happy to meet in any of these but I think Bannsider, despite his origins in the auld sod, is based in the UK. Virgilius/Brendan was home quite recently but has probably returned to the US. If we could track down willing solvers then who knows?
I will attend this and look forward to meeting solvers, bloggers, setters, and anyone else interested in crosswords.
Hi stiofain,
I live about 16km from Derry so I’d definitely be interested.
One of the highlights of my visit to London in Spring 2009 was the Meet so kindly arranged by the indefatigable Peter B and what a night we had.
John Henderson, a party life-wire, so full of humour (unlike his dour Nimrod tormentor); Big Dave and Beermagnet, so huge in stature but so gentle in demeanour; Mike Law, so puny in body size but probably packing more grey cells than red and a most amusing guy; Paul McKenna (Jason) who looked more like a deboniar Hollywood film star than a wordsmith; and of course, a carrot top lady to whom I was so tempted to say. “Me Tarzan, you Jane”
It was a fun-filled night and I am really looking forward to the next ; this time maybe The Don, Eimi ?
oops, live wire
John is so electrifying that he even got me to misspell 🙂
Sorry! I will try to get to one sometime, but Christmas choir rehearsals become rather pressing at this time of year. Don
I’ll be there from work around 7.45, look forward to seeing you all.
The Derby date will be in my diary as soon as I buy one! Looking forward to it.
I wouldn’t have a problem getting to London-base events (from the North-east), if only there was a bit more notice, so that train tickets could be blagged at a more reasonable price.
Chance I could make this, esp. to spend more time with Uncle Yap. Depends how I pull up after the Grauniad thing tomorrow night. …and the weather! Two trips into town from the M25 on successive nights may be pushing it.
Might not make it through weather and work, even though I’ve wanted to attend one of these for years.
Fwiw, the Salisbury is a cracking pub with an amazing interior, top-notch manager and a lot of history. Great choice.
It’s a great pity we can’t comment on this in the main page. Why has this entry been moved?
Am sorry that I missed this one. I trust that a good time was had by all, and I hope that I’ll be able to come along to similar events in the future, if only occasionally.
Paul B: I guess the entry has been moved because it’s about something in the past. It’s still easy to find if you choose the “Announcements” category at top left.
RatkojaRiku: it was, and I’m sure we’ll have another sometime in the new year.