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Inquisitor 1500 – Manchester Gathering – 22nd July 2017

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08/07/17 – an update from John

All looks to be shaping up nicely for the event. As far as I can make out from postings and replies, our numbers will include all four members of the blogging team (from around 2:30pm), our proof-solving team and over a dozen compilers. With solvers, WAGs and HABs looking to be well-represented, it should be a pleasant mix.

Please follow these instructions:

1 Pre-noon: Buy the i.

2 Noon, enter pub. Grab a pint (or similar), a puzzle (or two) and a name badge.

3 Mingle, engage in solving, banter and revelry.

4 Go to 3.

I have reserved the downstairs area from noon until 7pm. See you there!

A message from John Henderson (Enigmatist):

I’d very much like to invite Inquisitor solvers to The Vine Inn in Kennedy Street in Manchester on July 22nd for a gathering to mark the publication of the 1500th puzzle in the Inquisitor series. As far as I’m aware, it will be the first such celebration of this puzzle which, over the years, has undergone several changes of name (and numbering!). All four of our regular bloggers will be in attendance, together with the members of the checking team and several compilers, so it will be an opportunity for solvers to find out more about behind-the-scenes goings-on.

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Sloggers & Betters – Macclesfield – Friday 7th & Saturday 8th July 2017

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26/6/17 – An update from Dean:

We don’t really do a final call for these things, but this is just a reminder to let me know if you intend to join your fellow solvers/setters in Macclesfield on 7th/8th July.

Friday evening includes musical entertainment in the form of a disco/funk/soul/Motown covers band, and on Saturday there will be a Q&A session featuring a trio of established editors/setters.

Timings:

Friday’s music will start at 9-ish but everyone is welcome from 5pm.

The Saturday Q&A will start around 2pm and continue for as long as people have questions!

The Snowgoose is open for breakfast from 8:30am, so Saturday is an all-dayer. The Q&A session is the only part which has a start time, but even this is movable depending on the vibe on the day.

The Snowgoose has an eclectic menu of its own (vegetarians are well catered for) but there are restaurant alternatives nearby. The venue – on Sunderland St – is also very close to Macclesfield railway station and a Travelodge; both within 5 minutes’ walk.

A message from Dean Mayer (Anax, Elkamere, Loroso)

As for last year’s debut event, this will be held at the lovely Alpine-themed Snowgoose Cafe on Sunderland Street. This is within 5 minutes’ walk of the railway station and Travelodge.

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Server Problem

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There appears to be a problem with the server at the moment. Apologies if you are experiencing long page loading times and/or HTTP500 errors. I am pursuing this issue with the hosting company. … Read more >>

Manual Refresh

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A further update: As indicated in my comment #7, this problem was caused by the addition of some text to one of the site’s configuration files last week in an attempt to mitigate … Read more >>

Server Migration – Sunday 5th March

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Update: The site has now moved to its new home. Unfortunately the downtime was not minimal (~1½ hours), my apologies for that. However, the new IP appears to have propagated quickly so I hope all is well. If you encounter any problems during the next few day please let me know either via email (admin{at}fifteensquared{dot}net) or by adding a comment below.

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Site Response Times & Display Errors

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Update: I am now confident that the response time issue will be resolved before next Monday (the extended page loading times are most prevalent at the beginning of the week) because the hosting company has now accepted that other accounts on the shared server are affecting its performance.

A number of people have mentioned that, since Tuesday morning, they been unable to access the site or have needed to refresh a page before it displays correctly (i.e. the home page has all the latest post summaries and individual posts have all the comments). Some server modifications were made on Monday evening to try to rectify, or at least reduce, the response time issue but the hosting company has informed me that these should not have caused the access/display problems. If you continue to have access or display problems please let me know either via email (admin{at}fifteensquared{dot}net) or by adding a comment below. I would also be interested in receiving details of any problems experienced during the last couple of days.

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Inside No 9 – 28/2/17

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I have received the following from Alan Conner (the blue italics are my additions):

“A quick heads-up to say that there’s a programme on BBC Two tomorrow (28/2/17 at 10pm) which I suspect will be of interest to all people 225. It’s a one-off episode of Inside No 9 (a 30 minute dark comedy): the lead character is a cryptic setter (Professor Squires) who is visited by a woman called Nina, and the whole thing is based around a puzzle. (Disclosure: I feature briefly and needlessly in the credits as “crossword consultant” or similar.)” 

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Today’s FT – Io

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A post covering this puzzle will appear in due course. The scheduled blogger had to go out to a hospital appointment before he was able to finish his solve (well, it was a little … Read more >>

Categories FT

Azed 2330 – Rescheduled

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Because the closing date for entries has been extended by a week, the blog for this puzzle has been rescheduled and will now appear next Sunday (19th Feb).

Inquisitor Review of 2016 – The Results

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Whodunnit?

Take away the “Where’s my prize?” and “No i at the newsagent’s today, please would you send IQ” emails from my inbox, and there are still a significant number of correspondents bemoaning harsh difficulty levels. I find this quite hard to fathom, particular in the year just past.

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East Midlands S & B in Nottingham – Saturday 13th May

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Update 2/5/17:

Thank you to all those who have indicated that you will be coming to the Nottingham S & B on 13th of this month.

We have been informed that we will need to vacate the area in the Pitcher and Piano allocated to us by 5.30pm. Several people have suggested that they might move on to other hostelries in the evening anyway and we can suggest some venues for those who are not familiar with the city.

For those who have expressed interest in the walking tour, please meet Bert (Chris) at the Costa Coffee booth in the main concourse of Nottingham train station at around 11am. The walk is likely to take about an hour. If you arrive earlier and have some time to kill, there is an outdoor photographic exhibition in Station Street just outside the concourse – photographs of Britain from the Air. If you are not arriving by train, and are perhaps using one of the Park and Tram services from the M1 Junction 24 or 26, the trams all stop at Nottingham Station, with a short walk to the main concourse.

Joyce (Lynette) will be meeting and greeting at the Pitcher and Piano from 11.30.

If anyone needs more information on finding the venue, please add a comment and we will try to help!

Looking forward to meeting everyone.

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An announcement from Bertandjoyce (Chris and Lynette)

Peter and Eileen have agreed to hand over this year’s East Midlands S & B to us. The event will be held on Saturday 13th May at the Pitcher and Piano on High Pavement on the edge of the Lacemarket area, approx 10 minutes walk (or one tram stop) from Nottingham station. There are Park and Ride facilities using either the tram system or buses for those travelling by car.

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