Sloggers and Betters 9 + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + What? The 9th “Sloggers and Betters” gathering for crossword setters and blog contributors and readers will take place in London, following on, as last year, from the annual lunch for Times setters.
Category Archives: Announcements
Bandwidth Problems
May 15, 2012 – 11:51 am
Bandwidth Problems
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Well, I thought 30gb was going to be enough bandwidth, but you all proved me wrong! I received an email at 5:20pm advising me that I had exceeded 80% of my bandwidth (actually it was 90%) so I immediately applied for an upgrade to unlimited bandwidth. Then at just after midnight 100% was reached. I have been given a day’s grace to process the upgrade, so all should be back to normal very soon.
The All New Toughie Crossword Book
May 9, 2012 – 1:14 pm
The All New Toughie Crossword Book
100 of the most difficult crosswords
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The Telegraph has just released two books of Toughie Crosswords, covering the first 200 Toughie puzzles. I was pleased to see that, in his Editor’s Note, Phil McNeill describes Elgar as being “known to his fans as ‘Vlad the Impaler’”. You read that here for the first time in a comment that I made back in July 2011.
Email Subscriptions
May 6, 2012 – 11:14 pm
Email Subscriptions
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Keep Informed
Big Dave’s Crossword Blog is happy to offer a free email subscription service, which allows users of the site to receive alerts by email when a new post is available.
This is a free service provided by Big Dave’s Crossword Blog. Your email address will only be used to deliver the requested information or to send occasional messages about the site. Your address will not be used for any other purpose.
Email Subscriptions
May 5, 2012 – 4:27 pm
Email Subscriptions
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Unfortunately it was not possible to transfer email subscriptions across to the new site, so it is necessary to resubscribe using the Email Subscription widgert in the sidebar.
Brave New World
May 1, 2012 – 6:30 pm
Brave New World
A leap into the dark!
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After having availed myself of the free hosting on WordPress.com, I have decided to take the plunge into unknown territory and transfer the hosting of the site to Evohosting, based in the UK. This transfer should take place soon after midnight, in time for a fresh start in the morning.
Down with ‘anagrinds’
April 30, 2012 – 12:16 pm
Down with ‘anagrinds’
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Not being a regular visitor to the Guardian website I have only just noticed Hugh Stephenson’s recent newsletters. Hugh is The Guardian’s crossword editor.
Northern Sloggers and Betters Meet
April 22, 2012 – 11:01 am
Thank you to everyone who came and made yesterday’s meet very convivial and pleasant. The venue was delightful (although food service was a bit slow!) and it could only be one of our gang who pointed out that the name of the bar, Bramsche, was an anagram of Chambers! It was of course Big Dave’s [...]
Northern Sloggers and Betters
April 20, 2012 – 10:00 am
Northern Sloggers and Betters
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Tomorrow sees the Northern Sloggers and Betters gathering which will be held at the Bramsche Bar in Todmorden, Rochdale Road from noon onwards. Big Dave and myself will be there along with a number of other setters and solvers. These meets are relaxed, friendly and very enjoyable. It would be great if you could come and join us. We would love to see you.
Here’s the venue: http://www.bramsche.co.uk. The bar is about 200 yards from Todmorden Rail Station and parking is just across the road or to the rear of the venue off Water Street.
Today’s Telegraph Toughie
April 20, 2012 – 8:49 am
Today’s Telegraph Toughie
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Today’s website Toughie is the puzzle that was inadvertently printed in some papers a week last Tuesday. The blog for this puzzle can be found here: http://bigdave44.com/2012/04/10/toughie-758/
If things change, we’ll update you!
Live Chat with Elgar
March 23, 2012 – 9:00 am
Live Chat with Elgar
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The Guardian is opening its doors this weekend to the public, as well as doing a number of Q&A events during the week. Araucaria and Paul will be there in person on Saturday. Elgar/Enigmatist is doing a Q&A session today on the Guardian Crossword thread run by Alan Connor from 1.00pm – 3.00pm.
Recent Update to Commenting
March 16, 2012 – 1:00 pm
Recent Update to Commenting
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Some of you have been having difficulty leaving comments recently. The following has been posted in the WordPress Help Forum. Please don’t ask why, it’s a mystery to me as well.
*** The Forum post has been updated over ther weekend ***
This site uses a custom domain name (see point 3 below).
Roger Squires’ 80th birthday lunch
March 12, 2012 – 1:59 pm
Roger Squires’ 80th birthday lunch
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There is an article about this party for Rufus on the Telegraph website. Click on the picture to link to the article, which tells you all of the names of those present.
A Big “Thank You” from Rufus
February 29, 2012 – 1:49 pm
The last ten days have been very busy, and very enjoyable, for me, and so many people have taken time and effort to make it so. From the February 18th surprise party at my local pub, to a family gathering last weekend in a Derbyshire farmhouse, via a reception at the Guardian on the Eve of my 80th birthday, I have been taken by surprise by the tremendous warmth and friendliness of people in the crossword world.
Surprise party
February 18, 2012 – 1:57 pm
Rufus (Roger Squires) at his surprise party to mark his 80th birthday. He does not know about the NTSPP yet!
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