A couple of vacancies

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Announcement
Dave Perry has been in touch, as he finds he no longer has the time available to contribute to the blog. As the regulars know, Dave had a stroke last year and reduced his (at the time prolific) blogging activity after he’d recovered to just alternate Sundays and one in five Jumbos. However, he now spends most of his spare time at the gym or out running (putting the rest of us to shame I imagine), rather than solving crosswords.

So, we have two three (see below) spots to fill:

Alternate Sundays (starting from today by the looks of it) – thanks keriothe and nick_the_novice;
Jumbos ending with 0 or 5: first blog would be next Saturday for Jumbo 1135.

Jerry has also asked to be excused, so there’s another vacancy for the Cryptic on alternate Wednesdays – maybe pipkirby might consider taking it on weekly? Jerry’s happy to do this week (4th March) but can’t continue after that.

OK, it looks like the new schedule will be like this (please shout if you any glaring errors):

Sundays already sorted with keriothe and nick_the_novice doing alternate weeks;
Wed Cryptic: pipkirby every week
Wed Quickie: william_j_s alternating with nick_the _novice
Fri Quickie: pipkirby every week
Jumbo xx0/xx5: mohn2

I’ll update the Calendar accordingly later. Thanks to all the volunteers.

22 comments on “A couple of vacancies”

  1. Glad to hear Dave’s OK. I don’t mind taking the other Sunday if there aren’t any other takers. It will save me the fortnightly worry that I’ve forgotten to do it!
    I’ll put something together quickly for last week’s.

    Edited at 2015-03-01 10:35 am (UTC)

  2. Also happy to help out if that would assist. I generally knock the Sunday over OK (albeit at pedestrian pace) and enjoy the blogging experience on the QC.

    If the community likes having a benchmark time from the blogger then I am most definitely not your man. If on the other hand the community would tolerate the exuberance of the enthusiastic amateur then I’d be delighted to assist.

    1. Thanks Nick, that’s just fine by me. I’ve already started one for this week so I might as well finish it but why don’t you take over from there.
      1. Crikey – that was quick! Thanks for your vote of confidence Keriothe: happy to run with it.

        However, just want confirmation that the folks are happy to have a nets bowler taking the new ball in a high profile game…

        Edited at 2015-03-01 11:16 am (UTC)

        1. “just want confirmation that the folks are happy to have a nets bowler taking the new ball in a high profile game…”

          Don’t see why not. England do it all the time.

          Seriously, I think you would be an outstanding addition to the regular crew, Nick, and a nice pairing with keriothe.

          on edit: forgot to say, glad to hear Dave P is doing well.

          Edited at 2015-03-01 11:54 am (UTC)

        2. Looks like you’re up, Nick! I suggest you start with this week’s puzzle – i.e. next week’s blog – if that’s OK?
  3. good for you nick – looking forward to your blog. very glad to hear dave is ok. i leave all the gym stuff to husband.
  4. Unfortunately I have to give up blogging as well, and also for personal reasons of one sort or another. Andy, I’ve sent you a couple of emails.

    I will carry on with the Club monthly, but there will be a Wednesday slot coming free…

    1. very sorry to hear that jerry but glad that like the cheshire cat you aren’t vanishing altogether. andy, i’m approaching the time of year when i’m gone half the time so i can’t really sign on as a regular but would be very happy to pinch hit if needed.
  5. I am happy to double up my Wednesday Cryptics, from fortnightly (i.e. 2 weekly, for those abroad), to weekly. But would then ask someone else to take on the Quick Cryptic on those Wednesdays (I currently do Wed and Fri Quickies in the week I don’t do the main Cryptic; am happy to go on doing a Friday quickie every other week, or give those up if there’s a demand from new bloggers).

    Let me know ASAP. Jerry would you ever still be available as my occasional sub as now?

    1. Pip, I would be happy to cover for you as and when required, as long as I am available..
      1. Another thought, Andy / William – if william_j_s would swap his Friday quickie slot to Wednesday of the same week, I would then be doing Wed cryptic and Friday quickie every week, which would be fine by me.
        1. I’m happy to do that, if it will help.

          I too could move to weekly if required, but can’t commit to doing more than one in any given week (pip, I don’t know where you get your stamina from!).

          If a more qualified solver is not forthcoming, I could also give *0/*5 jumbos a go, given that I’d have two weekends to solve them.

          Edited at 2015-03-03 06:49 pm (UTC)

  6. Just to say thank you to all the bloggers on this site. It’s made the difference between me not really even being able to start most puzzles, to really enjoying trying to sort it all out and not always having to resort to aids to complete. Not the most grammatical sentence ever written but you get my drift!
  7. Yes, thanks from me too, I really appreciate the time and effort put in by all the bloggers. Janie x
  8. Not sure if you already have enough bods, Andy, but if not and you don’t get any better offers, then I could do a Jumbo slot.
  9. Minor not for the calendar, Andy: Nick is doing this week’s which means I am effectively doing the Sundays that Dave was doing before.
  10. Only just saw this but if you ever need more help you can always count on me to fill in. Though I expect people may be sick of my voice already given the amount of verbiage I can sometimes produce on a Friday…
  11. I missed the week’s discussion, but hope it’s not too late to say that it’s good to hear Dave is OK. I’m looking forward to the new blogging teams, though of course sorry to see the old ones stepping down.

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