T4TT 10th Anniversary

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Announcement
As I mentioned a while ago, this blog was first started by Pete Biddlecombe on 3rd December 2005, so we’re going to try to have a party in London on Saturday 5th December to celebrate (I don’t think a Thursday night would be suitable). I’ve had a word with the manager of The George Inn at Southwark (same place we went to during and after the Times Crossword Championships), and although he can’t let us have exclusive use of the room that close to Christmas, he’s happy to host the event and has agreed to reserve a few tables for the afternoon. It’s an ideal spot about 100 yards from London Bridge tube station, and just around the corner from the Times offices.

I’ll be getting there about midday and will hope to see a lot of you during the afternoon and evening. Everyone’s invited and I hope there’ll be a few setters and bloggers (or sloggers and betters) turning up. The invitation’s also extended to everyone at Fifteensquared and Big Dave’s blogs so we should get a good crowd of crossword enthusiasts.

There’s also a small satellite event planned in New York City being organized by paul_in_london, vinyl1 and oliviarhinebeck, so if anyone else who’s going to be on the US East Coast then wants to meet up with them, drop Paul a message on LJ for the details.

Let me know if you’re planning to come along so I get an idea of numbers.

NB: There’s a nice write-up on the Guardian website about us: http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/crossword-blog/2015/nov/30/crossword-blog-10-years-of-crossword-blogging.

53 comments on “T4TT 10th Anniversary”

  1. Hi Andy,

    Unfortunately this clashes with my younger daughter’s birthday weekend so I won’t be able to make it down. I’ll raise a glass of something at an appropriate part of the day and look out for “hamster” or “sidekick” being an answer in that day’s puzzle.

    1. My younger daughter’s birthday weekend is always the same one as the Champs! But I still manfully abandon my family to do my crossword duty…

      Hope to be there on Dec 5th, Andy.

  2. In your earlier posting on this subject, Andy, you mentioned the possibility of bespoke crosswords for the occasion. Any update on that, and will any such item(s) be available for the NYC group?
    3. Hi Olivia,
      Are you in the market for a (second?) crossword for your NY get-together? I have set one, uploaded at:
      www-dot-dropbox-dot-com-slash-sh-slash-9khrbnr2pz5sgpa-slash-AACfFSrNrhBcij7PLsPNmtQga?dl=0
      (web address written strangely else it’s marked as spam).
      I’m just an amateur, so it’s not great, but I get a lot of enjoyment reading this blog and felt I’d like to give something back.
      Regards,
      Rob aka Isla
      1. Hello Isla. I haven’t been able to make it work. Could you send the link and we’ll ask Andy to unspam it. Thank you.
          1. Sorry Rob, LJ marked your message to me as “suspicious” and didn’t bother to tell me about it, so I’ve only just picked it up! I’ll make sure I look at it tonight.

            Thanks,
            Andy

            1. Thanks Rob – I printed it without looking so didn’t notice (might not have noticed even then!). I went to print the solution and I see it has 4 pages which seem to include comments on the clues is that right? – I think I’ll just bring the solution page with me and forward the rest to the attendees after we get together tomorrow. Ok with you?
              1. No problems, yours to do whatever you want with. All those comments as I’m accustomed to explaining/justifying clues to the crossword editor. Which is you in this case – if you reckon any clues need changing or you can see obvious improvements, there’s probably still time 😉
                Regards,
                Rob
  4. Good idea. I’d have loved to join you, but I’m in St Andrews with a 3-year-old and a new baby – both mine, I hasten to add – so it’s not going to happen. Hope you have a great time!
  5. I will be there (in London), barring the unforeseen..

    Any chance of a transatlantic Skype I wonder?

    2. Hi Andy
      No easy way to do Skype I’m afraid. But that was a good idea.

      Glad, glheard, we’re picking up interest.

      I will only point out once that NY is the closest opportunity for those in Cornwall, New Zealand, Oz, HK, and possibly those near to Heathrow.

      1. Well, you guys do insist on living in these third-world countries! 😉 In the UK most pubs have free wi-fi so anyone with an iPad (or other tablet device, or even any fairly recent mobile phone) can Skype to their heart’s content.

        Is that really not the case in NYC?

        1. I haven’t been in touch with him for a while, but Ilan Caron (former contributor, you can still find him doing Azeds on fifteensquared) was working in NYC as of a few years ago.
          1. Just checked Facebook to let him know – but he’s currently living in Israel. Bit of a long haul for a piss-up! 🙂
  9. I hope to look in for a couple of hours on the 5th. Thanks for all your comments on my various puzzles during the year.
    John Grimshaw
  10. Thanks for the link to the Guardian article.

    On the subject of actuaries, my favourite actuarial joke has to be the bumper sticker, “Actuaries probably do it.”

    2. I think that I have shared before with Jimbo (an actuary) that in my world, Actuaries were trainee Chartered Accountants who had to pack it in as they could not stand the excitement
  11. I’ll be coming along – not least to renew my acquaintance with ‘The George’. I did reply previously but the comments seem to have been ‘refreshed’? Thanks for the Guardian article.
  13. Idiot! I see I did that already on 27 Nov – memory failing now I’m drawing my old-age pension, it seems!

    John Grimshaw

    1. I remember seeing the Nina about that very recently. I didn’t realise it happened that fast!

      See you on Saturday. 🙂

  17. My greetings to all who attend tomorrow’s celebration. I shall be celebrating my wife’s return from a week in Canada.
    As with all blogs, a setter has to put up with everything from the sublime to the ridiculous. We all appreciate praise and can even take reasonable criticism on the chin — and we laugh when someone adds 15 seconds to their time while they blow their nose or make up from momentary slumber. But most of all one appreciates the voluntary work of those who seek to educate new solvers. This is a new way to learn how clues are constructed. And mercifully, vitriol is not to be seen. So — well done, enjoy yourselves and keep up the good work! Don
    1. Cheers, Don. Critics are a sure sign that the thing they witter about is worth something. Though, like Rotten Tomatoes, the approval of the discerning general public (commenters here) is a better guide than the so-called experts (bloggers here), in my book.

      From a glorified commenter.

  18. Delighted I stumbled across news of this meetup. Is it still happening in NYC tomorrow? And if so can someone private message me about it? Thanks!!
    1. Obvious. Bag over the head.

      Regretfully I cannot make it but I hope that all who get there (and to NYC) have a great time so best Christmas wishes to all.

  21. Thanks Andy and all for a really enjoyable event and great company! Finished one of the specially prepared puzzles on the way home – still have much of the other to do though…

    – Tim –

    1. I’d second those thoughts – it was a most enjoyable afternoon’s gathering

      I bet I know which puzzle you finished and which you still had to work on – I finished the second one this morning after my brain had kindly worked on the clues I couldn’t get while I was asleep.

      1. I wish my brain did that! At least I can say I finished it this morning (sitting here typing at 11.55a.m.!) I liked 18ac and 28ac.

        Finally I have an excuse for part of my tardiness and hence would like to propose Encota’s Rule 1 of Crossword Solving:

        1) Never put the Answer to 25ac into the Grid at 27ac. [ There may well be a way to generalise this rule 😉 ]

        – Tim –

  22. I’ll leave it to Paul – our excellent host – to make his report, but our New York group completely lost the plot with 20d in the professional puzzle. I think I have it now but can’t parse it. It’s a word I don’t know at all and wouldn’t have got without a word-search when I got home afterwards. One of us had a very creative and entertaining suggestion however! Looking forward to the blog on these puzzles and the London event generally.

Comments are closed.