Hosting Company Move – Update

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First of all, many thanks to all those who have offered to donate towards the hosting costs etc. I will let you know about the preferred method of payment in a day or two. It will probably be a case of my sending you a request via PayPal (you will not need a PayPal account in order to send your donation).

I have now heard that the transfer of the site to the new hosting company will start at around 9pm on Sunday (9th Dec.) so could I please ask that you stop adding any comments from 8pm onwards. The site will be closed just before the transfer commences but unfortunately I cannot give you a time when it will reopen since this depends on the performance of the current hosting company’s server which has been notoriously poor at times recently.

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Independent 8156/Scorpion

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A crossword with a theme that will not be approved of by everyone, since 8/12 should in some people’ s views be written out of history, certainly not given unwarranted publicity. Not perhaps … Read more >>

Guardian 25,810 – Pasquale

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It has been a long time since I last blogged The Don who remains faithfully Ximenean and fair in his clues. Today’s offering is just as entertaining and delightful as expected. This weekend, … Read more >>

Important Announcement

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In view of the problems experienced recently (slow/no access), and the similar situation at the beginning of the year, I have signed up with a new hosting company today. I am aiming to have the site transferred to the new server on Sunday (9th Dec). At this stage I do not know how long this will take but there is bound to be some downtime, however I will try to ensure that this is kept to a minimum.

Getting a better level of service and support obviously comes at a price. Since its inception the annual hosting and domain name renewal costs for Fifteensquared have been met by Neil Wellard, the site’s founder and former administrator. I do not think it is reasonable to expect him to dip further into his pocket for the benefit of us, the site’s users, so I am therefore seeking donations towards the hosting costs.

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Independent 8155 by Rorschach

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*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def, sp=spoonerism I struggled to get into this pop culture-heavy offering and thought one or two of the clues were pretty tricky (especially 1 across). There … Read more >>

Guardian 25,809 – Rufus

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Gentle start to the week from Rufus. 7 and 13 made me smile. Across 1 ORANGE-TIP =”Butterfly” [wiki] (operating)* 6 BAIT =”lure” IT=”sex appeal” after BA=”degree” 8 SCHOONER =”vessel” as in boat &lit … Read more >>

Everyman 3451/25 November

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Perhaps a more tricky Everyman than usual, but I’m interested to know what others think …         Abbreviations cd  cryptic definition dd  double definition (xxxx)*  anagram anagrind = anagram indicator … Read more >>

Azed 2112

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The first thing that struck me about this puzzle was the unusually open grid, with wide open unbarred spaces, especially in the NE and SW corners. The two 13-letter across answers have only … Read more >>