The Stickler Weekly – One Year Down

One year down. How many to go, I wonder? The crossword landscape in general in Australia hasn’t changed at all over the last year and newspapers continue to be published, albeit in a very skinny form. I’m always looking for opportunities to get back into another newspaper, but openings are few and far between. I’ve had a little IT consulting work, but that has completely dried up now: my IT days seem over. My Australian Crosswords site that hosts The Stickler Weekly has seen some growth since the 6-month report, but nothing that makes me believe extra energy on my part would yield much improvement.

Here are some stats:

• Average unique website visitors – 4500 per month (up 1500)
• Number of people who contributed (over the last 6 months) – 8
• Number of people who bought a Boxed Set (over the last 6 months) – 9
• Average number who solved each Stickler Weekly (by downloading a PDF or solving online) – 200

I’m pleased with the growth in unique visitors and more people are doing the Stickler Weekly, but contributions haven’t matched these increased numbers. If you gave initially and are still solving on a weekly basis, or have started using my crosswords in crossword classes/solving groups, please consider a fresh contribution. I believe The Stickler Weekly puzzle, clue hints, worked solutions, and my weekly cryptic comment is the best value crossword stuff around.

I’ve been receiving 1000 spam posts per day, which are largely dealt with through a blog plug-in, but choke the website, use up space and bandwidth, and distort statistics. So it’s now no longer possible for you to comment on anything posted more than two weeks ago which isn’t a real problem as the general comment page is still available and protected by captcha. My email address is obviously still working for any crossword-related queries. This imposition shouldn’t inconvenience many as only a handful of people are regularly leaving comments.

Don’t forget to look at the Stickler Weekly solution each week to get your free dose of cryptic comment, and add some comments of your own. To see previous solutions (and cryptic comments), just scroll back through the posts, click on Solutions under The Stickler Weekly from the menu, or select Stickler Weekly Solutions in Categories on the right hand side of the blog.

I can’t seem to shake the urge to keep writing crosswords, so I’ll be continuing with the Stickler Weekly and its website accompaniments for as long as you’ll have me. If a miracle happens and I get a real job, crosswords may have to take a back seat.

How you can help at the moment:

• Tell people about the Stickler Weekly
• Leave comments, ask questions, make requests on the blog: get people talking about the Stickler Weekly
• Contribute financially
• Buy a Boxed Set (it would make a good Xmas present)

Thanks for doing The Stickler Weekly. Year two starts next week.

Best and thanks

David
The Stickler