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Spoffy - this I think is partly because the Telegraph is reluctant to engage with solvers through sites such as 15squared. Do please pass your concerns on; I know from my own correspondence that there are many solvers who, like you, enjoy the puzzles but don't submit an entry.

Ifor

spoffy/ifor - EV does pretty well for comments on this site (even more, on average, than AB managed when it had a regular core of EV solvers and a weekly thread).
I don't know why EV is so poorly represented on 15squared, but it's not a very welcoming place for people who post on live threads, so that's why I avoid it completely (I did so once, quite recently, but only because there were errors in the blog and they looked like they were there to stay).
I'll miss the puzzle - it's better now than it ever was.

Ifor - I understand what you're saying, but there's plenty of engagement with Big Dave's site, where all the other Telegraph crosswords are blogged. The lack of feedback on fifteensquared (or anywhere else) was the main reason I stopped setting EVs [drxx - that's probably why the EV is "better now than it ever was" ;-)]. Together with the reduction in the space allocated to the EV two or three years ago [the other reason why I stopped], I get the feeling that the EV is probably taking up column inches that the Telegraph would rather use for something else.

I'm very grateful to the EV for providing the first outlet for my cryptic crosswords, and if there's any thought among setters of keeping it going in some sort of paywall-free form after August (assuming that the Telegraph don't relent), I'd certainly be happy to participate.

Of course there is the little detail of where the EV appears - in the Telegraph!
I wouldn't discount a left-wing bias (have you noticed how much gets written on Guardian threads on 15squared? A lot! And that's just for the daily cryptic).

Thank you Ifor and Spoffy for your input and for the entertainment (and head scratching) you have provided with your puzzles. I just hope that enough people will make their views known and the the decision will be reversed. As far as the current one is concerned despite a full grid I am still struggling to find the twelfth unclued letter and the iconic phrase. Any hints about the latter would be more than welcome.

Got it now...so will disappear to kick myself.

drxx - point taken, but since the puzzles are, I believe, available separately through subscription I'm not convinced. Also, the Telegraph 'back page' puzzles often receive even more comments on Big Dave's site (over 100 for three of last week's) than the Guardian ones do on fifteensquared.

Let's hope that the EV can be saved and also given a boost to raise its public profile. It would be wonderful if more blocked puzzle solvers could be enticed to sample the delights of the barred genre, which isn't nearly as much of a leap as experienced blocked solvers who've never tried a barred puzzle often seem to imagine.

I think the reason Guardian crosswords get so many comments on 15squared is because they are freely available online. I remember once the puzzle section of the Guardian website wasn't working properly and people were moaning they couldn't get their daily crossword. Did it occur to them to go out and buy the newspaper instead?

Having said that I detect a very occasional left-wing bias on 15squared - the odd dig at Trump, the referendum or election result. But I never understand why the Inquisitor gets noticeably more comments than the EV. Maybe there is a prejudice against the Telegraph.

I was in brief correspondence with the editor of the EV a few years ago. I said I didn't enter any more because I'd won three times already. But he urged me to keep on submitting because they didn't get many entries and he wanted to prove that there was plenty of interest in it.

So we should do at least two things. Comment on 15squared and enter for a prize.

Orson, I think timing is also important. The Guardian blog on 15squared is normally published on the morning the puzzle comes out, so it's all very fresh in the minds of the readers.

This isn't true of the Inquisitor/EV, where most solvers will have tackled the puzzle more than a week earlier and may no longer feel as strongly about (or even remember) a dodgy wordplay or a particularly satisfying clue.

When I used to do an Azed blog on the Sunday morning that the puzzle came out I got a relatively high number of comments (nothing remotely like the 15squared Guardian levels, I hasten to add!), which was undoubtedly due in large part to its immediacy.

Yes, jacknatter - I think immediacy is a factor and helps to explain the popularity of the Guardian threads, but it doesn't explain the disparity between IQ and EV on 15squared (and the former is only available in the 'i' newspaper whereas EV can also be accessed online... via the Telegraph, of course).