Word of the Day:RONDEL(48D Chaucer's "Merciless Beauty," for example) —
A rondel is a verse form originating in Frenchlyrical poetry, later used in the verse of other languages as well, such as English and Romanian. It is a variation of the rondeau consisting of two quatrains followed by a quintet (13 lines total) or a sestet
(14 lines total). The rondel was invented in the 14th century, and is
arguably better suited to the French language than to English. It is not
to be confused with the roundel, a similar verse form with repeating refrain.
• • •
Merciless Ambiguity
Your Number Five Puzzle will stump me suddenly;
Their wordplay mocks me who was once overweening;
Straight through its heart the long Down mocking, mean.
Only the right word will fill the injury
To my split grid, while yet the clock is running -
Your Number Five Puzzle will stump me suddenly;
Their wordplay mocks me who was once overweening.
Upon this clue, I tell you faithfully
My life and death in this contest does depend;
For with this fill the whole grid shall be seen.
Your Number Five Puzzle will stump me suddenly;
Their wordplay mocks me who was once overweening;
Straight through its heart the long Down mocking, mean.
Today, the contestants in Brooklyn for the ACPT stake out a chair, sharpen their pencils, get one last cup of coffee, make one last pit stop, array their lucky talismans, and launch into the official competition puzzles. It's been all socials and gladhanding up to now, but the tiger awakens when the timer starts and you hear the whoosh of five hundred sheets of paper being flipped simultaneously. Some tear into the puzzle like wild animals and propel themselves to the upper echelons. Some falter when a crucial answer will not come. A few doodle in the margins and plan to work their puzzles after the convention so they can savor them more. But none of them will have time for this extra newspaper puzzle.
Ha, ha! See what I did there? I was kidding. Every Single One Of Them will at least
attempt this puzzle before the competition begins. Most of them solved
it last night. A few of them have already posted to their blogs about it while I am sitting here typing.
Nevertheless, I think Mr. Shortz decided to go easy on us Average JOEs (31A Mud) while the serious solvers are at the tournament. I always know I have a fair chance when I see Mr. Silk's name in the byline, but this was not the challenge I expect on a Saturday. I'm not complaining, mind you. In fact, I feel godlike on these rare weekends when I can complete both Friday's and Saturday's puzzle. I might even get my taxes done today. And wash the dogs. Bullets:
20A Bicycle support, informally SISSY BAR — I know some people are offended by the S word, and maybe the double entendre here is pushing the limits, but it makes me think of kids riding bikes. I like it.
9D Sominex alternative ADVIL® PM—well, after yesterday, I couldn't overlook this blatant shill.So, will I give it a pass on my standard of facilitating worthwhile fill?Since it crosses both sissy bar and Warren Zevon, I will.ButI DARE YOU to try that again.
42D Lugs GALOOTS — I learned it as a BRAT from watching Warner Brothers on many long-ago Saturday mornings.
55A Wine-tasting accessory SPITTOON — so, if you were thinking about getting into wine tastings, but wanted to be sure you could look suave and sophisticated as you participated, now you know. You spit into a bucket.
61A One stoked to provide warmth WOOD FURNACE — I thought it said "stroked" at first. Write your own wood jokes here.
28A Title science teacher of an old sitcom MR PEEPERS — Like, really old. Like, 1952 old (thank you, google). Because there's no way a guy named Mr. Peepers could get a job working with kids today.
Gets in a lather SUDSES — I haveses reservations about this word. It seemses made up.
Good luck, ACPT puzzlers. Remember, you're all winners. Don't get too worked up if things go badly. This is not healthy: [WARNING: NSFW language]
Signed, treedweller, on behalf of
Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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Relative difficulty: easily medium challenging. Or, How Much Do you Like Baseball?
THEME:HOT CORNER (35A Third base, in baseball lingo ... or a hint for answering eight other clues in this puzzle)—all eight answers around the outside of the grid require adding "HOT" in front to fit the clues.
Word of the Day:SLIVOVITZ(Plum brandy) — a distilled beverage made from Damson plums.[1] It is frequently called plum brandy. There's a lot more on wiki about all the places that make this stuff and what they call it, but this will suffice for our purposes.
• • •
Hello, Rexworld. This is treedweller filling in. As you are probably aware, this weekend is the annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament in Brooklyn. So, no doubt, Rex is sharpening his pencils, laying out his lucky outfit, studying atlases (MT. APO!), practicing with a mockup of the giant-sized puzzle he will see in the finals, and meditating over peppermint tea in preparation for the competition.
Though it's likely a large number of regular readers here are similarly occupied at the Super Bowl of Cruciverbalists, Mr Shortz was kind enough to leave a puzzle for us schlubs who couldn't make the trip. Some of us should find it to be a fairly easy Thursday offering. The rest of us have lives outside of baseball.
Theme answers:
1A Difficult political situation: (Hot) POTATO
1D Snacks in the frozen food aisle: (Hot) POCKETS
7A Chili: (Hot) PEPPER
12D Lover of souped-up engines: (Hot) RODDER
42D Spicy pretzel dip: (Hot) MUSTARD
43D It's hard to score: (Hot) TICKET
63A Real good-looker: (Hot) TAMALE
64A Showed off: (Hot) DOGGED
35A Third base, in baseball lingo ... or a hint for answering eight other clues in this puzzle: HOT CORNER
I am not a sports guy, but I grew up in a sports family, so I usually know the lingo pretty well. HOT CORNER is a new one on me. For a while, I thought 32D might be a nine o'clock scholar (...__'clock scholar: ATENO) and wondered if Hen Corner could be a thing. Maybe in quilting bees.
Each theme entry I filled in, I had a niggling thought that it didn't really make sense, though it would if preceded by HOT, but I still failed to put it together until I was three-quarters done. So this came out challenging for me. I think most people will find it easier than that. In the end, I guess it was kinda fun to see all the HOT phrases, but I was hit in too many blind spots and just plowed my way through it.
Bullets:
61A Gird: ENSTEEL — I envision enlivened enwranglement ensuing around this entry, though personally I find it perfectly cromulent.
18A Plop preceder: KER — pretty easy, once "cup of coffee" didn't fit.
TAL ELAM REE IGER ORECK ENID OLAS SISTA CITI — IRAE EZINE NUS
51D Latin lover's words: TEAMO — If I have to pick a team, I will happily choose Team O.
Of course, in ACPT there are no teams. It's you against the grid. You have to dig deep. You have to fight through the hard times. In this, Rex's last appearance, we send encouragement and inspiration to him and all his fellow contestants.
Signed, treedweller, on behalf of
Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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THEME: "THE GODFATHER" (53A: Academy Award-winning film released in March 1972) — theme answers are the title character VITO CORLEONE (46A: Academy Award-winning role for both 20- and 26-Across) and two actors who won Oscars for playing him, ROBERT DENIRO and MARLON BRANDO (both clued as [Academy Award winner for playing 46-Across])
Word of the Day: The Battle of VERDUN (9D: W.W. I's longest battle) —
Verdun resulted in 698,000 battlefield deaths (362,000 French and 336,000 German combatants), an average of 70,000 deaths for each of the ten months of the battle.[5] It was the longest and one of the most devastating battles in the First World War and the history of warfare. Verdun was primarily an artillery battle: a total of about 40 million artillery shells were exchanged, leaving behind millions of overlapping shell craters that are still partly visible. In both France and Germany, Verdun has come to represent the horrors of war, like the Battle of the Somme in the British consciousness. The renowned British military historian Major General Julian Thompson has referred to Verdun as "France's Stalingrad". (wikipedia)
• • •
Hey there, everyone. Fresh back from my NYC travels, which were half amazing and half disgusting. Spent my first few days in the city seeing old friends, eating lots of fantastic food, and playing with a painfully adorable 2-yr-old. Got to eat the "Best Doughnuts in NYC" at Dun-Well Doughnuts (stunning). Got to see the Cindy Sherman exhibit at MoMA (stunning). Then the Crossword Tournament happened. I went out for a nice dinner, came back to the hotel, socialized a bit, headed back to the room to sleep, and shortly thereafter got very, very sick. The kind of sick that necessitates your sleeping on the bathroom floor, partly because you don't want to be far from the bathroom and partly because you just don't have the energy to make it back to bed. And so, I missed the tournament. Entirely. My wife brought me puzzles in bed. By Sunday morning, I'd recovered significantly, but still elected not to stay and watch the finale. I just wanted to be in my own home with my own bed and my own TV and my own dogs. Fantastic experience at Port Authority (a statement I doubt anyone has ever made before). Zipped straight home in clean, quiet bus, greeted by sunny, 74-degree weather. And here I am. Feeling about 80%, which I'll take. As for the results of the tournament, they can be found here. Short answer: Dan Feyer won. Again. It was hardly a rout, but in the end, that hardly matters. Oh, and the "Dr. Fill" software program came in 140-somethingth. There were two trick puzzles that just took "him" out at the knees. Read Ben Zimmer's write-up here.
Today's puzzle is beautifully executed, but the theme is so straightforward that it borders on dull. It's a kind of anniversary / tribute puzzle upon which the Letter Count gods were smiling. 12, 12, 12, 12. Remarkable. But not terribly interesting. The fill is lively for a Monday, or at least not dull / stale. Liked MOON ROCK quite a bit, even though I completely misread the clue (10D: Object retrieved on an Apollo mission) as starting with the word "Objective." Me: "'Objective?' I doubt we went there just to get a rock." And later: "Oh..." Also liked VERDUN (as much as one can like a brutally violent battle) and the sassy little clue on TiVO (42D: What may give pause to couch potatoes?). "EL SOL" I've seen before, or that might have given me more trouble than it did (13D: Spanish-language newspaper that beings "light" to its readers). Bold, oddly timely clue on ORAL (16A: ___ contraceptive), and interesting approach to SCHWA at 32A: Either the first or last vowel sound in "Alaska"), which I can't believe wasn't tied somehow to 39D: Politico Palin (SARAH). Overall, no real quibbles, pedantic or otherwise (45A: Pedantic quibble = NIT).
[Dogs, wearing their new neckerchiefs—a gift from "Jen from CT"]
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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THEME: "Absolutely!" => the clue for six theme answers
"YOU BETCHA!"
"BY ALL MEANS!"
"RIGHT ON, BROTHER!"
"AIN'T IT THE TRUTH!"
"DARN TOOTIN'!"
"SURE THING!"
Word of the Day: John TESH (32D: John who once co-hosted "Entertainment Tonight") —
John Frank Tesh (born July 9, 1952) is an Americanpianist and composer of pop music, as well as a radio host and television presenter. His 10-year-old 'Intelligence for Your Life Radio Show' reaches 14.2M listeners/week, and is syndicated by Teshmedia on 400 stations in USA, Canada, and the UK. 'Intelligence for Your Health' (with Connie Sellecca) was launched in 2010. Tesh has won 6 music Emmys, has 4 gold albums, 2 Grammy nominations, and an Associated Press award for investigative journalism. Tesh has sold over 8 million records. His live concerts have raised more than $20 million for PBS. In 1995 Tesh sold 50% of his record company, GTS, to Polygram for $8 million. Tesh then created Garden City Records, which he still owns today. He is also known as the longtime host of the television program Entertainment Tonight. He has previously worked as a sportscaster for the Olympic Games, a news anchor and, a reporter. [his main genre of music: NEW AGE (50A: Enya's kind of music)] (wikipedia)
• • •
A fine Monday puzzle, with nice theme density. I wanted a "YER" at the beginning of "DARN TOOTIN'," but other than that, all the theme answers felt very natural. Non-theme fill is no great shakes, but given the structure of the grid (very high on 3- and 4-letter words), that's pretty much to be expected. If you want to accommodate that many theme answers *and* make the puzzle an easy early-weeker, then there's no real way around the preponderance of short stuff. Don't have much else to say about this one, which is probably just as well, as I am dead tired after two days in Brooklyn and a bus station / bus ride experience that I wouldn't wish on anyone—hours standing in Port Authority with hundreds of other people waiting for buses that never came, with no official information to be had except by a few people who ventured out and back ... all of whom got conflicting information (no buses upstate at all until tomorrow? all the buses are actually here, they just can't get inside because a half-marathon is obstructing their path? Etc.). Very nice but overworked man at Port Authority nearly got into several altercations trying to keep people from jumping the line. All in all, an adventure I'd just as soon not have had—unlike my American Crossword Puzzle Tournament adventure, which was fabulous. About which, more later (when I wake up and have more energy). The short version: I am the 31st Greatest Crossword Solver in the Universe. Also, I am the 2nd Greatest Crossword Solver in New York State (outside NYC), and I have the *hardware* to prove it. Here's a picture of me shaking Will's hand after hearing my name called by Roz Chast:
I had no expectation of winning anything, so I was laughing out loud as I walked up to get my trophy. Best part was walking up to Will, shaking his hand, and having him ask, "Now ... what did you win?" I then panicked and thought I had walked up there mistakenly (that trophy he's holding was Not for me), but it turns out Ms. Chast had just been reading names faster than the trophy wranglers could set them up, and so ... confusion. My trophy is a bit smaller than the one in the picture, but no less trophyish. Overall, the ACPT was super good fun. Got to see lots of top constructors and lots of blog readers and other really friendly people. Had dinner last night with half of today's constructing team, in fact (the Blindauer half). Ate too much. Drank too much. Played iPhone-APP "Celebrity" too much. But again ... more later, when my wits are more about me.
1A: The Stones' "Sticky Fingers" and "Tattoo You," e.g. (LPS) — Neither this nor PROBE (2D: Exploratory spacecraft) (nor LOYAL, for that matter) came immediately. Had to pull out and back my way back into that corner.
27D: Joint woe that afflicted Benjamin Franklin (GOUT) — a little trivia for you on this Monday morning (Sunday evening for me). Clue could just as easily have stopped at [Joint woe], but no—you get a little edification with your GOUT.
37D: Underground vegetable with edible greens (BEET) — I could've sworn I had some this weekend, but I think I just *talked* about the fact that I had an "heirloom BEET salad" (delicious) the *last* time I was in Brooklyn for ACPT.
44D: They're worth twice as much as fins (TENNERS) — wanted TEN SPOTS. Wouldn't fit. TENNERS was my next guess—one of two Down answers in this puzzle that run through three different theme answers.
P.S. a huuuuuuge thank-you to treedweller for covering for me on Saturday and Sunday. I had stupidly forgotten to arrange for a substitute, so his last-minute offer to step in and cover for me was an invaluable gift. I love writing the blog, but at ACPT, I want to spend time with people, not my computer.
P.P.S. biggest Fail of ACPT awards ceremony was the non-announcement of D and E division winners.
D Champion was Jeff Stacey (overall finish: 115) (Caleb Madison was 2nd!) E Champion was Joseph Longa (overall finish: 159) (Marion Strauss, who comments here as @mac, was 11th!).
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SPOILER ALERT - this post contains some information about the 2009 ACPT puzzles, so if you are looking forward to doing them at home and don't want any answers spoiled, stop reading now.
I'm writing this post to give you all a sense of the shape and substance of the tournament, and also to provide a forum (the Comments section) for people to discuss the weekend (keeping tourney talk largely out of the normal write-ups so that at-home tourney puzzle solvers can safely avoid coming across puzzle information they don't want to see).
I arrived in Brooklyn just before noon on Friday, after having spent the past two days in Manhattan. I came to NYC early to see people and have fun, but my lingering sinus infection lingered further and made "fun" virtually impossible. My friend Grace made those days more than bearable, having dinner with me twice, taking me to the MoMA, etc., but I was less than optimal company, and felt horrible that I was staying at a gorgeous Times Square hotel and yet was not properly enjoying myself. By Thursday night, my head started to clear a bit, and Grace and I had a great dinner at Community Food & Juice on the Upper West Side (highly, highly recommended).
Brooklyn: got a suite because I knew I was going to have a get-together in my room on Friday night, but being less than skilled at party-planning, I didn't put together things like, oh, a guest list or a shopping list (snacks, glasses, drinks, etc.). While waiting for others to arrive, I wandered around Brooklyn in the afternoon hoping for some kind of shopping inspiration. After half a mile of cell phone and shoe stores, the only inspiration I found was Rite Aid, where I bought chips and peanuts and cups. Oh, and Oreos (Andrea Carla Michaels insisted). OREOS have dual relevance, as they are black & white (like a crossword grid) while also being crosswordese. So by late afternoon, I had all the ingredients necessary for a very terrible party. Thankfully, the heavy-lifting on the entertainment side was already being done for me - I knew Ashish Vengsarkar was bringing six bottles of wine from his private cellar.
By late afternoon, contestants started rolling in in droves. PuzzleGirl (Angela) and I milled about for a while. Then my wife arrived and we got ready to go to the Judges Dinner (ooh la la). Will invited us and the other bloggers (+ partners) because we were providing the first bit of Friday evening ... infotainment for the tournament: the blogging panel. Dinner was a lovely buffet upstairs in a private room at a cool little bar / restaurant called ... I want to say "Eamon's." Something like that. Creator of Ken-Ken was there (from Japan), as were all the judges. Mingling and eating ensued. On way back to hotel, wife and I found upscale food store where we filled out the menu for the party later that evening with somewhat less embarrassing food (this included some of the finest little chocolate truffles I've ever eaten).
Before the panel, I had a drink with Amy Reynaldo (of the blog "Diary of a Crossword Fiend"). Actually, during the panel, I had a drink with her (there was one bartender for 6 trillion drinkers, so our actual imbibing was delayed). I told her it would be like the old "Match Game" where the panelists drank and smoked on air. We couldn't smoke (by law), but drink we could. And did. Amy has decided that her signature drink is the Tom Collins. She didn't know what was in it, but whatever it was, she knew that it was good. My drink is the old-fashioned, in case you are ever in the position to buy either/both of us a drink.
The panel was over very quickly. I went up there, I babbled into a mike at various times. I drank. I have no idea what I said, although I think I said something about being "gun shy about penises" (re: my site's getting flagged a couple weeks' back). Amy was too phlegmy and tired to talk much. Ryan and Brian and JimH rounded out the group, and were probably much more coherent than I was. Given more time and a clearer structure, the panel would have come off better, but for those who could actually hear it, it came off OK, I think.
Angela decided that her suite was better laid out for a party, so we moved the party there, and later at the wine and cheese reception I went around desperately trying to round up guests I'd largely forgotten to invite early on. In fact, the party apparently started while I was still down trying to find people to come. Turns out, despite my failure to find some people I was looking for (the non-Amy bloggers, some faithful readers, etc.), there were plenty of folks in attendance. Some even brought me gifts, which I enjoy. There were constructors, blog readers, red-headed champion solvers ... all drinking wine and Oreos and chatting it up. It was just where I wanted to be at that moment.
[Byron Walden carries the official whiteboard wipes, i.e. paper towels from the men's room, to the site of the finals]
Then there was sleep, and then there were puzzles. Well, first there was oatmeal from Starbucks (did you know they did that?), and then there were puzzles. At that point, I was still stuffed up and had an arsenal of Kleenex in my pockets, so I was not optimistic about my chances. Seats were scarce and we finally ended up finding two way down in front, next to a very pretty, very anxious-looking woman. At some point she did a double-take, looking from her program to my contestant folder, and said "You're ... you're Rex Parker?" She was happy to meet me, and then immediately despondent that I would make her feel terrible about herself by finishing my puzzles so quickly. Over the course of the day, I think she grew to hate me less. My wife and I and she and the man next to her actually got on great. I think Sandy's got a picture of us all somewhere ...
[I am the one dressed most like a hobo]
The woman's name is Sandra Becker. The man's name, I'm ashamed to say, I forget, but I'd met him the year before and he was really friendly and interesting (out yourself, sir!).
So, after all that talk about "accuracy is more important than speed" and "double-check your completed grid," I totally chucked my own advice out the window on the first couple puzzles. See, I looked up at the clock when I first finished and noticed that I had only a few seconds before the next minute turned over (difference between solving in 3:59 and 4:01 is one whole minute in tournament scoring), so rather than eat the minute and check my puzzle, I just shot my hand up. Done! I was sure I'd made errors or left squares blank, but no. Perfect through 1, 2, 3, 4, and even the dreaded Puzzle 5. It was only at Puzzle 6, which I had plenty of time to check, that I made a mistake - putting MOAPO where MT APO should've gone. Ugh. That was the Maura Jacobson puzzle with Spoonerisms as theme answers. It was super-easy overall, though my brain could not spoonerize. I had to have the majority of the squares in place before I could get Any of the theme answers. Not my favorite puzzle, though now I'll remember it only for MOAPO.
Best puzzles of the day, for me, were Quigley's double-I puzzles (with theme answers like GREOGRIAN CHIANTI and CHOCK FULL O' INUITS) and Mike Shenk's Puzzle 7 (with the theme answer of the tournament: "DUDE, WHERE'S MY CADAVER?").
Had a great dinner Saturday night at Lunetta with PG and her sister and artist Emily Cureton and Andrea C. Michaels. I've never seen so many women eat so many meatballs. Andrea liked that the restaurant felt like a place where one might see an honest-to-god mob hit. I liked that the food was delicious and that my waitress was ... let's say, captivating. I'll leave it there. Wife can tell you more if she likes.
Oooh, I had the pleasure of giving "crossword lessons" for an hour immediately after Puzzle 6 - a gift that a woman bought for her crossword-solving boyfriend. I wasn't sure what I had to offer in the way of insight, but it turns out we had way, way more to talk about than we could ever hope to cram into an hour. It didn't feel like work at all. I had a blast, and made a few bucks to boot. It was sweet how much he appreciated the uniqueness of the gift. So we geeked out for an hour+ about puzzles, and it was off to dinner.
Spent the evening hanging out in the bar with PG, PuzzleSister, PuzzleFutureStepNiece (long story - all you need to know is that she was a gorgeous, charming young actress), and then a host of people who stopped by, including Barry Silk, Kevin Der, and Doug Peterson. Andrea showed up and insisted on finding out the story behind the many young Jewish couples in the room (they were there last year, too). It's like Jewish speed-dating in there, only slow, and no changing partners. There's a story there, but I'll let Andrea tell it. Turns out PuzzleFutureStepNiece knows someone very famous. I said "I'll bet Andrea knows him too." So we asked Andrea over and she said "Oh, no, I've just met him once, I don't really know him." Sorry, that counts. That woman knows Everyone. It's insane. Two old-fashioneds later, I went to bed.
I'd been in 31st place after Puzzle 4, and possibly higher after Puzzle 5, but MOAPO sent me plummeting to 45. Still, with just Puzzle 7 left to go, I felt I had a good chance to hold my ground and thus beat my ranking from last year - which is exactly what happened, so yay. If I hadn't made the error, I'd have been in contention for the B Finals, but since I had no shot at the finals after the error, I was pretty methodical about Puzzle 7, just wanting to get through with no errors. Apparently, I was successful. I ended up at 42, which seems just fine. PuzzleGirl broke the Top 200 and my wife improved from the mid to the low 500s. So it was improvement all around. You can see scans of all my puzzles if you go here and enter 516 in the sidebar under "Puzzle Scans."
[Doug Peterson, Mike Nothnagel, BEQ]
The Finals: we all go mooing into the grand ballroom to find a seat from which to watch the finals of the C, B, and A divisions. Dan Feyer, who had been leading everyone from the very beginning, fell into a 4-way tie on the last puzzle, and because of the tie-breaker rules, ended up in fourth, and thus not in contention for the Championship. Luckily for him, he was technically in the B Division, so he competed in the B finals, and, not surprisingly, won, though Dan Katz gave him a real run for his money. Anyway, the grid is the same for all three divisions, but the clues for C are easy, the clues for B are tough, and the clues for A are brutal. I used the "B" (since that was my division) and was hoping to beat the C folks, but didn't. I finished in about 9, I think, which seemed respectable. I'm not sure I could have made so much as a dent in the puzzle if I'd had to use the A clues. They were rough.
So the A Finals - Tyler got off to a good start, but he kept having moments of freefall. He'd tear up a quadrant faster than you can believe, and then screech to a halt and look, and look, and 10, 20, 30 seconds would go by with hardly any action. Then he'd be off again, tearing it up. Meanwhile, Francis Heaney and Trip Payne seemed to be solving at a steadier pace, and eventually it became clear that they were both going to beat Tyler to the finish line. Only Trip and Francis (if I remember correctly) made identical errors - putting ALL ALONE where ALKALINE was supposed to go (clue = [Basic]). So with something like 8 minutes still left on the clock, it was just Tyler, standing there, with what appeared to be two blank squares. And he stood. And stood. And stood. And danced. And stood. Total. Freefall. It was astonishing to see the country's best solver standing there completely flummoxed. Minutes ticked by. I was doubled over at points, either praying or fighting off nausea. My wife couldn't watch. Was the champion really going to go down in such an anti-climactic, painful way?
And then. This:
As I said in my post for today, I leaped out of my chair with my fists in the air, cheering myself hoarse. That kid Will Not Die. He's amazing. He's like Glenn Close in "Fatal Attraction." Man oh man. I am so glad I was there to see him pull it out like that. Oh, and remember how I told you that there was a four-way tie for first before the finals? Well, because the puzzle gods have a sense of humor, the two squares Tyler struggled with for so long were both inside the word CO-LEADERS.
Later there was an Awards Banquet, catered by the Food Network's "Kitchen: Impossible," where 19 dishes representing different food clichés were prepared for us. Very decent food, overall, though I accidentally got liver in my mouth and couldn't get the taste out for many minutes. Ate with PG and her sister and my wife and Crosscan and Emily and the disgustingly charming and talented Caleb Madison and assorted other jokesters. Emily and I both got interviewed by the TV show. The questions were terrible and most of our answers were likely unusable, so I doubt I'll show up on the show. At least I hope not.
[Caleb pretends to be cooler than he is / Emily gazes admiringly at biceps on the Food Network chef]
After that, it was subway / Greyhound / home, narrowly avoiding the approaching snow storm.
As anyone who has attended the tournament will tell you, you will not regret attending. It really does not matter how good you are - solvers of all kinds, all ages, all skill levels are there, just having a good time solving and talking puzzles. I might organize an informal, unofficial "Rookies" meeting next year, just so people who are reluctant to attend, for whatever reason, can meet people just like them. I'm also happy to learn that little tournaments seem to be sprouting up all across the country lately. For instance, you'll soon see me plugging the upcoming L.A. area tournament, which I'm hoping will be a big success (it's a charity tournament for a great cause ... and it's close to the beach, come on!).
OK, that's all til next year. Thanks to everyone I met, everyone who introduced himself or herself to me, shook my hand, said nice things, said enigmatic things, said critical things. I had a blast, and I'm already thinking of ways to make next year's experience even more memorable.
Signed, RP
PS Here is Nancy Shack's video of the Blogger panel. I look ridiculous (i.e. I need a haircut, badly), and I talk Way too fast and the audio is half terrible, but ... I like it in parts.
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This posting is intended as a forum for readers who are attending the Tournament. Identify yourself, ask question, swap contact information, whatever.
I have to say that the tournament is one of the most ridiculously friendly environments I've ever been in in my life. If your reasons for not going are anything other than financial, I encourage you to reconsider.
At any rate, I'll be there, disguised as my alter ego, a mild-mannered professor from upstate New York.
So, if you're going, shout it out in the Comments section of this post.
Best wishes, RP
PS for unofficial tournament t-shirt info, go here. Shirt features a crossword blogger-themed puzzle by master constructor Vic Fleming.
It's Sunday and I'm getting the horrid-sounding cold that my daughter is just now getting over, so I'm chilled and a bit weak - a perfect time to write my loooong overdue recap of the 2008 American Crossword Puzzle Tournament.
So Saturday is when the tourney begins in earnest, with three puzzles to do at 11am and another 3 to do (after a short lunch break) at 2pm. The late start benefits all the people who stayed out very late socializing the night before. It also allowed me to have a leisurely breakfast at IHOP with my wife and Dave Sullivan (the closest thing I have to a "tech guy"). I love IHOP, and since it's such a prevalent xword answer, eating there seemed fitting. I am used to seeing IHOPs as free-standing, blue-roofed structures patronized largely by large white people, so it was a wonderfully different experience to eat in an IHOP that had been wedged into a good part of the first floor of a city block, and to see that apparently black people like IHOP too. If there is hope for black/white unity and reconciliation in this country, I believe it lies in our mutual love of pancakes. I had my usual (if you must know, I "build my own omelet(te)" and then switch out the regular pancakes for some corn cakes and then I get a side of hashbrowns as close to black as they can make them; and coffee). Maybe a little heavy for a pre-tournament meal, but it didn't hurt me much, as you'll see.
Went over to check out Emily Cureton's merchandise table, where there was an array of t-shorts, notecards, and tote bags bearing her Gorgeous crossword-inspired artwork. Wife and daughter now have matching "Sneakiness/Owl" shirts, which is terribly cute. Here's a pic of me and Emily (who, in case I haven't mentioned, is so cool and talented and kind and purty that it makes me sick):
And then the puzzles...
Last year, I tanked Puzzle 1. 7+ minutes, 2 errors - a complete disaster. Not so this year. Done in the four minute slot with no errors (in case you haven't heard, you are not timed to the second - rather, your time is scored based on the minute showing on the clock, so someone who finishes in 7:01 and someone who finishes in 7:59 are scored as finishing at the same time). Theme was "Encouraging Words" and all the theme answers were congratulatory expressions of some kind. The only trouble I had was an educated guess at the crossing of 34A: "_____ Stone," ABC drama ("Eli") and 31D: Zwei + zwei (vier). Not sure about the "I," but there weren't many other realistic options. Puzzle 1 was written by Andrea Carla Michaels, who was By Far the most entertaining person I met last weekend. I have a little book filled with quotations, most of which I can't really use. Anyway, I voted for her puzzle for best puzzle of the tourney, as easy puzzles never get any love. Here's Andrea beaming as 699 people solve her puzzle: One of my favorite parts of the weekend was watching Andrea on Saturday night in the hotel lounge trying to solve her own puzzle, and struggling: "Something you put a tree in?" She makes a face and looks at me (answer ended up being SHOE). "ALTA ... that's the abbreviation for Alberta??!" Etc. We spent much of Saturday night in the lounge watching young Jews "speed date," which was going very slowly actually. Almost every table was occupied by clean young people in nice dark clothes, with the young men wearing dark hats. I want to say "fedoras," but that's probably not right. I felt like I had stumbled onto the set of some third-rate cable reality show - public access, maybe. Later, Judge Vic Fleming came over and gave Andrea a T-shirt he had made, with a puzzle on it (grid on back, clues on front, or vice versa). I thought the T-shirt featured her puzzle, and was very very impressed that he had the industry and wherewithal to produce such an item so quickly - turns out it was a puzzle he'd written. Still, it was a nice gesture. Then Judge Fleming regaled us with stories about the Arkansas Governor's mansion, then he forced us all to imagine a gigantic Kleenex being folded 50 some-odd times then got mad when the professional poker player among us knew Exactly how tall (theoretically) that Kleenex structure would be. Apparently we were cheating because we weren't "closing our eyes," as we were told to do. All of this actually happened, I swear. Judge Fleming was actually a really nice, generous guy, and a decent story-teller.
So back to puzzles. Here is a shot (from where I sat the whole of the tournament) of the giant digital clock from the 80s that has been looming over solvers since - I'm going to guess The 80s. (Last year, it loomed directly over my right shoulder, such that all my table-mates worried aloud about dying in a freak accident that would set some kind of Guinness Record for Absurdity.)
That's Michael "PhillySolver" Smith in the foreground - he was literally everywhere this weekend. All over everything, all the time. Very nice man.
Puzzle 2 was a word ladder, and man was it hard. OK, here's the thing - I blame Shortz. He introduced the puzzle by saying that the word ladder was there, off to the side, and it didn't matter if we did it or not, but it might be helpful; and stupid me, I'm thinking "screw that - word ladders are for chumps - I'm going right for the puzzle itself." Took me many, many minutes to realize that the word ladder contained the clues for Every Single Theme Answer. I took way way too long to get done, and was shocked to see so much of the room still working on the puzzle with so much time having elapsed (this would happen again with puzzle 5, but that's to be expected - nobody ever expects ... Puzzle 2!). Its theme was "Change of Venue," and the first letter of the word ladder was VENUE, and by the end it had become MOVER, clued (78A: Person responsible [last word in the ladder]). Get it - "Change of Venue ... MOVER ..." Well I thought it was OK. The one part of the puzzle that killed many people and nearly killed me was the SE, where AD VALOREM (46D: Proportionate, as a duty) met up with ROLEO (71A: Lumberjacks' competition), neither of which I had heard before. I'd like to thank every Latin teacher I ever had for teaching me the objective case.
Puzzle 3 was a snap by comparison, except ... 1A: Raillike bird (sora!!!!!) crossing 2D: Musical "sweet potato" (ocarina). Oh, that "O." Never ever heard of the bird (though Orange assured me it is old skool crosswordese) and OCARINA rang a bell only very very faintly. That "O" was an out-and-out guess. I'd make one more of those, again correctly, later in the tournament. Puzzle 3 was by Merl Reagle, and it was called "If I Wrote the Dictionary." Merl writes weekly puzzles that appear in the Philadelphia Inquirer and elsewhere, and they are of a uniformly high caliber - I think of him as the king of long, showily arranged theme answers. He is the only person I know who can make me love a pun. Theme answers here were characteristically playful, as actual words were clued in punny ways, e.g. LACERATION = 21A: n. the act of tying shoestrings. The one theme answer that seemed to puzzle most people was KEDGE (60A: n. muddy buildup on the soles of sneakers). A KEDGE, it turns out, is a "light anchor for warping a vessel" (and no, you did not know that, shut up). Except for the SORA/OCARINA thing, no problems. And at the break - I was in 82nd place. Not bad.
This year's experience was far more exciting than last year's, primarily because I was relieved of the burden of having to force myself to socialize with total strangers (not something I do well). So many people recognized me and came up to me and introduced themselves and chatted amiably with me that I was never lacking for companionship or conversation. So if you were one of those people, and I somehow forget to mention you by name, I apologize in advance. I shook a lot of hands this weekend.
Our "journey" (I put quotation marks around it because it makes me feel like an "American Idol" contestant) began where all great journeys begin - at the Binghamton Greyhound station.
The bus ride was uncomfortable, as my seat was stuck in the reclined position, which is fine if you're sleeping, not so great if you just want to sit up and do a puzzle. One of my students just happened to be taking the same bus to the city, and I watched her fall asleep over her homework part way through the trip (she was sitting right across the aisle from me). I guess the story of the making of the King James Bible isn't the most exciting bus-ride reading.
We got to Port Authority and then took the subway. Given Horrible directions by the Marriott staff - told to get off at "A and C" (turns out these are just the names of the lines, not an actual stop). Shouldn't hotel staff know the "Which subway stop" question instantly, without having to think about it? Anyway, it was just a short walk and we were there. It's grander than the Stamford Marriott, but in most ways the same - just bigger. You enter the lobby via escalators which take you from the street level up one floor. Most times I went up this escalator, there was a large-ish man looming at the top eyeballing me, perhaps protecting the hotel and tournament from interlopers. Who knows? NY is understandably security-minded.
Went out to Peruvian food at Coco Roco with my friend Kathy and her fiancé. It was ... OK. I especially liked the "Cuban martini," which I desperately needed after my exhausting travel day. Wife Sandy ordered something she thought would be hot but ended up cold (not undercooked ... it was supposed to be cold). That's always weird / awkward. Walked around Brooklyn afterward. Got coffee at some hole in the wall where I swear a non-tournament-related crossword conversation broke out right next to me. Customer and dishwasher swapping stories of crosswords, when and where they do them, who they know who is really good at them. I wanted to say "I'm the King of CrossWorld! Why aren't you paying homage!" But I just took my coffees and walked away. At same cafe, there were copies of The Onion (whose puzzle is edited by Ben Tausig - about whom more later). My reaction: "Hey, The Onion comes in paper now!" (I only ever see an e-version).
Friday night was team puzzle night - teams of three this year instead of last year's four. We rejected this "rule" and added Dave Sullivan to our team of me, Sandy, and Canadian puzzler / crossword jewelry maker Russell Brown.
We did OK. I kept my nose to the individual puzzles and let the others figure out the big picture (you had to solve a bunch of puzzles to get certain clues which then allowed you to complete the overarching, final puzzle, if I remember correctly). After that was wine and cheese reception (I had only wine), where I got to meet some of my favorite constructors (2007 ACCA Award-winners Ashish Vengsarkar and Craig Kasper, among others). Artist Emily Jo Cureton (whose work I have featured on my xword site) was there, like some kind of tall, bright, sunny beacon to whom all of crossword nerd-dom was drawn. She shmoozed the hell out of that room - she had on a T-shirt with one of her crossword designs on it (Sneakiness/Owl), and she had a crowd around her the whole night. At one point, she and I were talking and then this kid came over (I think it was constructor Kevin Der, though I could be wrong), and I thought he was waiting patiently to meet me, but it turns out, no, he was waiting patiently to tell Emily that Will Shortz was ready to grant her an audience. HA ha. So much for my star power. What I'm saying is that Emily was a big hit. Understandably.
And so to bed. Stay tuned for Part II: "It Really Begins..."
My write-up of the tournament is not done. I haven't even begun, truth be told.
My wife, however, has finished hers, and it's available at her personal blog (HERE). [IT HAS SPOILERS!!!! Or so I'm told. Clearly I'm not paying close enough attention to these things] It's especially aimed at novice solvers and others who might be intimidated or put off by the idea of entering a crossword puzzle tournament. I would tell you how great her write-up is and how charming she is, etc., but I'm in love with her - hardly objective. Just go see for yourself.
If you would like to solve this year's tournament puzzles from the comfort of your own home, simply go to the ACPT website and order them. It'll cost you $20. HERE is the link.
Great tourney photos here (Lorinne Lampert's pics) and here (Pete Mitchell's pics).
RP
PS I've been reminded that the Sun article does, in some way, discuss a couple of answers, so if you are planning on doing the tourney puzzles, you might not want to click on the above link.
PPS Write-up of Saturday's BEQ monster is now done (see sidebar, or just scroll down)
A long time ago, I was solving this puzzle and got stuck at an unguessable (to me) crossing: N. C. WYETH crossing NATICK at the "N"—I knew WYETH but forgot his initials, and NATICK ... is a suburb of Boston that I had no hope of knowing. It was clued as someplace the Boston Marathon runs through (???). Anyway, NATICK— the more obscure name in that crossing—became shorthand for an unguessable cross, esp. where the cross involves two proper nouns, neither of which is exceedingly well known. NATICK took hold as crossword slang, and the term can now be both noun ("I had a NATICK in the SW corner...") or verb ("I got NATICKED by 50A / 34D!")
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think of kids riding bikes. I like it.
wanted to be sure you could look suave and sophisticated as you participated, now you know. You spit into a bucket.
