ACPT Returning To Stamford?

After the ACPT's contract with the Brooklyn Bridge Marriott expires with the 2014 tournament, Will Shortz is seriously considering a return to the tournament's original home, the Stamford (CT) Marriott.

We encourage you to leave your comments on that page, so much so that we've disabled comments for this post. Bob has yet to weigh in on the matter, but my vote is for a return to Stamford.

FANTASTIC FEYER

Dan Feyer does it again, but it was no walk in the park this year. Dan snagged his fourth American Crossword Puzzle Tournament championship in a squeaker over second place finisher Anne Erdmann, but third place finisher Tyler Hinman did not finish the puzzle in the alloted 20 minutes (yes, the puzzle was THAT TOUGH this year, so Will tacked on an extra five minutes.)

Dan was consistently on top of his game throughout the tournament, increasing his lead on the final three puzzles he solved to solidly take the first berth in the tournament. All three puzzlers found the bottom left corner particularly sticky in Kevin G. Der's tournament puzzle, but Dan was able to conquer it on the heels of a faster-moving Erdmann. Tyler finally finished his puzzle after the time was up, but the five-time champion had the crowd pulling for him to finish.

B: MOST SMARTEST

Robert Mackey returned to the B finals for the first time since 1998 and became only the second repeat B champion - the only other one was Randy Ross, who won in 1992 and 1996. Robert beat a consistent Westchester Tournament nemesis, Jeffrey Schwartz, and rookie Glen Ryan, who's still trying to find the number of that truck that hit him. Robert's win was quick and convincing, with one Twitter commentator noting that "he made it seem like a Tuesday puzzle".

Other winners today:
C: Benjamin Coe
D: Vegavahini Subramaniam
E: Matthew Paranto
Junior: David Plotkin
50's: Erdmann
60's: Ellen Ripstein
70's: Len Elliott
Senior: Bob Rubin
West: Hinman
Connecticut: Ryan
New York: Feyer
New Jersey: Barkin
Long Island: Thomas Weisswange
New England: Joon Pahk
Upstate NY: Michael Sharp ("Rex Parker")
Mid-Atlantic: Eric Agard
South: Plotkin
Midwest: Erdmann
Foreign: Emily O'Neill
Handwriting: Judy Cole

The 37th American Crossword Puzzle Tournament will be the same weekend next year - March 7-9.

Recapping Saturday's Action!

UPDATED 3/10/2013 5:57 AM

Saturday's puzzles are now in the books, and they from all the stuff I've read on the TPB and my own personal Twitter feeds, I can report that Puzzles 5 and 3 respectively were the ones that separated the field into the haves and have-nots.

With Puzzle No. 6, Dan Feyer increased his lead to three minutes over Tyler Hinman and six minutes over Anne Erdmann. As of Sunday morning, the rest of the Top 10 is Francis Heaney, Stella Zawistowski, Kiran Kedlaya, Howard Barkin, Joon Pahk, Al Sanders and Jon Delfin.

Glen Ryan is the top rookie in 14th place and could make the B finals. Due to scoring changes, the top native B scorer so far is Robert Mackey, who is in 17th place, with Jeffrey Schwartz in 20th place holding down the possible third spot on the B stage.

Benjamin Coe is the other hot rookie this year, currently sitting in 33rd place. His nearest C competitors are Jeff Davidson (67th) and Neville Fogerty (75th).

Puzzle No. 7 kicks off the Sunday festivities at 9:00 a.m. with the finals set to start after the talent show which starts at 11:00 a.m.

THROUGH TWO PUZZLES

Three way tie at the top among Anne Erdmann, Dan Feyer and Tyler Hinman. Four way tie for fourth among Howard Barkin, Francis Heaney, Kiran Kedlaya and Al Sanders. Three way tie for eighth featuring David Plotkin, rookie Glen Ryan and Stella Zawistowski. Bob Mackey is part of a group of nine solvers in 11th place.

Another ACPT Absentee

The always colorful and wackily costumed j!m jen!sta will not be attending the ACPT this year. On the Facebook page for American Crossword Puzzle Tournament Attendees, he notes, "Despite my inclination to holler 'Damn the cardiologist, fill crosswords ahead!', I ended up listening to some alien voice in my head called 'prudence'."

ACPT CONSTRUCTORS ANNOUNCED

This year's ACPT constructors are:

• Patrick Berry
• Patrick Blindauer
• Kevin G. Der
• Liz Gorski
• Lynn Lempel
• Ian Livengood
• Brendan Emmett Quigley
• Mike Shenk

The big news this year is there's no Merl Reagle puzzle this year.

DAVE MACKEY TO SKIP 2013 ACPT

Due to a personal conflict, I will be missing the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament for the first time since I began competing in 2005.

There are a number of issues that are hastening my non-appearance this year, but the main conflict is a commitment to Region III of the New Jersey Music Educators to conduct their Elementary Honors Band this year. As such, I will be required to participate in the selection of the fifth and sixth grade band members on Saturday, March 9 - the day most of the puzzles will be solved. This is a daylong process that will culminate in the selection of up to 360 musicians in three separate Honors Bands. The concert itself is on May 4.

I am pleased to announce that I am not turning my back on crosswords entirely. I plan to get back into construction this summer and I am looking forward to catching up with everyone at Westchester in the fall, and at the ACPT in 2014. Have fun at the tournament, everyone!

We are back!

Damn domain registration. If you can see this we are back. We apologize for any downtime, on this site which davemackey.com actually hosts.

WWW = WEISSWANGE WINS WESTCHESTER

Two time defending champion Bob Mackey never made the podium in the finals of last night's 16th annual Westchester Crossword Puzzle Tournament, benefitting the Pleasantville Fund For Learning. Thomas Weisswange was the only solver of the three finalists - the other two being Glenn Ryan and Jeffrey Schwartz - who completed the Thursday, September 28 New York Times puzzle perfectly. The tournament was held for the second year at tournament host Will Shortz' Westchester Table Tennis Club. See other pictures at the Photo Gallery but please be aware that your enjoyment of the September 28 puzzle may be spoiled.