* The inaugural Marilyn F. Munro Memorial Award, which was established by the tournament veteran's surviving husband and children, was given to Merl Reagle for his tournament puzzle, with the equally as revered Maura Jacobson given an honorable mention.
* The tournament did not have the cachet of a big celebrity solver this year. Last year, if you will recall, Phil Donahue made his maiden voyage into the tournament, and didn't exactly burn up the track.
* Jay Kasofsky participated in his 31st tournament this weekend, the only person to be in all 31 tournaments so far. The only two 30-timers are both former champions who added to their stash of tournament trophies - Mimi Raphael (who won the Seniors trophy this year) and Ellen Ripstein (who won the New York City trophy).
* The Puzzle Brothers did indeed participate as Mob members - along with everyone else in the room - in the "1 vs. 700" game staged by John Chaneski and Greg Pliska. The "1" players were all former tournament champions, which included Trip Payne, Tyler Hinman (who, come to think of it, has never been a "former" champion), Nancy Schuster, Jon Delfin and David Rosen. Those on the panel of champs who did not participate in the game included Ellen Ripstein and Stanley Newman.
* Solvers had more time than usual to recover from puzzle #5, David J. Kahn's toughie - one contestant needed medical attention after the puzzle and there was almost a 30-minute gap between the "pencils down" of #5 and "go" of #6.
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4 comments:
Hi guys!
I checked the 2008 photo gallery. I was glad I was having a "good hair day" for my cryptic crossword lesson.
Great meeting you at the tournament.
Pat Manzo
I also won the 50s trophy. Wait, am I really that old? :0
Look a couple posts down, Ellen... and no, you aren't really that old!
While not a contestant, Ira Glass, host of "This American Life" on NPR, was at the tournament one evening (I think on "1 vs. 700" night). He didn't seem to be interviewing, just observing.
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