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.