tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218004852024-03-07T16:12:43.275-05:00THE PUZZLE BROTHERSDave and Robert Mackey, crossword puzzle constructors and tournament competitors, and their puzzle schedules.Dave Mackeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13454782108761662940noreply@blogger.comBlogger386125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21800485.post-59832739003335821482024-01-15T10:41:00.000-05:002024-01-15T10:41:57.516-05:00REQUIEM FOR A PUZZLE BROTHER<h1 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIkT4HRTsHccj0SMHkIuk913BUSifO2lQWkU5y0pw_Bja-0QPFRt795qjVpt3P8DFebAsZHd4B8ZffN6KdSGt-1_Z5MJgpUq1G5LZWzdO6gisFmi7RqgIJsrqkGZ4TG8hxv9fzbmY0wp7cuJscAUrIRXibzEL5XXvkvNHOzzLAzmrvchqivQR9/s529/DSC_5905.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="351" data-original-width="529" height="332" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIkT4HRTsHccj0SMHkIuk913BUSifO2lQWkU5y0pw_Bja-0QPFRt795qjVpt3P8DFebAsZHd4B8ZffN6KdSGt-1_Z5MJgpUq1G5LZWzdO6gisFmi7RqgIJsrqkGZ4TG8hxv9fzbmY0wp7cuJscAUrIRXibzEL5XXvkvNHOzzLAzmrvchqivQR9/w502-h332/DSC_5905.jpg" width="502" /></a></div></h1><h1 style="text-align: left;">Robert W. Mackey 1961-2024</h1><div>For someone who's made a hobby of finding the right words rather quickly, it took me four days to sit down and write this. I know the Puzzle Brothers ship sailed a long time ago, and blogging is seen as old school as compared to quicker forms of information dissemination (I'm just grateful my Blogger account was not only still here, but simple to log into), but what transpired in the last week begs to be posted here for the record.</div><div><br /></div><div>The Puzzle Brothers are now a solo act; yours truly, David Mackey. The other, more prolific and more skilled half of the duo, Robert Mackey, died on Tuesday, January 9, 2024. Bob had suffered a major stroke in his apartment sometime over the weekend, and as he lived alone, he was not able to summon the help he needed that would have saved his life.</div><div><br /></div><div>A crossword fan literally since childhood, Bob parlayed that interest into an untold number of awards, including two B-division championships at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (1998 and 2013), a number of championship at Will Shortz' other tournament, the Westchester Crossword Puzzle Tournament (including one pairs championship with me), both championships at the short-lived Paramus Crossword Tournament, and many minor prizes from the ACPT. Along the way, he attracted many acquaintances that blossomed into lifelong friendships.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the early 1970's if you wanted quality crossword magazines you routinely turned to the publications of Dell Magazines, which had been noted for its hard- and soft-cover books and its long running line of Four Color Comics. Practically every major cartoon character had their own titles through Dell, including the acclaimed Donald Duck comics of the great Carl Barks and other artists. But Dell also had a puzzle division, with Kathleen Rafferty as the longtime editor of the line. (I believe Nancy Schuster later took over; Nancy was a big supporter of Bob's crosswording activities and a sweetheart of a lady as well.) About 1971, decades before Sudoku and KenKen and Wordle, there was the Word Search. A universally accepted concept today, great for use in schools to help teach vocabulary and spelling, but Dell decided to launch a magazine devoted exclusively to Word Searches. Our mother wound up buying two copies of the monthly magazine, one for each Puzzle Brother to freely find words in. (Mom also got us two TV Guides, which wasn't as big a financial hit as those magazines were 15c each.) Bob, though, got curious about the other offerings Dell had in their crossword line, and soon he began buying with his allowance money the regular Dell Crossword titles, which had many other types of puzzles as well. Bob was well on his way to becoming a puzzle master.</div><div><br /></div><div>In 1978, Bob, then a junior in high school and a subscriber to the New York Times at low cost through the Newspapers In Education program, would receive the daily paper, surreptitiously do the crossword during our homeroom period (Bob and I were in a special homeroom exclusively for the school yearbook staff), in ink mind you, and finish it cleanly by the time the first period bell rang. And this was under the editorship of no less than Eugene T. Maleska, who filled his puzzles with a vast array of irrelevance and unrelatability. (Bob had already become familiar with his style through reprints of his work in the Dell magazines.) That Spring, the newspaper ran an article on the very first American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, thought to be a one-off event run by a maverick 25-year-old puzzle creator named Will Shortz. The staff at the Marriott in Stamford liked the uptick in hotel reservations and asked for more. Neither minded doing more, and the tournament has endured to this day, halted only by that pesky 2020 health scare. Bob just tucked the information in the back of his mind and went about his life, graduating 21st in his high school class of 435 students and completing a degree at Monmouth University four years later, all the while working at various retail jobs in his area.</div><div><br /></div><div>But the lure of wordplay never left. In 1998, on a whim, and without preregistration at either the tournament or the hotel, Bob made his American Crossword Puzzle Debut. No one was ready for this rank newcomer to do what he did, and it has never been surpassed since. In his very first ACPT, Bob Mackey placed SIXTH, out of all competitors. All new competitors in the tournament automatically get into the C skill division, As Bob's ranking was higher than the two top B competitors - Todd Dashoff and Zack Butler - Bob was invited to the B final on stage, which he won handily. (Who won the big prize that year? Trip Payne, who Bob already knew from another field of interest - competitive pinball.)</div><div><br /></div><div>Bob returned to the 1999 tournament as an A competitor, finishing 44th, but two events threatened to derail his puzzling for good in 2000, the first of which was the death of our mother. During the last few years of her life, Bob was caretaker to his mom, which also took a physical toll: that summer he was diagnosed with a highly treatable form of leukemia, which he beat and was able to keep at bay for the rest of his life. But those years were not very puzzling, as life itself seemed to be puzzling enough for Bob. He had also had a few run-ins with the law, including one incident in which he lost his driver's license. Bob never let on if the suspension was permanent, but after 2002 he never drove another mile. And by 2004 it seemed that Stamford was of a time long ago and far away.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the early months of 2005, I told Nancy (my wife at the time) that I would try to make a go at the tournament my brother had excelled in for two years, having been invited to finish her Games magazines which include a puzzle variety she disliked - crosswords. As I got in my car and drove up the Garden State Parkway, I grabbed my cell phone and called Bob at his trailer-house in Eatontown, where he had been living since selling mom's house. "Get dressed, Bobby. We're going on an adventure." And he had no idea where we were going until we got on the New Jersey Turnpike. I had told Bob that his place in the tournament was already bought and paid for, and we'd just be coming for the day. We commuted in both days from New Jersey for what proved to be a very special tournament. This was the year of "Wordplay", Patrick Creadon's major documentary film on the tournament and Will Shortz, with a camera crew documenting moments both profound and trivial. The fill is just as important as the theme entries, and Patrick caught it all - including the moment when Al Sanders looked at 1-Across on the final puzzle and saw it read _OLAES_UE, and slammed his headphones down in disgust, his winning moment ruined by two blank squares. Once "Wordplay" hit theaters and was released on DVD, people wondered how they could get into the tournament. In the ensuing years the tournament had to move to a larger Marriott in Brooklyn, it just got so big. And Bob got his solving mojo back, with a vengeance. He began making friendships in the crossword world. And as we both began getting our crosswords published, it dawned on us that we were at the time the only pair of identical twins who excelled both in constructing AND solving crosswords, and we marketed ourselves as The Puzzle Brothers, founding this blog and having custom hats and T-shirts printed.</div><div><br /></div><div>By 2013, Bob had earned a reputation as a very capable solver and had begun winning smaller tournaments. We began regularly attending Will's annual tournaments in Pleasantville, either held at the Episcopal Church or his table tennis club, and soon Bob began racking up the championships there. One of the more frequent finals lineups in Westchester consisted of Bob, Glen Ryan and Jeffrey Schwartz. So it was almost a given that all three of them, still entrenched in B division, would meet someday in a Stamford final. I did not compete in the tournament that year, and I have been known to miss a tournament here and there for whatever reason, but once I read that Bob was in the B finals, I cancelled my regular Sunday appearance with my church choir to see Bob try to win the B final. Well, we all know what happened that Sunday morning in Brooklyn.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cnBKZvybGZs" width="320" youtube-src-id="cnBKZvybGZs"></iframe></div><br /><div>I still don't know what the heck he said to indicate completion.</div><div><br /></div><div>Bob continued on with crosswords, as long as he could, until suffering more personal setbacks in the era of COVID-19, when the tournament was suspended in 2020, virtual in 2021, and returned to its live glory in 2022. Bob would return in 2022 for what turned out to be his final ACPT, finishing 30th. But during this time, he developed new health issues, which I would rather not recount here, and ultimately lost his home. Family members helped him back on the right track, and Bob continued attending tournaments, missing his last chance at an ACPT in 2023 but making his final tournament appearance at Lollapuzzoola 16 that August, finishing 43rd.</div><div><br /></div><div>When the word got out that Bob had died, the crossword world mourned. He was one of the stars of our competitions, always cheering on his opponents and lauding their accomplishments. Friends paid tribute after tribute on various social media channels...</div><blockquote><div>It was always great to see The Puzzle Brothers at ACPT and other events. --Dan Feyer</div></blockquote><blockquote><p>Such a mainstay of the puzzle community. --Stella Zawistowski</p></blockquote><blockquote>Bob was one of the first people I ever met who considered themselves a competitive solver. I had no idea there was such a thing, or a community of.puzzlers for that matter. Thank you, Bob, for opening a path to meeting so many great people. --Howard Barkin </blockquote><blockquote><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: var(--primary-text); font-family: times;">Sweet guy, and all about +words! --Diane Franklin Terry</span></p></blockquote><blockquote><p>I loved seeing Bob at the tournaments. He was always had something interesting to say. --Patrick Merrell</p></blockquote><blockquote><p>Bob was a wonderfully familiar face at so many tournaments and I always enjoyed competing together. --Ken Stern</p></blockquote><blockquote><p>It was clear how you and Bob loved each other; he, like you, was smart, witty, and most of all warm and friendly. Our crossword gang will miss Bob. --Robert Moy</p></blockquote><p>There exists an early Bugs Bunny cartoon, "The Heckling Hare", in which Bugs and an unnamed dog antagonist take an extended fall from the heavens, yet still manage a safe landing, with Bugs mocking the viewers: "Fooled ya, didn't we?" Bob was taken off the machines keeping him alive at about 4:30 on Tuesday afternoon. Miraculously, he hung on for another three hours, with a repeat of Bugs' majestic 1941 fake-out a possibility. Alas, it was not to be. Time of death: 7:31 p.m. </p><p>Bob's survivors also included an older brother and a sister, six nieces, and two step-nieces courtesy of my second marriage. He sired no progeny to carry on his legacy.</p><p>And thus ends the story of Bob Mackey, a humble, gracious man who was one of the quiet giants of wordplay. I was proud to call him my brother.</p><blockquote><p> </p></blockquote><blockquote><p><br /></p></blockquote><p> </p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></p></blockquote>Dave Mackeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13454782108761662940noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21800485.post-33119456449822826182016-04-03T16:14:00.003-04:002016-04-03T16:14:42.882-04:00BARKIN UP THE RIGHT TREE<h2>
Howard Barkin wins first ACPT</h2>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Don Christensen; from ACPT website</td></tr>
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In a year where the impossible seemed within reach - Dan Feyer steamrolling to a possible seventh consecutive American Crossword Puzzle Tournament trophy - the unthinkable happened. Howard Barkin, longtime bump in the road whenever Feyer or his predecessor Tyler Hinman would win tournaments, now has an ACPT soup tureen to call his own, along with $7,000 in cash for a nice dinner out with the family.</div>
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Barkin, who also won the New Jersey state title, defeated Feyer (second place) and David Plotkin (third). Going into the final round, Feyer was first by three minutes over both Barkin and Plotkin, with Barkin seeded second due to a better time on Saturday's Puzzle 6.</div>
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Doug Peterson won the B division title over Michael Megargee and Emily O'Neill, who did win for top foreign solver (she is from Canada).</div>
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Rookie winner Miriam Sicherman finished third in the C finals. The champ there was Christopher Baker, with a perfect solve in 8:45, nineteen seconds ahead of Sam Donaldson.</div>
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Other division and regional winners:</div>
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D: Claire Rimkus</div>
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E: Dean Romano</div>
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Junior: Sam Ezersky</div>
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Fifties: Al Sanders</div>
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Sixties: Jon Delfin</div>
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Seventies: Neil Singer</div>
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Senior: Thomas Hennessy</div>
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West: Feyer</div>
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Connecticut: Ron Osher</div>
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New England: Joon Pahk</div>
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New York City: Francis Heaney</div>
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Long Island: Thomas Weisswange</div>
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Upstate New York: Arnold Reich</div>
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Mid-Atlantic: Megargee</div>
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South: Plotkin</div>
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Midwest: Anne Ellison</div>
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Puzzle Brother Bob Mackey placed much lower than usual this year, 52nd, due to multiple errors. Dave Mackey did not attend the tournament this year.</div>
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The 40th ACPT will be back in Stamford the weekend of March 24-26, 2017.</div>
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Dave Mackeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13454782108761662940noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21800485.post-39814741338650259122015-10-27T16:23:00.002-04:002015-10-27T16:23:48.971-04:00HENRY HOOK DEAD AT 60Per Brendan Emmett Quigley, puzzle maker Henry Hook, who spent the last few years in extremely ill health, which included the amputation of one leg, has died at the age of 60. Developing...Dave Mackeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13454782108761662940noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21800485.post-28596650250174697032015-09-04T12:28:00.001-04:002015-09-04T12:28:05.528-04:00New Tournament For Long IslandersLong Island residents will get a chance for some crossword action on October 3, 2015, when the Oceanside Library hosts its first annual Crossword Puzzle Tournament. The event will take place at 11 a.m. at the library, which is at 30 Davison Avenue.<br />
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Competitors will be solving three unpublished New York Times puzzles with the top three scorers competing in the finals. Refreshments, prizes and free entry. For more information or to register, call the library at 516-766-2360, extension 302.Dave Mackeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13454782108761662940noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21800485.post-42846463369562869292015-09-04T12:24:00.001-04:002015-09-04T12:24:55.344-04:00Westchester Tournament Cancelled For 2015The annual Westchester Crossword Tournament, benefitting the Pleasantville Fund for Learning, has been cancelled for 2015, owing to a busier than usual fall for Will Shortz, tournament organizer and host. The tournament should return in 2015; meanwhile, the Pleasantville Fund for Learning has other fundraisers lined up for the fall season. Please visit pffl.org for more information on those events.<br />
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You may remember that the 2014 Westchester Tournament was won by Bob Mackey in a very close finish over Ken Stern, with Glenn Ryan finishing third.Dave Mackeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13454782108761662940noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21800485.post-15112357359452556642015-03-30T08:02:00.000-04:002015-03-30T08:02:50.879-04:002015 ACPT RECAP: THAT OLD STAMFORD MAGICOn the 10th anniversary (plus a few days) of the first ACPT championship won by Tyler Hinman in a heartbreaker over Al Sanders, Hinman almost regained the crown he has watched Dan Feyer walk away with for the past five years. But it was not to be as Dan Feyer sneaked in by a margin of about 1/2 second to win his record sixth consecutive ACPT title, as the tournament returned to its original home of Stamford, Connecticut after a seven-year run in Brooklyn, NY. Watch and see. (The "official" video is still being edited; that will be posted here when available.)<br />
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The value of banking time on Puzzles 1-6 became apparent this year as Dan Feyer's four-second head start enabled him to win the title, in spite of Tyler actually solving the Byron Walden-constructed puzzle faster. On his way to establishing that cushion, Feyer set a new tournament record this year when he solved Puzzle 1 in less than two minutes. Mike Nothnagel runs the numbers on that...<br />
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Dan's 7:13 is also the fastest winning solve time ever for A clues in the finals... with an asterisk noting Tyler's faster solve. For his efforts, Feyer won $5,000, a sixth bowl-shaped trophy, and a free roll into next year's tournament. <br />
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Andrew Feist won the B division finals over Elaine Renner and this year's top rookie, Vic Chandhok. Your other division, demographic and geographic winners....<br />
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Official Contestant Count: 567, off 13 from last year <br />
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4. Kiran Kedlaya<br />
5. Anne Erdmann (who would have made the finals if not for one mistake on Puzzle 2)<br />
6. Francis Heaney<br />
7. Joon Pahk<br />
8. Al Sanders<br />
9. David Plotkin<br />
10. Jon Delfin<br />
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19. Robert Mackey (one square wrong in puzzle 2, retaining his A ranking)<br />
124. Dave Mackey (one square wrong in puzzles 2 and 4, six squares wrong in puzzle 5, so will be demoted to C next year)<br />
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C: David Steinberg - youngest division winner ever in the ACPT at 17 years of age<br />
D: Jamie Womack<br />
E: Susan Cocalis announced as champion; however a scoring change made John Morgan the actual champion<br />
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Junior: David Plotkin<br />
Fifties: Anne Erdmann<br />
Sixties: Jon Delfin (who just turned 60)<br />
Seventies: Doug Hoylman<br />
Seniors: Arthur Schulman<br />
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West: Feyer<br />
Connecticut: Glen Ryan<br />
New England: Pahk<br />
NYC: Heaney<br />
LI: Peter Gordon<br />
Upstate NY: Jennifer Turney<br />
NJ: Howard Barkin (Robert Mackey 2nd in NJ due to a mistake by Renner on her Puzzle 7... thanks Elaine)<br />
Mid-Atlantic: Scott Weiss<br />
South: David Plotkin<br />
Midwest: Erdmann<br />
Foreign: Emily O'Neill (from Vancouver, BC... all the Foreign contestants were from Canada this year)<br />
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The 2016 ACPT will be held in Stamford once again at a date yet to be determined. Dave Mackeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13454782108761662940noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21800485.post-46824958263090160462015-03-28T16:45:00.002-04:002015-03-28T19:16:47.353-04:00Saturday Afternoon RecapThe results are in from all of today's puzzles at the ACPT. In A division, Dan Feyer continues to enjoy a three minute advantage over Joon Pahk and Howard Barkin after the first six puzzles. Tyler Hinman and Kiran Kedlaya are also in the top five, four and seven minutes behind Feyer respectively. Anne Erdmann is in sixth place, hobbled by a mistake on Puzzle 2.<br />
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Rookie Vic Chandhok (all rookies start as C-level solvers) would be bumped up to the B final along with Elaine Renner and Jesse Lansner if those standings hold to form when Puzzle 7 is solved tomorrow. The other division leaders:<br />
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C: Rob Tricchinelli, David Steinberg, Mike Weepie<br />
D: Jamie Womack, Ron Humpolick, Sandy Lawrence<br />
E: Susan Cocalis, Alice Grun, Hannah Wezorek<br />
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In order, your constructors today have been Tracy Bennett, Joel Fagliano, Merl Reagle,Paula Gamache, Jeff Chen, and Lynn Lempel. That leaves the formidable duo of Patrick Berry and Byron Walden for the two Sunday puzzles - the 9 a.m. 21x, and the tournament finale.<br />
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A weird scoring anomaly took place when the Puzzle 1 results were announced, when a solver named William Hall appeared to have solved Puzzle 1 a full four minutes before Dan Feyer did. Since Dan solved the puzzle in less than two minutes - believed to be an ACPT first - that meant that Hall would have had to do some serious messing with the time-space continuum to finish the puzzle TWO MINUTES BEFORE HE EVEN STARTED.<br />
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Hall's score on puzzle 1 has since been adjusted.<br />
Dave Mackeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13454782108761662940noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21800485.post-40311538772563202832015-03-27T20:01:00.001-04:002015-03-28T17:34:49.467-04:00THE FRIENDLY CONFINESGreetings from the Stamford Marriott. And if you told me three years ago that I would be ever saying that again you'd think I was crazy. At this moment we are waiting in the Friday night games which are going to include Multimedia Crosswords by Henry Hook and Joel Fagliano. And an update to the Pre-Shortzian Project by David Steinberg in which he will talk about anonymous constructors.<br />
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Tournament host Will Shortz estimates about 560 contestant so far. As it has been for the past four years the big question is "can Dan Feyer win again". </div>
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For the latest on the tournament follow us on Twitter @thepuzbros.</div>
Dave Mackeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13454782108761662940noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21800485.post-70783454610630331612014-09-21T21:01:00.002-04:002014-09-21T21:01:24.804-04:00By The Skin Of His Teeth, Bob Mackey Wins His Sixth Westchester TrophyWhat a final round of the 18th annual Westchester Crossword Tournament. Two puzzlers finished. Bob Mackey looked over his whiteboard for mistakes. Ken Stern looked over his whiteboard for mistakes. Neither knew the game of Chicken that was being played. Bob was looking for something that would complete a specified number of thematic elements in a future New York Times puzzle. Ken's puzzle was clean.<br />
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Finally, Bob found the final missing piece and broke the tense silence.<br />
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"DONE".<br />
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One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi, four Misissisppi. Ken echoed...<br />
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"DONE."<br />
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It could have gone the other way if Ken had signaled "Done" just seconds earlier, or if Bob had done the same without checking his work, but the final outcome of the 18th annual Westchester Tournament was the same as five of the previous installments, with Bob Mackey taking home the championship trophy.<br />
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(SPOILER ALERT: You may not want to look at the picture if you have not yet solved the puzzle to be published on October 2, 2014.)<br />
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<br />
Although Glenn Ryan was the third man in the scenario working the left board, all the focus was on the two solvers at center and right, with Bob taking an early lead and Ken steadily catching up, when finally the two solvers had no more blank squares. To some it looked like Bob was being super cautious, but the puzzle's notes had indicated that there were six thematic quirks. Bob kept counting, and counting, and counting, but could only find five. He finally found the final crossing that completed the theme requirements, a mere four seconds before Ken Stern threw up his hands in surrender. All three solvers completed the puzzle with no errors.<br />
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<br />
In the first of a year of homecomings for tournament emcee/host Will Shortz, the Westchester Tournament returned to its prior home, the St. John's Episcopal Church in Pleasantville, after a three year residency at the Westchester Table Tennis Club. Next spring, the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament will be once again in its birthplace of Stamford, Connecticut. One wag noted that perhaps Will will bring Games Magazine back from the dead next.<br />
<br />
Bob's qualifying puzzle was the Tuesday, September 30 puzzle by Andy Kravis, who was the only constructor present at Friday's tournament. Judges for the tournament included perennial head judge Stan Kurzban, Ellen Ripstein, Mimi Raphael, Frank Longo, Hayley Gold and Pat Merrell.<br />
<br />
As always, proceeds from the tournament benefitted the Pleasantville Fund For Learning.Dave Mackeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13454782108761662940noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21800485.post-17921262544447437912014-08-24T22:57:00.000-04:002014-08-24T22:57:51.956-04:00WESTCHESTER TOURNAMENT RETURNS TO ST. JOHN'S CHURCH SEPTEMBER 19The 18th edition of the Westchester Crossword Puzzle Tournament will be on Friday, September 19, and the tournament is moving back to the St. John Episcopal Church in Pleasantville, once again to benefit the <a href="http://www.pffl.org/XWord_2014.html" target="_blank">Pleasantville Fund for Learning</a>. As always, the tournament will feature the four New York Times puzzles from the following Monday through Wednesday, with the Thursday puzzle serving as the playoff puzzle for the top finisher on each of the three puzzles. $30 to compete singly, $45 as a team, or $5 just to watch.<br />
<br />
Last year's tournament finals involved the same three solvers from the 2013 ACPT "B" finals, Glenn Ryan, Jeffrey Schwartz, and Robert Mackey, which culminated in Mackey winning his sixth Westchester trophy - five singles and one doubles title with Dave Mackey.<br />
<br />
The tournament was held the last three years at the Westchester Table Tennis Club, which is owned by New York Times crossword guru Will Shortz. No reason was given for the change, although a Facebook post by perennial Westchester finalist Elaine Renner noted "the acoustics are better" in the church.Dave Mackeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13454782108761662940noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21800485.post-11017802286772703462014-08-10T19:25:00.002-04:002014-08-11T11:21:35.896-04:00JON DELFIN TRIUMPHANT AT LOLLAPUZZOOLA 7<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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(Updated 8/11/2014)<br />
<br />
Jon Delfin showed he can still run with the puppies when he proved
victorious at the seventh installment of Brian Cimmet and Patrick
Blindauer's Lollapuzzoola, held on August 9 (a Saturday in August) at
the All Souls Church on the upper East Side of Manhattan.<br />
<br />
Delfin,
who will begin competing in the Sixties age bracket at next year's ACPT
in Stamford (and who has won that tournament a record seven times),
defeated the decades-younger Francis Heaney and Scott Weiss in the
Express bracket. None of the three made any mistakes on the championship
puzzle by Patrick Berry.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">L-R: Scott Weiss, Patrick Blindauer (holding Weiss' clue sheet for him), and Patrick Heaney</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In the Local bracket, Simon McAndrews finished first but had one void square. Patti Varol, who finished second, was crowned Local Champion and Sara Nies was third. <br />
<br />
Rounding out the top 10 overall finishers in the Express division were Jeffrey Schwartz, Andy Kravis, Joon Pahk (who solved using only Down clues - the only other competitor to do so was Peter Gordon), Andrew Feist, Ellen Ripstein, Robert Mackey and Thomas Weisswange. Pahk also won the Worst Handwriting Award.<br />
<br />
For the second year in a row, Marcia Hearst and Julian Ochrymowych won the Pairs title.<br />
<br />
The only competitors to solve all five competition puzzles cleanly were Heaney, Delfin, Schwartz, Pahk, Ripstein, Weisswange, Elaine Lippman, Matt Sandler, Richard Hovan, Dave Mackey (who finished 25th, an improvement of 100 places from last year), Brendan Emmett Quigley, Patty Buethe, Amy Goldstein, Sasha Shapiro and Josephine Quinones.<br />
<br />
The rest of the top 10 in Local was Rebecca Moody (who also won the Rookie award), Martin Davis, Vegavahini Subramaniam, Thomas Perretti, Finn Vigeland, Aaron Riggio and Amy Paepke.<br />
<br />
The slogan of the tournament this year was "It Ain't Over Till It's Over", which was of course a phrase coined by Yogi Berra, the great baseball manager and coach, and some of the puzzles - including a very accessible meta by Blindauer - had a baseball theme. In fact, Blindauer (who probably has a closetful of St. Louis Cardinals jerseys) led TWO singings of "Take Me Out To The Ball Game", and at least one Puzzle Brother was familiar with the first rendition...<br />
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<br />
The finale version was the conventional singing, a la Harry Caray. Of course, the cheese ball snacks (joined by a blue Cotton Candy version) and other familiar trappings of Lollapuzzoola returned, surrounded by some great puzzles that included audio and visual clues and other tricks you would never think of. The puzzles, in order, were by Cathy Allis (14x16), Mike Nothnagel (17x), Tony Orbach (21x), Blindauer (15x) and Doug Peterson (21x).<br />
<br />
More information and final standings are available at <a href="http://bemoresmarter.com./">bemoresmarter.com.</a> Dave Mackeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13454782108761662940noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21800485.post-90972973959263958522014-05-04T08:26:00.001-04:002014-05-04T08:29:44.949-04:00Celebrity Puzzlers Revealed!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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If Patrick Creadon ever intends to make a sequel to "Wordplay", these two ladies should be featured. At left, comedienne Suzanne Whang, the original host of "House Hunters" on HGTV, has revealed herself to be quite the crossworder, and has dipped her toe into the construction arena with a recent American Values Club crossword co-authored by Tyler Hinman. She was also a recent contributor to the New York Times crossword blog, authored by her friend Deb Amlen, a funny lady in her own right. Suzanne's Twitter is @suzannewhang.<br />
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<br />
Kat Dennings is immediately recognizable in her yellow and red waitress outfit from the CBS sitcom "2 Broke Girls", and is currently on a vacation where she has discovered the New York Times crossword puzzle, as evidenced by some of her recent Instagram posts, including one where she's clearly solving in pen with the caption "Confidence", and another displaying the fully solved grid of the Saturday, May 13 puzzle by Sam Ezersky. Later that day, she posted on her Twitter: "Where have you been all my life, crossword puzzles".<br />
<br />
Kat's Instagram: katdenningsss<br />
Kat's Twitter: @officialkatDave Mackeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13454782108761662940noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21800485.post-32329357528907687672014-03-09T19:57:00.001-04:002014-03-09T19:57:15.997-04:00DAMN, FEYER<h4>
Dan Feyer Extends Streak To 5 Wins In A Row</h4>
Michael Sharp put it best when he tweeted after the ACPT this year....<br />
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<br />
For the fifth year in a row, Dan Feyer was the fastest and smartest solver at the 37th American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, ringing down the curtain on a seven year run at the Brooklyn Bridge Marriott.<br />
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Dan's solve of the Mike Shenk finals puzzle was smooth as anything previously seen by the newly transplanted Californian, handily beating competitors Tyler Hinman (second place) and Howard Barkin (third place). All three solvers were perfect on the final puzzle.<br />
<br />
Not so B division.<br />
<br />
Benjamin Coe emerged triumphant over Kevan Choset and Andy Kravis, the latter two of whom made the same exact mistake on the puzzle. There's quite a difference between LAO and TAO, isn't there? Oh, WAO.<br />
<br />
Your other winners:<br />
<br />
Remainder of Top Ten: Joon Pahk, Anne Erdmann, Jon Delfin, Erik Agard, David Plotkin, Francis Heaney, Ellen Ripstein<br />
C: Michael Megargee<br />
D: Chris Popp<br />
E: Maureen Kildee<br />
Rookie: Megargee<br />
Junior: Agard<br />
Fifties: Erdmann<br />
Sixties: Ripstein<br />
Seventies: Doug Hoylman<br />
Senior: Bob Rubin<br />
West: Feyer<br />
Connecticut: Glen Ryan<br />
NE: Pahk<br />
NYC: Delfin<br />
LI: Thomas Weisswange<br />
Upstate NY: David Heinick<br />
NJ: Howard Barkin, then Robert Mackey<br />
Mid-Atlantic: Agard<br />
South: David Plotkin<br />
Midwest: Erdmann<br />
Foreign: Emily O'Neill<br />
<br />
The handwriting award was noteworthy because for the first time it was won by a man - Jeremy Lin. (No, this guy wasn't the basketball player.)<br />
<br />
The 2015 ACPT will be March 27-29, 2015 in Stamford, Connecticut. Beat you to the breakfast buffet! Dave Mackeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13454782108761662940noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21800485.post-62814049223223681732014-03-09T13:26:00.002-04:002014-03-09T13:26:17.830-04:00UNOFFICIAL: DAN FEYER DOES IT AGAINFive time champion and the once and future king of Brooklyn!Dave Mackeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13454782108761662940noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21800485.post-40558258378912373552014-03-09T12:26:00.000-04:002014-03-09T12:36:21.725-04:00Playoff Puzzle ParticipantsC - Matt Sandler, David Heinick, Michael Megargee<br />
B - Benjamin Coe, Kevan Choset, Andy Kravis<br />
A - Howard Barkin, Tyler Hinman, Dan FeyerDave Mackeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13454782108761662940noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21800485.post-11636006128400819832014-03-09T11:35:00.000-04:002014-03-09T11:35:08.611-04:00Talent Show underway....Some good talent so far from the likes of Tommy Lee Cook, Ben Bass and Vic Fleming, as the final scores and rankings are computed. The play by play on the finals puzzles will appear on Twitter (@thepuzbros), with recaps here.Dave Mackeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13454782108761662940noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21800485.post-51374343972588074772014-03-09T00:50:00.001-05:002014-03-09T00:51:46.112-05:00DAY 1 ACPT RECAPThe Saturday session of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament 2014 edition has ended. Here's how things are shaking out....<br />
<br />
The six puzzles so far have shown three familiar names atop the leaderboard: Dan Feyer, Tyler Hinman and Howard Barkin, with the B leaders being Andy Kravis, Adam Cohen and Kevan Choset.<br />
<br />
Not a lot of controversy with this year's puzzles, which in order of appearance, were authored by Kelly Clark, Patrick Blindauer, Merl Reagle, MaryEllen Uthlaut, Brendan Emmett Quigley, and Anna Shechtman, other than the usual bad crossings and general hard feelings about that fifth puzzle. Neither Puzzle Brother successsfully completed that puzzle. Bob is presently in 34th place and Dave 121st.<br />
<br />
The Saturday evening activities involved a game of Clever Clues. Will had three words, NEST, ELOPE and ARSON and had actual NYT clues with only the first letter of each given. If you got it off the first letter only you gave yourself 10 points. The second letter of each word was then added, and if you got it then, you scored 5. The winners of that contest were Doug Hoylman, followed closely by Thomas Weisswange and Jonathan Olsen.<br />
<br />
David Steinberg was up next with a brief talk about the <a href="http://www.preshortzianpuzzleproject.com/">Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project</a>. David and his team of litzers have now completed the daily NYT puzzles (which began in 1950) and are as far back as 1948 with the Margaret Farrar-edited Sunday puzzles. "I can see the light at the end of the tunnel," noted David, who now needs proofreaders to make sure the litzing is accurate. The project has had some unexpected benefits such as confirming the first puzzle constructed by Bernice Gordon, which was litzed by Howard Barkin and included the first use of the entry MAMIEEISENHOWER. That was back in 1953. David also noted that during the Shortz era there has actually been a decline in the number of female constructors, mostly due to the adoption of computer construction software.<br />
<br />
Finally, Matt Ginsberg presented an updated version of his Dr. Fill computer-solving software chalk talk, complete with a demonstration of all six tournament puzzles so far. Some of the puzzles were perfectly solved, some were not.<br />
<br />
Festivities resume tomorrow at 9 a.m. DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME with puzzle 7! Dave Mackeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13454782108761662940noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21800485.post-71968971986754038442014-03-07T23:14:00.000-05:002014-03-07T23:14:12.937-05:00BYE BYE BROOKLYNGreetings and welcome to the 37th American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, almost live from Brooklyn.... for the last time. Will Shortz announced in an interview with the New York Times Wordplay columnist Deb Amlen that the tournament will return to the Stamford Marriott in Connecticut on March 27-29, 2015.<br />
<br />
Lots of excitement around the Brooklyn Bridge Marriott as for the final time we look forward to two days of crossword competition. The big question remains (as it has for the last three years) "can Dan Feyer make it (number of tournaments won +1) in a row?"<br />
<br />
Consider in the past decade, all the time I've been going to these tournaments, there have been only two champions: Tyler Hinman (2005-2009) and Dan Feyer (2010-2013). Will someone new come to the fore?<br />
<br />
Be that as it may, here is your A-list of 28 contenders (of 555 pre-registered contestants):<br />
<br />
Erik Agard<br />
Howard Barkin<br />
John Beck<br />
Kathie Conarck<br />
Jon Delfin<br />
Len Elliott <br />
Anne Erdmann<br />
Dan Feyer <br />
Peter Gordon<br />
Katie Hamill<br />
Francis Heaney<br />
Tyler Hinman<br />
Eric LeVasseur <br />
Frank Longo<br />
Robert Mackey<br />
Eric Maddy <br />
Joon Pahk<br />
Doug Peterson <br />
David Plotkin<br />
Amy Reynaldo<br />
Ellen Ripstein <br />
Glen Ryan<br />
Al Sanders <br />
Jeffrey Schwartz<br />
Ken Stern<br />
Scott Weiss<br />
John Wilson<br />
Stella Zawistowski<br />
<br />
The Carnival of Puzzles has concluded with co-winners Robert Mackey and Al Sanders. <br />
<br />
For the latest on the tournament follow @thepuzbros on Twitter!Dave Mackeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13454782108761662940noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21800485.post-73034182518060819972013-09-28T07:25:00.000-04:002013-09-28T19:03:11.947-04:00DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN - ACPT B Finals Replay Gives Bob Mackey His Fifth Westchester Championship<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Bob Mackey realized early on that the finals of the 17th Westchester Crossword Tournament would most likely be a replay of the ACPT "B" division finals from this past March in Brooklyn and let everyone know it (the word "jinx" not being in his vocabulary). Scanning the room, he found Jeff Schwartz and Glenn Ryan, who harbored much the same desire. Nowhere to be found was defending champion Thomas Weisswange.<br />
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Glenn Ryan was the first clean finisher on the Monday NY Times puzzle from the forthcoming week, a construction by Ian Livengood. If not for one wrong letter, Bob Mackey would have qualified on the Tuesday puzzle of Joel Fagliano. Jeff Schwartz was the first eligible correct solver. And for the third puzzle, the Wednesday, October 2 by Paula Gamache, it was Bob as the last announced finalist, finishing just behind the already-qualified Jeff. The finals were set.<br />
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In spite of an early pen problem, Bob steadily worked through the Thursday puzzle - a nice rebus from first time NYT contributor Evan Birnholz - while the other two lagged behind, with Glenn out in front first, and Jeff eventually overtaking him in what little drama the finals had. Bob finished clean in a little over eight minutes, even with the pen mishap, to capture his fifth Westchester Crossword Tournament title (sixth if you count the doubles title in 2006). <br />
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Kudos to Will Shortz for keeping this tournament lively and interesting with the addition of a table tennis playoff for the top finishers on the Gamache puzzle. Afterwards, Westchester Table Tennis Club co-owner and resident pro Robert Roberts treated us to a demonstration. Dave Mackeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13454782108761662940noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21800485.post-6557715900680807662013-09-19T14:38:00.000-04:002013-09-19T14:38:00.496-04:00WESTCHESTER TIME AGAINThe cooler weather and turning trees mean only one thing - Westchester time is upon us!
Will Shortz is again hosting his hometown Westchester Crossword Tournament at his Westchester Table Tennis Club, in Pleasantville. The 17th tournament, to be held Friday, September 27 beginning at 7:30 p.m., will again benefit the Pleasantville Fund For Learning.
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Donationa to compete are $30 for single, $45 for doubles pair, or $5 if you just want to watch. <br />
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Competitors will tackle the next three Monday-Wednesday New York Times puzzles, then the top finisher on each puzzle (perfect in the quickest time) will solve the Thursday puzzle on stage using the familiar white boards.
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Additionally, this year there will also be a crossword/table tennis biathlon. The top four finishers at crosswords who sign up for the biathlon will face off in table tennis to determine the biathlon champion. <br />
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Last year's singles champion was Thomas Weisswange. More information available at <a href="http://www.pffl.org/">www.pffl.org</a>. Dave Mackeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13454782108761662940noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21800485.post-8918995477175326352013-08-11T09:24:00.000-04:002013-09-19T14:41:36.377-04:00Al Sanders Takes Lollapuzzoola 6 Express TitleThe image most people have in their brains of Al Sanders is the overconfident man who raises his hand to indicate "done" at the 2005 ACPT, only to realize he's left two squares blank in 1-Across, throwing his headset to the ground in frustration. We've all seen that movie before. (Except maybe for Oscar Cimmet.)<br />
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Yesterday, the ACPT perennial flew in from Colorado to participate in Lollapuzzoola 6 in New York City, and wound up besting another cross-country commuter, Trip Payne, and Francis Heaney in the onstage finals of the "Express Division", roughly equivalent to A- and B- class ACPT contestants.<br />
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Jonathan Brown wound up the winner of the "Local Division", defeating Erin Milligan and Angela Halsted (who was found to be the tournament's sole 6-time participant and the analogue to Jay Kasofsky at the ACPT). The extremely tough finals puzzle was constructed by Joon Pahk, who was unable to attend to defend his title from last year.<br />
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The tournament was under the capable supervision of co-creator Brian Cimmet and Patrick Blindauer, who replaced co-creator Ryan Hecht a few years ago, and over the six years of its existence it has steadily attracted more top solvers around the country, including fourth place finisher Amy Reynaldo, the aforementioned Payne and Sanders, and Katie Hamill from Boston among others. This year's tournament set a record with over 150 solvers, including past ACPT winners Jon Delfin and Ellen Ripstein. The judges included the likes of Dan Feyer and Anne Erdmann.<br />
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In keeping with the tournament's irreverent streak, prize trophies featured figurines from such unrelated disciplines as karate and gymnastics (but were engraved for the first time) as well as leftover ACPT trophies. Clever word games helped fill the time and there was a metapuzzle that was related to the five crosswords solved by everyone.<br />
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More tournament information and pictures may be found at <a href="http://www.bemoresmarter.com./">http://www.bemoresmarter.com</a>.<br />
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<br />Dave Mackeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13454782108761662940noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21800485.post-13714374290407130642013-04-30T00:18:00.000-04:002013-04-30T00:18:35.963-04:00ACPT Returning To Stamford?After the ACPT's contract with the Brooklyn Bridge Marriott expires with the 2014 tournament, <a href="http://wordplay.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/28/american-crossword-puzzle-tournament-brooklyn-or-stamford-a-special-message-from-will-shortz/">Will Shortz is seriously considering a return to the tournament's original home, the Stamford (CT) Marriott.</a><br />
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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. Dave Mackeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13454782108761662940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21800485.post-84529329616420298852013-03-10T17:00:00.002-04:002013-03-11T13:06:31.665-04:00FANTASTIC FEYER<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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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.)<br />
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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.<br />
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B: MOST SMARTEST </h3>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTqEQp4vGhgXElbar4j5oYUv8JwgI9-Ppsc7P20heNqA4Ao-XlIfgHQ9sIOaDP6evqUDN9_Y1fFa0vtBr9QaBsfYFqrxbEnKISZHd615Q_asDW7pvOXJ7ji9NMo9h6s-1xzRVy/s1600/DSC01084.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTqEQp4vGhgXElbar4j5oYUv8JwgI9-Ppsc7P20heNqA4Ao-XlIfgHQ9sIOaDP6evqUDN9_Y1fFa0vtBr9QaBsfYFqrxbEnKISZHd615Q_asDW7pvOXJ7ji9NMo9h6s-1xzRVy/s320/DSC01084.JPG" /></a>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".<br />
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Other winners today:<br />
C: Benjamin Coe<br />
D: Vegavahini Subramaniam<br />
E: Matthew Paranto<br />
Junior: David Plotkin<br />
50's: Erdmann<br />
60's: Ellen Ripstein<br />
70's: Len Elliott<br />
Senior: Bob Rubin<br />
West: Hinman<br />
Connecticut: Ryan<br />
New York: Feyer<br />
New Jersey: Barkin<br />
Long Island: Thomas Weisswange<br />
New England: Joon Pahk<br />
Upstate NY: Michael Sharp ("Rex Parker")<br />
Mid-Atlantic: Eric Agard<br />
South: Plotkin<br />
Midwest: Erdmann<br />
Foreign: Emily O'Neill<br />
Handwriting: Judy Cole<br />
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The 37th American Crossword Puzzle Tournament will be the same weekend next year - March 7-9. Dave Mackeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13454782108761662940noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21800485.post-38949962931175713342013-03-09T19:48:00.001-05:002013-03-11T13:07:48.077-04:00Recapping Saturday's Action!UPDATED 3/10/2013 5:57 AM <br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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).<br />
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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. <br />
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<br />Dave Mackeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13454782108761662940noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21800485.post-77189813297911292822013-03-09T15:28:00.002-05:002013-03-09T15:28:19.653-05:00THROUGH TWO PUZZLESThree 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.Dave Mackeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13454782108761662940noreply@blogger.com0