It's a Will Thing

Mr. Shortz will pop in this Friday (2) on the syndicated "Martha Stewart Show." We'll see if Martha is more of a crossword lady or a sudoku girl. But hey, Shortz gets a sweeps episode! Good work.

Also, a very nice job on the 25x in the July Games magazine. Harvey Estes has put together a winning puzzle that does not contain any words shorter than five letters.

New York Times Puzzle Today!

By Dave Mackey of the Puzzle Brothers

Here is the puzzle - available to New York Times crossword subscribers only.

Merl Reagle Presents: The Washington Post Crossword

Yesterday, Merl Reagle appeared live on "Talk of the Nation" (with Neil Conan) to talk up the Washington Post crossword, which he is overseeing beginning this weekend. The slot had previously been occupied by puzzles edited by Fred Piscop and others. Expect the same quality of puns, wordplay and good humor in Merl's Washington Post puzzles.

Here is the link to the NPR story page.

How's He Do That?

Tyler Hinman at work.

My Mistake

Yes, I did screw up Puzzle #7. Two squares wrong, one a careless mistake, and one of the rebus squares was wrong.

Well, there's always next year. Maybe.

More Tournament Stuff

* 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.

New York Sun Article...

...on this past weekend's festivities, right here. You will learn why we linked to this one.

ACPT 2008 Final Recap

FOUR BAGGER

He did it again. Tyler Hinman steadily maneuvered the final puzzle by Bob Klahn and again took advantage of a competitor's misstep to capture his unprecedented fourth straight American Crossword Puzzle Tournament title.

This year, Tyler's victim was Trip Payne, who finished first, then realized his mistake and watched as Tyler slowly finished the puzzle. Some noted that Trip, with a little more careful checking, would have taken the title.

Howard Barkin, suddenly promoted to A division due to his top-3 finish, wound up in third.

Other major division winners:
B: Anne Erdmann (NOTE: John Beck awarded duplicate "B" prize money due to a scoring error)
C: Dan Feyer
D: Steve Poris
E: Patrick Blindauer
Rookie: Doug Peterson
Senior: Mimi Raphael
70's: Bob Rubin
60's: Doug Hoylman
50's: Ellen Ripstein
Juniors: Tyler Hinman

A complete list of winners and all rankings are now up at the tournament's website.

By the way, Bob finished 23rd, Dave finished 75th (I have an inquiry out to find out why I dropped).

This Is IT! The A Finals!

Contestants left to right - Howard, Tyler, Trip

Tyler, followed by Trip and Howard, enter the ballroom. It's been a long wait for them (mostly thanks to Peter Gordon). This is the culmination of this pursuit's entire year. Tyler and Howard will have a three-second head start over Trip, due to their tie.

The clock begins and Tyler and Howard start together. Now Trip begins. All three contestants are wearing the same black t-shirts. Tyler is now working the UR corner. Trip is reading over the clues and writing a few things. The solving strategy is to build long words from the shorter threes spanning the longer columns. Howard is down in the LR corner. Tyler has the UR pretty much done. Only about 3 minutes down so far. Howard seems to be struggling a little, jumping around. Trip is now working down in the right but has made a mistake there. Tyler is now shaking his head a little. Trip has a mistake. He's working the LL corner now. Tyler is using good solving strategies for working this type of puzzle. Trip's made another mistake. Tyler is erasing some squares. Howard is working slowly and carefully. The A clues are particularly tasty. Tyler is now stuck a little. Trip has to fix his mistake. Trip has now fixed his mistakes. Tyler has yet to finish the upper left. The crowd gasps. Trip is clearly out in front. Trip signals done, but he has a mistake. 9 minutes down. Tyler still has a shot. Howard is still chugging along, still has a mistake in the LR. Tyler is now starting to make a charge. Tyler is not aware that Trip has screwed up his chances. Howard sort of knows he's lagging. This could still be anyone's game. It's very rare time runs out in an A finals, but this could be the year. About 7:30 left. It looks like the two remaining contestants are about even. Tyler still has a bunch of blanks, and just put BEATSME in one of the answers, to the amusement of the crowd. Howard is now starting to wake up a little and work on the LL. This could STILL be anyone's game! Tyler is shaking his head. This is a tough corner in the UL. Trip could still win this thing! Tyler has now broken through, and is starting to complete the UL. Howard has just a few words in that corner. Looks like Tyler is pulling away. Tyler is done with no errors. Howard still writing. Howard, now clearly playing for second, is writing with about 3 minutes left on the clock. Upper left completely shot. 2:10 left. Howard could still nab second. 1:20 left.... tick tick tick... time is running out for Howard. Now he's fixing some things up top. Less than a minute to go... desperation sets in. :30 left, he's figuring some things out... five... four... three... two... one... time's up.

3rd place - many errors, 20:00 - Howard Barkin
2nd place - 2 wrong letters, 9:52 - Trip Payne
YOUR 2008 ACPT CHAMPION - perfect - TYLER HINMAN

B Finals

Contestants left to right: Doug, Anne, Peter

Anne has a 25-second head start over the other 2 contestants. "These are the new winter headphones, from J. Crew," jokes Merl Reagle. All three contestants are now at work. Doug is tackling the middle of the puzzle first. Peter already has a misspelling in his puzzle. Anne is working the UR quad of the puzzle. We'll try to pass along some of the hosts' bon mots. It's Merl Reagle and Grant Barrett this year; Neil Conan sends his regards. On his knees now, Doug is tackling the LL corner. Great joke... too bad I can't share it because it would give the puzzle away. Peter is doing scattershot solving, now with three wrong answers. Anne is working the UR still. Doug got 2-D correct, which Peter still has a mistake in. 18-Across is one of the toughest words, if not the toughest, in this puzzle. They've now been working for about three minutes. Anne has about half the puzzle done so far. Merl's found another expression in the puzzle that has all the vowels, once. Anne's doing the UL from the back end in, which is said to be very tough. Doug now has the LL done. Anne doesn't yet have 5-Down completed, because she hasn't done the UL yet. 39-D may be a problem. Peter is still pretty much throwing darts at the puzzle. Anne is now finishing the UL. Still has the LL to do, now on her knees. Doug is now working up to the top, but still hasn't done the UR. Peter is now going for the harder words. Anne still has a few squares to fill. Now she's signaling done. Peter is now fishing for more answers, while Doug is now checking the LR. Doug is now done. Peter still working. "What do we do to speed this up?" says Grant. Peter's still got the UL to work on. More great jokes I can't share! About 10:00 left now. He is milking his third place moment, but you gotta keep going! Peter is now taking a drink. I think he knows his place now. "Nine friggin' minutes," grumbles Merl. Now, Peter has fixed one of his errors. "I know my Henry Gibson, but I don't know my Henrik Ibsen", jokes Merl. (Wow! Finally one I can share with you.) Peter has fixed his another error, and is now making some headway. Peter's last mistake is corrected and he'll "whip them right in" - and after a looooooooooooooong idiot check ("he's an editor", notes Merl), and we still wait. (You never know - he might be the only one right... But we know better.) Peter takes a big gulp of his water. We still wait. And wait. And wait. At 5:21, Peter FINALLY signals "Books for sale! Done!"

3rd place - 14:35 - Peter Gordon
2nd place - 8:42 - Doug Peterson
B Division Champion - 7:42 - Anne Erdmann

C Finals

Contestants, left to right: Dan, Emily, Adam

Emily immedately attacks the upper left, a typical 1-A move. All three contestants are on the upper left. I finished about half this puzzle in three minutes, so there, all you B stage players. Emily has finished the top left and is now working the middle. So is Dan. Adam is working pretty much the same. All three have pretty much the same strategy. They also started within three seconds of one another so, as Will said, "Use the extra time wisely." There is a 20-minute time limit on this puzzle. All three contestants have smallish handwriting so it's hard to see exactly what is being written. Emily has most of the upper right now done. Adam is now working the same UR quadrant. Meanwhile, Dan has just laid waste to the LL corner. The words themselves don't seem to difficult; unfortunately I can't offer specifics as these puzzles are being solved online and via mail also. It looks like Emily has one blank square in the UR! Dan has finished the left side of the puzzle. Adam is now in the UR corner. Dan is working the UR now too. Adam still has LL to do, while Dan needs his LR filled in. Emily is now working the LL corner. About 14:00 to go, but they probably won't need it. Dan is almost finished. This looks like Dan's race to win. Dan has just signaled done. Emily has filled in her missing square and now signals done. Adam is still working on his LL. Adam is now done. And the results...

3rd place - 1 letter missing, 7:59 - Adam Gale
2nd place - 6:50 Emily O'Neill
C Division Champion - 6:10 - Dan Feyer

Live From The FInals!

I've taken my seat in the main meeting room here in Brooklyn and we are waiting for the event to start. There seems to be more media here than before, partly because this event is now taking place in the City.

The C finals will be conducted in total silence, while B and A will have commentary by Merl Reagle and Grant Barrett.

So now, out of a just-record-nudging 699 contestants, it has come down to these nine who will compete on a 15x themeless by Bob Klahn.

So here now are your finalists!

C
10,790 pts - Adam Gale
10,800 pts - Dan Feyer
10,820 pts - Emily O'Neill

B
11,215 pts - Peter Gordon
11,315 pts - Doug Peterson
11,570 pts - Anne Erdmann

A
11,865 pts - Trip Payne
11,990 pts - Howard Barkin
11,990 pts - Tyler Hinman

Save The Date

32nd Annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament

February 27-March 1, 2009

Marriott New York at the Brooklyn Bridge

Sunday Morning

As expected the Sunday Puzzle 7 was by Oliver Hill, believed to be the youngest constructor in ACPT history at 17. This means that Bob Klahn will be the championship puzzle.

Top-tier solvers finished Puzzle 7 anywhere between 9 and 11 minutes. The official A, B and C standings will be announced when the final round begins just under a half hour from now.

Games Time

Hello from my perch just outside the Jackie Gleason room at the Marriott. Right now, the Saturday evening festivities have ended and it looks as though the game time will be a little more participant friendly than last night.

The standings are up on the website now and here's how the top 10 stack up after 6 puzzles:

1 Tyler Hinman
2 Howard Barkin
3 Francis Heaney
4 Trip Payne
5 Ellen Ripstein
6 Roger Barkan
7 Al Sanders
8 Katherine Bryant
9 Jon Delfin
10 Kiran Kedlaya

19 Robert Mackey

58 Dave Mackey

Through Three Puzzles

Greetings from just outside the Jackie Gleason meeting room. The standings are up for the first three puzzles and here's what's been shaking.

1 Trip Payne
2 Al Sanders
3 Howard Barkin
4 Francis Heaney
5 Tyler Hinman
6 Bob Mackey

30 Dave Mackey

"And You Were Up To Your Old Tricks In Chapters Four, Five And Six"

And boy, were they. As is the custom in the ACPT, Puzzle #5 separated the wheat from the chaff. The puzzle was courtesy of David J. Kahn, who caused the wrath of over 500 of the 700+ solvers who still held papers at the end of the time limit.

Puzzles Four (Paula Gamache) and Six rolled as expected with little drama or surprise, but much love to the constructors. And when Maura Jacobson's name was announced as the Puzzle Six constructor, the solvers produced an ovation as loud and as long as any the ACPT has ever experienced.

We are still also waiting for official standings to be posted. As soon as we know, you will know. Remaining constructors are Oliver Hill (the youngest ACPT constructor ever) and Bob Klahn, with the latter the heavy favorite to provide the themeless crusher that will decide the champions.

First Three Puzzles Down

Through the first three puzzles, the consensus is that Trip Payne is a minute ahead of the pack. Bob, by the way, is squarely in that pack with the top solvers.

(EDIT: Bob was actually two minutes behind Trip.)

Puzzles one through three were pretty good, with constructors Andrea Carla Michaels, Mike Shenk and Merl Reagle making early statements.

Puzzles four through six kick off at 2:30 p.m.

This is being posted without regards to what Bob may have already posted, so please bear with us if there is duplicate information.

Halftime, Day 1: Unofficial Report

With the first three puzzles more or less in the books, unofficially (and assuming no mistakes) it appears that Trip Payne is aching to get back to his first ACPT finals in three years, with a total "banked minutes" count of 56 for the first three grids. The difference maker for Payne: a 20-minute count on the second puzzle (Mike Shenk). Many of the A threats are hanging back at the 55-minute mark, with a handful two minutes behind at 54.

Puzzle One was the first entry by first-time tourney attendee Andrea Carla Michaels, and Puzzle Three was by tournament fixture and all-around good guy Merl Reagle. More news as these standings become official.

We Begin Anew

The 2008 ACPT is just one half hour away from kicking off. This year, the organizers are promising a streamlined scoring system, in which running scores will be posted after each session of three puzzles. At those intervals we will report on who the frontrunners are, and who the constructors are as well. No actual answers or puzzle material will be divulged in deference to off-site solvers. Best wishes to all competitors, and may the best man win.

Saturday Morning

Hello from a little hallway just off the lobby at the Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge. Bob and I are right now doing some blogging stuff, and I've also just tried to put up a blistering time on Brendan Emmett Quigley's Saturday NYT puzzle. (Unfortunately, the applet choked and wouldn't accept my time of 11 minutes or so, which would have made me the fastest applet solver. Many of the regulars are here, in fact.) I've been dilligently working the other puzzle handouts, which included a very twisty Friday offering from The New York Sun.

Name dropping: just ran into Vic Fleming.

Games looked very sparse last night, with a few groups at the few tables they were. The downside to this location is that the ballroom does close at a definite hour, and the all-night games are only permitted in the hallway outside. I went to bed early last night; perhaps I'll change my tune tomorrow.

I forgot to mention about last night's Brooklyn Crossword Extravaganza - although Eric Berlin was the author of the puzzles, he could not attend in person, so Scott Weiss - who with his wife wrote last year's Friday night contest - hosted this year's festivities.

The Saturday game show is going to be an homage to the NBC show, "1 vs. 100", which will actually be called "1 vs. 100+". This event is said to involve past champions from the ACPT as part of the Mob. Perhaps Bob and I will be tapped to be part of the Mob? We'll see tonight. For now, gotta find some breakfast. And get my shoes. Maybe take a subway ride. Couldn't do that in Stamford now, could we?

Oh, we added some more pix (this time by Bob) to the Image Gallery. It was a comedy of errors trying to get that picture of Stella Daily, so we included some of the outtakes. We'll continue to snap on Saturday, and then perhaps you'll see even more pictures.

Image Galleries!

Did you get your picture taken by a Puzzle Brother? Check and see!

Friday Game Results

The Brooklyn Crossword Puzzle Extravaganza, a set of interlinked puzzle challenges by Eric Berlin, was won by the team of Roger Barkan, Chris Morris and Justin Smith. Five other teams of three won prizes of a puzzle book from St. Martin's Press.

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and his wife briefly addressed the crowd before the games began. Markowitz then presented Will Shortz with a proclamation.

Games in progress - we'll be playing soon. Pictures, soon, too, as soon as we get them off the camera!

Puzzle Authors at ACPT

Paula Gamache, Oliver Hill, Maura Jacobson, David J. Kahn, Bob Klahn, Andrea Carla Michaels, Merl Reagle, Mike Shenk

We Are Here

Greetings from Brooklyn. Bob and I rolled in about an hour ago. We've already run into Fred Piscop (our prize winner for first contact at the tournament), Stan Newman, Merl Reagle, Rich Norris, j!m jen!sta, Helene Hovanec, Tyler Hinman and Amy Reynaldo. We just got our web access all fired up, and this is looking to be one for the ages.

My first impression of this hotel is its vastness. You could probably fit the whole Stamford ballroom in the lobby here in Brooklyn. Rooms are nicely appointed, too. Hopefully the ballrooms will be as big and nice.

The Puzzle Brothers Present, For Your Entertainment...

We have two puzzles that we will be deploying free of charge at the tournament. They are called "In Old New York" (by Dave) and "Soap Box Derby" (by Bob). Copious amounts of copies will be available and sometime this weekend, we will have the puzzles available online for you.

ACPT Bloggage, with Heaney

Michelle Bialeck has written a nice essay about the 2007 ACPT, with a great picture of one of last year's finalists, Francis Heaney. The wonderful thing about this tournament is that every competitor, however skilled they may (or may not) be, has a story to tell. This is mostly the story of one of last year's rookies, Carmen Banta.

NO DAY LIKE TODAY

Okay, it's only 11:xx or so the night before, but the day has arrived. The American Crossword Puzzle Tournament will launch its 31st edition in New York City, some 41 miles and eleven months removed from its longtime home of Stamford, Connecticut.

The substantially higher prices for tournament accomodations and lodging, coupled with a first-time spectator's fee of $30 for the finals (if you want to read Will's defense of this year's prices, read Stella Daily's blog) have not deterred almost 700 of the world's best crossword solvers from coming to the Brooklyn Bridge Marriott for this weekend's festivities, kicking off formally Friday evening at 8:00 with a rather informal game and puzzle session.

Then, late Saturday morning, the for-real puzzling begins as the competitors will flip over the first of six puzzles to be solved that day. We do not know at this point exactly who the puzzlemakers are (with the exception of Maura Jacobson, who always provides Puzzle #6, much to the crowd's eternal delight), but they're usually the men and women at the top of their game. Who will do the killer finals puzzle this year? Who will have the "puzzle of death" that almost always seems to be slotted in #5?

We are looking forward to seeing all 700 or so of you in Brooklyn tomorrow!

The Count Now Stands At...

655, according to an article in Bloomberg today. By the weekend, we will know if a new ACPT record for participants have been set.

Also, if you're planning on attending the Cru dinner, check your e-mail for an important update.

Tyler's New Blog

As we await the weekend and whether he will win an unprecedented fourth ACPT, we call your attention to Tyler Hinman's new blog.

American Idol Contestant Is A "Word Nerd"!

During this evening's Fox network broadcast of "American Idol", contestant David Cook, one of the top 10 males, said that he was a self-professed "word nerd" who enjoys crossword puzzles and word searches. The show even showed him working a USA Today crossword. He didn't sing too badly tonight, either. Let's hope he sticks around.

In Five... Four... Three... Two... One

It's hard to believe, but it is almost Tournament Time. Of course, we all have to get used to the fact that we're now convening in late February instead of March, but I rather like the new schedule... and I'm most grateful that I didn't give up solving crosswords for Lent.

Anyway, I have no idea at this point how many people are going to be showing up in Brooklyn, but it's my gut feeling that this tournament is going to again set a record.

Our gift to the Brooklyn solvers is going to be a special Tournament puzzle which will be posted on the first day of the tournament, and I will also make print copies available to those traveling without computers. Bob and I hope you enjoy it. And like we always say, come over to our table, say hello, use our pencil sharpeners, whatever. We're looking forward to seeing you.

Two Weeks To Go...

...and no room at the inn.

The Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge has out the NO VACANCY sign for Saturday, March 1. So much so, that two other Marriotts have had to clear rooms for tournament attendees. Clearly, there is some interest in the tournament again this year.

With over 600 guest rooms totally booked and counting the possibility of multiple solvers per room, this is shaping up to be the biggest American Crossword Puzzle Tournament yet. If you recall, last year's tournament set a record with 698 competitors, up exactly 200 from the 498 in 2006, and the Brooklyn move was formally announced that weekend.

If you haven't registered yet - and goodness sakes, why haven't you? - go to the official ACPT website and send in your fee, and join the party. Of course, you can also register on site. A mere $275 gets you into the tournament and all ancillary events.

In spite of the fact that the Puzzle Brothers team will be a little short-handed this time - Tracy can't make the tournament this year due to not one, but two family-related conflicts - make sure you bookmark us. No other website comes close to our live, on-scene coverage (and live final-round blogging) of the ACPT. We will have plenty of photos and bloggage from the tournament this year (as long as Tracy lets me borrow her camera).

True Story

I'm in my local book store, and I pick up a relatively new New York Times compilation called "Crosswords for Two". Hmm, let me see what it's all about, I think to myself. I pick up the book and turn to a random page, and the very first puzzle I see is a puzzle I had in the NYT several years ago! What are the chances? I mean, I've only had four puzzles in the Times so far. I've got a greater chance of hitting something by Trip Payne or Manny Nosowsky or one of those dudes.

That's cosmic, smacking of eerie.

As a result, we're no longer noting appearances by the Puzzle Brothers in NYT compilation books, as they're bound to become ubiquitous the more puzzles I sell to the NYT.

Another Crosswordy "Crosswords" Player

This past Wednesday, Amy Reynaldo, author of "How To Conquer The New York Times Crossword Puzzle", appeared on "Merv Griffin's Crosswords" - did she conquer Timothy Parker's daily stumper? Watch and find out!

Westport Report Wanted

The ninth annual Westport Tournament was held on Saturday. If you wish to write up a report for us, please leave a comment, and we'll move it to the main entry. Thanks!

New York Times - Monday, February 4, 2008

Solve the puzzle by Dave and Tracy! (NY Times membership required.)

NOTE: The timed applet is working now as of 4:30 a.m.

"Merv Griffin's Crosswords" Renewed

Promising a "bigger and better" Season 2, host Ty Treadway has revealed on his blog that planning is now underway for the second year of "Merv Griffin's Crosswords". With very few syndicated game shows now making it past the first year, this is an accomplishment.

Program Partners, the show's syndicator, has confirmed that the show is a "firm go" for Year 2, and has already begun work on expanding their program portfolio by announcing a new talk show for Marie Osmond, set to premiere in Fall 2009.

The show's New York outlet, WNBC, has already renewed the show and possibly will pair it with a new syndicated daytime edition of "Deal or No Deal" with Howie Mandel.

Here's the link if you want to be a contestant.

ACPT Registration Open, Programs Announced

"41 Days and Counting!" says the banner atop the home page of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. And with that, Will Shortz has announced the evening events and opened registration.

The Friday games will feature Eric Berlin's "Brooklyn Crossword Extravaganza" brainteasers.

Saturday will be Game Show Night, and also featured will be a film by Ed Stein called "Wordploy". (Hmmm...)

For Sunday, Grant Barrett, co-host of the radio program "A Way with Words", will be taking over from Neil Conan as co-commentator of the Sunday B and A finals along with the ever-stalwart Merl Reagle. Barrett and his radio co-host Martha Barnette will hand out the prizes at the awards luncheon.

"The Cross-Wits" Rides Again

An incredible find over on YouTube: someone has posted a nearly-complete episode of the final season of the original version of "The Cross-Wits". This episode looks to be from 1979 or 1980 and boasts celebrity guests including Elaine Joyce and Nipsey Russell. Jack Clark hosts, and Jerri Fiala points at things with a stick. If you've never seen the original, it's worth a look, and if it's been awhile, have fun.

Here is the link to the first part, and from there you can access the other three parts.

Important Medical News!

Well, that's what they say in commercials, but this may hold some water. It's been long thought that mental exercises such as crossword puzzles help keep the brain active and may help ward off later-life dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

Now, the author of "The Memory Cure", Dr. Majid Fotuhi, has teamed up with Will Shortz to present "The New York Times Crosswords to Keep Your Brain Young: The 6-Step Age-Defying Program".

This was one of two new NYT books issued by St. Martin's Griffin last week. The other, "Crosswords for Two", compiles 200 puzzles (including, I hear, one by yours truly) designed to be shared.

It's MEGA-Tastic!

Just got my copy of the new Simon & Schuster MEGA Crossword Puzzle Book, Volume 1. This just came out in bookstores today. Wow! This is enough to keep me busy for weeks on end. For the list price of $13.95, you get 300 original crosswords, including a healthy selection of 75 15x's, 75 mixed 17x's and 19x's, and 150 21x's. Many of your favorite authors in the old Crossword Puzzle Book series are represented here, and there are some new names too (including - and correct me if I'm wrong - the construction debut of Amy Reynaldo).

John Samson still continues as editor, now with three times the workload, as there will now be 900 puzzles used per year - approximately three times the amount required by a New York Times or Los Angeles Times Syndicate.

While I'm plugging things, I must put in a word for the 2008 New York Times Sunday Puzzle Appointment Book, from Pomegranate Press. It's a neat compilation of all the Sundays from October 2003 to October 2004, including a neat Leap Day puzzle by Patrick Merrell. One puzzle is misattributed to Kyle Mahowald instead of Joe DiPietro, but that's just a minor quibble. Neat package, nice paper that takes my favorite gel pen quite well. Got it for a gift in '07, bought it for myself in '08.

The Puzzle Brother and The Puzzle Wife

As regular visitors to the site know, I've been involved with one of the greatest ladies I've ever known, Tracy Meyer, for quite some time. This past Friday, we became man and wife.

Another thing that we'll be linking to here is Robert's best-man speech, which I think wordplay freaks will enjoy. Our friend Harry McCracken will be putting it up on YouTube soon.

And please be sure to give Mrs. Mackey her congrats when you see her at the Brooklyn tournament, now just 61 days away!

Photo by Jennifer Malpass

"Samantha Who?" Star's Passion For Crosswords - REVEALED!

The yearend issue of Entertainment Weekly reveals that "Samantha Who?" star Christina Applegate is a newly uncloseted crossword freak.

The solve of choice for Christina, also well-known for her role as Kelly Bundy on "Married... with Children" and her co-starring role in the movie "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy", is the New York Times crossword, and she has gotten a number of her castmates and crew members involved in crossword solving.

We'd love to see Christina at the big tournament someday, the 31st edition of which is beginning nine weeks from today, on February 29.

Things To Do In Brooklyn

Hey, ACPT attendees! (Yeah, I know it's only December.) You don't have to be stuck in the hotel all weekend. There's a lot to see, do and eat not far from the hotel, whether it's a walk or a bus or subway ride away. Three Brooklyn denizens well known in the world of puzzling - Stella Daily, Francis Heaney and Ken Stern - have created a guide to Brooklyn (Adobe Acrobat Reader required!) with lots of tips on local eateries and even some cultural events if the Saturday entertainment proves to be not what you're looking for.

Mr. Mackey Meets Mr. Simon And Mr. Schuster

I am pleased to announce that I have sold my first puzzle to Simon & Schuster. A 19x entitled "Stretching Reality" will be appearing in S&S's Mega Crossword Book #3, to be released in October 2008.

Crossworders & Politics: Not Such Strange Bedfellows

It's Commissioner Heller and Councilwoman Gamache.

In elections held today, Doug Heller, who assists Will Shortz with the administration of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, was elected Commissioner in Springfield Township, which is in Montgomery Township. Paula Gamache, a constructor who has recently done some great puzzles for CrosSynergy, was one of three candidates who ran unopposed for seats on the Rye, New York city council. Congrats to both successful candidates!

Watch Patrick Jordan on Crosswords

On Friday, in those cities that still get two episodes of "Merv Griffin's Crosswords", competition solver and top constructor Patrick Jordan appeared as a contestant. Nancy Shack has made this YouTube presentation possible. Here are the links to the two parts of his appearance...

Part One


Part Two

Westchester Tournament Report

BOB MACKEY WINS WESTCHESTER

Nancy Taubenslag, Jeff Schwartz Take Second, Third Places

Bob Mackey unquestionably earned his place on the podium at tonight's 11th Annual Westchester Crossword Puzzle Tournament, hosted by Will Shortz and held at the St. John's Episcopal Church in Pleasantville. Although he backed into his podium placing as a result of a first-finisher's gaffe on the Tuesday, October 30 puzzle, he did finish the third puzzle in record time. Nancy Taubenslag had the first puzzle nailed (Dave Mackey was a very close second), and Jeff Schwartz was the third puzzle's representative.

All three competitors did the Thursday, November 1 puzzle perfectly, but Mackey finished first to take his first-ever Westchester title. Taubenslag was second, Schwartz was third.

Other winners of stuff at the tournament, which benefitted the Pleasantville Fund For Learning, included:

Team Winners: 1. Alyssa Jacobs/Maria Pouvin; 2. Amy Berg/Mike Robinson; 3. Don Wasson/Susan Faber
Under 25: Oliver Hill (17-year-old who just had his first NYT puzzle published)
Seniors: Casey Julian
Pleasantville: David Bethian
Rookie: Jack Martin

The puzzles were constructed by Fred Piscop, Gary Steinmehl, Ken Stern and Larry Shearer.

Head judge Stan Kurzban headed a team which included three former winners at the ACPT: Nancy Schuster, Miriam Raphael, and Ellen Ripstein. Also aboard: Patrick Merrell, Adam Cohen, Paula Gamache, Mike Nothnagel, Patrick Blindauer, Frank Longo, Tony Orbach, David Kahn, Dave Tuller, Meredith Mennett of St. Martin's Press, and the aforementioned Messrs. Piscop and Stern.

A gallery of pictures is now up.

Photo by Dave Mackey - and yes, we doctored up that grid so we don't spoil the puzzles

Snyder Bests 857 In Sudoku Championship

Dr. Thomas Snyder solved the final puzzle in a few ticks over 7 minutes to win the first-ever U.S. Sudoku Championship today in Philadelphia and the $10,000 grand prize. 857 contestants were involved in the one-day tournament, significantly more than the number that competed at last year's ACPT.

11th Westchester Tournament Next Friday

The Puzzle Brothers would like to remind you that next Friday, October 26, is the 11th annual Westchester Crossword Puzzle Tournament, which will be held in the community room of the St. John's Episcopal Church in Pleasantville, at 7:30 p.m.

The tournament will once again be hosted by the one and only Will Shortz, a resident of Pleasantville. Many important editors, constructors and solvers are expected at the event as either contestants or judges.

Again, the tournament will consist of the four New York Times puzzles from Monday-Thursday of the following week. The first three puzzles are played at tables and the fourth puzzle is used as a ACPT-style stage playoff for the individual championship.

Prizes including crossword books from The Village Bookstore will be given in several categories including individual (won last year by Dan Katz) and three awards for team play (winners included The Puzzle Brothers).

There will also be a dessert buffet afterwards, so come hungry. Be sure to say hello to The Puzzle Brothers and the future Mrs. Puzzle Brother!

UPDATE: Tracy, unfortunately, is not able to come tonight. She will however be at Brooklyn and you can congratulate her on becoming Mrs. Puzzle Brother at that time.

Los Angeles Times Obituary For Barry Tunick

Here is the obit as run in the LA Times for its crossword creator, Barry Tunick. The longtime writing partner of Sylvia Bursztyn died on Saturday in Culver City, California at the age of 72. The obit also notes that Tunick had enough crosswords stockpiled to last through next February, at which time the credit will be solely Bursztyn's.

Barry Tunick dies

Contructor Barry Tunick, who for 28 years partnered with Sylvia Bursztyn on the sunday Los Angeles Times puzzle, has died of acute leukemia. According to reports, the diagnosis was relatively recent.

The following is a reminiscence to the Cruciverb mail list by Sylvia Bursztyn.

My friends,

Barry Tunick and I co-wrote the Los Angeles Times Sunday Puzzler for just short of twenty-eight years. Ours is not the syndicate puzzle. It is exclusive to the Sunday LA Times. Long story, for another time.

Barry told me only weeks ago of being diagnosed with acute leukemia, and just days ago told me he thought this weekend would be his last. John Suarez's report [another posting to Cruciverb] tells the story. Barry said the same to me, that he cherished his family and had had a fine life.

A partnership does not last twenty-eight years with just anybody. He has to be a thoughtful, patient, considerate, tolerant, agreeable man. In short, a thesaurus of fine qualities. In business, he was without guile or games. He dealt in a straightforward and honorable manner.

I was theme, grid and editing; he was clues and theme suggestions. I'm going to carry on the Sunday Puzzler and our Random House volumes, with his blessing and his generous confidence in me.

I will miss Barry, our collaboration and his excellence, forever. The loss is incalculable.

Sylvia Bursztyn

Los Angeles Times - October 13, 2007 - By Robert

http://www.cruciverb.com/puzzles/lat/lat071013.puz (Cruciverb membership required)


Or you can do it online!

S&S Shutters Original Series, Yet Triples Output

It's the end of an era - but the start of an exciting new one - for the long-running Simon & Schuster "Crossword Puzzle Book" series, which began in 1924 with the original "Cross Word Puzzle Book", edited by Margaret Petherbridge.

It's been announced that this month's 258th volume is the final volume of the original Simon & Schuster series. But, in a happy turnaround to this seemingly sad announcement, Simon & Schuster announced the new Mega Crosswords series.

Edited by John Samson, these books will have 300 crosswords (100 of which will be 21x's) - the previous yearly output of the six CPB volumes - and be published three times a year, in January, June and October. The suggested price will be $13.95 which is a better value.

ADDENDUM: John Samson will again be accepting submissions for the newly expanded S&S offerings. Besides the usual assortment of 17's, 19's and 21's, he will now be accepting 15's. His updated spec sheet should soon be appearing on cruciverb.com.

"Crosswords" Is Great Fun!

Hey, we caught the first couple episodes of "Merv Griffin's Crosswords" and we think it's off to a fine start. It's airing in good time slots in many markets (including New York) and has a lot of the old, traditional game show trappings that have gotten lost in recent shows, like announcer (Edd Hall), neat-looking set (by Bob Rang, who's worked on Merv's shows for over 30 years), and catchy theme music (actually an old stock theme of Griffin's which he wrote for a busted pilot called "Buzzword").

The contestants are apparently crossword-savvy, knowing to match case and tense in answering the definitions (even if the puzzle makers don't - we've already been hearing reports of inaccuracies in the puzzles) and understanding some answers are two words. The producers are expecting the audience to be, too, as a lot of this background information isn't really explained. Puzzles are pretty good so far; haven't seen any "writing" credits so I don't know exactly who the constructors are, other than "puzzle producer" Timothy Parker.

The one tricky part of the show is the introduction of "spoilers" into the second round of the game. These are people who can steal one of the two playing positions if the two active players can't come up with the correct answer.

We're hopeful of a nice run for this show, so please watch it and tell your friends to. This is a great advertisement for our hobby and profession.

Washington Post Crossword To Be Discontinued

The editor of the Washington Post Sunday crossword, Fred Piscop, has announced that the feature is being discontinued as of March 31, 2008.

In a statement to cruciverb-l, Piscop cites financial reasons for the discontinuance of the crossword.

Piscop has enough puzzles to cover the remaining time period so he is no longer soliciting contributions. Meanwhile, the Post will begin carrying Merl Reagle's puzzle on April 7.

EDIT: Talked to Robert about this today and his response was, "Sudoku has claimed its first victim."

"The Puzzle Sister" Breaks Into Print

Regular followers of The Puzzle Brothers will no doubt have noticed the name Tracy Meyer bandied about here. Today, Tracy has another reason to be proud (besides that diamond on her left-hand ring finger that's been there since last Saturday). She will soon be receiving her first credit on a published crossword and it's going to be for The New York Times! Tracy helped me with the theme for this puzzle (coming up with the majority of the theme entries, in fact), and I'm afraid I can't tell you much more about it until it's published. So congratulations to Tracy on her first puzzle!

What's even more fun is that Tracy's getting her two daughters involved in the puzzle world! So you might be seeing more Meyers (or more Mackeys, if they happen) at the big tournaments before too long!

"Wordplay" Set For October 16 PBS Debut

As part of its "Independent Lens" series, PBS will be broadcasting the Patrick Creadon documentary "Wordplay" on Tuesday, October 16. Please check your local PBS station schedule for airtime. I believe that this is the first time that "Wordplay" will be airing on television in any form.

"Wordplay", as you may already know, profiled New York Times crossword editor Will Shortz, some of his colleagues, and solvers competing at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, at that time held in Stamford, Connecticut.

Get Your "Crosswords" Early

NBC has announced a special primetime network broadcast of "Merv Griffin's Crosswords". The show will air one time only on Saturday, September 8 at 8:30 p.m. (NBC publicity simply titles the show "Crosswords". Hmmm....

This is similar to a stunt MyNetwork is running to promote Twentieth Television's "Temptation", by giving that new syndicated show a network window.

"Crosswords" will begin airing in syndication on September 10, and syndicator Program Partners has announced that a whopping 225 episodes will be produced during the first season to keep repeats to a minimum.

UPDATE: Due to an NBC scheduling change, the prime-time broadcast of "Merv Griffin's Crosswords" has been cancelled. It will still begin in syndication on September 10, but will just not have the primetime preview.

Meet Bonnie Gentry

Here's a nice article from the Arizona Republic about constructor Bonnie Gentry.

Two New Online Puzzles - Try Them Today!

One of the things that we're going to be ramping up as we head into the tournament season is our online puzzle offerings. I am kicking our new fall season off a little early with two new puzzles, "Abbott and Costello Meet..." and "ER Will Not Be Seen Tonight." Robert will soon be opening his archives as well.

"Crosswords" Creator Griffin Dead Of Cancer, 82

(Edited from a previous post)

Merv Griffin, the 82-year-old talk-show icon and game show creator who was rediagnosed with prostate cancer in July, has died.

Griffin's newest show, "Merv Griffin's Crosswords", with Ty Treadway as host, is set to premiere September 10 on stations around the country. The show reportedly will keep its name as a tribute to its creator.

Griffin, who started as a band singer with Freddy Martin's orchestra, hosted a late-night talk show for CBS that went up against similar offerings from Johnny Carson on NBC and Joey Bishop on ABC, then took his show into syndication where it did much better thanks to earlier time slots in most markets.

Griffin was responsible for creating two of the biggest game shows of all time - "Jeopardy!" in 1964 and "Wheel of Fortune" in 1975. Although they did well on network television, the syndicated versions - entering their 24th and 25th seasons in the fall, respectively - made Griffin a very wealthy man. He also had interests in closed-circuit racetrack betting very early in that game, and also owned hotels and other real estate, including (at one time) the Resorts hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Meanwhile, "Merv Griffin's Crosswords", presently in production at Tribune Studios in Hollywood, is still looking for contestants. Give the contestant staff a call at (323) 762-8282 if you think you've got what it takes to play the crossword game.

"Merv Griffin's Crosswords" Books Due In October

St. Martin's Griffin is going to be publishing five volumes of "Merv Griffin's Crosswords" tie-in books, edited by Timothy Parker, who is going to be supervising the puzzles used on the show.

There will be three full-size volumes - 100 Easiest Puzzles, 100 Easy Puzzles, and 100 Easy To Hard Puzzles, and there will also be two pocket volumes. It is not known if these are going to be puzzles actually used on the show, or if they are from the Universal Puzzle archives.

Search on Amazon for these and other crossword titles, and anything you buy helps fund our activities.

Puzzle People People "People Puzzlers"

People Magazine has just issued a new compilation of People Puzzlers, the popular 13x crosswords that appear weekly in the magazine.

The book includes 100 puzzles, a staggering new 90 puzzles plus ten classics. Constructors are Stephanie Spadaccini, John Greenman, and Fran and Lou Sabin.

Look for this book on newsstands.

New Definition For EDD

"Merv Griffin's Crosswords" announcer Hall

The Case Of The Missing Crossword

Anyone know the whereabouts of the print version of today's Wall Street Journal crossword - "Singling Out" by Alice Long - please comment. Robair says he can't find it in the print paper. I did the puzzle online this morning.

UPDATE: The puzzle in question was not in the print edition; instead appeared a blurb saying the print puzzle would be back next week.

It's Like A Crossword Tournament Without Letters!

The Philadelphia Inquirer has announced the first Sudoku National Championship, hosted by Will Shortz. It will take place from October 19-20 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia.

Besides Shortz, who has overseen the production of almost as many sudoku books as New York Times puzzle anthologies, participants will include crossword creator Merl Reagle, World Sudoku Champion Thomas Snyder, and World Puzzle Champion Wei-Hua Huang.

The tournament will take the form of a compressed ACPT: games and social opportunities Friday night, then into the trenches on Saturday. Contestants will have the opportunity to choose their skill level in three rounds of competition plus a bonus round before the finals later that afternoon. The awards dinner will be early Saturday evening. The grand prize in the expert bracket is $10,000, the Intermediate champ gets $5,000, and the easy grand prize is $3,000.

Registration for the tournament and all activities is $50 for adults and $10 for children 17 and under. For more information, visit the web link in the sidebar.

My Summer Puzzling

Well, I have been writing puzzles, but I did a lot of solving this past week while relaxing at the beach (if you were on the 75th Street beach on LBI, that was me with the puzzle book and the Mets hat). I tore through a book of easy New York Times crosswords in just a couple of days, and have been working some Sundays as well. I've got about eight puzzles to do in S&S 255 and have just started the newest one (256). I've also been working out of Stanley Newman's 100th book and the big book of Maura Jacobson New York puzzles.

I also just got a new pair of reading glasses, as closeup vision is starting to go south a little with age. It's definitely helping and hopefully it will help even more as I start seriously training for the 31st ACPT (Feb. 29-March 2 at the Brooklyn Bridge Marriott) in the fall. Again, it's my aim to improve. I'd love to crack the top 50 in '08.

So What Was This "Cross-Wits" Like, Anyway?

Ralph Edwards Productions struck gold in the late 70's with the one-two punch of the weekly "Name That Tune" and the daily "The Cross-Wits". Based on Jerry Payne's busted "Crossword" pilot you may have seen online, it paired contestants with teams of two celebrities, solving crossword puzzles (more like kris-krosses) that all had a subject. If you or your celebrity partners guessed a word (off some really clever clues and sometimes daffy ones too) you got ten points per letter and additional points if you solved the puzzle. The winning contestant got to pick one celebrity as partner to try to guess ten words in a crossword to win a car.

The late Jack Clark hosted the program, which ran for five years and in many markets (including New York) replaced an earlier Clark-hosted show, "Dealer's Choice". The show was briefly revived in the 80's as "Crosswits".

Copies are very hard to find, but they're in Ralph Edwards Productions' vaults. The company has made brief clips from the program available; so go over there and watch some "Cross-Wits".

"Time Out New York" Intros Weekly Crossword

That's a crossword puzzle - or a third of it - on the cover of this week's Time Out New York magazine. The current issue of the NYC listings magazine - kind of a younger, hipper sibling to New York, which has featured a crossword by Maura Jacobson since the 1970's - has now added a weekly crossword puzzle, which will be constructed by the younger, hipper Brendan Emmett Quigley.

To herald the new weekly puzzle, there is a section of games (not unlike "Pencilwise" in Games Magazine) which features a lot of games-like puzzles, including a cryptoquotes, mazes, a cryptic by Cox & Rathvon, and a logic problem by 2007 Stamford finalist Francis Heaney.

The cover puzzle (also by BEQ) is actually a third of a crossword grid, although there is a diagram given on the inside as well as a set of clues.

"Ooooh! My show has a new name!"

First, it was "Let's Play Crosswords." Then, for a brief time, it was "Let's Do Crosswords."

Finally, it's now settled. The new name of the crossword game show soon to start taping in Chicago and on your TV's this fall is... "Merv Griffin's Crosswords".

Like the man says, "Oooooh!"

Will Shortz Raises The Rates Again

I just got word that Will Shortz has once again raised his rates for puzzle contributors.

The lucky person who constructs the June 3, 2007 Sunday puzzle will be the first to enjoy the new rates, which for Sunday puzzles will be a cool grand, up from $750. The daily rate is increasing too to $200. These once again put the Times at the forefront of the puzzle industry as far as contributor rates (until, of course, Peter Gordon decides to go his traditional one dollar more for Sun dailies).

New Crossword Compiler 8!

Antony Lewis just emailed us advising us of the new release of Crossword Compiler, the popular construction program. Version 8 includes new types of puzzles, more robust word and definition lists, and more options for producing finished puzzles. Please get more information about Version 8 at www.crossword-compiler.com and soon you'll be making puzzles that are almost as good as The Puzzle Brothers'!

Trip Payne's Site

We've long admired the puzzlework of Trip Payne. His work is now on display at his own website, tripleplaypuzzles.com. Everything you need to know about Trip and where his puzzles are going to pop up next.

Bill Clinton, Cruciverbalist

Is this going to be another partnership in the grand style of Cox & Rathvon? Tunick and Burstzyn? Venzke and Daily? Check out this special crossword from the New York Times with a grid by Cathy Millhauser and clues by former President Bill Clinton.

"Let's Play Crosswords" Solves Its Host Problem

Ty Treadway, a name more associated with soap operas as both actor ("One Life to Live") and talk host ("Soap Talk"), crosses over to game shows and has been named host of "Let's Play Crosswords". The show is set to begin production sometime this summer in Chicago.

Thursday May 3 LA Times

Seems like Robert's been making quite a few LA Times appearances lately, but this Thursday it's Dave's turn, with a themed 15x.

Download .PUZ file (must be a member of cruciverb.com)
Do Puzzle On LA Times Site

More Stamford Ink

David Lieberfarb of the Newark Star-Ledger was competing in the 30th Annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament and filed this report. He did note the New Jersey top three finishers, but we think he got Robert's geography mixed up with another solver with the same last name. It appeared right alongside the Sunday Los Angeles Times puzzle in the print edition. Thanks to Tracy's mom for sharing the story with us!

That Wacky Trip Payne

As April Fool's Day nears, the annual ritual of the Wacky Weekend Warrior is resurrected at the hands of Trip Payne, with Peter Gordon lurking somewhere about. I did it this morning and there's a few good chuckles in there. Available tomorrow in the print New York Sun, or wherever .PUZ files are kept.

New In Print...

If you click above, you can order this New York Times crossword book of 75 puzzles published during the spring and summer of 2006. The indicia usually indicates the date range of puzzles published and the ending date is July 26, 2006.

Thanks, Will! I belong to the ages now.

Stamford - Final Report

TYLER TRIUMPHANT

In an eerie recreation of the movie "Wordplay", Tyler Hinman has again won the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament title, at the expense of Al Sanders. Sanders finished the championship puzzle by Stanley Newman first, but had one letter wrong. Tyler won the trophy for the third year running and this year's prize check of $5,000. Francis Heaney (shown at right in the photo above) was a distant third, not even finishing the final puzzle.

In another development, the B class has an asterisk this year. Due to a judging error, Howard Barkin was awarded duplicate B prize money. However, he will stay in B class for next year's tournament.

The breakdown of winners:

Geographic: West, Al Sanders; Connecticut, Ron Osher; New England, Kiran Kedlaya; New York City, Francis Heaney; Long Island, Kathy Konarck; Upstate NY, Zack Butler; New Jersey, Howard Barkin; Mid-Atlantic, Dave Tuller; South, Trip Payne; Midwest, Tyler Hinman; Foreign, Fraser Simpson.

Juniors: Tyler Hinman; 50's, Ellen Ripstein; 60's, Doug Hoylman; Seniors, Arthur Schulman; Rookie: Eric LeVasseur.

Special $100 gift certificate prizes for the 100th, 200th, etc. finishers: 100 - Fraser Simpson; 200 - Sandy Fein; 300 - Kim Blanchard; 400 - John Reid; 500 - George Sneddon Jr; 600 - Francoise Kemp.

As for the Puzzle Brothers, Robert maintained 20th place finish while Dave improved to 65, but it's likely there was a mistake on the final puzzle that dropped him down from 44th and out of the C finals. We'll be back strong next year. For now, we're taking a few days off from puzzling. Good bye for a while.

Stamford - A Finals

Only 25 points separated Francis Heaney, Al Sanders and Tyler Hinman. Robert reports the A clues are very tough. Being busy blogging, I haven't had a chance to really solve this so there's no way to tell how I would have done had I made the C or B finals. Congrats to all those guys and gals by the way. I'll be up there with you next year, I swear.

The blank grids have been put up and Will is now summoning the three finalists into the room. Al will be at the left, Tyler in the middle, and Francis on the right. There is only a 2 second head start for Tyler. Al's been in 8 playoffs, Tyler three and Francis, one.

Shouts of "Go Al!" come from the room, hoping he doesn't repeat his ZOLAESQUE mistake of 2005. Francis is the last to put his headphones on. We begin the finals.

"Stanley made the clues up over a three-day 'Goodfellas' festival," jokes Neil. Tyler is working the right side center first, Al top left corner, Francis top left as well. Francis has 1-Across but has gotten into a trap. Al's making minimal progres, and Tyler seems stymied in the corner. Now he's writing fast. Tyler now has a mistake too. The last time Stan did a finals puzzle for a tournament we were at, no one solved it correctly. Merl with another anagram! Where does that gift come from?

Al has no mistakes so far and seems to be doing good so far. Tyler isn't doing a lot of writing right now. Francis has fixed one of his problems. Tyler now has the bottom left done. Al is working very carefully. Tyler has another mistake. He's fixed something. Doing finger erasing. Not very sanitary but it saves seconds. Tyler may be able to put something together here, and Al is still grinding away. Francis is still having some problems. "The trap door underneath the podium has opened up," says Neil. Al has now made a mistake. He's assuming a plural in -S. Not always. 8:00 left. Al finished 1-Across, which was his 2005 downfall. Francis is still a little slow. Tyler has one corner left to go and then a few spots to fill in. (Careful there!)

Al's got a letter blank in a corner - hope he checks it. No one seems particularly close to finishing after 10:00 of solving. This one could... go... all... the... way... down to the wire! Merl notes "'I hate you' has all the vowels once, including Y." Tyler has one corner to go but another mistake. Al's filled in that missing square I was worried about. Now he should find his mistake. Will he? Tyler is staring at his blank corner. Francis still in this thing? Al is now working the bottom. Still has one mistake though, so does Tyler. Tyler now has one less mistake. This is going to be a nail biter. 3-1/2 minutes left and they've all got the same mistake. Al is almost done and he's gotta find that mistake. Tyler is now working his bare corner.

Tyler has now fixed the mistake everyone had. Tyler is close to being done. Al is close to being done. Tyler has one square left. Tyler is now stuck with 2 squares done. Al is done with one letter wrong. Tyler is done perfect. Francis is still working. Al as given Tyler his congratulations. Francis has run out of time.

3rd - Francis Heaney
2nd - Al Sanders
1st - your 2007 ACPT champion, Tyler Hinman

More later!

Stamford - B Finals

In the B division, we have Bryon Walden, Eric Maddy, and Eric LeVasseur. They are now working with harder clues. And now, Neil Conan and Merl Reagle take their places at the mikes. Will explains the background noise tapes. "Someday I may sell it as a sleep inducer." The puzzle begins with Eric M, then Byron, then Eric L.

"It's a beautiful day for a crossword puzzle championship!"

"LET'S PLAY TWO!"

Neil makes a really bad pun on referring to Eric as "Eric L." "By the way, Byron's clues are printed backwards for payback for last year's finals." Merl has some fun with anagrams. As always I can't talk specific puzzle details as these puzzles continue as saleable items. Eric L has a big mistake in the upper left so far but has recovered. Eric M. is working on the bottom. Byron seems to have a foothold in the upper left. More anagrams for Merl. "If you want to write these down for later..." and then also riffs on his tournament puzzle. Byron is working the left which is good because it gives starts of words. Byron's got some of the bottom done now and has begun attaching the right. Again, I can't see what Eric L. is doing because I am on the far left of the room relying on AC power. Byron still needs the right corners. Stan's written some nice clues for this puzzle. 9:00 left. Byron has must one corner to go. BTW, there is a word in the clue that's repeated in the grid. Ugh. Byron is finishing up. Byron is looking it over and declares done. Eric L. is getting closer now. Eric M. is lagging behind. Eric L. then finishes with about 7:24 but has gotten one letter blank. So Eric M. can take his time and doesn't know it. Eric M. finishes at 5:55

3rd - Eric LeVasseur (one letter missing)
2nd - Eric Maddy 8:13
1st - Byron Walden 6:50

As Bob Murphy once said, "Fasten your seat belts!"

Stamford - C Finals

The contestants in C are Gerry Tansey, Anne Erdmann, and Katie Hamill.

Will started by giving the contestants instructions while their headphones were on. 30 years and he'll get it right someday. The puzzle is by Stan Newman, who 25 years ago today won at Stamford. Anne starts first, then Gerry, then Katie. Anne has some words filled in at upper right so far. Gerry has a 1-Across then erases it. Hard to see what Katie is doing from my vantage point. Anne's got the upper left about done. So does Gerry. Katie seems to be working in the same part of the puzzle. Did I Mention a 15 minute time limit? Yes. Jerry has one of the long words. This is an 8/6 stack format. Anne has made progress into the left center of the grid. Jerry too is working his way diagonally. Nobody seems close to done yet. Gerry is working the bottom right now. Looks like Anne is the farthest along. Gerry has now finished the bottom right corner and has moved to the left center. Anne's wrapping up the bottom now. Who's gonna finish first? Katie's made some headway and she has indicated first done. Anne and Gerry are still working. Anne is next, then Gerry finishes with about 8 minutes left.

3rd - Gerry Tansey
2nd - Anne Erdmann
1st - Katie Hamill

Sunday Stamford - Puzzle 7

Whew! Most of us are now done with the tournament, but for nine, it will get more intense as the C, B and A division finals play out in the ballroom. Puzzle 7 was by Bob Klahn and Puzzle 8 will be by Stan Newman.

Unofficially (and since ranked stats were not available), Tyler Hinman and Francis Heaney were tied for first, with Al Sanders, Trip Payne and Ellen Ripstein also in the hunt.

Your Puzzle Brothers are doing well. Bob was 20th after the first six puzzles (one place ahead of Amy Reynaldo) and I was 44th, a vast improvement over last year with no mistakes going into the final round.

And that former talk show host? No threat. Phil Donahue placed 631st after the first six puzzles.

Our next dispatch will be LIVE from the finals. See you in a little more than a half hour!

Is It Sunday Already?

Neither Puzzle Brother felt like staying out late and playing games this year. So, we took the rest of the night off.

We did play some games while everyone else who hadn't seen "Wordplay" was watching a bonus screening. We got some great pictures of game playing, unfortunately we're having a little issue with FTP access and can't put any more pix up until we get back later tonight.

In the meantime, it's now time for breakfast and getting cleaned up, and at 9:00, we'll do Puzzle 7. Hopefully not the last one for either of us!

Saturday Night Almost Live!

First of all, we had the special puzzle by Francis Heaney. He constructed a 15x using words that should be in more vocabularies. Erin McKean, who has a great blog called Dictionary Evangelist, is actually making a documentary show about words and their usage for Discovery Channel, and there was a film crew taping the proceedings. The winner of the special puzzle was Patrick Jordan (Trip Payne actually finished first but had an error in his puzzle) and two others were chosen at random, j!m jen!sta and Mark Maximov.

We had three entertaiments tonight! First, Will ran by us the puzzle you'll hear tomorrow on the NPR show. You are given a definition for a 7-letter word, remove first and last letters, and you get a five-letter word that you have to guess the definition of.

Then, a wonderful skit: What if "Wordplay" were a musical? We were treated to the first few minutes of such a musical, featuring Stella Daily, Vic Fleming, Harvey Estes and Ben Tausig.

Finally, an hour long collection of "Wordplay" outtakes and promotional appearances, including Will's stints on "Late Show" and "Charlie Rose" and the joint appearance of Will and Merl Reagle on "The Oprah Winfrey Show". We got to see some of the contestants whose profile footage was cut out of the film, including Zack Butler, Scott Weiss and Doug Hoylman.

Right now, Patrick Creadon is hosting a screening of the film downstairs, but I think people want to play games, so at least a portion of the ballroom has already been converted back. We'll check back with you on Sunday morning with standings, and then later Sunday morning, our ALMOST LIVE coverage of the C, B and A division finals! You wanna know who won? Keep it here! We'll have it as soon as Blogger will let us!

The Quiet Man Speaks!

Unbelievably, this is my first post since landing on Planet Stamford yesterday evening. What took me so long? Maybe since I take the competition aspect of this thing a bit seriously, breaking each puzzle down into the time I expect to finish it in, anticipating whose puzzles will show up where (Paula Gamache first basically a given), monitoring the early returnees, getting feedback from those who have fallen. And bumping into the folks I generally see once or twice a year, with twenty old friends bumped into on the way to the registration desk alone.

I am doing very well on the competition front, having saved up 112 minutes in solving the six puzzles. The rough solves as advertised by Will Shortz weren't terribly Waldenesque, with Cathy Millhauser and Merl "The Evil Genius" Reagle providing the supposed brain strains. It looks very good at this point for me to carry that New Jersey trophy back to Eatontown, if not the bragging rights for all PathMark employees everywhere.

Talking to the constructors, now my merry mentors, has provided many colorful stories. Byron Walden told me a great story about how the clue Last character seen in "Casablanca" was a homage to a clue from a British cryptic (Joiner character in "Pyramus & Thisbe" (9)). Rich Norris talked of the traps laid and super clues placed in today's New York Times. And Merl Reagle, that jolly old elf, never stops being Merl Reagle.

Tonight is kick back mode, with "Wordplay" outtakes and a contest centered around a Francis Heaney puzzle which will include a combo words not seen since the dawn of Farrar and words Shortz hasn't even learned existed yet. The action will be videotaped for a Discovery Channel show focusing on words. Then comes a batch of great board games in the main ballroom, and an informal video program presented by the Brothers which will include three epsiodes of the 1986 version of "Crosswits" and some crossword-related surprises. Tomorrow, the final two puzzles, one by Stanley Newman, the other by Bob Klahn. And the awards -- and maybe some glory thrown in.

Six Down, Two To Go!

Hello all!

We are now relaxing after Puzzle 6. The 4-5-6 went down smoothly for me (a ACPT first!) and I'm fairly confident of good news tomorrow when the standings are released.

Mike Shenk did Puzzle 4, Merl Reagle did 5 (a sneaky but gettable one) and Maura Jacobson, as always, did Puzzle 6.

We're going to be uploading more pictures as the events of the next day or so unfold. For now, we're taking a well-earned rest.

saturday am @ Stamford

The morning session is now complete. Puzzle#1 was constructed by Paula Gamache. The people who seemed to do the best on it were:Tyler Hinman, Robert MAckey,Scott Weiss and Dave Mackey. Puzzle #2 was constructed by Patrick Merrell. Al SAnders, Stella Daily, Trip Payne, and Dave and Robert Mackey all seemed to put in their best efforts. Puzzle # 3 was constructed by Cathy Millhauser. Stella Daily, Trip Payne,Tyler Hinmna, DAve and Robert Mackey all seemed to put it their best. Look back for the afternoon results and more pics.

First Pics From Stamford!

Click here for new images every day. We have some images of some of last night's speakers and some of the contestants and judges. Enjoy!

Greetings From Stamford

Okay, the cold hard facts.

As of just before 8:00 p.m. this evening, there were 682 contestants entered for the tournament. So much so, that we're using a second auxiliary ballroom and rotating contestants in and out of it (except for the A-listers, who must stay in the main ballroom). Will's capable associate Doug Heller will run the tournament in the auxiliary ballroom.

There are 250+ first timers this year including one man who gave his occupation as "former talk show host". Hmmmmm. We won't let the cat out of the bag on that one just yet.

Zack Butler won the Norwegian contest, and a crew that included Dan Katz (we couldn't hear all the names because of the poor sound system) won the 30 years timeline game so well executed my Mr. and Mrs. Scott Weiss.

Tracy and I are in for the night, and Robert is still downstairs playing games. Tomorrow we should see some pix. But for now, enjoy three new puzzles from us, just for you. (Tech problems precluded the uploading of the fourth puzzle.) Even if you're not at Stamford, it's our little way of saying "wish you were here". Click the names on the sidebar and they'll load into Across Lite. Have fun!

Good night until tomorrow from Stamford.

The 2007 Dysfunctional Crossword Family Reunion

This is the last year we kick it Stamford style. Next year we'll be cookin' in Brooklyn.

Within the next 24 hours, some 650-700 puzzlers and maybe a few non-puzzle types will be rendezvousing one last time at the Marriott in Stamford (except for those of you who booked late and must stay elsewhere) for the 30th American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. Will has confirmed the tournament site next year will be the New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge, which has a much larger space for the expected crowds as crossword puzzling continues steamrollering in popularity. (They have got one smaller meeting room named for Jackie Gleason, which is coolness itself.)

We don't have any official affiliation with the tournament, but we'd like to think we did a darn good job blogging about the tournament last year (including our Almost Live finals coverage), so we're going to do it again. Puzzle Brothers staff and management will be wearing their PB-T's on Saturday and Sunday morning, soon to be available through Cafe Press along with other items for all you acolytes.

Don't be strangers, folks. Say hi to any of us. Me, Bob, and Tracy. We'd love to hear your stories and perhaps maybe Tracy can take some pictures of you. We will have much more in the way of picture galleries (those 2006 galleries will soon be moving to our site, when we have some more time not occupied by training for Stamford and stripping bathroom wallpaper).

This is our last dispatch from here. Next time you hear from us, it will be Friday night in Stamford... one last time.

Stamford No More

Here's where the 2008 tournament is going to be held, according to an article in the Stamford Times.

Somehow "Brooklyn" doesn't have quite the same ring to it.

Fresh New Puzzles Coming!

On Friday, to celebrate the beginning of the Tournament, the Puzzle Brothers will be posting up four new original crosswords! (Joy!)

Interesting Article!

Here's an article from today's Newark Star-Ledger about the upcoming Stamford tournament.... and you'll never guess who they managed to wrangle an interview out of!

Stamford Habitue Helps Make Jeopardy! History

Stamford veterans and NPL members will immediately recognize the gentleman at left as Scott Weiss. You have him to thank for this history making moment on last Friday's episode of "Jeopardy!" - for the first time in 5,190 episodes, all three players wound up with the same exact score. All three men will return on Monday to play another game.

Using his vast store of knowledge honed from years of advising College Bowl at his school (Mount St. Mary's University in Maryland, which took 4th place in the recent Region 3/4 Championship Tournament), Scott already has banked $61,001 in his three days on the program. He's also done well at Stamford, too. A scan of the last ten years or so shows him placing consistently in the top 30, with an 11th place finish in 2004.

We wish Scott all the best on "Jeopardy!" and at the tournament next week.

Photo Courtesy Sony Pictures Entertainment

Record Number Of Competitors Expected For Stamford Tourney

The 30th annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament is already shaping up to be the biggest ever - and this is more than a week before Will Shortz gives the command to turn the papers over and begin solving.

We hear from one of our sources that there are approximately 620 registrations for the tournament so far; we're not sure if this includes non-competitors. It would almost certainly mean that this year's contestant pool will be the largest ever. Last year's tournament saw a record 498 contestants try their skill. I'm sure Will expected a bump in tournament attendance in the wake of "Wordplay", but you think he could have expected this many people coming to the tournament when he started it 30 years ago? (The earliest years of the tournament saw approximately 150 contestants per year, mostly from the New York metropolitan area.)

As a result of the huge number of people scheduled to descend on the Mariott, one change has been made to Friday evening, where Allie's Restaurant traditionally hosts the dinner party held by members of the New York Times crossword forum (the Cru). Marriott management has negotiated a buffet dinner in lieu of eating at Allie's. The menu will include grilled flank steak, lemon chicken breast and penne pasta. Additionally, reservations are not being accepted for the restaurant the two evenings of the tournament. My advice is to try to find some good food off site. (Paging Tim Zagat...)

"Nobody Puts Nucky In A Corner!"

While we're counting now the DAYS until Stamford, I wanted to put in a plug for Simon & Schuster #254. As you well know, 7x7 corners are a very hard thing to pull off. Frank Longo's done it in a 19x called "Four Corners" which includes four 7x7 corners, and of course it's at a price - this creates four alleys of 3-letter words. But it's a nice construction nevertheless and there's not a lot to quibble with in the corners. Pick up a copy and give it a try.