Bob Mackey To Attempt Three-Peat At 16th Westchester Tournament Set For September 21

The 16th annual Westchester Crossword Puzzle Tournament is set for Friday, September 21, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. at the Westchester Table Tennis Center, 175 Tompkins Avenue, Pleasantville, NY. The tournament annually benefits the Pleasantville Fund for Learning and is under the direction of Will Shortz, who is also owner of the Westchester Table Tennis Center. Registration is $30 individual, $45 pair, or $5 spectator, payable at the door. The format of the tournament will remain as in years past - three New York Times puzzles everyone solves, and the Thursday puzzle solved by the fastest finisher on each puzzle. The defending tournament champ is Bob Mackey, who also won in 2010, 2008, 2007, and won the pairs division with Dave Mackey in 2006. Jeffrey Schwartz was the 2009 winner.

Simon & Schuster Mega 13

There have been some inquiries as to when Simon & Schuster Mega Crossword Puzzle Book would be out. It is scheduled for October 9. Last S&S Mega was October 4, 2011.

Crosswords LA Results!

Sorry to be late with this news. Jordan Chodorow repeated two Saturdays ago as Crosswords LA champion with Eric LeVasseur coming in second.

Doug Heller, R.I.P.

We have the sad duty to inform you that Doug Heller, for years one of the top officials at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, has died of cancer. Doug's illness had been known within the puzzle community and many ACPT attendees last March used the tournament as an opportunity to say goodbye and thanks for his many years of service to the tournament. More information as it becomes known to us.

2012 ACPT Live Blog

NEVER SAY DIE

Like most of the rest of the crossword world, we left Dan Feyer for dead yesterday at the side of the road after a head-on collision with one blank and one wrong square (thanks to BEQ for the clarification) on Puzzle No. 3.

What happened after that is worthy of a primetime soap opera on the order of classics like "Dynasty" and "Dallas".

Through a series of missteps, appeals and one recanted appeal by a very sportsmanlike contestant (who wound up making the podium anyway), and aided by a very steady podium performance, Dan Feyer captured his third American Crossword Puzzle Tournament championship and another $5,000 check.

Bob Mackey will be analyzing Dan's rocky road to his third championship in a future blog post. For his part, Bob won a trophy for finishing second among New Jersey solvers, beating out Howard Barkin. Bob was 18th overall, tying his personal best since his blistering 6th place rookie performance in 1998. Dave finished 85th thanks to errors in Puzzles 1 and 7.

Your other champions crowned Sunday:
B: John Beck
C: Guy Tabachnick
D: Benjamin Aisen
E: Alex Allain
Rookie: Erik Agard
Juniors and South: David Plotkin
Fifties: Anne Erdmann
Sixties: Doug Hoylman
Seventies: Neil Singer
Senior: Jane Blanshard (with Mimi Raphael in second, adding to her trophy haul)
West: Tyler Hinman
Connecticut: Douglas Goodman
New England: Joon Pahk
NYC: Dan Feyer
Long Island: Peter Gordon
Upstate NY: Arnold Reich
Mid-Atlantic: Scott Weiss
Midwest: Erdmann
Foreign: Emily O'Neill

Additionally, 140 solvers beat "Dr. Fill", a computer that solved the seven tournament puzzles, programmed by Matt Ginsburg.

This Topsy-Turvy Tourney

Anne Erdmann, good sport that she is, has decided to take back her error on Puzzle #1, but successfully appealed her Puzzle 4 "error". The standings are now Tyler Hinman, David Plotkin and Dan Feyer going into puzzle 7, with Anne now in fourth place.

Bob is close up to the top of the B's. Dave made an error on Puzzle 7 but hopes others did the same.

Live blogging of the finals coming sometime in the noon hour. Hope you can join us.

Through Four Puzzles

1. Tyler Hinman
2. Al Sanders
3. Francis Heaney

Anne Erdmann slips down to twelfth...

20. Bob Mackey (4th among B solvers)
95. Dave Mackey

Through Three Puzzles

The current rankings as of Puzzle 3.... the standings are showing Dan Feyer in 12th place.... could he be fallible? UPDATE: We confirmed that Feyer had two blank squares on Puzzle 3.

1. Tyler Hinman
2. Anne Erdmann
3. Al Sanders
4. Francis Heaney
5. Joon Pahk
6. Jon Delfin
7. David Plotkin
8 (tie). Doug Peterson
8 (tie). Stella Zawistowski
10. Doug Hoylman
11. John Beck
12. Dan Feyer

25. Bob Mackey
97. Dave Mackey

Through Two Puzzles

Dan Feyer and Tyler Hinman are in a flatfooted tie for first, with Al Sanders in third place. Following close behind are Francis Heaney, Scott Weiss, Jon Delfin, Doug Hoylman, Joon Pahk, and David Plotkin. Bob 60th and Dave 112th, each making a one-square mistake (but not the same one) on Puzzle 1.

First six puzzles were (in order) Lynn Lempel, Patrick Merrell, Patrick Berry, Ian Livengood, Patrick Blindauer, and Elizabeth C. Gorski. That leaves Merl Reagle and Mike Shenk to provide Sunday's puzzles.

Tonight, a demonstration of Dr. Fill, a slide show by Don Christensen, and a team-solving challenge by Eric Berlin and Jeffrey Harris. Tomorrow, the seventh puzzle, the variety show, and the finals. Be sure to follow all the action of the finals LIVE tomorrow in the window at the top of your Puzzle Brothers website.

ACPT Underway!

Marty Markowitz has officially declared the 35th ACPT underway with a proclamation and a puzzle of his own. We are in Brooklyn all weekend! Join us!

Contestant Count and A Solvers Confirmed

574 preregistrations. Do not panic as more will come over the transom. Following is the list of A solvers for this year:

Howard Barkin
Adam Cohen
Kathie Conarck
Jon Delfin
Len Elliott
Anne Erdmann
Dan Feyer
Peter Gordon
Francis Heaney
Tyler Hinman
Doug Hoylman
Richard Kalustian
Brian Olewnick
Joon Pahk
Doug Peterson
David Plotkin
Arnold Reich
Amy Reynaldo
Ellen Ripstein
Al Sanders
Dan Seabolt
Ken Stern
Scott Weiss
Thomas Weisswange
Stella Zawistowski

Our Warmup Puzzles

As it will probably be 200 years before The Puzzle Brothers are actually constructing for the tournament, our puzzles will remain a gratis gift to be solved at your leisure. This year there will not be print distribution of our puzzles. All files are .PUZ files.

This year's puzzles are:
Bob: Bob's Themeless / Special O-K's-ion
Dave: Soul Train Scramble / Splainin' to Do

ACPT Constructors Announced

Patrick Berry, Patrick Blindauer, Elizabeth C. Gorski, Lynn Lempel, Ian Livengood, Patrick Merrell, Merl Reagle, Mike Shenk.

For the first time ever, no Maura B. Jacobson in the #ACPT.

Source: brendanemmettquigley.com blog post

Black And White Treat Turns 100

That's TREAT, not THREAT.... happy birthday to the Oreo Cookie!

Tournament Fever - CATCH IT!

Usually about two weeks in the fever starts to set in, and the countdown, no longer in weeks but in days, begins in earnest. We are about 11 days from the Crossword Mecca, the 35th American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. It all begins on Friday, March 16 at 8:00 p.m. and wraps up sometime early Sunday afternoon, at the Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge, with that lovely view of the John Jay Criminal Justice Complex.

In an austerity move, Puzzle Brother Bob will be flying solo on the Friday night games this year, which will include a palindrome-writing competition and a "Pick Your Poison" contest. That will leave Dave free to report on the goings on in and around the bar area, where independent games are staged by the more free-minded of the group. These usually take the form of trivia, Jeopardy! or other free wheeling games.

Our gift to tournament attendees this year, our puzzles, will be available online only this year. We may be able to print some on request if you want to do them on the spot.

Our reportage begins in earnest on Saturday where we will keep you informed up to the minute as to our standing in the tournament as well as those of the top solvers. Going to be a markedly different field this year without the presence of the always formidable Trip Payne. Follow us on Twitter at @thepuzbros or at our Facebook page - just search for "The Puzzle Brothers".

Saturday activities will include a presentation by Matt Ginsberg, whose crossword-solving program, Dr. Fill, will be playing along with the human competitors. There will also be a team solving challenge engineered by Eric Berlin and Jeffrey Harris.

How can you top our Saturday coverage of the tournament? With our exclusive, never-duplicated-elsewhere LIVE BLOG of the tournament finals, only here on thepuzzlebrothers.blogspot.com. We will be using Cover It Live once again to accomplish this, and Bob and I will be online to answer your questions. You can take part either at this website, or you can tweet your ACPT-related messages to @thepuzbros with the hashtag #ACPTFinals and they will magically appear to us in CIL. You will get a slightly different vibe from this year's finals as we have two new commentators this year - Neal Conan and Merl Reagle have been supplanted by Greg Pliska and Liane Hansen.

Advance thanks to our longtime tournament director, founder, and host, Mr. Will Shortz, and his able team, particularly the lovely Helene Hovanec who does so much of the behind the scenes work. And the Marriott for hosting yet again in their wonderful hotel. And we will see you ALL on the 16th!

TRIP PAYNE RETIRES FROM ACPT

Trip Payne has announced on his Facebook page that he will no longer be competing at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament.

The three-time ACPT champion (1994, 1998 and 2004) cited the expense of attending the tournament - he recently moved to Los Angeles from his longtime home of Boca Raton, Florida - as one of the reasons that he will no longer attend the tournament.

Payne was one of the super-solvers featured prominently in the documentary "Wordplay", which chronicled Trip's second-place finish to Tyler Hinman. It was one of five second-place finishes and three third-place finishes in his ACPT career. Overall, Payne finished in the money 11 times over roughly 20 years of competing, in addition to a slew of geographic and age-level awards.

Trip's LiveJournal page notes that he has been considering retirement from the ACPT since at least September of last year.

Crossword App Comes To Facebook

Crossword constructors who've gravitated to Facebook for conversation and fellowship now have a major-league puzzle application that includes tournament and head-to-head play, as well as solo play.

Crosswords by PuzzleSocial features puzzles from the AV Club, Newsday, and CrosSynergy groups, as well as custom Celebrity crosswords. The constructors and editors are all major players. So you know it's good stuff.

There are three daily head to head contests. The Celebrity puzzle at 3:00 p.m. Eastern, the Newsday puzzle at 9:30 p.m., and the CrosSynergy puzzle at 10:00 p.m. There will also be challenge solving added to the app soon so you can test your skills against a foe of your choosing. The solving app is very similar to Across Lite and worked quite well on a few test puzzles. Give it a try, you won't be disappointed.

ACPT 35 Registration Now Open

Registration has now opened for the 35th American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, which lasts from March 16-18. The program is still being hammered into place but this year we will have new commentators for the Sunday morning puzzles: Greg Pliska and Liane Hansen.

As most of the puzzles will be solved this year on St. Patrick's Day, potential contestants must be aware of traffic delays if going through Manhattan, where the annual parade will be staged.

The cost for all events, if paid in full before March 9, is $250. Hotel rooms at the Marriott are going for $213/night. More details at www.crosswordtournament.com.

New Fan of "Wordplay"

Late to the table, but welcome nonetheless, is actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who plays Mitchell Pritchett on "Modern Family". He recently had "Wordplay" come up in his Netflix queue, and loved it.

Ferguson tweeted to his over 220,000 followers, "After watching the great documentary 'Wordplay' I am certain I just saw insight in to the world of the people who spell check my tweets."

We won't tell him that "in to" is one word.... will we?

Kiran Kedlaya's In "Jeopardy!"... but not for long

Kiran Kedlaya, who is a perennial top-10 finisher at the ACPT, appeared on "Jeopardy!" on November 29 and 30, 2011, winning one match and a total of $32,801, including a $2000 consolation prize.

Kedlaya's best ACPT finish came in 2006, when he finished second to Tyler Hinman in the A finals.

Election Results....

One less crossword constructor will be sitting on the council in Rye, New York. Paula Gamache lost her re-election bid last night.

Joon Pahk Reaches "Jeopardy!" Semi-Finals

As he did in many of his games before, Joon Pahk made quick work of his opponents Tom Kunzen and John Krizel in the "Jeopardy!" Tournament of Champions quarterfinal round, winning convincingly on Friday night's episode. The semifinal rounds begin airing on Wednesday, November 9th and involve the five quarterfinal winners and the four players who had the highest dollar totals. UPDATE: Pahk's semi final game will air on Friday, November 11. The finals will take place on November 14 and 15.

Pahk was the only contestant who got the Final Jeopardy! clue: "Harpo Marx attended this organization's last meeting at NYC's Rose Room in 1943; there was nothing left to say." Correct response: "What is the Algonquin Round Table?"

Bob Mackey Prevails Yet Again At Westchester

Bob Mackey continued his dominance of the Westchester Crossword Tournament last evening at the new Westchester Table Tennis Center, beating second-place finisher Jeffrey Schwartz and third-place finisher Elaine Lippman by about two minutes on the Thursday, October 27 New York Times Crossword. Bob has now won four of the last five Westchester Tournaments, with the one off year being two years ago when Schwartz won. And the year prior to beginning his almost unbroken string, Bob and Dave won one of the team trophies and finished first on each of the first three puzzles.

Photos and additional details forthcoming.

Pahk's "Jeopardy!" Run Ends; TOC Next

With no Daily Doubles to buttress his score, Joon Pahk failed in his eighth episode of "Jeopardy!" and leaves with $201,000 in cash and a Tournament of Champions berth. He will make his first TOC appearance on Friday, November 4.

Pahk now ranks sixth on the all time list of "Jeopardy!" money winners, not counting tournaments or other special events.

The $199,000 Answer: Who is Joon Pahk?

The oft-intersecting worlds of crosswords and game shows have been colliding for roughly the last week or so. Joon Pahk, B division winner of the 2010 American Crossword Puzzle Tournament and also a constructor, has been making regular appearances on "Jeopardy!" and thanks to broad general knowledge and kamikaze wagering on Daily Doubles, has amassed $199,000 over his first seven appearances on the program. (Opponents found both Daily Doubles in the Double Jeopardy! round on Tuesday's program, but Pahk still made it a runaway.) As early as his second or third appearance on the program, Alex Trebek was already making comparisons to Ken Jennings, the show's all time money winner. Pahk can't say if he's still taping the show or how much he's won, but he's been reporting nightly on his adventures to his Facebook friends after the show has aired. Nancy Shack has been making his appearances available on YouTube; later today we'll post a complete list of links so you can track his progress.

It's generally held that the best showing by a crossword personality on a game show prior to Pahk's run has been that of Stanley Newman, the New York Newsday crossword editor, who won $112,480 (about $177,000 adjusted for inflation) on the 1991 program "The Challengers", hosted by Dick Clark and produced by game show master Ronnie Greenberg. (Yes, Jennings competed at Stamford in 2006 and won C division and rookie trophies - that was also the year I won the D trophy - but he hasn't been back to the tournament.)

There have been a number of other crossword and other puzzle folk who've been on "Jeopardy!" including Ellen Ripstein, Stella Zawistowski, and Scott Weiss, whose crafty wagering enabled the show's first and only three-way tie. Comment if you know of others and I'll add them to this post.

Jeopardy! Alert

The intersection set of crossword mavens and Jeopardy! contestants has grown by one. Joon Pahk made his first appearance on the program Monday evening and won his game. He will be back on tonight's show; check local listings.

15th Westchester Set For October 21

Friday, October 21, will be the 15th annual Westchester Crossword Tournament, which will be held at the Westchester Table Tennis Center, 175 Tompkins Avenue, Pleasantville. Begins at 7:30. Can you beat defending champion Bob Mackey?

Fourth Annual Bay Area Crossword Tournaments

Congratulations to Jordan Chodorow for winning the fourth annual Bay Area Crossword Tournament. Chodorow noted on his Facebook page that the tournament win was made possible by two-time defending champ Eric Maddy's absence this year. Reed Galbraith was second and Eric LeVasseur was third.

Brooklyn's Crossword King And Queen Duke It Out

Brooklyn Brainery will present a seminar on "Solving Crossword Puzzles" on Monday, August 15, at 8:30 p.m. Cost is $15. The seminar will be moderated by Brooklyn's own Francis Heaney and Stella Daily Zawistowski, who will compete to see who is the Brooklyn crossword champ. Brooklyn Brainery is at 515 Court Street in Brooklyn.

Puzzle Brothers Set To Do Battle At Lollapuzzoola 4

Originated three years ago by Ryan Hecht and Brian Cimmet, we didn't lend all that much credence to the Lollapuzzoola tournament, but we now admit that the two gentlemen have created a monster, and possibly the best-attended tournament on the East Coast this side of Brooklyn. Last year's champion of the "Express" division was Jeffrey Harris, and the "Local" winner was Jeffrey Dubner.

This year, with Patrick Blindauer taking over co-administrative reins from Hecht, the tournament is moving to Manhattan, to the more spacious All Souls Church on Lexington Avenue. Even more exciting than that, this year, for the first time, The Puzzle Brothers will be there! one Puzzle Brother will be there. Dave is unable to attend due to a family event.

The tournament format will be five puzzles everyone solves plus one challenger at the end, using the same dry-erase boards from the big tournament. The puzzle constructors include Doug Peterson, Elizabeth C. Gorski, Mike Nothnagel, Tony Orbach, Andrea Carla Michaels, and Byron Walden. Solvers can compete in "Express" or "Local" classifications, or can team up. Unlike in the big tournament, solvers can also get help if stuck via something called "Google Tickets". There will also be group games and admittedly modest prizes.

The cost to participate in the tournament is $25, and if you want pizza and ice cream you can kick in another $5. If you just want to stand around and watch, fork over $10.

More information at http://bemoresmarter.squarespace.com. The Puzzle Brothers look forward to seeing you there - and competing.

Westchester Table Tennis Center Grand Opening

Owned and managed by Will Shortz and Robert Roberts, the Westchester Table Tennis Center will have its grand opening on Saturday, July 16, from 10:00 a.m.-11:00 p.m. Admission and all play is free on Saturday, including the opportunity to play the master himself as Will has pledged to take on all comers. (Be ready for a workout. Will knows his stuff.) The club had its soft opening in May.

The address is 175 Tompkins Avenue in Pleasantville. This is signficant because sometime in the fall, Shortz will fold up the table tennis tables and host the 15th annual Westchester Crossword Tournament there, moving there from the St. John Episcopal Church.

Recent Tournament Action!

We would like to congratulate Jeffrey Schwartz, longtime friend of the show, on his winning the Boston Crossword Puzzle Tournament on April 23. Matthew Mattera was second and Jan O'Sullivan was third.

Just this past sunday, the Crosswords LA Tournament was held at Loyola Marymount University, and the winner of that tournament was Jordan Chodorow, with Eric LeVasseur coming in second and Eric Maddy placing third. Congratulations again to everyone!

Maura Jacobson Retiring From New York Magazine Crossword

Maura B. Jacobson is putting away her grids. The veteran crossword constructor has announced her retirement from the New York Magazine crossword, a slot that she has held since 1980.

Ms. Jacobson had learned puzzlecraft at the feet of the first New York Times crossword editor, Margaret Farrar. Jacobson had been hired to do a crossword for a magazine that was eventually folded into New York, Cue, at the recommendation of Will Weng. Beginning in May of 1980, Jacobson's byline had begun appearing in New York Magazine, usually appearing with a cryptic puzzle. Jacobson's puzzles were hardly brain-busters, but were accessible to casual solvers and always great fun. Even before that, Jacobson had been tapped by a brash young crossword editor named Will Shortz to provide one puzzle a year for the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. Jacobson's Puzzle No. 6 slot hopefully will continue in perpetuity.

Signs that the Jacobson era was soon to end started appearing last year, when Cathy Allis (Millhauser) shouldered half of Jacobson's workload. Allis will take on the construction chore full time after the final Jacobson puzzle appears, at a date yet to be determined. But the legacy of Jacobson lives on. Constructor Liz Gorski noted on her blog that "...Maura's extensive puzzle-ography has had a profound effect on my confidence as a solver...and later, as an aspiring puzzle writer. Seeing a woman's byline over that big New York puzzle each week made all the difference. Maybe I could make a puzzle some day. And if Maura B. Jacobson uses a byline with a middle initial ... so will I."

CoverItLive Replay of ACPT Finals

TWO-TIMIN' DAN

In much the manner he did last year, Dan Feyer took home his second straight American Crossword Puzzle Tournament championship in what had to be the most exciting finals since Tyler Hinman took home his last title two years ago.

Feyer earned his second bowl and $5,000 check, defeating the aforementioned Hinman, who returned to the finals this year by besting fourth-place contestant Francis Heaney by one minute on Puzzle #7, and another returning finalist, Anne Erdman.

All of the contestants who made podium appearances today completed their puzzles cleanly with no mistakes including David Plotkin, who defeated Ken Stern for the B title by a mere fraction of a second.

Dave Mackey briefly spoke with the happy winner.



Both Puzzle Brothers slipped from their 2010 rankings. Bob finished 67th and Dave finished 70th.

Once again, a very well-run tournament, thanks to Will Shortz, Helene Hovanec, Doug Heller, and a team of devoted judges. This year's contestant figure stabilized at 655, ahead of last year's 643 but still off the all time 2008 record of 699.

Shortz ended by stating that the 35th American Crossword Puzzle Tournament would be held at the Brooklyn Bridge Marriott on March 16-18. 2012.

More videos will be coming over the course of the night, including a review of the talent show today.

Delay In Program

The Crossworders Got Talent variety show is running over its anticipated time. We will begin our live blogging with the awards show, presided over by cartoonist Roz Chast, in approx. 30 minutes.

Delay in Posting Videos!

We have shot some quick video interviews with our possible finalists Anne Erdmann, Tyler Hinman, and Francis Heaney. Due to some video difficulties here at the Marriott, we are not able to get them up in a timely manner. They hopefully will be up at some point later today, if not tomorrow.

Here It Is... Sunday At ACPT

There's an odd mix of excitement and melancholy on the Sunday of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. It's always sad to say goodbye to a great weekend event, but there's that knowing that the most exciting time is yet to come, with the triple-stacked C, B and A finals.

This morning is Puzzle #7. That kicks off at 9:00 a.m. The "Crossworders Got Talent" variety show will follow. This year's talent includes Eleanor Dantignac, Tommy Lee Cook, Susan Hoffman, Lorinne Lampert, Fiona Newman, Dan Sadoff, Ken Seims, Bruce Wrighte, and Amanda Yesnowitz with Brian Cimmet.

The awards ceremony will be presided over by the great cartoonist from The New Yorker, Roz Chast. And after that, the finals in the C, B, and A classes. We will be live blogging those this morning starting at roughly 11:45 a.m., so you look at that big box at the top of the blog - it's going to mysteriously come to life. So come join us! (I know Mr. and Mrs. Feyer will be out there.)

Saturday Night's All Right For Racing

Another brain teaser from John Chaneski and Greg Pliska, as they presented "The ACPTzing Race", which was a geographic quiz which took contestants on a trip around the world without leaving the ballroom. A four-man team headed by Tyler Hinman took home top honors.

An interesting play was also presented. "Life is Shortz" featured a married couple doing a Saturday NYT puzzle whose clues provide a parallel for their lives.

And for those of you keeping score at home, here are your scores through six:

1. Dan Feyer
2. Anne Erdmann
3. Francis Heaney
4. Tyler Hinman (once again a tiebreaker on Puzzle 5 puts Hinman in fourth)
5. Trip Payne
6. Kiran Kedlaya
7. Ellen Ripstein
8. Howard Barkin
9. Dave Tuller
10. Jon Delfin

61. Bob Mackey
73. Dave Mackey

We interviewed Dan Feyer about his chances.



And then, we did our recap show, and we had some guests!

Results Through 1 Puzzle

This just in - 22 solvers solved Puzzle #1 with 12 minutes left on the clock. Barkin, Bryant, Cohen, Delfin, Dubner, Erdmann, Feist, Feyer, Heaney, Hinman, Kedlaya, R. Mackey, O'Neill, Pahk, Payne, Plotkin, Ripstein, Sanders, Schwartz, Steinway, Tuller, and Zawistowski. 56 more are tied for second and and an additional 100 are tied for third. For up to the minute results visit http://www.crosswordtournament.com/2011/standings/rank.htm.

Tournament is underway

Puzzle #2 in progress. Most top solvers banked 12 min. on Puzzle #1 by Kelly Clark. Pete Muller did #2.

Dawn Of A New Day

The nice thing about this tournament is that everyone starts at zero. It's what happens in between that makes it interesting.

By the time Saturday afternoon rolls around, we should have some idea about who will be representing for each contestant class. We are going to try to update you both on this website and via our Facebook page. There, you can like us and tag yourself in our pictures.

We've already informed you about a number of significant no-shows, but what may be the x-factor this year is the number of solvers who have taken it easy on the intense training. Of those we've talked to, only Dan Feyer and Ellen Ripstein have put in a lot of time just solving and solving.

We will be posting our first analysis video after Puzzle #3, from our perch outside the Jackie Gleason Ballroom. Talk to you then.

2010 ACPT Video #1

Brooklyn Is Cookin'

The Puzzle Brothers officially welcome one and all to the 2011 American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. (Yes, there's another tournament going on this weekend, but we're not concerned about that big BYU-Gonzaga game.)

Tournament attendees have been treated to a most entertaining presentation by David Kwong, mixing crosswords and sleight-of-hand. David's been a contributor to several puzzle venues, has worked with the master magician Ricky Jay, and was the "cruciverbal consultant" to the Sandra Bullock movie, "All About Steve".

Ross Beresford (a/k/a "Crosspatch") gave a very interesting demonstration on the differences between US and UK cryptic crosswords, with tournament attendees trying their hand at one of each. Richard Silvestri was responsible for the US version, while the setter of the UK flavour was Don Manley.

Director Will Shortz estimates the number of registered contestants so far at 650, which is ahead of last year's total. More reportage, pictures and videos later!

An Image Problem... Lots of 'em, in fact...

We are having problems right now with the ACPT galleries from years past. We are working to rectify the situation so you can enjoy pictures of those ACPT moments from the last few years you might have missed.

There's A Tournament Tomorrow? Really?

Yes, really. And the Puzzle Brothers, along with 629 other pre-registered contestants, are looking forward to the opportunities the weekend presents.

 

What will make this year's tournament quite interesting - aside from the possibility of Dan Feyer steamrollering all comers in the tournament as he did last year - is the number of top-level solvers who won't be showing this year. A quick glance of the contestant rolls shows top-50 names like Katie Hamill, Eric Maddy, Ron Sweet, Barry Haldiman and Eric LeVasseur not competing as of this morning. This year's confirmed A contestants are:

• Howard Barkin
• Katherine Bryant
• Adam Cohen
• Jon Delfin
• Len Elliott
• Anne Erdmann
• Dan Feyer
• Peter Gordon
• Francis Heaney
• Tyler Hinman
• Doug Hoylman
• Will Johnston
• Kiran Kedlaya
• Joshua Kosman
• Frank Longo
• Brian Olewnick
• Joon Pahk
• Trip Payne
• Doug Peterson
• Arnold Reich
• Amy Reynaldo
• Ellen Ripstein
• Al Sanders
• Dan Seabolt
• Dave Tuller
• Thomas Weisswange
• Stella Zawistowski

The top B-level solvers, if last year's rankings hold, are expected to be Bob Mackey, Richard Kalustian, and Susan Hoffman. Bob has been relegated to B by virtue of winning no A- or B- level awards in the last seven tournaments, and Joon Pahk, last year's B champion, has been moved up to A. Katie Hamill will not be at the tournament this year, owing to other commitments; nor will last year's third-place contestant in B, Ron Sweet. For the record, I will again be competing in the B level this year but realistically won't make the podium, there's just too much of a logjam. Louis Lana (last year's C winner) and David Plotkin move up to B this year, and Boone Gorges makes a big jump from D to B.

The C division will be populated with even more up and coming solvers this year as several people did well enough last year to move up a class or two, including Brian Cimmet, Amanda Yesnowitz and David Moulton.

Stay with The Puzzle Brothers for complete tournament coverage - video updates throughout the day on Saturday, and on Sunday, we will be bringing you live as-it-happens blogging of the final round, brought to you by Cover It Live.

Here Are Our Gifts To The Brooklyn Crowd

Can't go, or don't want to go to Brooklyn this year? We know there are a few of you out there who are missing this year's tournament. We are dedicating these puzzle files to you, and it's our way of saying we hope you all come back next year. It is recommended you right-click and download.

Bob's Themeless
Cherub Chatter
It Is Apuzzlement!
Bob's Themeless - The Revenge!

Martha Gives Good Swag

Here's the breakdown of the goodies handed to Martha Stewart's Puzzle Show audience. This does not include the KenKen books given to the three participants in that contest.

Will Shortz Presents The Double Flip Book of KenKen and Sudoku $14.99

The New York Times Little Luxe Book of Crosswords $14.95

KenKen Page-A-Day Calendar $12.99

New York Times Crossword Society 1-Year Subscription $49.99

Hasbro Ji-Ga-Zo 300 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle Kit $29.99

Brainpower Game Plan by Dr. Cynthia Green $25.99

Good Thinking Kit from Marbles $19.99

ELMS Puzzles Gift Certificate for 75 Piece Custom Jigsaw Puzzle $150.00

Mindware Extreme Dot-To-Dot – 4 books $35.80

“Made You Look” Picture Puzzle Book $16.95

TOTAL $371.64

I did not count the value of the KenKen pencil or the New York Times crossword tote bag.

Martha Stewart Puzzle Show

Puzzle Brother Bob Mackey with Zoe Wheeler on his left
 and Deb Amlen on his right.

Martha Stewart this morning devoted her Hallmark Channel program to a discussion of puzzles. Her entire audience was full of puzzle enthusiasts, including crossword freaks, KenKen lovers, Rubik's Cube manipulators, a puzzle team from Brown University, and even a Mah-Jongg club.

The program kicked off with Will Shortz describing KenKen, which is the Sudoku-like game involving logic and mathematics. Prior to the program, a sheet with three KenKen puzzles was distributed to the audience. The first two audience members were selected to play a round of KenKen, tournament style, against the national KenKen champion, teenage Molly Olonoff. One of the Brown coeds, Zoe Wheeler, and our own Bob Mackey were selected to participate. True to form Molly very easily breezed through the puzzle, and Bob and Zoe were the 2-3 finishers, but everyone got the same prizes - a comprehensive set of KenKen books.

Will next turned his attentions to crosswords, and gave some pointers on what to look for in the clues to help you become a better solver, using today's NYT puzzle by Ian Livengood (who was in the studio) as an example.

Other guests included Richard Gariott, who collects wooden mechanical puzzle boxes, Dr. Cynthia Green, a psychologist who talked about how doing puzzles can improve your memory skills, and Rose Guay, a jigsaw puzzle creator. Warm-up comedian Joey Kola (previously from "The Rosie O'Donnell Show" and "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire", where we saw him in 2001) also executed a dot-to-dot puzzle of Martha.

All audience members received a tote bag full of puzzle books and related items, including crossword, Sudoku, KenKen, connect-the-dots and picture puzzles, Dr. Green's book "Brainpower Game Plan", Hasbro's Ji-Ga-Zo jigsaw puzzle and software, which allows you to create an endless variety of jigsaw puzzles based on your own designs, and a gift certificate for a custom-made 75-piece jigsaw puzzle (value approx. $150) from ELMS Puzzles.

• The Martha Stewart Show archive page for "The Puzzle Show"

Martha Stewart Wants Puzzlers!

Martha Stewart is planning a special episode about puzzles which will tape in February for later broadcast. She is hoping to have an entire audience chock full of puzzle fans - be it crossword, sudoku, KenKen, mazes - for this taping. One of the guests will be Puzzlemaster to the World, Mr. Will Shortz. If you want free tickets to the taping, go to Martha's website and tell the audience coordinators about your puzzling activities.

Starbucks Winner Has The Last Laugh; Cashes Gift Card for $$$$$$$

If you will remember, Starbucks sponsored a crossword contest in conjunction with the New York Times in 2006, which featured six weekly puzzles distributed through the coffee chain (all very well crafted by Patrick Berry), plus a tiebreaker puzzle with the all-too obvious answer "Starbuck". The winner of that puzzle likely called in with a lucky guess not a minute after the phone lines open. Trip Payne, among others, was up in arms. There were also runner up prizes, likely also going to guessers.

Now comes word that one of those runners-up, who won one of the extremely rare Crossword gift cards valued at $500 (the grand prize was an approximately $73,000 gift card, representative of one cup of coffee a day for life), has auctioned off his card on eBay for over $10,000. Apparently, there were only six of these cards made, making them the rarest gift cards of all time and are highly sought after by cartodorologists, or gift card collectors.

Sylvia Burstzyn 1948-2010

Los Angeles Times Sunday crossword author Sylvia Burstzyn has died at the age of 62. The crossword creator died of natural causes on December 30, 2010.

Burstzyn co-authored the Sunday crossword with Barry Tunick from 1980 until 2007, when Tunick passed away. Burstzyn's puzzle appeared biweekly from that time on, and her last puzzle was published on Sunday, January 9. The Merl Reagle puzzle will begin appearing weekly in the Calendar.

More details in the L.A. Times obituary.

ACPT Registration Now Available

Registration is now open for the 34th American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, to be held March 18-20 at the Brooklyn Bridge Marriott.

The tournament will follow the same format as most years past. Once again, no awards luncheon. The variety show and awards (presented this year by Roz Chast, cartoonist for The New Yorker) will precede the C, B and A playoffs. Friday night games will include a cryptic crossword contest.

Deb Amlen Taking Over NYT "Wordplay" Blog

The New York Times will be introducing a new crossword blogger after the first of the year. Crossword constructor Deb Amlen will be taking over the "Wordplay" blog from Jim Horne, with frequent guest appearances by Patrick Merrell. Deb will give daily commentary on the New York Times puzzles. The blog replaced the old message boards on the New York Times website several years ago.

Deb should be expected to lace her blog with a dose of her trademark humor - she has her own humor blog called "Can't You Get Along With Anybody?" at http://www.debamlen.com, and this year published her first book, "It's Not PMS, It's You!: A Totally Non-Hormonal Analysis of Male Behavior". In addition to appearing in all the usual crossword markets, Deb also creates the puzzles for Bust Magazine. The Puzzle Brothers wish Deb well in her new adventure!

Ben Bass at Westchester

Ben Bass recently competed at the Westchester Tournament. He sat next to... well, let's put this way, in his words... "Now I know why no one wants the stall next to Tiger Woods at the driving range."

The Fabulous Fifties

In 2011, the Puzzle Brothers will become eligible to compete in age-related brackets at the ACPT for the first time. Coming off a very strong Westchester Tournament win in which he swept all the puzzles, Bob Mackey is going to be the new force in the 50's age bracket. (Me, minorly so.)

We are absolutely pleased to be in the same company, albeit for a few years, with former champions Ellen Ripstein (who will join the 60's bracket for the 2013 tournament) and Jon Delfin (2015), as well as prominent non-winner Al Sanders, who at the age of 52 is our closest contemporary among the elite solvers. By 2019, Trip Payne will be in his 50's as well... it's going to be interesting to see if we can all hold our skills as we rack up more tournament experience.

Westchester Tournament Moving

Aah, the charm of St. John's Episcopal Church. Great place to have a crossword get-together. Unfortunately, the demand has far exceeded the space. Will Shortz announced at last night's tournament that in 2011, the new venue will be Shortz' own Westchester Table Tennis Club. No report as to whether next year's winner will go on to the Bonus Round, challenging Shortz one-on-one in table tennis.

BOB MACKEY WINS WESTCHESTER TOURNAMENT

Results - Bob Mackey in first, Elaine Lippman in second, Ken Stern in third. Bob came first in all three puzzles, Stern second. Lippman was in third place on the third puzzle. Puzzles by Adam G. Perl, Paula Gamache, Ian Livengood, and Patrick Blindauer. More reportage, team results and pictures to come.

Cathy Allis Named New York Co-Constructor

Change at New York Magazine, where Maura Jacobson has held sway as regular crossword constructor for the last 30 years. Cathy Allis (Millhauser) has been named regular co-constructor, who will alternate weeks with Jacobson. Here's how New York Magazine announced the change:

"Regular solvers of New York's crossword puzzle may have noticed an unexpected byline this summer, and now we're making it official. After several weeks of puzzles, Cathy Allis has joined us as our regular crossword co-constructor. She'll be alternating issues with Maura B. Jacobson, who's been with New York since 1980 and, we hope, indefinitely. Allis is best known for her New York Times puzzles, notably one in which she constructed a grid around clues written by Bill Clinton. Her own non-presidential work has built a real following for its wit and accessibility. (Sample clue: "A race that's always a tie." Answer: ASCOT.) We hope you will find her work both charming and maddening."

14th Westchester Is October 1

One of the favorite tournaments the Puzzle Brothers customarily attend is the Westchester Crossword Tournament, held in Pleasantville, New York, and hosted by Pleasantville's own Will Shortz. The 14th edition of the tournament has been scheduled for Friday, October 1, 2010, at the tournament's traditional home, St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Pleasantville. As is the custom, the event will benefit the Pleasantville Fund for Learning. Jeffrey Schwartz is the event's defending champion; for the two years prior the tournament was won by The Puzzle Brothers' own Bob. We have already marked our calendars for this annual event and are looking forward to seeing all our friends and colleagues in the puzzle world.

Administrative Stuff

We have decided to no longer maintain thepuzzlebrothers.com as a separate domain. Our blog will remain available at thepuzzlebrothers.blogspot.com and will also be accessible from Facebook.

We are in the process of republishing our other pages at blogspot. This may take a few days.

Dan Katz Tries His Hand At "Jeopardy!" Tonight

Puzzlers may recognize the name Dan Katz. So, too, may "Jeopardy!" fans, as twenty years ago there was a five-time champion by the same name. Well, the Dan Katz who placed second in the B division in 2009 (losing to that Dan Feyer guy) is going to be on "Jeopardy!" this evening. Puzzlers have the first chance to root on one of their own since Stella Zawistowski was on a few years ago.

Katz placed 18th in his most recent ACPT, in 2009.

ACPT Video from Time

Return of the Washington Post Sunday Crossword!

Starting Sunday, April 11, the Washington Post will run a weekly 15x themeless. It will be edited by Peter Gordon and will have the following constructors: Trip Payne, Patrick Berry, Frank Longo, Michael Shenk, and Karen Tracey. (Thanks to Trip for the info)

"How I Met" Will Shortz

The tweet from Neil Patrick Harris offered some enticing wordplay in the style of the master as he effused about the show's latest big-name guest star. "Ten letters, 'Death Document' plus 'legless pantz'. I geeked out. I'm a fan."

New York Times crossword editor Will Shortz flew to Hollywood to make a cameo appearance on the hit sitcom "How I Met Your Mother", which stars the former Doogie Howser child star who has become quite an adult star in his own right, thanks to his TV appearances and his riotous performances in the "Harold and Kumar" movie series.

The episode, entitled "Robots vs. Wrestlers", casts Shortz as a guest at a party that Barney and friends decide to crash; another party guest is Arianna Huffington, queen of the The Huffington Post. The episode is expected to air on CBS during the May sweeps.

The 30-Second Workout

We have heard via our friend Trip Payne that starting next year, the tournament is going to be timed to the half minute, rather than the minute. This will help prevent the logjam of ties among the top solvers. We will try to get official word on this.

ACPT Final Replay

DAN IS THE MAN!

Dan Feyer has won the 2010 American Crossword Puzzle Tournament in a very entertaining "A" finals over Howard Barkin, second, and Anne Erdmann, third. Dan was the only one to complete the playoff puzzle correctly in A and one of only four (not three as originally thought) solvers to do so in all three skill levels.



In his first tournament, Joon Pahk finished ahead of all B-level solvers earning him a trip to the B finals, defeating Katie Hamill and Ron Sweet there.

C division belonged to Louis Lana. He defeated young rookie David Plotkin and Barry Haldiman to earn that crown. Dan Singer had earned a seat in the C finals due to Pahk's ascension to the B division, but failed to show for the playoff round.

Other winners:

D: Beth Welch
E: Ryan Hecht
Junior: Tyler Hinman
50's: Al Sanders
60's: Doug Hoylman
70's: Julie von Hamm
Senior: Mimi Raphael
Rookie: Joon Pahk

West: Tyler Hinman
Connecticut: Jan O'Sullivan
Other New England: Kiran Kedlaya
New York City: Dan Feyer
Long Island: Peter Gordon
Upstate New York: David Plotkin
New Jersey: Howard Barkin
Mid-Atlantic: Doug Hoylman
South: Trip Payne
Midwest: Anne Erdmann
Foreign: Jeffrey Krasnick

Congrats to all the winners. The 34th annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament will be held on March 18-20, 2011. Hope to see you all there.

expected finalists

A: Dan Feyer, Howard Barkin, Anne Erdmann
B: Joon Pahk, Katie Hamill, Ron Sweet
C: David Plotkin, Louis Lana, Dan Singer

AFTER 7 PUZZLES

1. Dan Feyer
2. Howard Barkin
T3. Anne Erdmann
T3. Tyler Hinman
5. Trip Payne

17. Robert Mackey
49. Dave Mackey

Happy Sunday Morning From Brooklyn

Within a few hours, we will know if Tyler Hinman has won his sixth American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, or if there will be a new champ. What's in his way? Specifically, three people: Dan Feyer, Howard Barkin, and Anne Erdmann. He's somehow got to find a way to overcome the one-minute lead of Barkin and the three minute lead of Feyer, all the while hoping that Anne Erdmann somehow slips. The fourth puzzle will tell the tale.

Early indications are that if there is a tiebreaker between Hinman and Erdmann and everyone was still solving to form, it would go to Erdmann. Cold truth: Tyler may not even make the podium this year.

We'll try to get interviews with some of the contestants and we will be interspersing them throughout our live coverage. Come back here around 12:00 noon and the Live Blogging Window will suddenly spring to life with Robert and myself providing live play by play of all three final divisions.

As expected Puzzle #7 was by Merl Reagle. This leaves Mike Shenk to handle the final puzzle.

Last evening's games were "Clueless Crossword" with John Chaneski. You had to literally remember all of the Across clues from Puzzle #1. This game is a constructor's dream and you really had to think like Stan Newman.

This was followed by "Who Are You" and "Listmania" - in the latter game, teams of four had to complete a series of lists, such as (these are examples) continents, chemical elements beginning with C, or National League baseball teams. The game had written qualifying round and an on-stage playoff round, which resulted in one of the funniest tournament moments ever. The category was "Books of the Bible that end with the letter 'S'". One team member said, "Romans," immediately followed by a loud "SON OF A...!" from another stage player. The room exploded with laughter.

More Videos

Pit game in the hallway.



Who Are You? In this game, you had to guess the name of the girl that was being sung about.

New Vlog

Feyer Maintains Lead After Six

Dan Feyer has continued his good streak at the tournament, holding his fifty-point lead over Howard Barkin after six puzzles. Ann Erdmann and Tyler Hinman remain in the mix, with the top eight having solved the Maura Jacobson grid in less than five minutes. Ellen Ripstein, Katherine Bryant and Eric Maddy maintained their relative positions while each falling back by 25 points.

The Puzzle Brothers have been perfect through the first six puzzles. Bob Mackey is now in 17th place, behind Joon Pahk by 75 points. Pahk will likely be the year's top rookie, with a slot in this year's B finals quite possible. Dave Mackey is 49th, five points behind Barry Haldiman.

Standings Through Five Puzzles

1. Dan Feyer
2. Howard Barkin
T3. Anne Erdmann
T3. Tyler Hinman
T5. Kiran Kedlaya
T5. Trip Payne
T7. Stella Zawistowski
T7. Francis Heaney
T7. Ellen Ripstein
T10. Eric Maddy
T10. Al Sanders
T12. Amy Reynaldo
T12. Katherine Bryant

21. Robert Mackey
48. Dave Mackey

Six Down, Two To Go...

We are recovering from a day of doing puzzles. Puzzle 5 was not the "bitch mother" of previous years... it was a solid, solvable puzzle.

As you can see below the official standings have been posted. We did not realize that Howard Barkin was step-for-step even with Feyer when we posted our vlog about the first three puzzles. Some of our friends from Facebook have been posting their own little tidbits. Stella Zawistowski for one is surprised at her performance (currently tied at 11), since she's under the weather today.

Bob and I looked at our scans of the first three puzzles and they are clean. We think we've both aced the final three puzzles of the day. We are looking forward to No. 7 tomorrow which in all likelihood will be by Merl Reagle, and then the playoff puzzle tomorrow which will be by Mike Shenk. And please remember that Bob and I will be here tomorrow at 12:00 for all the playoff puzzle action, in real time for the first time.

Top Solvers Through 3 Puzzles

T1. Howard Barkin
T1. Dan Feyer
3. Anne Erdmann
T4. Tyler Hinman
T4. Trip Payne
T6. Kiran Kedlaya
T6. Al Sanders
8. Katherine Bryant
9. Ellen Ripstein
10. Steve Smith
T11. Francis Heaney
T11. Eric Maddy
T11. Stella Zawistowski

17. Robert Mackey
57. Dave Mackey

Both Puzzle Brothers were perfect on the first three puzzles.

Day One, Part One

Here are the Puzzle Brothers themselves with their take after three puzzles have been solved by the entrants.

The Official Word

Here is the link to official standings information. The electronic scoring system installed last year has been upgraded with new computers and scanners, thanks to the good work of Matt Ginsberg and Doug Heller. As mentioned before, since the judging will be done in green pen, you cannot use green ink in your solving.

As of last night, the contestant count was 634. That number will fluctuate as people register today and others simply do not show up.

http://www.crosswordtournament.com/2010/standings/rank.htm

We Want To Know About Your Local Tournament

Hi everyone! Good Saturday morning. The Puzzle Brothers are enjoying coffee in their room. Haven't ventured out yet, and we're 2-1/2 hours to showtime.

Anyway, the first thing we bring you this morning is a public service announcement. You will notice that our sidebar has grown significantly since we've arrived at the tournament, thanks to the various flyers hanging around the ballroom and foyer areas. We'd like to help publicize YOUR crossword-related event! If you are the contact person for any kind of crossword tournament, corner us at the tournament with the information. Who are we? The guys wearing the hats!

Night 1 Is Done

Save a few laggards at the bar, no one is staying up late tonight. The first night of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament saw many of the high-profile solvers steering clear of Friday evening activities. Those who did hang around enjoyed the traditional Friday wine and cheese festivities and social games. The Puzzle Brothers enjoyed the company of many of the contestants who weren't too proud to hang out with the B and under crowd and try to figure out if a Norwegian gentleman was lying or not about how he punched Ingemar Johansson in the stomach at the age of 3.

Our first gallery of pictures is up. We hope to have many more when the big guns surface.

Also, watch the space below, for soon a video will magically appear. This is video of an indignant solver calling in to complain about a recent Frank Longo puzzle. It's sort of hard to hear so Will will provide a translation. I hate rebuses as much as the next person, but geez....

Let The Games Begin... And End

The Friday night icebreaker games have concluded. Eric Berlin brought a variation on Siamese Twins puzzles that used visual clues projected in random order three seconds at a time. Magnus Palm offered a series of statements about Sweden, where he is a puzzle master, and you had to guess true or false. Grand prize: his crossword cufflinks.

The Tournament Before The Tournament

Bob vs. Stan Newman on my themeless. Bob had a one minute head start. Stan pretty much has the puzzle filled in now. But Stan was stumped on some clues. Bob wins this round.

First Juicy News from ACPT

The first rule of the 2010 ACPT is NO GREEN PENS.

The second rule of the 2010 ACPT is, NO GREEN PENS.

Your constructors in no particular order: Patrick Berry, Liz Gorski, Maura Jacobson, Stan Newman, Mike Nothnagel, Brendan Emmett Quigley, Merl Reagle, and Mike Shenk. Only given is Maura is #6 as always.

Haven't counted the contestants yet. Bob will be a walk-on this year.

Jay Kasofsky will be competing for the 33rd time, a unique distinction. The only 32-year competitors are Mimi Raphael and Ellen Ripstein.

Puzzle Brothers On Facebook - Follow Us!

If you would like to see our 2010 ACPT tournament updates on Facebook, please visit http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/The-Puzzle-Brothers/332613355217?ref=ts. (Thank goodness you don't have to type that in. We will try to sync both the blog and Facebook.

33RD (and a third?) REVOLUTION

The number 33. It's not a prime number 3 x 11 = 33. It may mean different things to different people. The speed of a long playing record, plus that pesky little third. The mysterious digits on the side of a bottle of Rolling Rock. With an apologetic little ', it becomes a year in the great Depression, the same year that Popeye the Sailor Man made his first cartoon in the New York studios of Max and Dave Fleischer. The year that FDR introduced a lot of his New Deal agencies. But most importantly, the year Prohibition ended.

Whatever the number 33 means to you, to about 700 crossword fanatics, it is the magic number for this weekend as today begins the 33rd annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, at the Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge, the tournament's newly established home. Welcome to our pre-game show.

As always, Will Shortz presides over the marquee event of the cross-world, attracting the best solvers and constructors who gather for an always-magical weekend of solving and side activities. Much of what goes on is already known - games Friday night, cocktail hour afterward, six puzzles Saturday, #5 will kill a lot of on-the-fence solver, "Puzzle number six is by Maura Jacobson," and the nail-biting Sunday finals.

Yet questions remain. The biggest is can Tyler Hinman hang on and win his record-shattering sixth straight ACPT? Is there ANYONE OUT THERE who can beat him? Some say yes. A lot of the crossword community is putting money on a relative newcomer to the elite ranks, Dan Feyer. I fully expect it to be a two-way shootout between Hinman and Feyer. Who will be the third wheel? Lots of logical choices - Trip Payne, Al Sanders, Jon Delfin, Ellen Ripstein... I just can't choose, but the anticipated Hinman-Feyer tilt is going to keep a lot of people in that ballroom after the lower prizes have been handed out.

Sure, the playoff puzzle is the Cadillac event, but the first six hold the key. Those early puzzles are going to be key in determining who takes the stage on Sunday - last year, four solvers were in a dead tie for A contention, and it came down to tiebreakers to determine who went to the podium. (And for the record, that fourth solver who was shut out of A-level contention? Dan Feyer, who went on to win the B division.)

Tournament No. 33 marks the end of an era for Dave and Bob Mackey: The Puzzle Brothers will be competing in their last ACPT ever in which they will not have an age designator next to their name in the standings. Reluctantly, we are entering the ranks of the fifty-plus solvers next year. I fully expect that Puzzle Brother Bob will be the cream of the new crop of 50's as the likes of Al Sanders, Jon Delfin and Ellen Ripstein move on to the next strata.

Naturally, we are excited about what the weekend will have in store. We are looking forward to seeing you all there.

ACPT Registration Up From Last Year

A source within the ACPT has informed me that preregistrations are up from last year. The tournament packet last year boasted 616 contestants. The final number of contestants last year was 675, and the all-time record number of contestants was in 2008, the first year in Brooklyn, when 699 people played in the tournament.

Don't let that statistic stop you! We're looking forward to seeing you in Brooklyn. You could be the next champion if you're good enough, smart enough, and doggone it, if people LIKE you! (Apologies to Sen. Franken.) The 1998 tournament in Stamford had a last-minute entrant who wound up winning the B division and the rookie trophy (I'll leave it to you to find out his identity). So it's not too late. Go to www.crosswordtournament.com and get all the details. Join the party!

Our 2010 ACPT Puzzles

These will be distributed at the Tournament but you can do them at anytime online using Across Lite!

Dave's Themeless
Bob's Themeless
Hold That Note
Lose Weight Now! Ask Me How!

Live Blogging Of ACPT Finals

We are upgrading our coverage of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament this year.

Thanks to a service called Cover It Live, we will be live-blogging in real time the tournament in a special window on our website. The live blogging coverage will begin at 12:00 noon on the day of the finals, Sunday, February 21. The real time blogging means that you won't have to wait for a round to be finished to get the play-by-play.

Our finals coverage will include live blogging with (for the first time) commentary from both Puzzle Brothers (unless one makes the podium) of all three upper-echelon divisions, C, B and A, fun polls, videos, and hopefully interviews. Results of lower divisions and age and geographic champions will be disclosed at that time as well.

We thank Harry McCracken, an old friend of the Puzzle Brothers for over two decades, for pointing us toward this site. Cover It Live was used quite a bit yesterday at Apple's launch of the iPad, but didn't work quite so well. Over the next few days you will see the blogging window and reminder posts. You can pre-register and get an e-mail reminder. We hope that our live blogging is the next best thing to being in Brooklyn.

If you want to see what the live blogging will look like, visit our sister blog, DaveMackey.com for Dave's annual review of the Super Bowl Sunday advertising campaigns.

Will Will Pong For Charity Tomorrow

Will Shortz is among the celebrities taking part in "So You Think You Can Pong", a charity table-tennis event to be held Wednesday, January 13, at Spin New York, on 23rd between Madison and Park. The beneficiary is 826NYC, a non-profit that helps young people with their expository writing skills.

Other participants in the tournament will include hockey player Sean Avery, actors Mike Myers, Catherine Keener and David Schwimmer, authors Sarah Vowell and Dave Eggers, and chef Mario Batali.

You can support Will or any of the other celebrities via a donation or you can even play in the tournament should there still be spots available. For more information visit their website.

One Puzzle Brother Going To Brooklyn

I have sent in my registration for The Tournament. I am looking forward to seeing my crossword friends in Brooklyn.

When Do We Eat?

The preliminary schedule of events for the 2010 American Crossword Puzzle Tournament has been posted and there is a huge change on Sunday - there is no longer going to be an awards luncheon.

Sunday instead will have the "Puzzler's Variety Program" at 11:00 a.m., followed by a brief awards presentation at 12:00, then the finals at 12:15 in the C, B and A divisions. As always, the Puzzle Brothers will be on the scene live-blogging the finals.

No information yet on the Friday and Saturday evening programs other than the Eric Berlin "Visual Crossword" scheduled for Friday night.

Peter Gordon is Back!

Fireball Crosswords

A MAD Look at Crossword Tournaments

Check out this blog entry from Patrick Merrell. Constructor Merrell is a sometime member of MAD Magazine's Usual Gang of Idiots, and one of the contestants at the Westchester tournament on Friday Night was the magzine's longtime art director, Sam Viviano. There are some great caricatures here of the likes of Frank Longo, Amanda Yesnowitz and Tony Orbach, but there's one unidentified caricature that looks like it could be the Puzzle Brother who DIDN'T get to be on stage the other night. Patrick is a good guy and we're glad he passed along Viviano's doodles.

JEFFREY SCHWARTZ WINS WESTCHESTER TOURNAMENT

In a very close final round, Jeffrey Schwartz won the 13th Westchester Crossword Puzzle Tournament over second place finisher Bob Mackey and third place finisher Ken Stern.

All three contestants finished the Thursday, October 1, 2009 New York Times puzzle by Patrick Blindauer and Rebecca Young perfectly. The three preliminary puzzles, which you can solve this Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in the Times, were by Lynn Lempel, Paula Gamache, and Kevin G. Der.

Mackey finished first on puzzle 1, Stern on puzzle 2, and Schwartz on puzzle 3. Both Stern and Schwartz finished with mistakes on puzzle 1 ahead of Mackey. Schwartz and Stern were virtually tied on puzzle 2, but Schwartz later stated that Stern had his hand up a split second ahead of him. Schwartz finished first perfectly on puzzle 3.

Besides Gamache, Blindauer and Young, officials in attendance were head judge Stan Kurzban, along with Fred Piscop, Ellen Ripstein, Helene Hovanec, Deb Amlen, Pat Merrell, Nancy Schuster, Adam Cohen, Howard Barkin, Dan Feyer, Tony Orbach, Frank Longo, Bob Bernstein, Mimi Raphael, Caleb Madison, Joe Cabrera, Mike Nothnagel, and Ashish Vengsarkar.

The annual contest, hosted by Pleasantville's own Will Shortz, benefits the Pleasantville Fund for Learning. Shortz noted that there were 67 contestants this year, which might be a record. It was also mentioned that the Tournament and other fundraisers netted the Fund for Learning, which benefits programs in Pleasantville's three schools, over $25,000 last year.

The image gallery is now up. I recommend you go there after you've solved Thursday's NYT puzzle. For more pictures, check out Elaine Lippman's Facebook gallery - thanks Tyger!

ACPT DATES MOVED ONE WEEK EARLIER

The American Crossword Puzzle Tournament will be held one week earlier than originally scheduled. The new dates are February 19-21, 2010. Venue continues to be the Brooklyn Bridge Marriott.

Westchester Tournament Is EARLY This Year!

CORRECTION - Date confirmed by Will Shortz

The 13th annual Westchester Crossword Tournament will be held in September this year - it will be on Friday, September 25. Location will once again be the St. John's Episcopal Church in Pleasantville, New York, and will be hosted as always by Will Shortz. The tournament will feature light snacks and competition, singly or in pairs, on the New York Times crosswords to be published from September 28-October 1. The tournament once again will benefit the Pleasantville Fund For Learning. Puzzle Brother Robert Mackey will be trying for his third straight win in this tournament.

Congrats In Order

Constructor and competitive solver Stella Daily is getting married today on her birthday. We wish her and Dave nothing but the best as they fill in this new chapter in their lives.

The Case Of The Missing Acrostic

Here, from the Wall Street Journal, which blithely makes room on Friday for a Sunday-sized puzzle which is often very good, is a report on the disappearance of the Hex acrostic from the Sunday New York Times print edition.