Stan's Stickler: Will It Stump You Today?

If you remember the exploits of the Brothers at the Paramus-based Community Blood Services tournament a few months ago, you will remember that the final puzzle, by Stanley Newman, was quite a bear for the competitors, notably the A clues. Stan has given Joe Solver a bit of a break today by supplying the B clues for this puzzle as it appears in today's Newsday. Good luck!

Crossword Creators Shine Again On "Twenty-One" Reruns

GSN has announced that they are taking the reruns of the short-lived NBC quiz show "Twenty-One" out of mothballs, beginning Wednesday, January 3 at 10:00 p.m. and rerunning the following Sunday evening at 7:00 p.m.

Crossword fans may remember New York Sun puzzle editor Peter Gordon's appearance on the show, as well as that of his "second chance" helper - Newsday puzzle editor (and all-time champion from "The Challengers") Stanley Newman.

If You're Not Shopping On Black Friday

Check out the Friday New York Times crossword puzzle (a themeless, of course), authored by Puzzle Brother Dave. Hope you enjoy it.

You must be a subscriber of NY Times Crosswords to do the puzzle online, on the timed applet or in Across Lite.

Have a great Thanksgiving weekend!

LA Times Puzzle by Robert Mackey!

Do it online at the LA Times website or download it if you're a member of cruciverb.com.

Pleasantville Tournament

Dan Katz Wins Tenth Pleasantville Tournament

Dan Katz proved to be the best puzzler at Friday night's Tenth Annual Pleasantville Crossword Tournament, hosted by Will Shortz and benefitting the Pleasantville Fund For Learning. All three finalists (chosen from the best times on each of three upcoming New York Times puzzles) completed the puzzle for Thursday, November 2 - and I know you will all be talking about this puzzle on Friday, November 3 - in under seven minutes, and Katz had the fastest time.

The Puzzle Brothers also made a statement as team solvers, winning one of three pairs of trophies in the Team competition. (Dave and Bob actually had the best team time on all three puzzles, finishing the Tuesday, October 31 puzzle by Patrick Blindauer ahead of all other competitors.) The two other pairs of trophies were awarded to the runner up solvers on two of the other puzzles. All winning contestants also won their choice of puzzle books from St. Martin's Press, publishers of the New York Times crossword puzzle books.

Among the crossword luminaries acting as judges were former Stamford champions Nancy Schuster and Ellen Ripstein, and ace constructors Jim Page, Paula Gamache, Fred Piscop, Pat Merrell, Frank Longo, and Patrick Blindauer.

Dan Katz photo by Dave Mackey; Puzzle Brothers photo by Tracy Meyer

A Pleasantville Way To Spend An Evening

Pleasantville, New York is best known for being the headquarters of two things: Reader's Digest and Will Shortz.

This Friday, Mr. Shortz runs a puzzle tournament in his own backyard as the 10th Annual Westchester Crossword Puzzle Tournament is held at the St. John's Episcopal Church, 8 Sunnyside Avenue. The tournament puzzles will be advance copies of the New York Times puzzles for Monday, October 30 through Thursday, November 2. (This will effectively recuse The Puzzle Brothers from the timed applet for four days.)

The tournament, said to be friendly and informal, will benefit the Pleasantville Fund for Learning. It costs $30 to enter as a single competitor, or $45 to enter in the team competition. Your Puzzle Brothers will be in the team competition.

The festivities begin at 7:30 p.m. and for more information, call the Village Bookstore at (914) 769-8322$

Welcome Back, Cruciverb

After what seemed like an eternity, Kevin McCann's indispensable cruciverb.com website is back online. He had been having some major connectivity problems that have just now been rectified.

I would encourage you to give Mr. McCann a little something for your troubles, if you're not already a member. Being a member gives you access to the incredible database of puzzles as well as access to Los Angeles Times puzzles as .puz files, among other niceties.

Robair's Weekend Thank-You's

Now that the dust has settled on the second Community Blood Services Crossword Tournament, it's time for me to publicly thank some people who make events like this the high points of my life.

BONNIE SIROWER: Our gracious, word loving presenter, whose tireless work organizing events like this for CBS is appreciated by not only the folks who help her but most importantly the folks who need the help with anything blood related.

WILL SHORTZ: His presence at these events ultimately give them weight and importance, and we couldn't have a more enthusiastic cheerleader for the formal and informal events he presides over.

NANCY SCHUSTER: One of the many examples of living crossword history we have, full of great stories of her battles with Farrar, her days at Dell, and the bad old days of the ACTP...and as we saw with the six puzzles this weekend, still one hell of a super editor.

HELENE HOVANEC: Though not as hands-on as she is at Stamford, we are comforted by her presence at Ridgewood as well.

ADAM COHEN, PAULA GAMACHE, LIZ GORSKI, PATRICK MERRELL and MICHAEL SHTEYMAN: For crafting a stellar set of first-round puzzles, each with their own winning personality and style.

STAN NEWMAN: For what turned out to be a particularly brain-busting finals -- so much so, in fact, that if you superimposed the three finals boards over each other there would still be letters missing.

HOWARD BARKIN: He was my odds-on favorite to take this thing, as his ascent in competitive solving has been particularly rapid...close to me minute by minute and just squeezed me out of the first-place spot in the finals by one minute. A job well done, Howard, and you will be one to watch in the future.

ELAINE LIPPMAN: Another fantastic solver and returnee to the finals, always brings it every finals. Congratulations on your second-place finish.

ERROL FLYNN: I needed you to unlock that top corner, still barren with two minutes left. Tally Ho, Robin.

THE FIELD: Too many to name by name, but a special huzzah to Barry Weprin for taking the B title.

BOOKENDS: I was not sure that this bookstore would be an apt place to hold this, but apparently it is a heavy hitter in the world of celebrity bookings and maybe one of the last great indie book sellers in the East. Thanks for giving us a nice place to solve.

And all the sponsors who supplied us with food, drink, wine, cheese, wraps.

Two special thank-yous end this thing. A big shout out to my fellow Puzzle Brother Dave, for notching his best-ever finish in a tournament, the first where he did not make an error on a puzzle.

And finally, big thanks to BLOODY, as we have called him, the omnipresent smiley-faced blood drop who pretty much symbolized the weekend and gave us plenty of opportunities for prop comedy. More importantly, he represented the real aim of this weekend: helping people who have had medical problems with their blood, which can often debilitate the entire body. We hope that Bonnie Sirower and her troops can stage this event again next late summer/early fall, because it's a good time for a good cause.

Ridgewood Wrap-Up

OH NO HE DIDN'T!

Bob Mackey Repeats As CBS Tournament Champ

The partially-filled in grid was all that the Puzzle Brothers' own Bob Mackey needed to successfully defend the championship of the annual tournament benefitting the Community Blood Services Foundation in Bergen County, New Jersey.

After the first brace of puzzles, Howard Barkin was in first place, Bob just behind by a minute of solving time, and Elaine Lippman (last year's runner-up) was third. All three puzzlers struggled with the Stanley Newman-constructed puzzle. No one finished, so it came down to correct words, and Bob was declared the winner.

The other Puzzle Brother, Dave Mackey, finished tenth in his best tournament showing to date.

Barry Weprin Triumphant In CBSF B Finals

In the B division final, it was Barry Weprin's day as he cruised to a 10:05 completion time using an easier set of clues on the same grid. Rick Thompson, who had placed first going into the B finals, finished in 13:05, and Pat Whitehead, seeded second, came through with a 13:20 finishing time. Weprin is seen here accepting his trophy from New York Times crossword editor Will Shortz.

The official results will be posted Tuesday on the Community Blood Services Foundation website and will be linked to at that time. More photos will be forthcoming within the next few days.

Greetings from Ridgewood...

The second annual Community Blood Services Foundation crossword tournament is underway at the Bookends book shop in Ridgewood, about a couple of miles from last year's location, Care One at the Cupola.

We've had three pretty good puzzles so far from Adam Cohen, Patrick Merrell and Michael Shteyman. Two puzzles yet to go from Elizabeth C. Gorski and Paula Gamache, and the final puzzle will be by Stanley Newman.

We will have a much fuller report as well as unofficial results later on plus pictures sometime tonight.

Your Puzzle Brothers are doing quite well so far in the tournament.

Still Time To Join The Fun In Jersey!

Just a reminder this Friday and Saturday is the 2nd Annual Puzzle Tournament benefitting Community Blood Services Foundation. Still time to register online, but be aware that online credit card transactions aren't working so be sure to bring your cash or credit card and you can pay there.

The tournament will be held this year at Bookends, on 232 E. Ridgewood Avenue in Ridgewood, NJ. The Friday night Sudoku festivities get underway at 7:00 p.m., and registration for the Crossword tournament begins at 8:30 a.m. the next morning.

Your donation will help Community Blood Services save lives by enabling collection of blood products, processing of bone marrow donors, and collection of umbilical cord blood that can help save the lives of people with leukemia and lymphoma.

Look for both Puzzle Brothers to be on hand, and hopefully we will have our trademarked "almost live" reportage in words and pictures you all so enjoyed at Stamford.

Saturday Morning Confusion served up by Robert

Here, then, is the September 16 offering from the Los Angeles Times, authored by Robert.

LA Times Puzzle for today

Of course, if you click on the link after September 16, it won't be there. However, members of the Cruciverb website are entitled to a copy of the .PUZ file. Either way, enjoy it.

I test solved this puppy when Robert submitted it, and even with Rich Norris' enhanced clueset it still took me a tick over eight minutes.

Double Dave

Now out on the newsstands are the November 2006 issues of Games and Games World of Puzzles. Dave Mackey contributes a puzzle in each magazine: Games features "Child of Mine" and GWOP contains "The AP Wire".

In addition, GWOP features its annual Puzzle Book Roundup, as it compiles a sampler of puzzles from the season's new puzzle books. Featured are puzzles from Trip Payne's new effort for Sterling, "Pop Culture Crosswords", which I picked up a week ago and have found hugely entertaining, as well as entries from Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon (a cryptic) and Frank Longo (a themeless).

"Wordplay" DVD Release Set For November 7

Genius Products, Inc. has announced the DVD release of "Wordplay". It will be in stores on Tuesday, November 7. The DVD, retailing for $24.95, will feature a commentary track with Will Shortz, interview footage, and "The Five Greatest Puzzles Ever Made" featurette.

How much wrong stuff can fit in one movie review?

Thirty some odd years ago, when Joe Adamson wrote one of the seminal texts of animation history, "Tex Avery: King of Cartoons", Mr. Adamson coined a phrase that just about summed up the sloppiness of documenting animation history up to that point: he said the writer might as well have been writing about the Myrna Loy Westerns of Alfred Hitchcock.

Reading this very funny compilation of "Wordplay" review errors gave me that same Myrna Loy Western vibe.

Thanks to Trip Payne for compiling it.... and gee, you didn't even include our favorite from the Star-Ledger review about Shortz hosting the Stamford tournament every weekend.

Sajak's Puzzle Empire Grows Thanks To Atari

Pat Sajak Games, the "Wheel of Fortune" host's thriving puzzle and game enterprise, will seek out new territory this holiday season. The company has partnered with Atari to begin publishing PC and console versions of its winning online word and puzzle games.

First up this fall will be "Pat Sajak's Lucky Letters", the exceptional crossword/game-show crossover which will feature Sajak's voice offering encouragement to players. There will be three play variants and game enhancements not available online. Sajak said in a press statement that he is proud to be affiliated with Atari due to their high level of quality over the years.

Sajak's company now produces many online games (such as "Blackjack Bowling"), as well as three distinct Penny Press titles: "Get-A-Letter Crosswords", "Get-A-Letter Variety Puzzles", and the new "Get-A-Clue Sudoku".

Gridbusters: Humans vs. Computers!

The Slate has reprinted one of the best parts of Matt Gaffney's new book, "Gridlock". He basically teams up with Byron Walden to see if their team or the team of Peter Gordon and Frank Longo can do a better and more imaginative fill of a grid. Judges include some fair-to-middling X-worders like Tyler Hinman, Trip Payne, yada yada. Interesting stuff and required reading for those who construct, or someday want to.

Sign O' The Times

Dave Mackey is now in the bigs with his first published New York Times puzzle, which is now online and will appear in the Wednesday, July 26 print edition of the newspaper. Congratulations!

Jersey Tournament Adds Sudoku, Is Earlier This Year

The annual crossword tournament mounted by Community Blood Services Foundation in northern New Jersey is being pushed ahead on the schedule a few weeks from when it was held last year. The now two-day affair is set for Friday, September 29, and Saturday, September 30, at Bookends in Ridgewood.

The festivities kick off Friday night with a Sudoku competition with a $100 first prize and trophies for the top three finishers in Junior (12-17) and Senior (18+) divisions. The puzzles will be prepared by Will Shortz, who has a number of Sudoku books on the market.

Saturday's crossword competition features puzzles edited by Nancy Schuster and designed by some of the top constructors featured in The New York Times, Penny Press/Dell and Newsday. Competitors will include last year's champion, Robert Mackey. (The other Puzzle Brother, a sidelines observer last year, will be joining the fray this year too.)

There is competition in A and B divisions, with A division comprised of anyone who has placed in the 30th percentile or higher in any puzzle tournament, and B for everyone else. Winners will share $500 in prize money, and will each receive a trophy. Trophies and books will also be awarded to the top contestants in the Rookie division, top contestants from several geographic regions, age groups (including juniors under 21, 50’s, 60’s, and Senior Citizens 70+), plus "the coveted Handwriting Award." Starbuck's (remember them?) is providing continental breakfast. Lunch is "on your own" this year, a change from last year's buffet. A wine and cheese reception will follow the competition.

If you want to come to Ridgewood for a day of crossword fun, visit http://www.communitybloodservices.com/php/puzzle_PHP.php and fill out the form. Of course we hope to see you there - who are the Puzzle Brothers to miss a good time when crosswords are involved?

"Something Smells" In My Mailbox

September 2006 Games Magazine arrived at my home today, and among the puzzles in there is a 2-star 15x called "Something Smells" by one of the Puzzle Brothers. The other Puzzle Brother will be in the September World of Puzzles with a puzzle called "Happy N-Dings".

Other puzzle highlights include a cryptic from Bob Stigger, Pencil Pointers by Frank Longo, crosswords from Annemarie Brethauer and Alan Olschwang, a 23x by Randall Hartman, and an Ornery from Mike Selinker.