Crossword Tournament 2023

This year represents my 8th appearance at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, again held in Stamford, CT. The trip has become rather routine, with lodging arrangements, eating plans, travel transfers, etc. all feeling comfortable and smooth. As you may have guessed, I find comfort in familiarity so this routineness is welcome. And, as part of the routine, I offer this recap blog post.

First, about the tournament: it was the largest to date with over 1000 crossword people packing the poor Stamford Marriott. It was easy to feel the largeness of it all in crowded tables and lobbies, but it wasn't necessarily a bad thing. It meant more enthusiasm, more people to meet, and more people to compete with! Of the 771 official competitors, over 200 were there for the first time! As you might expect, there was a rather well delivered April Fool's Day prank at the beginning of Day 1 which set the mood for a fun tournament. But overall, it was...well...routine. I got what I was expecting and that was a good thing.

Secondly, I must log my performance. I did, well, well!! In the end, I placed 233rd out of 771 putting me in the 69th percentile which is my best showing to date. I had 6 clean puzzles (no errors) and was pleased with my solving time in each. As per usual, Puzzle 5 gave me some difficulty. But that's okay as it affords me something to improve on for next year (though, in all honesty, after time ran out on Puzzle 5 and I still had so much empty grid and no understanding of the theme, I wasn't as upbeat. But time offered a little perspective...)

Another occurrence of note was a somewhat amusing overlap of my worlds. At the hotel's continental breakfast Sunday morning, they had the local news on (we're talking really local—out of Norwalk, CT) and I saw they had a piece about the tournament. As is my wont, I kept my eyes peeled for myself in the background of the footage. Sure enough, there I was! I've yet to decide whether that will go on my TV/Film Resume, but I imagine it will...you know, for posterity.

And that is that. I'm glad I went to the tournament and I had a good time. It's kind of hard not to have a good time while doing well-constructed puzzles among fellow enthusiasts. I'm hoping to put together a more analytical and statistical write-up of the event, but we'll see. I'm often hoping to do a lot of things...
Sunday April 2 2023File under: crossword

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ACPT 2022

After a two year hiatus, I was pleased to return to the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament this past weekend in Stamford Connecticut. I was surprised to learn that this year is my 7th ACPT. Time flies.

First, a review of my performance: although I scored a higher place than ever before (I am the 166th best crossworder in the world!), I wasn't overly pleased with my puzzling. I had a silly error in Puzzle 2 and Puzzle 5 got me, as per usual (though I guess maybe I did better than lots of folks?).

Note: An uncaught error in Puzzle 7 on what I consider a Natick of SIMONY (Buying of church indulgences) and LINA (Actress Esco) would have dropped me to 192nd place. I've had similar scoring errors on Puzzle 7 in the past which makes me think grading of Puzzle 7 is quite a bit more lax for those people who are far out of contention for any prize. So because I imagine similar errors were overlooked equally across the board, I'm logging 166th place as the official outcome.

Now, a review of the event: while it felt good to be back among people and to see the few friends I've made over the years there, something about this year's event felt flat. The program for Saturday night was less than entertaining (notably lacking Matt Ginsberg's always enjoyable presentation on Dr. Fill's take on the puzzles). There were many notable absences of editors and "celebrities", one of the main reasons I attend. I wasn't able to gladhand any new editors in my pursuit of extending my crossword resume. A bright spot was the preview of a student musical about crosswords, though the poor teching left half of it unintelligible.

Am I glad I went? Yeah, I suppose so. Doing something almost always equates to a win for me these days. Plus I got some good NYC time in with buddies and to see a thing or two. I always want the weekend to be better for me—meeting more people, exposure to more crossword stuff, perhaps winning trophy(!?). But in the end, I'm doing quality puzzles in a room of interesting people and getting a decent story out of it, so all in all, I shouldn't complain.
Thursday April 7 2022File under: crossword

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New York Times Crossword III and the Connections It Brings

For the third time (so far), I got a crossword published in the New York Times, specifically this Monday past (May 7th, 2021). And one of the many neat things about getting a crossword published, esp. in the New York Times, is the connections it can bring.

On Sunday afternoon, I started getting texts from friends who stumbled across the puzzle online (often with screenshots attached). Throughout Monday, the texts, e-mails, and facebook messages continued: from Vermont, Minnesota, Utah, Oregon, Arizona, New York, and more. It was great to hear from people and that they enjoyed my puzzle*.

The best message I got, however, was from a stranger on Facebook. Occasionally this happens. I've gotten notes from strangers about other puzzles and when I was on both Wheel and Millionaire. I guess it is one of the by-products of having a unique name, being easily googleable. To some it might seem creepy, being tracked down by randos, but I kind of like it (within reason, of course). Well, this particular message started off saying he had done my puzzle and he misspelled a word which ruined his streak and he tracked me down to give me the what for. Oh boy. I steadied myself for what was next. Then the message went on to say that in searching me out, he came across what I have written about Della, the obituary, and the pictures. Then he immediately went and held his wife's hand and told her he loved her. Tears came to my eyes reading this note. Even now, recounting the story, I get a little misty. To know that my sharing, beyond bringing me solace, has helped others appreciate what they have is really really meaningful.

Sometimes it feels like everything in my life now is meaningless without Della: no one to share accomplishments with, no one to be my cheerleader when adversity arises. This note from a stranger feels like it brought Della into this celebration-worthy accomplishment and for that I'm grateful. Thank you Texas stranger.
Thursday May 20 2021File under: crossword

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Sunday Universal Crossword By Me!

This past Sunday, you might have seen a crossword puzzle created by yours truly run in your local paper. Well, let's be honest, you probably didn't because 1) who gets papers anymore? 2) the Universal Sunday puzzle doesn't run in that many papers anyway, with the NYT and LAT being far more common and 3) even if you get the paper and your paper runs the Universal, you probably didn't look at the creator anyway. That's why I'm posting about it here...though the readership of BdW is probably about as high as the number of people that noticed that I wrote the puzzle, i.e. fewer than the number of skittles in a fun size pack. But I digress....

Having a crossword come out is always an exciting event for me. Even though this puzzle is my 35th published puzzle(!), I still get a twinge of excitement knowing that someone out there is cursing my name—I mean, enjoying my work. The Universal, besides having an editor that I really like working with, has some prestige and even ranks high enough to get reviewed. And, refreshingly, this one got a not bad review: "Pleasant theme and grid. Four stars."

Besides skimming the reviews, one of my publication-day routines is to try and find a copy of said puzzle. The published version always differs enough from my submitted version (mostly in the cluing) that I feel like I need to grab a copy for posterity (and to add to my resume). This hunt sometimes takes me to interesting places. This time around, before I drove up to Alger to grab a paper copy and after a thorough tour of medium-size town's newspaper websites*, I found myself buying a digital copy of the Scranton Times-Tribune for the above image. There went all my profit...

Crossword construction has been a great diversion for me as all of our juggling gigs have evaporated this Spring and Summer. I've made some puzzles that I think are pretty dang neat. And a few of them have been accepted for publication to boot! Stay tuned for more crossword action here on BdW.
Wednesday July 15 2020File under: crossword

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Cover Story of the Skagit Valley Herald

I've posted a number of times here on BdW about small town newspapers and the occasions I have appeared. I even have a series of posts called "Minor Media Mentions" where I capture for posterity the occasional photos or blurbs that make it to various print media outlets. This latest, however, doesn't feel like it quite fits the category "Minor". Recently, a profile story about me and my crossword endeavors was featured on the front page of the Skagit Valley Herald.

The SVH runs the Universal crossword, which, up until this past year, was a somewhat of a throw away puzzle constructed and edited by a persona non grata. Then editorship was taken over by David Steinberg, a great editor I've worked at the Orange Country Register and the Puzzle Society. This allowed for some of my puzzles to appear in the paper, which I thought was neat, something a small town paper might be inclined to point out—"Today's crossword is by area man" or whatever. So I pitched the idea when I had a puzzle coming out. To make a long story short, this article is what came of the pitch, notably not in conjunction with one of my puzzles. In fact, it doesn't even mention having a puzzle in the SVH, which was the pitch in the first place.

I can't deny that it is nice to have a feature story about me on the front page of my town's newspaper (albeit with a less than flattering photo). It feels like a neat nod to this thing I do. It would have been great if things could have come together to have the feature run with a puzzle, but I guess you can't have it all. If you want to try some of my puzzles, I've started a bit of a resume, as it were. Here's to hoping it keeps growing.
Monday September 23 2019File under: media, crossword

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My Second NYT Crossword

Last month, I had my second New York Times crossword puzzle published! It was a Tuesday with what I thought was a quite clever theme. I promptly and proudly added it to my crossword wall of fame. And while the wall continues to get filled, getting an NYT is always a thrill!

The thrill of this NYT, however, was a bit tempered. On its publication day, I immediately checked out the reviews (#2). They were not good. I comforted myself with the fact that the puzzle wasn't geared for hardcore cruciverbalists, but instead, as Tuesdays should be, it was more for the beginner. The occasional review comment did step to my defense, but overall, the wind was a bit out of my sail. On the upside, some of the criticism was fair and I trust that it will help me make better puzzles in the future.

If you want a chance to make up your own decision, the puzzles runs in syndication today, so it can be found in papers across the country (and world!). Or, if you're happening upon this post days* later, here's a PDF copy*.

As kind of a neat coincidence, it just so happened that I had a puzzle in the USA Today that very same day! It makes my 6th or so USA Today puzzle, so the thrill is a little less, but neat all the same. Three cheers for being a published crossword constructor!

Tuesday May 22 2018File under: crossword

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Five years of the ACPT

This year marks the 5th year I've attended the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. I've never been under the delusion that I had any chance of actually competing at the competition, but instead go to schmooze, network, and be surrounded by people for whom an enjoyable day is spent inside a ballroom doing crosswords silently: in other words, my people.

I figured five years is enough to start tracking my progress (after all, what fun is collecting data if not to be able to analyze it), but first, a report on this year. I finished 366th out of 675, putting me in the 47th percentile. I aced 4 out of 7 puzzles, with just one dumdum mistake on puzzle 7. Without that silly mistake, I would have jumped up to the top half, my very attainable goal. Puzzle 5 destroyed me this year, part of which I attribute to the fact it was written not with solvers in mind, but to outsmart Dr.Fill, the crossword solving computer program. I'm sore about it, but the puzzle was actually really good. I got to chat up some old friends and say hi to some of my editors and get some suggestions on where to submit new puzzles to. Overall, it was a good time, if not remarkably so.

When asked about how it went, I find myself responding, "Oh, about like always." And the data seems to support that theory. Here is a chart of my performance for the past 5 years. After a year or two getting comfortable with the format and pressure*, and with the fluke of acing Puzzle 5 in 2016, I can usually count on ending up just barely below the middle. Granted it's not a brag-worthy place to be, but being that these are the best solvers in the world, and I'm just merely a guy with a hobby, I don't feel so bad.

And while I don't feel so bad about my ranking, it sure would be neat to do a little better. And that's what will drive me back again: I would like to get 6/7 perfect puzzles and finish in the top 40%, both of which seem doable. Who knows, maybe I'll even get a mini-trophy for doing well in my category (affectionately called the "At-least-they-tried"s)

With crosswords becoming a bigger and bigger part of my life (and livelihood), attending the tournament was kind of a no brainer. It is a little oasis of nerdiness in this otherwise cool world, and I for one love it.
Friday March 30 2018File under: crossword

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My First USA Today Crossword



In today's USA Today newspaper, if you look on page 4D, you might find a familiar name...ME!! It's my first USA Today crossword and I'm very excited to have it published. The USA Today having one of the highest daily circulations in the country, it means that there are people in hotels, airports, and Starbucks all over the country that might be cursing my name and that makes me smile. Just kidding. I like to think either that they stop and appreciate the puzzle and maybe even glance at my name, or in the very least, think it no better or worse than the other puzzles they've done and that it sufficiently filled their time.

[Spoiler Alert] About this puzzle in particular, my theme idea started out somewhat different than what made it to the page. I proposed "DROP THE BALL", as in screwing something up but the editor liked "DROPPED BALL" better. While I think it is a less common phrase which makes the theme slightly less strong, I'm definitely not the one with years experience putting puzzles out to the world on such a huge scale, so I was definitely inclined to defer. In addition to the theme change, there were the wealth of cluing changes (that even make it hard for me to complete my own puzzle!) As I work more with an editor, I get more in tune with their style. Luckily, I think this USA Today relationship will be one where I get that chance! I've gone another puzzle in the pipes and submitting another one today!

As with all my puzzles so far, I've framed this for inclusion on my Wall of Puzzles* which keeps on growing! Does that mean someday I'll have to stop framing every puzzle? Or I could just buy a bigger house. We'll have to see when it gets to that point. Stay tuned!

While I always encourage you to go out and support the media that supports crossword creators, I know that isn't always possible. So here's a PDF copy of the puzzle (also available at puzzles.usatoday.com/crossword
Thursday September 21 2017File under: crosswords

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ACPT 2017-Tournament and Talent Show

In what has become a lovely yearly habit for me, I recently attended the 2017 American Crossword Puzzle Tournament out in Stamford, CT. With it being my 4th year, I now know my way around the tournament and hotel, have met some great people that I always look forward to seeing year after year, and have some helpful data to see the progress my solving skills are making. But overall, I just have a lot of fun.

First, the progress: This year, I finished 336th out of 619, putting me in the 54th percentile, my second best showing. Besides one stupid error (which cost me about 20 places in the rankings), I don't feel bad. The puzzles were decidedly harder this year. As usual, puzzle 5 destroyed me with a super complicated double theme. Puzzle 3, supposedly an easier one, left me somewhat flummoxed with names of elements I've never heard of. Puzzles 1, 4, and 6 I aced and had just 1 square wrong on each of 2 and 7. So, overall, I'm not displeased—room to improve but still a strong enough showing.

But the real fun of the tournament, for me at least, was the talent show. Since my first trip to the ACPT, I've been brewing this act combining my love of juggling and love of crosswords. This year, after poking at it here and there over the years, it all came together and I had a chance to present it. It was a hit, with people really appreciating the nerdiness as much as the talent. I'm excited to work out the kinks and get a few more run throughs to really solidify it. Then the hope is to add it to our upcoming summer shows. I'm sure the reception won't be nearly as great as it was with a room full of hardcore crossworders, but hopefully it will stand on its own. See for yourself!


Thanks to all who made the ACPT such a fun and successful event! Hope to see you all again next year!
Thursday March 30 2017File under: crosswords, video, juggling

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My Crossword in the Orange County Register

Recently, I had one of my crosswords published in the Orange County Register family of papers down in Southern California, my 9th-ish puzzle publication to date. While the paper doesn't have the circulation of the NYT or WSJ therefore not quite the prestige (or payday) of having a puzzle published, I still feel proud and honored to have a puzzle featured.

We have all heard how tough the newspaper publishing industry is these days. Perhaps because of that, most papers run only syndicated puzzles from one of a very few syndicates, meaning the market for crossword constructors is rather small. The Orange County Register bucks this trend and publishes its own puzzle weekly. It is a great counterpoint to the highly competitive other venues from a constructor's point of view. Additionally, working with the editor, David Steinberg, was really great. All around, just a great thing they've got going there.

One of my favorite parts of getting a puzzle published is framing it up for my ever-growing crossword wall. Since puzzle creation isn't much of a money maker (making up only 3.3% of my yearly income last year (details here)), it is having these reminders of my accomplishment that helps keep me cranking at the rather tedious process of making puzzles. And while the wall is filling up, I've still got enough space to keep striving to get more puzzles published. I've got my hopes high for the upcoming year. As always, stay tuned here for any developments.

Oh, and if you want to do my latest puzzle and don't live in the OCR distribution area, download a copy here to print at home. It also features a neat bio and picture, a real neat personal touch!.
Saturday February 11 2017File under: crosswords

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