THE PUZZLE BROTHERS

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.

Labels: Patrick Merrell

Puzzles 4, 5 and 6

Here's how the fourth, fifth and sixth puzzles shook out. The fourth puzzle was a 15x by Andrea Carla Michaels and Myles Callum. The #5 puzzle - referred to by various unfamily-friendly monickers - was by Patrick Merrell. For the first time in five years I finished Puzzle #5. And Puzzle #6, as always, was the dessert after a hearty meal - that's the Maura Jacobson puzzle.

I think I'm headed toward a personal best for this tournament. We don't have any posted results yet, but the general feeling in the room is that there may be a new champion this year. Tyler Hinman told me he needed to gain a minute on the Maura puzzle, and just missed it by seconds.

For now, we've got a nice chunk of time where we'll just be chilling. Game Show night begins at 8:00. Look for me or Bob downstairs if you want to be on the Puzzle Brothers' team for Family Feud. Remember: the team must have one under 30, one over 50, and no more than three A or B solvers. The Puzzle Brothers are not quite yet 50 and are A & B, so choose wisely.

Labels: ACPT 2009, Andrea Carla Michaels, Maura Jacobson, Myles Callum, Patrick Merrell, Tyler Hinman

Puzzle Authors in the Tournament

Patrick Berry, Maura Jacobson, Patrick Merrell, Andrea Carla Michaels and Myles Callum, Brendan Emmett Quigley, Merl Reagle, Mike Shenk, Byron Walden

Labels: ACPT 2009, Andrea Carla Michaels, Brendan Emmett Quigley, Byron Walden, Maura Jacobson, Merl Reagle, Mike Shenk, Myles Callum, Patrick Berry, Patrick Merrell

12th Westchester Crossword Tournament

BOB MACKEY MAKES HIS A DOUBLE

Bob Mackey makes room for another trophy on his increasingly crowded mantel as he has taken his second straight Westchester Crossword Tournament. Jeffrey Schwartz placed second, and Elaine Lippman was third.

Elaine finished the stage puzzle - next Thursday's New York Times puzzle, constructed by Doug Peterson - first, but left one letter blank, giving Bob, who finished perfectly in second place, the win. Jeffrey Schwartz finished not soon after Bob.

Taking a cue from past ACPT winners, Bob didn't react to Elaine's call of "Done" - he just kept plugging away at his puzzle. Even after he walked over and saw the one blank square on Elaine's grid, he still didn't realize he was the winner until Elaine was announced in third place.

The tournament program was the same as in previous years - the first three puzzles were the Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday puzzles from the ensuing week's New York Times. (Brace yourselves for an unusually shaped grid for Monday's puzzle by Patrick Blindauer - that's all I'm going to say.) The first place finisher from each puzzle goes on stage to complete Thursday's puzzle. Elaine was first on the Monday and Tuesday puzzles; Bob got to the podium by finishing second on Tuesday by the slimmest of margins. Jeffrey was in third place on Puzzle 3, getting in by benefit of first-in finisher Ken Stern having one wrong square, and second place on that puzzle was Bob. (Thanks to Ellen Ripstein for the correction.)

Stan Kurzban acted as head judge, and other judges included Pat Merrell, Ellen Ripstein, Nancy Schuster, Frank Longo, Patrick Blindauer, Tony Orbach, Deb Amlen, Ashish Vengsarkar, Mike Nothnagel, Caleb Madison (who became the youngest NYT constructor ever this past year), and - much to the relief of the elite solvers - Howard Barkin.

As always, the tournament was held for the benefit of the Pleasantville Fund For Learning, with our hosts supplying coffee and pastries for our enjoyment. All in all, a great night - and we're already looking forward to next year.

Labels: Ashish Vengsarkar, Bob Mackey, Elaine Lippman, Ellen Ripstein, Howard Barkin, Jeffrey Schwartz, Patrick Merrell, Westchester Tournament, Will Shortz

It's MEGA-Tastic!

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

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

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

Labels: Amy Reynaldo, Joe DiPietro, John Samson, Kyle Mahowald, New York Times, Patrick Merrell, Simon-Schuster, Will Shortz

Contributors

Monday, September 28, 2009

A MAD Look at Crossword Tournaments

Saturday, February 28, 2009

Puzzles 4, 5 and 6

Friday, February 27, 2009

Puzzle Authors in the Tournament

Saturday, October 04, 2008

12th Westchester Crossword Tournament

BOB MACKEY MAKES HIS A DOUBLE

Friday, January 04, 2008

It's MEGA-Tastic!