Brooklyn, N.Y. – My annual trek to the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament began before daylight Thursday, March 17. It was St. Patrick’s Day, and I forgot to wear green Fortunately, I had my green pen in my pocket.
After nibbling some breakfast, I was off to the airport for a 7 a.m. flight to Atlanta. The layover being three hours, I found a decent triple-salad plate featuring fruit, mixed greens and three-bean salad. There’s good food to be found in Atlanta’s airport.
The ETA for JFK was 3 p.m. I was seated with a bunch of twelfth graders from Florida. Headed to Italy for spring break, they seemed fascinated that the likes of me would be going to a crossword tournament. The artist among them drew a caricature of me in her sketchbook. I’m hoping for a copy.
The pilot brought us in early. The cab driver was less efficient. Last year, I did the subway and got to the hotel in 30 minutes. The cab ride took an hour.
Why had I thought it would be shorter? The freeway from JFK to Brooklyn was like a parking lot. And the hack had two speeds: petal-to-the-metal and full-brake-slam.
Safely in Brooklyn’s Mar-riott, I greeted other early arrivals among my cruciverbal buds, friends I see but once a year. A select group of us ate pizza and stuffed registration packets for the 630 pre-registered participants, plus another 100 to cover the walk-in traffic.
Friday, I slipped into Manhattan for lunch with some corporate friends, and Friday night brought fun and games, including a competitive solving of cryptics.
“But on,” I hear you saying, “to the exciting competition!” Where, again, I was a volunteer official, with the added pizzazz of having one of my puzzles used in the tournament.
After the first seven puzzles, completed through the day Saturday and on Sunday morning, last year’s winner, Dan Feyer, was in first, with last year’s third-pace finisher Anne Erdmann and five-time winner Tyler Hinman on his tail.
But it was not even as close as that might make it seem.
Dan had relaxed on Puzzle seven, letting a four minute lead slip to two. But in the finals, he blew the competition away. Tyler, whose win at the age of 20 was a high point in the documentary “Wordplay,” and whose four ensuing consecutive wins is a tournament record, came in a distant second and Anne an even more distant third.
Some of the brutal clue-answer combinations from the A-division final puzzle, constructed by Mike Nothnagel: [Charge when a job is done?] GUN IT, [Small purchase] TOE HOLD, [Smooth] IRON OUT, [Jaw holder] VISE and [Act like Bruce Wayne] LEAD A DOUBLE LIFE.
The extra-puzzling entertainment included a play Saturday night, “Life Is Shortz,” by Lee Marcus, performed by actors Tiese Houston and Zach Woolridge, all of Hornell, NY.
Cleverly written, the play suggested that waiting a day to solve a tough crossword makes it easier. The clues and answers are absorbed into the collective unconscious and, thus, become more accessible.
Hmmm …
Vic Fleming is a district court judge in Little Rock, Ark., where he also teaches at the William H. Bowen School of Law. Contact him at vicfleming@att.net.