Robin and Darren Morrissey, wife and husband, finished one and one at the 2014 Clinton School Puzzle Festival. That would be first place in crosswords and first place in Sudoku. You might say they ruled on Arkansas Puzzle Day, March 16. Robin is a manager at the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. Darren is an engineer. Congratulations to them both!
The 50 or so competitors, about two-thirds of whom were crossworders, filled Sturgis Hall at the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service on a rainy Sunday afternoon. After two hours of filling grids, they adjourned to the Ron Robinson Theater in Little Rock’s River Market District, where another ten or twelve souls joined them for a screening of the 2006 documentary “Wordplay.”
All of the above was, in part at least, in belated celebration of the one hundredth birthday of the crossword puzzle itself. The first modern-day crossword, dubbed at the time a “word-cross,” was published in the New York World on Dec. 21, 1913. Sudoku is said to have been around since 1979, although it’s been a worldwide craze only since 2005. I’ve never solved a Sudoku, largely because I’m afraid I’d become attached. I’ve no room in my life for another hobby or habit.
I enjoy crosswords because, unlike most of the things we do in life, with a crossword there is but one solution. At home and in the work place, we’re presented with multi-faceted problems, which we work through as best we cans. Whatever may be said of the results we achieve, they are not perfect. With a crossword, one can say, “Hey, I aced that.”
On Puzzle Day the crossword contestants all solved three puzzles from different sources. Puzzle 1, by John Lieb, was the next day’s New York Times puzzle. Puzzle 2 was the upcoming week’s American Values Club puzzle, constructed by Caleb Madison. Puzzle 3 was one that I had made especially for the event. After three rounds, five players with perfect scores on all three competed head-to-head in Puzzle 4, the upcoming Tuesday New York Times puzzle, by David Kwong, who was in Toronto, prepping to give a TED Talk on puzzles.
Kwong was the featured guest at the most recent Arkansas Puzzle Day event, in the fall of 2012. A Harvard graduate who makes his living as a magician, movie consultant, and puzzle constructor, Kwong was a huge hit with a packed crowd at Sturgis Hall.
Thanks to Will Shortz and Ben Tausig, puzzle editors of the NYT and AVC, for contributing to the event. Also, to the Clinton School’s dean, Skip Rutherford, and program director, Nikolai DiPippa, for hosting the event. And to the Daily Record, which donated a birthday cake and one-year subscriptions to the winners.
Noteworthy clues from Arkansas Puzzle Day:
[Heart, winky face, and smile, e.g.] EMOJIS
[Spherical light-reflector] DISCO BALL
[One instrumental in history?] AMATI
[Mayberry resident who became a Marine] GOMER PYLE
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.