CROSSWORD SOLVER PUZZLE:
[ THEMELESS MONDAY]
PROGRAM: [Crossword Solver]
PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ THEMELESS MONDAY]
PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]
Hey, I've misunderestimated him in the past. I wrote off the legend of this speed-solving demon as just exaggeration four years ago. All he did was hold onto first place in puzzles 1-6 only to end up in a four-way tie for first on the outside looking in after #7 because of being overly cautious. Lets face it, Dan would have won it all outright that year. I was a fool then, as I am a fool now. When I saw those two mistakes on puzzle 3, I wrote Dan off, again. Out of the picture entirely. In fact, he was just beginning. The ease in which Dan overcame a six minute deficit in only three puzzles boggles the mind. I'd say it was his most impressive win thus far.
Gotta give a little love for second and third place finishers now: Tyler Hinman, was the only finalist with a clean slate. All eight puzzles, solved crazy fast, totally accurate. Applause, my man, applause. Also, an extra curtain call for Anne Erdmann, please. On Sunday morning, she had requested to have an incorrect letter that had been appealed to be judged correct return to its incorrect status. It dropped her to fourth and forced her to beat David Plotkin outright in Puzzle 7 for the last finalist slot. She's a Class Act.
How were the puzzles? Overall quite good. They're available for order, if you should care to take your hand at them, and you should probably stop reading now. And now, a few quick words about them: Patrick Merrell had probably the most impressive puzzle, "Boustrophedon." Now that's a $10 word, so he gave you the definition as well: "having alternate lines running from left to right and right to left." And the answers did just that, with almost half the grid running backwards. Patrick Blindauer had the #5 bitch mother, which, to me, didn't seem as crazy hard as #5s have been in the past. Oh, it was plenty hard, though, with hidden ANTs going diagonally throughout the puzzle linking split up theme answers. There was an in character 21x by Mike Shenk, mostly funny theme answers adding AT to the ends of phrases to make such winners as MAMMOTH CAVEAT and SANTA FEAT, plus you know, lots of fun fill and misdirection in the cluing. It also had an uncharacterstic duplication of TAP as an answer, which, well, was as shocking as Dan's two mistakes.
As always, the best part of the ACPT is meeting all of you, so a quick thank you to everyone who came over and said how much they liked my puzzles. It means a lot to put names to faces and meet the fans. See you all next year.
Brendan Emmett Quigley creates custom-made puzzles for all occasions: birthdays and bar mitzvahs, anniversaries and retirements. You name it. Need a puzzle for your website or your publication? He can do that, too.
Brendan's custom work clients have included The American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, BeerAdvocate, Boston Magazine, De Beers, The Decemberists, ESPN, The Improper Bostonian, Lollapuzzoola, McSweeney's, Phish, Reflexive, The Smithsonian Magazine, St. Martin's Press, Uncle John's Bathroom Reader, and Andrew Weil.
Call (617) 2-999-BEQ or click 
