ACROSS LITE PUZZLE: [ THEMELESS MONDAY]
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]
PROGRAM: [Java]
PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ THEMELESS MONDAY]
PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]
Once again, the ACPT is at the end of the week. And what a better way to get you psyched up for the premier crossword event of the year than an interview with the reigning five-time champion Tyler Hinman? I had a few minutes to chat with the 25 year-old from San Francisco last week, and here’s what went down.
BEQ: How are you feeling going into the ACPT?
Tyler: I’m trying to stay cool, not really think about it much. It’s supposed to be fun, and while I think the adrenaline of competition helps me do my best solving, I don’t like how nervous I get. I really haven’t done any training; I’ll probably break out the stopwatch and the Maura Jacobson collection on the flight over there or something. I know I have the skills. In any event, I’ve had a hell of a run at the top, so I’m trying to remember that it’s gravy from here.
BEQ: So do you make a deliberate point to train on certain constructors?
Tyler: I think Maura is good training for a few reasons. First of all, you can be extremely confident that you’re solving someone who’s going to have a puzzle in the tournament. Secondly, they’re big, so you can practice keeping up top speed for that long. Also, they’re pretty easy, so they’re good for honing the speed-solving techniques you don’t use when you’re solving normally.
BEQ:What are the sizes?
Tyler: Mostly 21x. I think there’s an occasional 19x.
BEQ: So do you train year-round? Or do you ramp it up as it gets closer?
Tyler: No. I’m trying to enjoy puzzles more when I solve on paper. You really have to sit down somewhere and focus when you’re speed-solving, and I’m finding it more and more difficult to set aside time to do that. Sometimes I try to blaze through computer puzzles as fast as possible, but that’s different. I suppose solving harder crosswords counts as training; I’d like to get better at those. I may be 6-0 on stage (counting my Division B victory), but I haven’t been particularly fast.
But yeah, as the tournament nears, I start thinking “I should practice on paper.” Haven’t been good about that this year.
BEQ: You’ve been selling puzzles for about ten years.
Tyler: Yup, we’re close to the ten-year anniversary of my Times debut.
BEQ: Sheesh.
Tyler: I know. Shit.
BEQ: Do you see anything that links construction and speed solving? Clearly, there’s something there. Last year’s top three finalists [Tyler, Trip Payne and Francis Heaney] can make a puzzle like nobody’s business.
Tyler: Eh, maybe a little. But when I sold my first puzzle in 2000, I was not a particularly good solver at all. And look at Al [Sanders] and Ellen [Ripstein]. They’re perennial contenders and I don’t think they’ve ever made one. Same with Doug [Hoylman]. Jon [Delfin] does it very rarely.
BEQ: When I solve puzzles, I sometimes get caught up doing a corner and I think, “this would have made a much better fill.” Has that thought ever crossed your mind?
Tyler: Sure. Sometimes I’ll see a 3×5 corner or some other relatively easily filled space, and it’s filled with boring letters and at least one or two partials and abbreviations. I think, “come on, there are two freaking letters connecting this to the rest of the grid; there’s no better fill here?” I never try to refill it myself, though; not worth the effort. I just discard the thought and move on.
BEQ: And does that happen ever during speed-solving?
Tyler: Hell no. No time. 🙂
BEQ: How often do you take the time to figure out the theme. I’ve heard some top solvers get the theme exclusively from the crossings.
Tyler: Depends on the theme and the difficulty. If it’s a theme that’s not readily evident from the clues and it’s easy puzzle, I might miss it. For the harder stuff it can be critical. I remember [David] Kahn’s note-shifting puzzle from a few years ago, in which I might never have gotten the lower left if I hadn’t sussed the last theme entry.
BEQ: So you were clearly the break-out star of “Word Play.” Any funny stories about that? Did anybody recognize you in weird places? Any stories of random girls giving you their numbers?
Tyler: It was just a hell of a ride, and as a matter of fact, changed the course of my life. Without it, I wouldn’t have had the bond trading job, which means I wouldn’t have been open to taking the job at Google in 2008.
Recognitions were few and far between, although it happened again just last week.
As for the girls … well, I know when you think “crossword expert” you immediately think “sex god,” but it didn’t really pan out like that. I get a lot of “oh, my grandmother does crosswords.” If a girl is linking you to her grandmother, you’re probably not in good shape. Single man over here.
BEQ: Are you a voracious reader?
Tyler: No. I solve much more often. I’m trying to work it in more, though.
BEQ: Everybody must want you on their trivia night teams, though, right?
Tyler: Yeah, usually. It’s a high standard I often fail to meet. At trivia and elsewhere. Please don’t give your crosswordy friend pop quizzes, people. Give us some peace.
BEQ: Any advice for the uninitiated ACPT-goers?
Tyler: Just have fun. It’s important to remember that this is just a crossword tournament. I’ll be disappointed if I don’t win, of course, but I’ll be downright angry if I let that affect my enjoyment of the weekend.
I’m thankful for the great interview today, because this puzzle kicked my ass at first. Took forever to get out of the NW, but the bottom half was more medium/measium. Swung back around to the NE, where 20 and 29A were no help at all. Finally inferred 24A from the pun, and it fell from there.
Good puzzle! UVALDE was guess that I admit having never seen before.
Should 26A be “Leave me alone!” (not “…along!”)?
I think BEQ might have accidentally copied and pasted that clue from Puzzle 179 😛
Wow, a EUSTACIA Vye reference! That’s pretty great, as was cluing it with Egdon Heath.
It would be nice if Al Sanders won. Al Sanders is the Red Sox and Tyler Hinman is the Yankees. I am a Red Sox fan.
A vicious insult! I don’t win because I’m able to buy better puzzle books.
Sorry. I should have said “The 1949-1953 Yankees”. 🙂
Just wanted to correct the Ministry clue. “The Mind is a Terrible Thing to TASTE”, not to “TASE.” Although that might be interesting, too 😉
– Andy
Had a couple of errors after completion, my big problem was EUSTACIA crossing YERS and PNEUMO. This was with having JULIE DELPY as a write-in with no crosses.
Good to know you’re not a zombie.
Brain-crushing hard for me. Too much stuff that I Just Did Not Know, so had to google to get through it. NW was doomed by 1D HOODIE for JERSEY, 1A never heard of the movie or the actor, 15A what, like I know jack about women’s wear, my certainty that “Freelander 2” had to be a sequel to yet another video game I’ve never heard of, and my certainty that McConaughey was from Austin (I guess he just hangs out his bongos here).
In SW, FLAPCAKE instead of either flapjack or hotcakes killed me. Reminds me of the discussion thread the past couple days on Rex’s blog re “legit” vs. “good” clues.
Also wasted lots of time (OK, yeah, I had beer in hand by this time) trying out fills for 30A like JEH’S BRONZED TUTU (hey, it fits).
AMOR VINCIT OMNIA paralyzed me coming down the spine, but I’ll bet that trap was intentional, no?
A couple of what I assume to be typo’s didn’t help. 11A “Least-like[ly]…”? 26A “Leave me alon[e]”? If the clues were as intended, I was way further asea (god, I hate that word) than I realized. Only other clue cavil was that IMO the elision for ALL ‘ROUNDER should have been signaled by the clue.
Most totally excellent of the clue was “Major animal?” Sweet.
lot of typos in this one. looks like the test-solvers weren’t doing mytheir job.
sorry, folks. on the bright side, the NBA all-star game was pretty entertaining.
I noticed the same thing right off the bat — and then HAD to listen to Ministry while working on the puzzle. The other clue that I think needs a slight correction is that Land Rover is the brand while Range Rover is the model. I’m an automotive engineer who is fond of a little industrial music now and again…
I’ll share some of the blame for the typos this time around — I didn’t send my comments to Brendan until about 11:55 pm on Sunday night. (Which, in my defense, is still Sunday, so I wasn’t late…technically.)
MN
Finally, a hard puzzle I could solve. Don’t know why, but the clue gods were in alignment. Great fun. Thanks, BEQ!
Got beaten down badly at the UVALDE/EDNAS crossing. I swear, that could have been a smiley and I wouldn’t have been surprised. I call a technical foul on that one ;).
Just kidding, though I’ll still never figure out JULIE DELPY no matter how many times I see that in the grid.
Got EUSTACIA (huh?) from the crosses, but the NW was impossible for me without google. (And by “google” I mean “Reveal”. But I only ever Reveal stuff that I can google.)
I used to watch those two Linklater movies back to back, drinking whiskey and crying about what might have been, then sobering up and realizing that none of that stuff ever actually happened to me. Finished this puzzle in 21 minutes with one wrong letter! So, score one for the guy on the couch.
Continuing the Linklater theme, McConawhoever was born in Uvalde (like Cactus Jack Garner) but grew up in Longview (where the utterly awesome documentary “Hands on a Hard Body” was made. You gotta see that movie. For real, it’s a must-see-tonight-movie.)
Thought Paul Weller was Robocop. That was Peter Weller (and the movie was directed by Paul Verhoeven. Just looked that up.)
Same crossing, guessed wrong. Did you go for ETNA’S Goldfish too? At least JULIE was a gimme at 1A.
FLAPCAKE????? There ain’t no such thing, not even in God-forsaken Uvalde. FLAPJACKs, yes; PANCAKEs, yes. Thanks to a previous puzzle, JULIE DELPY appeared and helped me out, and the crosses gave me the (argh) sports, band, and vehicle clues. I didn’t Google a single time. EUSTACIA will vie for me!
Ask TYLER PERRY about the pancakes; he’ll back up us protesters.
Other than that, thanks for the puzzle. Flapcakes, my eye. (Exit, grumbling)