THEMELESS MONDAY: [ ACROSS LITE][ PDF]
PROGRAMS: [Across Lite] [Adobe Reader]
Well, that was something. Tip of the cap to Will Shortz all who pulled off a “squint and you might think you were there in Stamford” virtual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament this weekend. Okay, I didn’t participate in every waking moment of it. Typically, my ACPT weekend experiences include grading all the papers in the judges room and then getting shitfaced in the bar with Ashish Vengsarkar. But there was no call for grading as it was all done digitally, and Ashish was in a different state. But I gotta tip the cap again to everybody who did their thing. I was able to jump onto some Zoom rooms Friday night too see some friends old and new, got a chance to solve a lot of the tournament puzzles (Kevin Der’s was especially nice), partook in a few game rooms on Saturday night (Hi, Ben Zimmer! Hi, Mike Selinker), and of course watched the breathtaking finals puzzle. And when I say “breathtaking” I meant it. The directors whittled down the competition to the final three competitors, previous ACPT winners Erik Agard and Tyler Hinman against perennial competitor David Plotkin. Now here’s the brilliant part: each of these speedsters solved the finals puzzle on their own without knowledge of how the other competitors did since they were doing it from their own homes. Only later, these three got to watch how the their solves played out simultaneously along with all the audience who wanted to watch the finals. Nobody but the directors knew who had won. And after a mere brain-scrambling three minutes (seriously, you should watch this clip, it’s bonkers how fast these guys crush it), it was David first … but with an error. So that left Tyler to snatch victory in what appeared to be just split seconds faster than Erik. Really amazing stuff.
Tyler’s going to hate this analogy as he’s a Giants fan, but he reminds me a bit of Tom Brady. White hot phenoms at the beginning of their careers, winning convincingly, then sustained excellence after their initial successes without ever sniffing a finals victory win again. But then somehow, some way, they turn back the clock and figure out how to pull it off. Brilliant. I look forward to what happens next: Tyler signs up with some quack doctor and creates some “TH Method” of solving/pliability/etc. and sells that to the rubes. I’ll pick up two, please and thank you. In the meantime, his hair is perfect. And that mustache is … chef’s kiss. Don’t change a thing, Tyler.
If you were interested in doing these puzzles yourself, click here and pick up a copy. Tell ’em Brendan sent ya.
Looking for more puzzles? The Hub Crossword (Sunday puzzles by me and Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon) and Marching Bands year seven have begun. So if that To Do list needs even more puzzles, you know what to do.
Share the puzzle. New one on Thursday.
Thanks buddy! I’m keeping the sick flow on top, but the mustache is probably not long for this world due to girlfriend disapproval. So it goes.
And … thanks for another great pair of Monday puzzles, both of which I managed to solve without error (though I spent almost half an hour on the themeless). One nitpick: There is a small error in the clue for 3a in the new “Marching Bands” puzzle … a missing letter “s”.
Tyler’s HAIR! It’s…beautiful! (Good choice on the ‘stache, though.)
Brendan, thank you for today’s themeless. It was very hard. Except the places where it was less hard.
Naticked at 12D/19A. Otherwise, an ok puzzle. Thanks.
Your Monday was brutal and humbling