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Showing posts with label Lollapuzzoola. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lollapuzzoola. Show all posts
Lollapuzzoola 9, 8/13/16
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Once again I'm watching from afar on a Saturday in August as hundreds of my friends cram into a Manhattan church basement for puzzles and snacks. Congratulations to Brian and Patrick and all the winners!
Once again I'm watching from afar on a Saturday in August as hundreds of my friends cram into a Manhattan church basement for puzzles and snacks. Congratulations to Brian and Patrick and all the winners!
Lollapuzzoola 8, 8/8/15
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It's Lollapuzzocho! Once again I'm on the wrong side of the country. Congratulations to all the winners, non-winners, constructors, and indefatigable hosts Brian and Patrick.
It's Lollapuzzocho! Once again I'm on the wrong side of the country. Congratulations to all the winners, non-winners, constructors, and indefatigable hosts Brian and Patrick.
Lollapuzzoola 7, 8/9/14
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For the first time since the original Lollapuzzoola, I was not in attendance at the biggest and best crossword tournament in New York City. Congratulations to Brian and Patrick on a job presumably well done, and to all the prizewinners and prize-not-winners!
For the first time since the original Lollapuzzoola, I was not in attendance at the biggest and best crossword tournament in New York City. Congratulations to Brian and Patrick on a job presumably well done, and to all the prizewinners and prize-not-winners!
Lollapuzzoola 6, 8/10/13
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Another Lolla in the books! Wrap-up to come.
SUNDAY MORNING UPDATE: It was another successful day, and a good time was had by all. Everyone was delighted to see Al Sanders win his first-ever crossword tournament, in a close race against Francis Heaney, with Trip Payne in third. Al received a huge standing ovation at the trophy presentation that was reminiscent of the one Tyler Hinman got at the 2010 ACPT (when his streak of five titles came to an end). Not only were the puzzles top-notch, but the overarching theme and metapuzzle were supercool. Congratulations to all the prize-winners, non-prize-winners, and my fellow volunteers, thanks to the amazing hosts Brian Cimmet and Patrick Blindauer, and I can't wait for next year.
Feel free to discuss puzzle specifics in the comments!
Another Lolla in the books! Wrap-up to come.
SUNDAY MORNING UPDATE: It was another successful day, and a good time was had by all. Everyone was delighted to see Al Sanders win his first-ever crossword tournament, in a close race against Francis Heaney, with Trip Payne in third. Al received a huge standing ovation at the trophy presentation that was reminiscent of the one Tyler Hinman got at the 2010 ACPT (when his streak of five titles came to an end). Not only were the puzzles top-notch, but the overarching theme and metapuzzle were supercool. Congratulations to all the prize-winners, non-prize-winners, and my fellow volunteers, thanks to the amazing hosts Brian Cimmet and Patrick Blindauer, and I can't wait for next year.
Feel free to discuss puzzle specifics in the comments!
Lollapuzzoola 5, 8/4/12
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Congrats to 2012 champion Joon Pahk! He handily defeated Francis Heaney and Kiran Kedlaya to take the prize. (Part of the prize was theater tickets that he can't use, so Francis got a little prize as well.) The Local Division champion, Glen Ryan of Connecticut, dominated his division and his final even more. Glen is "Express" fast -- you can see his times in my spreadsheet under the mysterious nom de puzzle "VT" -- but hadn't been to a major tournament before. Look for him to win the C Division this March...
Share your times on the Lollapuzzoola puzzles, whether you were in the room or solving at home. My times are from late-stage test-solving, so it's 99% the same as the final version.
Congrats to 2012 champion Joon Pahk! He handily defeated Francis Heaney and Kiran Kedlaya to take the prize. (Part of the prize was theater tickets that he can't use, so Francis got a little prize as well.) The Local Division champion, Glen Ryan of Connecticut, dominated his division and his final even more. Glen is "Express" fast -- you can see his times in my spreadsheet under the mysterious nom de puzzle "VT" -- but hadn't been to a major tournament before. Look for him to win the C Division this March...
Share your times on the Lollapuzzoola puzzles, whether you were in the room or solving at home. My times are from late-stage test-solving, so it's 99% the same as the final version.
Saturday, 8/4/12
Add your times here.
Lollapuzzoola 5 is today! Once again, I'm helping out as a judge. With two-time champion Jeffrey Harris also joining the judges' ranks, it's a wide-open field. [EDIT: Scuttlebutt from the night before indicates that the favorites are Joon Pahk, Francis Heaney, Jon Delfin, Al Sanders, and possibly young Erik Agard...]
I've scheduled a LP5 spreadsheet post to go up when the tournament is over. Share your times and comments there!
Lollapuzzoola 5 is today! Once again, I'm helping out as a judge. With two-time champion Jeffrey Harris also joining the judges' ranks, it's a wide-open field. [EDIT: Scuttlebutt from the night before indicates that the favorites are Joon Pahk, Francis Heaney, Jon Delfin, Al Sanders, and possibly young Erik Agard...]
I've scheduled a LP5 spreadsheet post to go up when the tournament is over. Share your times and comments there!
Sunday, 8/7/11 (and Lollapuzzoola 4)
NYT 4:34 ... LAT 4:16 ... MR 4:05 ... BG 4:41 ... ND 3:57 ... CS 2:03 ... WP 3:14 ... Diagramless (p) 7:23
Lollapuzzoola was a smashing success once again. It's a good thing organizers Brian Cimmet and Patrick Blindauer booked a bigger room in Manhattan, because there was a huge walk-in crowd and somewhere around 170 people competed. Jeffrey Harris took the title again, edging Al Sanders and Dave Tuller on the big boards. I enjoyed my first full day as a judge, collecting papers, grading them, and joining the Google Team when needed on the hardest puzzle. Fun and pizza was had by all!
Below are my times from when I test-solved the puzzles a week or so ago. Some clues changed for the final version, but they're essentially the same puzzles, if you'd like to compare your times to mine. (I don't know how I would have compared to the top finishers today, and I'm not sure I will find out, because the times won't be posted with the results... then again, perhaps Al will check in, and he finished first on points.)
Puzzle 1 - 2:55
Puzzle 2 - 7:00
Puzzle 3 - 5:30 (and 2:00 for the bonus answer)
Puzzle 4 - 9:00 (but they clarified the theme clues after I pointed out a minor problem)
Puzzle 5 - 7:45 (and 0:45 for the bonus answer)
Puzzle 6 (Express Finals) - 5:35 - which certainly would have won, even allowing for whiteboard awkwardness, but the clues were toughened up a bit after my round of test-solving.
Lollapuzzoola was a smashing success once again. It's a good thing organizers Brian Cimmet and Patrick Blindauer booked a bigger room in Manhattan, because there was a huge walk-in crowd and somewhere around 170 people competed. Jeffrey Harris took the title again, edging Al Sanders and Dave Tuller on the big boards. I enjoyed my first full day as a judge, collecting papers, grading them, and joining the Google Team when needed on the hardest puzzle. Fun and pizza was had by all!
Below are my times from when I test-solved the puzzles a week or so ago. Some clues changed for the final version, but they're essentially the same puzzles, if you'd like to compare your times to mine. (I don't know how I would have compared to the top finishers today, and I'm not sure I will find out, because the times won't be posted with the results... then again, perhaps Al will check in, and he finished first on points.)
Puzzle 1 - 2:55
Puzzle 2 - 7:00
Puzzle 3 - 5:30 (and 2:00 for the bonus answer)
Puzzle 4 - 9:00 (but they clarified the theme clues after I pointed out a minor problem)
Puzzle 5 - 7:45 (and 0:45 for the bonus answer)
Puzzle 6 (Express Finals) - 5:35 - which certainly would have won, even allowing for whiteboard awkwardness, but the clues were toughened up a bit after my round of test-solving.
Lollapuzzoola 3: The Great Pickle Giveaway
[This post was written before the tournament...]
[And updated afterwards...]
[SPOILERS FOR THE TOURNAMENT PUZZLES!]
Congratulations to the champions!Whoever they may be! Jeffrey Harris and Jeffrey Dubner! And hooray for Jeffrey Schwartz and Jeffrey Krasnick, just because! All four Jeffs (but especially the first two) will be very competitive at the ACPT. In fact, can we say Mr. Harris is a strong favorite to beat me? I'll say it.
I was unable to defend my Lollapuzzoola crown due to work commitments, but I did get to test-solve the puzzles last week. Here are my solving times, if you'd like to compare notes:
Puzzle 1: "Ryan Says..." by Deb Amlen -- 2:37
The theme clues were written out on the test version, so I imagine it would have been a bit slower under tournament conditions.
[Actually, the tournament copy had the same clues, plus hints provided before the puzzle started, so I was at a tiny disadvantage.]
Puzzle 2: "Mixed Doubles" by Mike Nothnagel -- 13:00 plus :30 for bonus answer
I didn't read the instructions carefully enough, and didn't realize until halfway through that the pairs were either both Across or both Down. So I wasted some time searching for matches where they couldn't be found.
[At the event, the instructions were carefully explained before solving began, so I was at a bigger disadvantage, since I started the clock before reading the clues.]
Puzzle 3: "Saturday Morning Cartoons" by Joe Krozel -- 7:08
Barely used the cartoons at all, because they weren't much help in parsing the theme answers. Left all the unchecked squares blank until I got enough circled letters to figure out the theme, which obviously helped a great deal.
Puzzle 4: "Lucky Sevens" by Tyler Hinman -- 10:31
Amazing puzzle all around. Who thought it was even possible to put together a grid with 64 seven-letter answers and nothing else? It took me longer than it should have to see what was going on, but once I did, I didn't really get hung up anywhere.
Puzzle 5: "To Prevent Data Loss" by Neville Fogarty -- 10:58
Cool theme, and impressive in its density.
[Neville told me they discovered an ambiguous square when solvers came up with a possibly-correct crossing: ARGS or ARRS could be [Pirates' interjections], and STR or STG could be the [Section with vlns.]. I didn't catch that because STR is more standard, and ARR(R) is a R&B inside joke...]
Final (Express Division) by Doug Peterson -- DNF! I had a really rough time all the way through, not just with the unknowns TIRPITZ and HABAKKUK. At the 15-minute time limit, I had everything except an empty SE corner, with a couple of wrong guesses (OREM crossing FRETS). So after a few more minutes banging my pencil against the wall, I cheated by looking at a couple of the Local Division clues and finished it up.
So I'm glad that I wasn't competing, because I might have tanked up at the whiteboard! I was also happy to bow out so that other top solvers would get a shot at the finals -- not that I was guaranteed to be there, but, you know, odds were good. Let's once again commend Howard Barkin, who didn't have an excuse to sit out except that he's ultranice.
Well, only one of the finalists was able to finish, and it sure helped that he got HABAKKUK off the H. But Jon and Joon both ran into a brick wall in the same place I did. I think I ended up with a few more correct squares than they had, so... might have been second place?
I had a great time seeing all the cool cruciverbalists, though I didn't have as much social time because I didn't get to chat in the hallway after solving (I was on Deb Amlen's grid-collecting team), and I had to leave for three hours in the middle of the day. That aside, it was an extremely fun and successful event, and I was correct in saying last year that they were going to need a bigger room -- the solvers barely fit! Congratulations to Ryan and Brian, and thanks to everyone who made it happen and came to play.
[And updated afterwards...]
[SPOILERS FOR THE TOURNAMENT PUZZLES!]
Congratulations to the champions!
I was unable to defend my Lollapuzzoola crown due to work commitments, but I did get to test-solve the puzzles last week. Here are my solving times, if you'd like to compare notes:
Puzzle 1: "Ryan Says..." by Deb Amlen -- 2:37
The theme clues were written out on the test version, so I imagine it would have been a bit slower under tournament conditions.
[Actually, the tournament copy had the same clues, plus hints provided before the puzzle started, so I was at a tiny disadvantage.]
Puzzle 2: "Mixed Doubles" by Mike Nothnagel -- 13:00 plus :30 for bonus answer
I didn't read the instructions carefully enough, and didn't realize until halfway through that the pairs were either both Across or both Down. So I wasted some time searching for matches where they couldn't be found.
[At the event, the instructions were carefully explained before solving began, so I was at a bigger disadvantage, since I started the clock before reading the clues.]
Puzzle 3: "Saturday Morning Cartoons" by Joe Krozel -- 7:08
Barely used the cartoons at all, because they weren't much help in parsing the theme answers. Left all the unchecked squares blank until I got enough circled letters to figure out the theme, which obviously helped a great deal.
Puzzle 4: "Lucky Sevens" by Tyler Hinman -- 10:31
Amazing puzzle all around. Who thought it was even possible to put together a grid with 64 seven-letter answers and nothing else? It took me longer than it should have to see what was going on, but once I did, I didn't really get hung up anywhere.
Puzzle 5: "To Prevent Data Loss" by Neville Fogarty -- 10:58
Cool theme, and impressive in its density.
[Neville told me they discovered an ambiguous square when solvers came up with a possibly-correct crossing: ARGS or ARRS could be [Pirates' interjections], and STR or STG could be the [Section with vlns.]. I didn't catch that because STR is more standard, and ARR(R) is a R&B inside joke...]
Final (Express Division) by Doug Peterson -- DNF! I had a really rough time all the way through, not just with the unknowns TIRPITZ and HABAKKUK. At the 15-minute time limit, I had everything except an empty SE corner, with a couple of wrong guesses (OREM crossing FRETS). So after a few more minutes banging my pencil against the wall, I cheated by looking at a couple of the Local Division clues and finished it up.
So I'm glad that I wasn't competing, because I might have tanked up at the whiteboard! I was also happy to bow out so that other top solvers would get a shot at the finals -- not that I was guaranteed to be there, but, you know, odds were good. Let's once again commend Howard Barkin, who didn't have an excuse to sit out except that he's ultranice.
Well, only one of the finalists was able to finish, and it sure helped that he got HABAKKUK off the H. But Jon and Joon both ran into a brick wall in the same place I did. I think I ended up with a few more correct squares than they had, so... might have been second place?
I had a great time seeing all the cool cruciverbalists, though I didn't have as much social time because I didn't get to chat in the hallway after solving (I was on Deb Amlen's grid-collecting team), and I had to leave for three hours in the middle of the day. That aside, it was an extremely fun and successful event, and I was correct in saying last year that they were going to need a bigger room -- the solvers barely fit! Congratulations to Ryan and Brian, and thanks to everyone who made it happen and came to play.
Saturday, 9/5/09
NYT (whiteboard) 7:10 ... LAT 2:09 ... CS 1:41 ... ND 5:31
Oops (and yay), I forgot the house we're staying at has wireless!
morning update: while I wait for coffee and brunch to be procured, some comments on the Lollapuzzoola final-turned-NYT Saturday...
--I'm a little shocked that Will didn't change a single clue, except cosmetically. It shouldn't be because my solving time was included - solving on a big greaseboard takes much longer than solving on paper, so it's a bit apples-to-oranges anyway. By the way, I never found out at the tournament what my actual solving time was...
--Don't forget, it was very close - Francis Heaney was seven seconds behind, and I continue to believe that the podcast-related entry PAPELBON was my key to catching up...
--I'll get some photos of the final round up on Facebook, showing that I had to reboot three times before getting any connectivity. Started with SEL and educated guess ATALE in the SE, but stood pat there even though I suspected REPEL. Found the gimme GIJANE crossing SINEW in the NW, but got stuck again. Then I threw down OESTE (instead of the entirely possible NORTE) in the SE, which led to EDNA, RAN, and some long gimmes that filled in the whole quadrant fairly quickly... but I still couldn't move into the center section. So I jumped to the SW, with its friendly "Sweeney Todd" clue (it's only my favorite musical) and the knew-it-even-before-crosswords SPAHN, which led to his colleague PAPELBON. From there I don't remember my solving "route", but after the SW fell, it was smooth sailing. I did try to rush through the rest of the puzzle, since I figured I was behind after the slow start.
--sorry, I keep updating this as I remember more. I had two wrong letters while solving, possibly frightening my "fans". ON HAND for IN HAND, which didn't get corrected until the crossing entry was DOEOF; and EDBERG for ENBERG -- a trap that apparently Nothnagel didn't set intentionally! -- which didn't really cause problems either.
--Anyway, very exciting to have my name next to the NYT crossword, though I'm still hoping for a byline at some point! (It may be more exciting -- it's definitely more amusing -- that the word "Lollapuzzoola" is in the NYT.) Thanks again to Ryan, Brian, Mike, and Will...
Oops (and yay), I forgot the house we're staying at has wireless!
morning update: while I wait for coffee and brunch to be procured, some comments on the Lollapuzzoola final-turned-NYT Saturday...
--I'm a little shocked that Will didn't change a single clue, except cosmetically. It shouldn't be because my solving time was included - solving on a big greaseboard takes much longer than solving on paper, so it's a bit apples-to-oranges anyway. By the way, I never found out at the tournament what my actual solving time was...
--Don't forget, it was very close - Francis Heaney was seven seconds behind, and I continue to believe that the podcast-related entry PAPELBON was my key to catching up...
--I'll get some photos of the final round up on Facebook, showing that I had to reboot three times before getting any connectivity. Started with SEL and educated guess ATALE in the SE, but stood pat there even though I suspected REPEL. Found the gimme GIJANE crossing SINEW in the NW, but got stuck again. Then I threw down OESTE (instead of the entirely possible NORTE) in the SE, which led to EDNA, RAN, and some long gimmes that filled in the whole quadrant fairly quickly... but I still couldn't move into the center section. So I jumped to the SW, with its friendly "Sweeney Todd" clue (it's only my favorite musical) and the knew-it-even-before-crosswords SPAHN, which led to his colleague PAPELBON. From there I don't remember my solving "route", but after the SW fell, it was smooth sailing. I did try to rush through the rest of the puzzle, since I figured I was behind after the slow start.
--sorry, I keep updating this as I remember more. I had two wrong letters while solving, possibly frightening my "fans". ON HAND for IN HAND, which didn't get corrected until the crossing entry was DOEOF; and EDBERG for ENBERG -- a trap that apparently Nothnagel didn't set intentionally! -- which didn't really cause problems either.
--Anyway, very exciting to have my name next to the NYT crossword, though I'm still hoping for a byline at some point! (It may be more exciting -- it's definitely more amusing -- that the word "Lollapuzzoola" is in the NYT.) Thanks again to Ryan, Brian, Mike, and Will...
Monday, 8/24/09
NYT 1:59 ... LAT 1:38 ... CS 2:06 ... ND 1:28 ... JON 2:28
BEQ's offering today is his Lollapuzzoola construction, which I finished right around 6 minutes (iirc). Lolla puzzle PDFs and full standings are now up, with Howard again demonstrating that he's a step faster than the pack when not forced to use a dry-erase marker... :)
Hey, new comments while I was writing this! My favorite gimmick was #1 (Todd McClary), closely followed by #5 (Doug Peterson, one-upping my contribution from last year). But they were all great - Brian continues to impress as a constructor, Peter Gordon had some knotty sections that gave me more trouble (relative to the field) than anything else, BEQ always rocks, and Nothnagel's final themeless was outstanding.
I like BEQ's proposal to revisit the Guinness world record, still claimed by Stan Newman at 2:14 for a Monday NYT. I actually mentioned the idea to Brendan on Saturday, inspired by seeing Stan in competition for the first time in 20+ years. Wouldn't that be a good ACPT Saturday night activity? At least eight of us could top that record...
BEQ's offering today is his Lollapuzzoola construction, which I finished right around 6 minutes (iirc). Lolla puzzle PDFs and full standings are now up, with Howard again demonstrating that he's a step faster than the pack when not forced to use a dry-erase marker... :)
Hey, new comments while I was writing this! My favorite gimmick was #1 (Todd McClary), closely followed by #5 (Doug Peterson, one-upping my contribution from last year). But they were all great - Brian continues to impress as a constructor, Peter Gordon had some knotty sections that gave me more trouble (relative to the field) than anything else, BEQ always rocks, and Nothnagel's final themeless was outstanding.
I like BEQ's proposal to revisit the Guinness world record, still claimed by Stan Newman at 2:14 for a Monday NYT. I actually mentioned the idea to Brendan on Saturday, inspired by seeing Stan in competition for the first time in 20+ years. Wouldn't that be a good ACPT Saturday night activity? At least eight of us could top that record...
Sunday, 8/23/09 & Lollapuzzoola
NYT 6:00 ... LAT 6:20 ... MR 5:22 ... BG 6:04 ... ND 3:48 ... CS 1:54 ... Diagramless (p) 8:10
Yes, I won the tournament! The margin on the final puzzle was seven seconds, but I'll take it. I'm now the proud owner of an amazing crossword mosaic by Joanne Sullivan (see below), several extremely prestigious 8.5"x11" certificates of merit, and what may be the last two Sterling crossword books I didn't already own. (update: and a medal!)
Standings are up at Be More Smarter, and there may be more details on other blogs, but I'm not investigating until I've done today's puzzles. Longer writeup to come? Probably not.
(photo by G.M.)
Yes, I won the tournament! The margin on the final puzzle was seven seconds, but I'll take it. I'm now the proud owner of an amazing crossword mosaic by Joanne Sullivan (see below), several extremely prestigious 8.5"x11" certificates of merit, and what may be the last two Sterling crossword books I didn't already own. (update: and a medal!)
Standings are up at Be More Smarter, and there may be more details on other blogs, but I'm not investigating until I've done today's puzzles. Longer writeup to come? Probably not.
(photo by G.M.)
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