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...

3 comments:

fikink said...

Thanks for the recap, Dan.
(Sweeney is a fav of mine, too. But any Sondheim clue will do!)

Joon said...

dan, i've got some photos of you up on the L2 facebook page. i've got you with the entire SE, A TALE/SEL, GI JANE/SINEW, and ... PAPELBON. (luckily, not the way crosscan spells it.)

Jared said...

You don't remember your solving "route" but do you remember your solving "syst"?