Thursday, March 31, 2016

Across and down to Stamford again

This weekend I'll be competing once again at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. It'll be my ninth year at the tournament and my second one in Stamford, Conn.

The tournament started in Stamford in 1978 but moved to Brooklyn in 2008 after a documentary about it, "Wordplay," attracted a lot more competitors than the Stamford hotel seemed to be able to handle. My first tournament was the first one in Brooklyn, but the folks who'd been with it since the beginning (or close enough) liked the Stamford hotel better and the attendance seemed to be down enough, so it moved back to Connecticut.

I had some misgivings about the move to Stamford (changing trains, among other things), but I had no major problems last year -- the traveling was actually more pleasant -- so here I am, about to try it again.

As always, I'll let you know how I did. Last year I finished 153 overall out of 566. My best overall showing, back in 2012, was 142 out of 592.

I'll get back to you as soon as I can -- after the tournament, it usually takes a while for the scores to be finalized.

And besides, I'm probably going to need some rest. I usually do.

See you later.

1 comment:

Jim M said...

Good luck, Mark! Where there's a will, there's a ... shortz?