This is the crossword puzzle thread

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/17/technology/computer-matching-wits-with-humans-in-crossword-tournament.html?_r=2&ref=technology

(forgive me for being lazy and posting a link with no commentary, but I think the URL provides sufficient explanation)

Dr. Fill, I presume.

Anyone ACPT-ing this weekend? Ken?

Yep. Right now I'm 93rd. They haven't graded Puzzle 5 yet which I think I did well on. But Puzzle 6 I had a mistake on a nasty cross, where I flipped a coin on the two possible letters and lost.

Rex Parker is sitting it out with food poisoning but Mrs. Parker is competing.

Merl R is there but he will not be announcing the final.

BBB did not come this year. I talked to Amy R for a second. I forgot to ask her if she knew you.

Also saw some people I hadn't seen since summer of 1980, which was kind of interesting.

Going to go see some music now, which I may regret, because getting down to Brooklyn by 9AM is kind of brutal on a Sunday.

are there any harder puzzles in America than NYT Saturdays? Not counting the Times of London one, which I know I could never do...

Peter Gordon's Fireball puzzles are up there. But you have to subscribe. You could try his Sunday Washington Post Puzzler first

Was 64th after puzzle five, but missing the IEOH EEW crossing put me back to 78th.

Note: Peter instructed me earlier today to spread the word about Fireball, but I would have done so anyway.

Amy and I have met a couple of times, and we're FB friends, but we probably haven't talked to each other for longer than 5-10 minutes.

Wow, Anne E is in the lead right now, followed closely by Tyler

Got a clean solve on Puzzle 7, so looks like I can hold my place around 80th. Final should be really interesting

Looks like they found Anne had a mistake in puzzle one so she's dropped to fourth and now Dan F is in the top three. The guy in second I've never heard of but he's A division so he must have been in a final

Announced all the rest so looks like final will be Dan, Anne and Tylet

Tyler, of course

Liane Hansen is announcing the finals since Merl wrote the puzzle

OK, the champ successfully defended against the prior champ and the newcomer.

My friend that I always go with had a bad break with little mistakes in three puzzles but he still managed to beat Dr. Fill. Best is when all your mistakes happen in one puzzle.

Really good puzzle by puzzle writeup here. http://throwingthings.blogspot.com/2012/03/i-am-just-ordinary-citizen-who-relies.html. Lots of spoilers of course.

is Dr. Fill a colleague of Dr. Beat's?

Haha.

Andrew Ries recap also pretty good. http://ariespuzzles.com/

so this is bothering me, from the AV Club crossword:

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m2emonhr1p1qzb8z0o1_400.png

it's apparently the correct answer. has anyone ever come across a number in a crossword? and can someone explain how "E3CIST" is the answer to "One concerned with right and wrong"?

It's not supposed to be "3", it's "THI"

so eTHIcist and THIrdeyeblind

oh, clever

let's never do that again

that was a really stupid puzzle

http://www.quora.com/What-are-rebus-crossword-puzzles

i've never figured out how to enter rebus squares in across lite. it must be possible though?

NYT does rebus puzzles w/some regularity. And yeah, I'm not sure how to enter those squares in Across Lite, either.

Btw, theme of the AV Club puzzle this week, constructed by Matt Jones, (MINOR SPOILER AHOY) had to do with my employer, weirdly enough.

Did not do this puzzle yet, so avoiding any more spoilers.

For rebus entry in Across Lite use Edit> Insert > Multiple Letters. Crossword Solver has a REBUS button, and for some phone apps you double click on the square.

Rebuses typically but not always will appear in the Times on Thursday, I think. A few years ago they stopped doing them at the ACPT because they caused too many scoring problems, but other tournaments have them.

OK, I just did it. Considered mentioning that fact to jaymc then thought better of it, but now that I read his post I see that he mentioned it himself.

totally thought of jaymc when i did that puzzle

Just a couple weeks until the Marbles Crossword Tournament.

Marbles on today?

http://pmxwords.com/

ok, registered for crosswords LA (i plan on actually going to this one)

8th in my division! (rookie)

and 33rd overall out of 87 people. not too bad!

Awesome!

What's the deal with the missing scores on Puzzle 2 and 3? Did you meet any famous xword people? Also I see that Andrea Carl Michaels both wrote a puzzle and competed, as she did at Lollapuzzoola.

Sorry, Andrea Carla Michaels

Also, slight weird thing that website has summary info from last year but scores from today.

yeah apparently those are not the legit scores, because i got an email today saying i came in 15th place overall (!!!)

the final puzzle before the finals was a group thing, and i got paired up with andrea!

That's great news. Does that mean you came in fourth in the Rookie division?

I talked to Andrea for a split second at Lollapuzzoola. She seemed pretty nice.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/a-plot-or-not-a-plot-crossword-puzzles-intelligence-agents-as-probe-into-kill-answer-ridiculed-20120513-1ykgd.html

not sure about the rookie standings yet, that would be pretty sweet tho

Yes, it would indeed.

Crucibloggers saying that they really enjoyed the puzzles and that these will be available for sale on the website soon. Thinking of getting them.

Handy link: http://www.crosswordsla.com/

they were really good puzzles - esp. enjoyed the biggest/longest-to-finish puzzle (trip payne iirc)

Looks like you are number three rookie. Congrats! Do you get a prize?

whoa, i just beat andrea! crazy!

i think i get a bumpersticker in the mail