Tag Archives: damon gulczynski

Delving into the 2026 Boswords Summer Tournament Puzzles!

Posted on by
Reply

Yesterday I had a chance to sit down and test my cruciverbalist mettle with this year’s puzzles from the Boswords Summer Crossword Tournament.

I look forward to Boswords every year, so I had high expectations going in. To no one’s surprise, they managed to meet and occasionally exceed those lofty expectations!

Let’s put those puzzles under the PuzzCulture microscope and see what Boswords had in store for solvers this year!

Warmup Puzzles: Minis by Andrew Kingsley and John Lieb

Instead of practice puzzles or a midi, solvers warmed up for this year’s tournament with three mini crosswords from The Boston Globe.

They were a quick little series of icebreakers to knock the ring rust off of solvers, replete with homophones and Boston references, and the third of the trio was a delight. A C-shaped grid with a Coco Chanel quote in the cluing and SCENTS, SMELLY, and PERFUME as entries, this was a great little puzzle that really made the most of a tight grid.

Puzzle #1: Standing Trial by Emily Biegas & Sala Wanetick

The tournament proper kicked off with this 15×17 puzzle loaded with fun and accessible themed entries and a nice catch-all revealer with STATUS SYMBOLS (whether that status meant verified, engaged/married, action in progress, or importance on a team depended on the answer word).

A very breezy solve, this was the perfect intro puzzle for a day of competitive solving. I was immediately considering alternate ways to read clues and interpret wordplay after seeing the flexibility of STATUS SYMBOLS, which is a terrific mindset for tournament play.

(It was also interesting to note that this was my first of two Biegas/Wanetick puzzles of the day, as I later solved their Wednesday NYT puzzle the same night. This is a duo to keep your eyes on, solvers!)

Interesting grid entries included TOUGH LOVE, RAYA, REAL ID, and RIB MEAT, and my favorite clues were “Number of cards dealt in Go Fish” for SEVEN and “Hotel chain whose name anagrams to a naval force” for RAMADA.

Puzzle #2: Getting Off-Track by Chandi Deitmer

It’s rare that my favorite puzzle of the tournament appears so early in the proceedings, but this 15×14 puzzle was gamesome, tightly constructed, and a terrific solve, an absolute highlight for the day. The gimmick wasn’t flatly apparent at the start, but made total sense upon unraveling the first two themed entries. Balancing sharp and simple is a tricky task, and Deitmer absolutely nailed it here.

This puzzle had names of train systems — “L” for Chicago, “Metro” for Paris, etc. — added to the clue answers to fill in each themed space. (For example, SIDESHOW + Chicago’s L made SLIDESHOW.) The revealer TAKE THE TRAIN explained the themed clues neatly and was the cherry on top of the solve.

Interesting grid entries included LATE GREAT, WITCHCRAFT, and BRITA, and my favorite clues were “Where old minor-league teams called the ‘Spuds’ and ‘Russets’ played” for IDAHO and “Response to Brute force?” for ET TU.

Puzzle #3: Going Greener by Damon Gulczynski

This 19×16 grid has a lot going on — a chain of connected overlapping clues, symmetrical color-shaded entries, and a dollar sign dominating the grid’s black-square design — and all of it comes together neatly as Puzzle #3 begins ratcheting up the difficulty for competitors.

The solver goes on a journey from POVERTY to FORTUNE — a RAGS TO RICHES journey, as the revealer explains — with entry spaces growing greener as the solver follows the chain of connected clues. “Need” clues POVERTY, but then both “Need” and “It might be served by a sheriff” clue WARRANT. Each clue applies to the next entry in turn as we word-associate our way to greener pastures.

It’s a cool concept for a puzzle, one that I don’t think I’ve seen before, and coupled with a tight grid and interesting fill, it’s another strong showing for Boswords.

Interesting grid entries included CORONADO, FINAGLED, EASY WAY OUT, and IN-CROWD, and my favorite clues were “Measure of weight (not purity; that’s with a ‘K’!) for CARAT and “Father Keith Mars and daughter Veronica Mars, e.g., on TV” for PIS (nice fakeout with DUO there).

Puzzle #4: Pay Up by Joon Pahk

This 17×17 puzzle was the most devious of the day, presenting theme entries that seem unconnected, except for the country in parentheses listed after each clue. Realizing that the answers were too long for their given spaces, I started looking for the trick of each entry, and it was a good one.

That “Pay Up” in the title indicated that a unit of currency was not only lurking in each theme entry, but literally “up” from the horizontal answer, reading out in the crossing entry downward as a unit of currency, but upward as the missing letters from the answer. For instance, in PARTS UNKNOWN, WON read out in the crossing entry WONKA, but also served as the “NOW” missing from UNK-NOW-N. (The revealer, RAISING MONEY, also fit the pattern, with YEN reading down as part of MO-NEY.)

It’s a terrific bit of constructing. (And as a professional wrestling fan, seeing PARTS UNKNOWN in a grid was a treat.)

Interesting grid entries included NOPES OUT, OLE ELO, PYRITE, BOP-IT, and ORKNEY, and my favorite clues were “Something that’s beside the point?” in ONES COLUMN and “The planets, e.g.” for OCTAD.

Puzzle #5: Back Packs by Kathleen Duncan

The tournament concluded for most solvers with this 17×15 puzzle, a pleasant solve after the back-to-back challenge of Puzzles 3 and 4. It can be tough to stick the landing in a tournament setting like this, but Duncan deftly mixed strong construction and fill with playful cluing to wrap up the day in style.

Five groups (the BACK PACKS of the title) were concealed backwards in larger theme entries, like WERC (CREW) lurking in POWER COUPLE. But like I said earlier, the real highlight here was the engaging fill throughout the grid.

Interesting grid entries included KING TUT, MEDALISTS, GIGOLO, AD CREEP, CHOREO, CILLIAN, and MEMORANDA, and my favorite clues were “Disney dwarf number” for HEIGH-HO (my favorite clue of the day!) and “Overseers of camera dollies on film sets” for GRIPS.

Puzzle #6: Championship Themeless by Peter Wentz

As always, Boswords closed out with a themeless puzzle for the top solvers to live-solve, and this 15x grid was a suitable challenge. The stack of five 9-letter entries across the middle, plus the longer entries tying the grid together, offered loads of opportunities for good, uncommon vocabulary and solid fill.

There was also great cluing across both puzzles, with an emphasis on kid-lit references, a fun little micro-theme in the clues, particularly in the Sizzling set. (There were two sets of clues available for the championship themeless, the MILD and SIZZLING sets, depending on your preference.)

Interesting grid entries included EMERALD CITY, LATINO USA, EX PARTE, DRY AS DUST, FRENEMY, and MOP UP DUTY.

As for favorite clues, here’s a list:

MILD: “Lassie’s swimming hole” for LOCH
MILD: “Like a melon that ‘pings’ when thumped” for UNRIPE
SIZZLING: “Abbr. preceding Friday” for SGT
SIZZLING: “Obeys flickering lights at intermission, say” for HAS A SEAT
SIZZLING: “Worker focused on the present?” for ELF
SIZZLING: “Creator of the North-Going Zax” for SEUSS

(Plus another wrestling reference with the Iron Sheik getting a shout-out.)

120718_crossword_L

Consistency is king, and Boswords never falters.

Whether it’s their summer tournament, the Winter Wondersolve, or their seasonal themeless leagues, Boswords delivers. I’m a sucker for trivia-filled clues and Boswords constructors never skimp on the details. The grid fill is eye-catching, and the themes, whether deviously tricky or more immediately accessible, are memorable, never feeling overworked or too esoteric.

Maintaining this level of quality, solver-friendliness, and creativity is a tightrope walk… one the Boswords team navigates every single time. Their track record is impeccable.

And with so many exciting puzzly events on the calendar every year, I still think Boswords is the perfect tournament to introduce solvers to tournament-style puzzling.

I cannot wait to see what they cook up for us next year.

Did you attempt this year’s Boswords summer tournament puzzles, fellow solver? If so, I’d love to hear from you in the comments section below!

ACPT 2018 Wrap-Up!

Posted on by
22

The 41st annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament was this weekend, and puzzlers descended on the Stamford Marriott Hotel once again to put their puzzly skills to the test in what is lovingly known as “the Nerd Olympics.”

The tournament takes place over two days, with six puzzles to solve on Saturday, followed by one on Sunday. Then the top three finishers in the A, B, and C brackets solve the championship puzzle on whiteboards in front of the audience.

On Friday and Saturday night, there are often puzzle events, demonstrations, and panels by top puzzlers and figures in the puzzle world as well.

I made the journey down to Stamford myself Saturday morning, arriving with plenty of time to spare to prep our spot in the puzzle marketplace and say hello to friends and puzzly acquaintances. This year, I was joined at the Penny Dell Puzzles booth once again by my friend and partner-in-promotion Stacey Scarso.

The Penny Dell crew had a terrific setup as always, with a metric buttload of magazines to give away, including copies of The Crosswords Club and several flavors of Tournament Variety, Master’s Variety, and Dell Sunday Crosswords. They were also running a kickass promotion offering half-price on a year’s subscription to Crosswords Club, which is a great deal.

Plus we had a terrific sample puzzle for the Daily POP Crosswords app, constructed by the marvelous Angela Halsted! You can click this link for the answer grid AND a bonus offer for anyone who missed our ACPT tournament puzzle!

PLUS we held a contest to win a bundle of PDP puzzle swag, including a mug, a tote bag, an umbrella, and a bunch of puzzle magazines! All you had to do was solve a marvelous crossword variant puzzle cooked up by the folks at Penny Dell. (Though I did have a hand in writing some of the clues.)

And, yes, in their downtime between tournament puzzles, many competitors DO solve other puzzles.

At 9 AM, the tournament was two hours away, but the marketplace was up and running. There were puzzle magazines galore from the Village Bookstore (as well as a table of Merl Reagle’s puzzle books), a booth loaded with Nathan Curtis’s various puzzly projects, and ACPT-themed jewelry, key chains, teddy bears, magnets, and other items from All of the Things.

As competitors readied themselves for the day’s solving, I had plenty of time to see friends of the blog like Crosswords Club editor Patti Varol, crossword gentleman Doug Peterson, constructor Joanne Sullivan, and Penny Press variety editor Keith Yarbrough!

Perhaps the best part of attending the tournament is getting to chat with so many members of the puzzle community in one place. There were first-time attendees and enthusiastic rookies; apparently, contestants ranged in age from 17 to 92(!), and there was a 90-year-old rookie competing this year!

There were long-time puzzle fans who have been competing at ACPT for years, if not decades, many of whom were decked out in puzzle shirts, puzzle scarves, and other grid-heavy accoutrements.

One of the attendees even offered to buy the Crossword Puzzle Junkie shirt off my back! I assured him that that would work for him and literally no one else in attendance.

But I digress.

Many of the top constructors in the business were there, names like David Steinberg, Evan Birnholz, Joon Pahk, Peter Gordon, and more, along with former champions and first-rate competitors like Dan Feyer, Tyler Hinman, Howard Barkin, Ellen Ripstein, and Stella Zawistowski.

Getting to connect faces and personalities with names I know from tournaments like the Indie 500 is a real treat, and so many of the people in the puzzle world are genuinely nice, funny individuals. Not only that, but I also got to meet several fellow trivia fiends from the Learned League community!

The two hours before showtime passed quickly, and soon, the marketplace emptied and the ballroom filled as competitors took their seats for Puzzle 1.

Attendance jumped again this year, which meant not only was the main ballroom absolutely jam-packed with competitors, but an overflow room was needed to accommodate the nearly 700 solvers in Stamford!

When Puzzle 1 arrived, most competitors found Tracy Gray’s puzzle to be quick and fair. One solver in particular, constructor Erik Agard, delivered an absolutely blistering time, solving the puzzle in under 2 minutes! (A feat not seen since Dan Feyer did so in 2015.) It immediately rocketed Erik to the top of the leaderboard in impressive fashion.

Puzzle 2, constructed by prolific puzzler Zhouqin Burnikel, surprised some solvers with its difficulty. Then again, Puzzle 2 has been on the tougher side for at least the last few years, but I think many solvers forget that, given how legendarily difficult Puzzle 5 is every year. It’s easy to forget other puzzles can offer quite a challenge along the way.

Puzzle 3 was constructed by Mike Shenk, and served as a well-received palate-cleanser before the lunch break. Solvers scattered to the four winds in order to grab a bite to eat before returning by 2:30 for Puzzle 4.

[Even empty, all the dividers make the room feel packed…]

And what a Puzzle 4 it was. Constructed by Damon Gulczynski, this puzzle had a visual element that tripped up several top competitors. (An unclear blurb “explanation” didn’t help matters, and several competitors told me they would’ve been better off with no blurb at all.)

The judges were forced to actually explain the puzzle before competitors began Puzzle 5. It was a disappointing way for the second half of the tournament day to kick off.

Not only that, but one solver was mistakenly given Puzzle 5 to solve INSTEAD of Puzzle 4. He managed to solve it in the shorter time allotted, but couldn’t fairly solve Puzzle 4 afterward because of the explanation. I haven’t been able to follow up and find out what exactly happened to his score.

Finally, after the unexpected drama of Puzzle 4, it was time for Puzzle 5. This year, constructor Joel Fagliano did the honors, and according to competitors, it was as challenging as expected, really putting the craftiness and keen wits of the solvers to the test. (Apparently, computer solving program Dr. Fill failed to complete puzzle 5, one of its few slip-ups in an otherwise impressive year for the program.)

After the diabolical Puzzle 5, competitors closed out the day with Puzzle 6, constructed by Lynn Lempel, and declared it both fun and fair. The competitors dispersed to rest their brains (or solve more puzzles). We packed up the Penny/Dell table and headed for home.

And although I wasn’t present for Sunday’s tournament finale, I continued to get updates from friends and fellow puzzlers.

Puzzle 7, constructed by Patrick Berry, was what you might expect from a constructor of his caliber: elegant fill, very little crosswordese, and great fun.

Erik Agard remained at the top of the leaderboard, having kept a great solving pace after his outstanding performance on Puzzle 1 — a nice redemption for him after a heartbreaker last year, when an error dropped him out of finals contention after a strong performance overall.

So the final three would be Erik, Dan Feyer (7-time champ), and David Plotkin (a familiar name in the top ten).

Thankfully, this year, there was no repeat of last year’s flub where the B-level finalists got the A-level clues or anything like that. And there were no distinct time advantages among the top solvers.

It was simply a match-up of some of the fastest, sharpest puzzlers. (Including 2 rookies in the C-level final!)

You can watch the final puzzle being solved below, courtesy of Ben Zimmer:

Erik Agard would complete the puzzle first, solving it in under 5 minutes. By comparison, huge swathes of Dan and David’s grids were still empty at this point. It was a stunning showing for a very well-liked member of the puzzle community!

Dan Feyer would wrap the puzzle up in 9 minutes, with David Plotkin following at around 13.

As he had done all tournament, Erik solved with incredible speed and precision, claiming his first tournament victory!

And it was a strong showing for many other familiar names! Doug Peterson placed 14th (up from 18th last year!), David Steinberg placed 23rd (up from 28th!), and Patti Varol placed 74th (up from 103 last year!) out of a field of almost 700 participants. (And even with one eye tied behind his back, Keith Yarbrough managed an impressive performance as well!)

[I wonder how many competitors this tweet applies to…]

It’s always great fun to spend time with fellow puzzlers and wordplay enthusiasts, immersing myself in the puzzle community and enjoying all the charm and camaraderie that comes with it.

We’ll see you next year!

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date on everything PuzzleNation!

You can also share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and explore the always-expanding library of PuzzleNation apps and games on our website!