Blog du Wren

ACPT 2017-Tournament and Talent Show

In what has become a lovely yearly habit for me, I recently attended the 2017 American Crossword Puzzle Tournament out in Stamford, CT. With it being my 4th year, I now know my way around the tournament and hotel, have met some great people that I always look forward to seeing year after year, and have some helpful data to see the progress my solving skills are making. But overall, I just have a lot of fun.

First, the progress: This year, I finished , putting me in the 54th percentile, my second best showing. Besides one stupid error (which cost me about 20 places in the rankings), I don't feel bad. The puzzles were decidedly harder this year. As usual, destroyed me with a super complicated double theme. , supposedly an easier one, left me somewhat flummoxed with names of elements I've never heard of. Puzzles , , and I aced and had just 1 square wrong on each of and . So, overall, I'm not displeased—room to improve but still a strong enough showing.

But the real fun of the tournament, for me at least, was the talent show. Since my first trip to the ACPT, I've been brewing this act combining my love of juggling and love of crosswords. This year, after poking at it here and there over the years, it all came together and I had a chance to present it. It was a hit, with people really appreciating the nerdiness as much as the talent. I'm excited to work out the kinks and get a few more run throughs to really solidify it. Then the hope is to add it to our upcoming summer shows. I'm sure the reception won't be nearly as great as it was with a room full of hardcore crossworders, but hopefully it will stand on its own. See for yourself!

Thanks to all who made the ACPT such a fun and successful event! Hope to see you all again next year!

Thursday March 30 2017

File under: crosswords, video, juggling

Toggle Comments (3)

comment?

on Sat 01st Apr, 2017 06:39 pm EDT hope said:
This is great! Congrats
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on Mon 03rd Apr, 2017 01:13 pm EDT Andrew said:
Nice work!
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on Wed 12th Apr, 2017 05:29 pm EDT Horge said:
Wow is right!
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