Congratulations to Dan Feyer, winner of the 2023 American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, and to second- and third- place finishers Paolo Pasco and Tyler Hinman, as well as all other award winners. See full results here.
The biggest ACPT ever saw 775 in-person competitors !
Constructors were, in order of the tournament: Andrea Carla Michaels & Kevin Christian, Joel Fagliano, Mike Shenk, Christina Iverson, Sam Ezersky, Lynn Lempel, Robyn Weintraub, and Kameron Austin Collins.
Next up, we’ll see you in Boston for Boswords 2023! July 23 at The Roxbury Latin School with in-person and virtual options.
Since the last News & Notes, Robert Ryan (3/19), Madeline Kaplan (3/22), Trenton Lee Stewart (3/27), and Ben Zoon (3/29) made their NYT debuts. Congratulations to everyone!
Ingrid is a free crossword construction program by Ryan Fitzgerald that is now in open beta for anyone to try out. Its mechanics feel somewhat familiar to users experienced with Crossfire, but is lighter, faster, and cleaner, and supports grid features such as diagonal symmetry and barred grids. Some of us on the DCL team have been using it for a while, and we cannot recommend it enough. Closed beta users share some of their favorite features: versioning functionality, the ability to reject words for specific slots in a grid, the sortable panel for reviewing all entries, the cluing progress meter, and the ability to work on multiple puzzles at a time.
The team at The Puzzle Society grows (again!) with the addition of indie darlings and Universal regulars to their mix of authors for the Modern Crossword. New daily midi constructors include May Huang, Kelsey Dixon, Rafael Musa, Ada Nicolle, and Jared Goudsmit. The Saturday themed and Sunday themeless remain open to submissions.
These Puzzl3s Fund Abortion (TPFA3) is a pack of crossword puzzles created around the belief that everyone should have access to safe and affordable abortion care. Constructed by an all-star group of puzzlemakers and editors who are passionate about Reproductive Justice, TPFA3 contains sixteen original, brand-new puzzles centered around social and reproductive justice themes. At higher donation levels, solvers can receive packs from previous years, as well.
Puzzles for Democracy supports the work of Common Cause. This pack of 51 puzzles – one for each state plus D.C. – includes crosswords, word games, logic puzzles, and more.
Alex Boisvert is participating in the Malibu triathlon and supporting Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. He offers a pack of five variety puzzles and one crossword (puzzles by Alex and Kate Chin Park) for a donation of any amount to CHLA.
Adam Wagner of Anigrams has started a Patreon to subscription to support the daily game. Subscribers receive bonus Anigram challenges, occasional Q&As with Adam, the opportunity to submit Anigram puzzles, and eventually access to the full backlog. Adam also spoke at ACPT Friday night.
Paolo Pasco, in a recent Harvard alumni profile, says, “There’s this picture of crossword puzzles where you have to know stuff to finish them,” “… I realized you didn’t have to know everything. You just had to know some amount of words, and then let context take you the rest of the way.”
Hayley Gold’s and Will Nediger’s next monthly cryptic stream is set for 9pm ET on April 20. Hayley, Will and Al will be joined by special guests Bob Stigger, Nate Cardin, and Kieran Boyd.
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