Here's an interesting account of the final of this year's ACPT, written by "Willz" (Will Shortz) for The Enigma, the flagship publication of The National Puzzlers' League [ you should join! ]
The American Crossword Puzzle Tournament has had some exciting finales over the years, but this year's "A" playoff was both exhilarating and emotionally draining. The final round pitted defending champion Mosayc (four-time winner, 2005-2008) against Qaqaq (three-time winner, 1993, 1998, and 2004) and Lunch Boy (finalist in 2007). All three were perfected tied in points after seven rounds.
Qaqaq was the first to finish the playoff puzzle, a gorgeous 66-word themeless by Trick, in 9 minutes 31 seconds --- but he had two letters wrong (writing ALL ALONE instead of ALKALINE for the clue "Basic"). The playoff commentators had announced the error when Qaqaq made it and moved on. Most of the audience of 1000+ was mentally screaming, "Go back! Fix your mistake! Don't declare 'Done' !" So when Qaqaq whipped off his headphones and declared "Done!" everyone groaned. Expecting cheers for his first place finish, Qaqaq exclaimed, "You're kidding me!"
Lunch Boy was next to finish, in 12:50 --- but hed had the very same letters wrong as Qaqaq. His emotions whipsawed, first thrill that he had finished, then mild disappointment that he'd come in second, and finally despair when he realized that if he'd caught his mistake, he still could have won the tournament.
But the contest wasn't over. Mosayc had seven more minutes to finish the puzzle, and soon he was down to two blank squares. These weren't th esame two squares Qaqaq and Lunch Boy missed, but still all three contestants were even. Could Mosayc do it? Ironically, the answer that was holding him up was COLEADERS, for which he had COL-A-ERS, with the clue "They're tied at the top." Crossing the first empty square was BON-S, clued as "Items in stock." As former bond trader, Mosayc thought the missing letter must be D, which looked good for the crossing, even though the clue didn't make complete sense. He hadn't considered that bones are often found in soup stock.
For almost five minutes Mosayc stared at the grid, erasing letters, filling them in again, shaking his head, dancing from foot to foot, stretching, talking to himself, and tilting his head back and forth, but never giving up. The tension in the room was almost unbearable. Suddenly, with the clock down to 2:55, the answer hit him. He scribbled in the two missing letters, yelled "Done!" and whirled around, expecting polite applause for his third-place finish ... and was met by deafening cheers.
It was an amazing moment, one of the best in the ACPT's 32-year history. And it just goes to show: Never ... give ... up.
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