Ryan and Brian Do Crosswords

Today is a different kind of post for us here at BeMoreSmarter Solving Headquarters. Today, we have no blog on the solving process, since today’s puzzle more or less came from our very own offices! Well, “more” in the sense that it was one of the puzzles we used during Lollapuzzoola 2… “less” in the sense that we didn’t construct it. Our dear friend Mike Nothnagel, Pen Pal Extraordinaire and Constructor of the Friday Puzzle (and Oracle) was the genius behind it all.

We’ve been big fans of Mike’s work ever since we first started doing this blog. His themeless weekend puzzles quickly became some of our favorites, and we bestowed him with maybe the second nickname in “Fill Me In” history (Dan Feyer, I think, was the first). When it came time to put together our puzzle roster for the first Lollapuzzoola, we turned to Mike, who designed a wonderful puzzle that seemed themeless at first, but wound up being a big set up to a ridiculous game of Twister. Yes, it’s true.

Flash ahead to this year’s Lollapuzzoola 2, we knew we wanted another Nothnagel creation on the docket, so we checked with Mike to see what he might want to construct. When he devised this themeless puzzle, it was pretty much a no-brainer to use it as our championship round puzzle. The grid was full of wonderful stuff, we worked out two levels of clues (for our two skill divisions), and then Dan Feyer went and solved the whole damn thing in just over seven minutes, edging out Francis Heaney for the Lollapuzzoola title. For those seeking a PDF file of the puzzle, you can get both the version from the New York Times (which was our “Express Division” version), or the slightly easier take (the “Local Division” version). Pictured below: Champions Dan Feyer (Express) and Will Irving (Local), along with Ryan and me. (Plus, you can see Mike’s puzzle in the background!)

Entry of the day, as far as we’re concerned: PAPELBON (56A. Pitcher who struck out the final batter of the 2007 World Series). We like it because it’s Papelbon, and we like it because Ryan and I helped edit this one clue in particular.

There’s an awesome entry on the Wordplay blog, courtesy of Jim Horne. He interviews Deb Amlen, who was one of the angels sent to bless our tournament with logic, sensibility and quality judging. They both have been so wonderful to us, and this interview was quite lovely.

Mike, if you’re reading this post, I’d love for you to tell us whatever you want to about this puzzle. And if you don’t mind sharing your view on the story of watching Will Shortz solve it in front of you, I know we’d love to hear that.

And anyone else solving, or who was at Lollapuzzoola, chime in with your thoughts. We’d love to hear from you.

Hey friends, if you want to see some photos from Lollapuzzoola 2, check out the album I’ve got up on Facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=117059&id=561646579&l=2ca12d589c

Facebook tells me that even if you’re not a member, you can still view this album. I don’t know if that’s true. Can anyone verify it?

So we spent the better part of the last few months doing the heavy brainwork on getting Lollapuzzoola put together, and now I can barely remember anything that happened today. It was sort of like what happened at my wedding, except this time I spent the whole time with Ryan and my wife was off in the crowd somewhere talking to Kathryn.

First of all, in the grand scheme of things, I think the day was a success. We had a Lollapuzzoola record turnout (74 contestants), and not a single one of them told us afterward how much we suck at running a tournament. So I say we win.

Ah, speaking of winners. Toward the end of today, a lot of people were trying to find out their standings. I tried to keep up, but I was having a little Excel trauma, and to a few people, I read off an older incarnation of my spreadsheet. None of the numbers that affected the finals were incorrect, but I may have quoted a few other scores to people incorrectly. Let me fix that here and now, and post a quick list of the overall scores. On this list, E is for the Express Division, and L is for the Local Division.

The Local finalists were Matthew Besse (3rd place), Matt Matera (2nd place) and Will Irving (1st place). The Express finalists were Howard Barkin (3rd place), Francis Heaney (2nd place) and Dan Feyer (1st place). In that Express final, Dan beat Francis by a mere seven seconds. And in addition to his 2nd place in the Local Division, Matt Matera was also named Lollapuzzoola’s Rookie of the Year.

Our deepest gratitude goes out to everyone who was there – the judges (Deb Amlen, Michael Smith, Brendan Emmett Quigley, XOP, Agent Little Zuty, impromptu volunteer judges Doug Peterson and Howard Barkin, and of course our wives, Toni and Kathryn); the constructors (Todd McClary, Peter Gordon, Brendan, Doug, and Mike Nothnagel); the owner of a great deal of ACPT-style stuff (Will Shortz, attendant – who lived up to his name, and stopped by for a visit today); and a huge special thanks to Mike Nothnagel – despite his semi-retirement from being our podcast oracle, he certainly had all the answers to everything we didn’t know how to do.

“Fill Me In” episode 68 will be our personal recap of the event, and will come out on schedule on Tuesday. In the week or so to come, we’ll be posting more stuff from the tourney – pictures, additional stats, sound clips, etc.

If you have comments and whatnot, please post them here. If you have questions, please email them to me at [rbxblog at gmail dot com].

Yay, Lollapuzzoolla!