The annual tournament is coming up March 24-26: linky.
I’m going this year (as a judge, natch) – anyone else gonna be there? It would be a hoot and a half to get together for a microdope at some point.
jackelope, my bro, went last year but I don’t think he’s planning to go this year, I’ll have to check with him.
Yeah, I remember – he and I emailed back and forth about it, but since I didn’t go last year, there was no actual meeting. sniff
Oh wait, that was my fault, I guess I can’t cop an attitude, can I?
Once upon a time, I was the rookie champion at Stamford. I figured I’d only get better, but in reality, I kept dropping 8 or 10 notches each time I played! I was down to 50th or so the last time I took part.
I haven’t competed now in about 7 or 8 years. Each year, I think “Maybe I’ll return this March,” but each year, it just isn’t the best use of my time and money.
I understand now why such a large percentage of the players are senior citizens. I may not have time to enter again until I’m retired!
Missed this the first time around; I’ve been busy, and my SDMB-browsing erratic.
I won’t be going to Stamford this year, alas. I had a great time last year, but the 2005 tournament happened to coincide with my spring break (I’m a 34-year-old law student), and this year’s doesn’t. I could theoretically leave early that Friday and come back Monday, but frankly, the combination of school, work, and hobbies has got me so exhausted that any time I’m not studying, working, or shooting a movie, I just want to sit on the couch with my mouth hanging open.
One extremely cool anecdote from last year’s tournament: I was the 9th-place rookie finisher (81st overall), which meant I got a trophy. I didn’t realize I was supposed to get anything at the awards ceremony, so I just took off and headed back to New York, where I was staying with a friend. Only later, through the grapevine, did I find out I was supposed to get a trophy, so I sent a query e-mail about it.
Shortly thereafter, I got an e-mail from Will Shortz himself, saying the trophy was on the way. This was pretty cool, but I waited for a few months, and when I got no trophy, I wrote him again to politely ask about it. (Yeah, I have his personal e-mail address on my contacts list now. Because I am that cool.)
A week or so later, I finally got my trophy!
(The can of Vienna Sausages in that picture is there because I bought it in Vernon, Florida; they apparently don’t make “Vernon, Florida” t-shirts.)
I thought about going last year. I get bored with the Boston Globe daily puzzle; it is just far too easy. I tried timing myself on a random puzzle a few times, and my best time was just a bit under five minutes. I thought that was pretty darn good. Then I started reading about the tournament and realized that I’m not qualified to hand out coffee to the participants. Those folks are GOOD! They compare different roller balls for coefficient of drag. :eek:
Those folks have perfected the ability to fill out the squares with absolutely no hesitation while reading the next clue, and I just can’t seem to do that. In fact, I read a review of a recent book about crosswords, and there is a man who can complete a new crossword faster than the person who authored it!
I’ll follow the results, but I know when I am outclassed.
Hmm. Considering that I’d just have to grab the Metro-North, and I finished the sample puzzle in a shade over ten minutes, I might have to scrape a few pennies together and go up just for kicks. I’m not going to be competitive, but it’d be fun.
The vast majority of the people who go, go just for fun – it really is a good time, and a very friendly crowd.
Wrong side of the country now. I always meant to go when I lived closer, but never quite made it.
I did go to the Games/Merriam Webster contest at NYU in 1986, which was a lot of fun.
A question for those who know: as a decent cruciverbalist what sort of scores on the test puzzles from the official site would be considered competitive? I tried the first few puzzles but I have no idea if my scores are even ti the ballpark.
I’m going to go try out the rest of the trial puzzles. If anyone can chime in with what kind of scoring is in the competitive ballpark giant thanks will come your way.
The top, top competitors can do a 15 (i.e, 15 squares by 15 squares – a daily-size puzzle) in three or four minutes.
They are also scary nuts.
I have to agree, MonkeyMensch: Don’t go there planning to win money. The people who win are people who know words like oscene and satrap and battue without stopping to think about them. I’m not trying to be mean or discouraging, but if you have to ask whether you’re competitive or not, you’re almost certainly not.
It is, however, a whole lot of fun. If you just go to enjoy yourself and maybe get a glimpse into a subculture that you’ve never seen before, you’ll have a ball.
Thanks all.
I was just thinking of ponying up the $20 online and seeing where I fell. It sounds like fun. I cruised through the samples in under the time limits (60% or so of the time allowed) but doing one of those puzzles in four minutes, asTwickster points out, is about the time it takes to merely type the damn letters in! :eek:
Online competing would also be fun – to see where you fall, and also because they’re generally first-rate puzzles. (Which will be published in the upcoming issue of one of our magazines … am I allowed to shill for that?)
Okay – I’m guessing no one else is going to be there? If you are, come up and say hi – I’ll be one of the judges, I’m female, tallish, plumpish, shoulder-length dark brown hair, middle aged – just say “Hi Opal!”
Ya shoulda come – it was a lot of fun.
Ken Jennings was there – he ran a trivia game Friday night that went really well, plus he competed – he ended up (big surprise) winning his division (people who’d never ranked in a competition before). I talked to him a couple of times – including sitting next to him at the awards banquet this afternoon – he’s a really nice kid, very personable.
Alas, you’ve lost your chance to meet me in Stamford – even if you go next year, I won’t, since I’m getting out of the biz…
I’ve done the at home version, where they send all the puzzles and you time yourself and send them back… They then tell you how you would have rated.
That was a blast itself. Do people seem to have fun at the tourney?
I’m in CT and am thinking about next year…
You should definitely go – it really is a ridiculous amount of fun. Very friendly crowd.
To get a taste for what it’s like, go see the movie Word Play when it comes out – it’s about Will Shortz and crosswords in general, but the second half is mostly about the tournament. They previewed the movie for us last night, and I really enjoyed it – I know most of the characters, though. (Well, not Bill Clinton or Jon Stewart – but I do know Will Shortz and Merl Reagle, and I’ve been to the tournament about 10 times, though not last year when they filmed this.)
The official SDMB password? 
As you know, twickster, I love crosswords, but I don’t think I’d really want to compete in them. I used to love doing various sports too, but a few undergrad years of competing at the varsity level kind of made me see them as just shy of drudgery. I wouldn’t want to see puzzles in quite that way.
No, I guess for me, puzzles are something to relax with, to kill a little time with, to have fun with. Sometimes it’s fun to have a “time trial” (my Friendly Neighbourhood Barman always likes to bet me a beer on how fast I can finish the New York Times Sunday puzzle), but such a wager is really unimportant in the long run. What’s more important is just the fun; winning or losing a beer is secondary to the challenge of the puzzle itself.