jedusor | Boston Crossword Puzzle Tournament

The BCPT was today!

I got up at eight (eight! on a Sunday morning!) and got a cab to the train station, since the buses don't run that early on weekends. My cab driver was very interested in the crossword shoes I was wearing and my similarly-patterned bag, and told me all about this movie he'd seen called "Wordplay." He also informed me that driving a cab is like playing poker, Scrabble, and Stratego all at the same time.

The tournament was fun. I didn't register as a competitor, but they let noncompetitors have the puzzles too. They were NYT puzzles from the next couple of weeks. Willz was the special guest--I tried to catch him before things got going, but he wasn't around, and he was too busy signing autographs afterward for more than a quick hug and greeting. He told some amusing stories about his various crossword experiences, and played a few word games with the audience between puzzles.

After the tournament, a gang of mostly NPLers went out for food and rowdy socialization. After that, a smaller group (Ucaoimhu, La Do La Li/Ti, Will, and I) went to a little cafe for dessert and coffee. Uc watched the rest of us co-solve the cryptic he wrote for the tournament, and then we chatted until the place closed. It was my first time meeting Will, who placed second at the tournament, and he seemed like a really neat guy. Uc and La accompanied me to South Station, and we did flats from the March Enigma until my eleven o'clock train.

Hurray for puzzles! I want to start doing the NYT every day again, except that I've kind of already done tomorrow's. Maybe I'll work through some more Crasswords instead.