1959 Puzzles Done (35 Years!), American Crossword Puzzle Tournament in the Pre-Shortz Era, Nancy A. Corbett, and Three-peat Winner Barbara Hindenach

Project Update

Great news:  I just sent the proofread 1959 puzzles to Jim Horne at XWord Info, which means we've now finished 35 years of proofreading!  There are only 17 left, and starting in late 1950, all the remaining years will be Sunday puzzles only, so those should go even more quickly!

We made terrific progress again this week, starting off on Saturday morning with 30 puzzles from Mark Diehl.  Sunday night Dave Phillips sent 31 puzzles with 76 mistakes, which were followed by 31 more from Mark five minutes later.  Monday evening Mark sent another 28, and then Tuesday morning Todd sent 10 with 9 mistakes.  That night Mark sent 31 more, which were followed by another 30 from Denny Baker.  Wednesday afternoon Todd sent 10 more with 172 mistakes (yes, 172—probably the all-time high!)!  Just over an hour later Mark sent another 31, then later on 30 more.  Thursday afternoon Mark sent another 14 and then later that night 19 more.  Finally, late Friday afternoon he sent another 11.  Awesome job, everyone—thanks so much again!

I'll be attending the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (ACPT) next week, so the next blog post will be in two weeks—hope to see many of you in Stamford!

Barbara Hindenach Three-peat Blast! Winner

Congratulations again to Barbara Hindenach, who on Wednesday sent in the first correct answer to last week's Blast! challenge, making her a three-peat winner!  The clue, which was from the May 28, 1955, puzzle, was "One of the new wonders of the world."  The entry:  ELECTRONIC BRAIN.  I think this referred to robots back then, but nowadays there might be some technological brain implant that would make this clue and entry just as current!

The next Blast! challenge is in the sidebar, and I'll announce the first correct solver (if there is one!) in two weeks!

American Crossword Puzzle Tournament in the Pre-Shortz Era

New York Times March 6, 1978, story on first ACPT.

This year marks a major change in the ACPT, which for the first time since 2007 will be held in its original venue in Stamford, Connecticut!  As the above photo shows, the very first ACPT took place in 1978 and had 161 "enthusiasts."  The $20 entry fee included "luncheon, plus a cut-rate room," Will Shortz was 25, contestants ranged in age from 15 (Michael Miller) to 69 (Ruth Emini), and the winner was Nancy Schuster!

In honor of the ACPT's return to Stamford, I've posted two articles from the pre-Shortz era about the tournament and its competitors on Scribd.  Both were written by the amazing Helene Hovanec, and the first—"The Nation's Top Solvers:  Carol Barboni, Jon Delfin, Doug Hoylman, and Ellen Ripstein"—originally appeared in the May/June 1991 issue of CROSSW RD Magazine, which you can see here.  The second—"Competitive Aficionados:  Miriam Raphael and Ed Bethea"—was published in CROSSW RD Magazine's March/April 1993 issue and can be seen here.  "Life on the Circuit," Helene's account of what happens at the ACPT and why it's so much fun appears in this issue as well, and you can read it below too:

Copyright 1993, 2015, Megalo Media, Inc. Reprinted by
permission of Stan Chess and CROSSW-RD Magazine.

Nancy A. Corbett Born in Stamford

Finally, a few days ago I heard from litzer, proofreader, and historian Todd Gross, who had found an obituary of constructor Nancy A. Corbett.  Todd pointed out that not only had Nancy published two puzzles in the Times, one in the pre-Shortz era and the other some six weeks later after Will Shortz became editor, but she was also born in Stamford, Connecticut!  Thanks so much again, Todd—onward, Stamford!

1960 Puzzles Up, Will Shortz in CROSSW RD Magazine, and Barbara Hindenach Solves Blast! Challenge—Again!

Project Update

It's been another busy week on the proofreading front, starting off with 5 puzzles from Mark Diehl on Friday night, which he followed up with 31 more Saturday morning, then another 31 that afternoon, and finally 30 more later on.  Tuesday night he sent another 31 puzzles, which were followed by 19 more.  Then early Wednesday morning Todd Gross sent 8 puzzles with 14 mistakes.  Soon thereafter Mark sent 7 more, and after that 31 came in from Denny Baker.  Thursday night Mark sent 26 more, which were followed by 31 more Friday afternoon.  Thanks so much again, everyone—we're continuing to make great progress!

Speaking of progress, I sent the 1960 proofread puzzles to Jim Horne at XWord Info Monday evening—to see them, click here.  Thanks again, Jim!  I'm hoping to have the 1959 puzzles ready within the next week or so.

Barbara Hindenach Solves Blast! Challenge—Again!

Congratulations to Barbara Hindenach, who was the first to solve last week's Blast! challenge—again!  Barbara sent in her answer Wednesday morning and was also the first to solve the February 20 challenge!  Last week's clue, from the July 28, 1956, puzzle, was "Item on the Congressional agenda."  The entry:  FORTY-NINTH STATE.  How times have changed!

New York Times, October 14, 1956.

This week's Blast! challenge is up in the sidebar and is a real doozy!

Will Shortz in CROSSW RD Magazine

I'm continuing to make my way through the old issues of CROSSW RD Magazine, and this week I'm delighted to post Helene Hovanec's fascinating profile of puzzlemaster Will Shortz!  "Renaissance Man:  Will Shortz" originally appeared in the May/June 1992 issue and can be seen on Scribd by clicking here.  A comprehensive overview of Will's legendary life in puzzles, this article is only missing one thing that might appear in a similar piece today:  an allusion to his other great passion, table tennis!

Photo copyright 1992, 2015, Megalo Media, Inc. Reprinted
by permission of Stan Chess and CROSSW-RD Magazine.

 

Featured Puzzle

Today's featured puzzle, titled "Triple Play," was constructed by Charles Baron; published April 8, 1956; edited by Margaret Farrar; litzed by Barry Haldiman; and proofread by Mark Diehl.  This innovative puzzle could well be the first Sunday-sized crossword with a triple-stack of grid-spanning entries!  And although I haven't yet looked through the last few years of daily crosswords, I wouldn't be surprised if this were the first Times crossword to contain a triple-stack of grid-spanning entries.  What makes this puzzle even more remarkable is that the constructor didn't just settle for an ordinary stack of 21-letter entries—he chose three that are somewhat related in that they could all fit under the umbrella of Americana:  THE SPANISH AMERICAN WAR, SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFIT, and UNITED STATES TERRITORY!  Other sparkly entries in the puzzle's 136-word grid include SARCASM, RAW FOOD, MARTYRS, LABRADOR, and LOVABLE.  I find it amazing that, despite the triple stack and wide-open corners, the constructor was able to squeeze in so much zip!  Not surprisingly, the stack and open corners necessitated a handful of major obscurities, such as AMANIA (Afghanistan gold unit.), CRIBRAL (Of sieve-like structure.), MATSURI (Japanese religious festival.), PAEGELS (Danish liquid measures.), and SISTANI (Natives of SW Afghanistan.).  That said, the majority of the entries crossing the tri-stack are perfectly fine.  Thus, from a technical perspective, I think the constructor did an admirable job!  The clues are mostly standard, though there are a couple that caught my eye:  "Scene of Russian visitation." for ENGLAND and "Descriptive of our age." for JET.  While looking through packets, I've made a point of noting every potential Cold War or Space Age reference I come across.  I'm hoping that all these contemporary clues, when read together, will provide a unique perspective on 20th-century history!  My dream would be to discover patterns in the pre-Shortzian crosswords that would detail a World War II or Cold War plot, sort of like what John Nash was seeking in magazines and newspapers in A Beautiful Mind, though I highly doubt that such patterns were present in the early puzzles.  So for now, I'll just stick to my goal of coming up with a new perspective!  Philosophy and speculation aside, here's the solution to the featured puzzle:

1961 Puzzles Up, Nancy Schuster in CROSSW RD Magazine, and Barbara Hindenach Solves Blast! Challenge

Project Update:  1961 Puzzles Up

Great news:  The 1961 puzzles are now up on XWord Info—thanks again to Jim Horne for hosting them!  And this was another busy week on the proofreading front, starting off on Saturday night with 30 puzzles from Denny Baker and then 10 more later on from Todd Gross, who found 22 mistakes in them.  Sunday evening Mark Diehl sent 27 puzzles and then another 30 Monday night.  Tuesday morning Todd sent 10 more with 37 mistakes, which were followed by 31 more from Denny Baker Wednesday afternoon and another 31 that night from Mark.  Then Thursday night Mark sent 31 more, another 17 later on, and 28 more Friday morning, which were followed by another 10 from Todd.  Thanks so much again, everyone—we're making terrific progress, and I should have the 1960 puzzles off to Jim by this time next week!

B. A. Heimbinder Photo

After Todd Gross's piece on B. A. Heimbinder appeared in last week's post, an anonymous commenter sent a link to this 1920 photo of him.  The portrait was one of 23 photos of leading workers for the Hebrew Association Building Fund—thanks again for the link!

Photo courtesy of The Brooklyn Standard Union.

Barbara Hindenach First to Solve Blast! Challenge

Congratulations to Barbara Hindenach, who sent in the first correct solution to last week's Blast! challenge Thursday morning!  The June 18, 1959, clue was "Question mark of 1960."  The entry:  RUNNINGMATE.  I'm glad everything was resolved by the time of the election!  This week's Blast! challenge is now up in the sidebar—good luck!

Nancy Schuster in CROSSW RD Magazine

I've been busy going through more old issues of CROSSW RD Magazine, and this week I'm delighted to present Helene Hovanec's great profile of pre-Shortzian and Shortz-era constructor and editor Nancy Schuster!  You can link to it on Scribd by clicking here.  The feature also includes a very interesting history of the beginnings of Dell Champion, whose editorship had a puzzling start!

Photo copyright 1991, 2015, Megalo Media, Inc.
Reprinted by permission of Stan Chess and
CROSSW-RD Magazine.

Featured Puzzle

Today's featured puzzle, which was constructed by Diana Sessions, was published December 25, 1956; edited by Margaret Farrar; and litzed by Nancy Kavanaugh.  This Christmas-themed crossword shows holiday spirit in a way I haven't seen before:  through a list of gift suggestions.  As a bonus, the constructor sprinkled in a handful of standard holiday entries, such as CHRISTMAS CAROLS, XMAS DECORATIONS, and NICK.  But the constructor didn't stop there:  She even went so far as to connect the ordinary entries VERB and SOOT to Christmas through the clues "Give, for example." and "Santa's chimney problem.," respectively.  All the thematic layers make the puzzle quite elegant, though the gift list was what convinced me to feature this puzzle here.  The list, which reflects numerous stereotypes that were pervasive when the puzzle was published, can be seen below:

Gift for a future Olympics contender. (ICE SKATES)
Gift for a lady of leisure. (MULES)
Gift for a little girl. (DOLLHOUSE)
Gift for a college girl. (CLOCK RADIO)
Gift for a bride-to-be. (SILVERWARE)

The main thing that stood out to me about the list was that four of the five gifts were for female recipients.  I wonder why the constructor chose to structure the puzzle this way—for example, CLOCK RADIO could have been just as easily clued as "Gift for a college student."  Could it be that the constructor added a unique female perspective to the theme because of her gender?  Did the constructor happen to be considering gifts for a daughter?  Or was the whole gender imbalance just chance?  It would have been fascinating to have had constructor notes (as well as bylines, of course) for the pre-Shortzian puzzles—then there would have been very few such mysteries.

The theme took up a lot of real estate in the grid, though the constructor still managed to keep the fill relatively smooth.  There weren't any particularly snappy entries, but only a few entries struck me as rather esoteric:  KOBS ("African antelopes."), COOSA ("River in Georgia and Alabama."), and the crosswordese-y ESSED ("Ancient chariot.").  In this day and age, we would probably add BEVAN ("Aneurin of England.") and ECA ("Gov't agency, 1948-51.") to that list.  BAROCCIO ("Painter of 'Presentation in the Temple.'") is tough, but unlike in the cases of KOBS and COOSA, here I appreciated learning about a Renaissance painter with whom I wasn't familiar.  In all, this is an excellent pre-Shortzian puzzle from another of my favorite pre-Shortzian constructors.  Stay tuned for more Sessions masterpieces—I plan to feature one of her numerous "Central Intelligence" Sunday puzzles in an upcoming blog post!  For now, here's the solution grid (with highlighted theme entries, excluding the semi-thematic VERB and SOOT):