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Getting Started - How to Solve a Diagramless CrosswordPlus
America's Most Greative Grosswords
By the Nation's Top Constructors
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THE NANONS TOPSOLVERSGarol Baftoni, Jon Delfin, Doug Hoylman,
and Ellen Ripstein
by Helene Hovanec
he modern era of crossword compe-titions began in 1978 when 161
con-testants participated in the First An-
nual American Crossword Pazzle Tourna-ment. Started as
apublicity ploy to frll emptyrooms at the Marriott Hotel in
Stamford,Connecticut, the annual weekend has be-come a main event
on the crossword compe-tition circuit.
Competitions were held in the 1920s butwere discontinued when
the crossword crazeended and pluzzle solving became a main-sEeam
hobby for millions. The resurgencein competitions can be atributed
mainly toWill Shortz (editor of the soon-to-be-resur-re*ted Games
magazine, a contributing edi-torof CROSSW RD Magazine, andthe
onlyperson in the world with a degree inenigmaology), aided and
abetted by StanNewman (editor of Crossworder's OwnNewsletter and
editor-at-large for CROSS-W RD Magazine). In addition, rhere
areother small contssts throughout the year.
Crossword solving en masse bears noresemblance to the everyday
rituals per-formed by puzzlers who fill in the blanks inthe privacy
of their homes or circumspectlyon public transportation while
they're com-muting. These solvers complete the puzzlewithout any
time constraints and withoutanyono else's knowledge of ttreir
mistakes.
In a crossword competition speed andaccuracy are stressed.
Contests consist ofapredetermined number of solving rounds,with
time limits ranging from 15 to 45 min-utes. Contestants earn l0
points for everycorrecl word en[ered across and down, 25points
foreach full minute they finish beforethe time limit, and 150 bonus
points for aperfect solution.
The atmosphere is akin to the tension-filled air surrounding
testees during SATexams. Contests are held in huge
table-filledrooms with contestants separated from oneanother by
cardboard dividers. The lightsare bright, the silence is palpable,
and a largeclock in front constantly reminds solvers ofthe time
limit for each puzzle-l5 minutesfora daily newspaper-sizepuzzle (15
x 15
squares) and 45 minutes for a Sunday-sizepuzzle Ql x 2l). Top
solvers finish rhepuzzles in a fraction of ttrat time-an aver-age
of four and nine minutes respectively.
After the final round the three or fourhighest-scoring
contestants (depending ontlp tournament) participate in a
sudden-death playoff. Each one solves a puzzle on alarge Plexiglas
grid in full view of the othercontestants, judges, guests, and tlre
media,with all mistakes recorded for posterity.
The winner is the contestant who finishesthe final puzzle in
ttre shortest time with the
puzzle as an adulLBarboni continued [o solve in college
while she pursued a degree in chemistry andbiology, with a minor
in math from HofstraUniversity. She's currently completing
hermaster's degree requirements in computerscience at Hofsfaby
developing an artificialintelligence program with a set of
tech-niques toprogram a computer to solve cross-words.
Barboni brenzd through puzzles so rap-idly that she needed more
of a solving chal-lenge. Recognizing that all crossword grids
'There's an element of Zen in finishingsomething perfecfu. I
couldn't contain myhappiness so I danced around a little bit.,
fewest errors. Judging is done on the spotand the winneris known
immediately, thoughthe prizes---cash, trrophies, puzz,le books,and
dictionaries-arc awarded at a formalceremony later. The purse at
the largercompetitions ranges from 91,500 to $2,000divided among
all winners.
In 13 years of modern competitions therehave been numerous title
holders, some ofwhom retired as undefeated champions. Thecurrent
top solvers are Carol Barboni, JonDelfin, Doug Hoylman, and Ellen
Ripstein.(Delfin is thereigning champion, with morefirst-place wins
than anyone else currentlycompeting. Barboni, Hoylman, and
Ripsteinhave won majorcompetitions, usually com-pete in tle
playoffs, and are formidableopponents.)
a
CAROL BARBONI, a 32-year-oldsoftware engineer from Seaford, New
York,stafled solving crosswords as a five-year-old when she
"helped" her mother fill in theblanks in the ltz Gu#e crossword.
After afew months Barboni was solving them her-self. She went on ta
Newsday puzzles be-cause "that was the paper my family bought"and
started solving The New York Times
are symmetrical, she set up her own obstaclecourse by filling in
the blanks in a mirrorimage fashion. She reads the clues and
en-ters tle answer to l-Across in its corre-sponding space at ttre
bottom right of ttregrid, placing the letters from right to
lefqsimilarly, she enters the answer for l-Downfrom bot[om to top,
etc.
In 1987 Barboni completed a ptlzzle inthis
mannerandrealizeditwas an entry formfor the frst Long Island
Crossword Open.She mailed it to toumament director StanNewman with
a note explaining how shesolved the puzzle. Newman was
intriguedenough to call her and discuss his favoritesubject.
Although Barboni was a novicecompetitor Newman placed her in the
expertdivision.
Barboni and ttre other contestants chuck-led through the contest
as they solved MelRosen's "Bird Songs," with avian themeentries:
'The Rook of l,ove," "Owl I Haveto Do is Dream," "Roc Around the
Clock,"and'"The Moa I See You."Barboni quali-fied to compete in the
playoffs and tackleone of the most difficult puzzles in
anytournament (No one had a perfect score on
(Continued on Page 7)
May/June 1991 CROSSW RD Page 5
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Solvers (from Page 5)
this puzzle). Director/consfucbr Newmanhad used every
gimmick-numbers ('40th"for "Reagan's place'); symbols ('?est"
for"most quick-witted or cutting"); multipleletters in one square
('kept on course" an-swered in five lecers by "sterred,"
with"red"jammedinoone square) andexftemelydifficult "regular"
entries:
"It's long, so they sayttttElephant's memory""Parmesan tops lt"
'TYench onlon souptt"Returnsservlcett "InterndRevenuett
Barboni placed 4th, won $75, and re-turned the following year to
capnre the titlewhere she whizzed through CathyMillhauser's
"Construction Site":
"Croesword construct.
orts larnent?tt "I haventt got a cluett'lHalfofa crossrrord
constructor's lncomd"tDown palment"
and, in the playoffs, atcacked Henry Hook's"All Sorts O'
Stuff':
"Rap-sesslon
partlclpant""They gt Into the ect"'They may keep folks
ln the darlC'..969"
'{,L Cool J"'1Scenes"
ttSun hatstt"Old as Methuselah"
Barboni is a whirling mass of kineticenergy as she solves a
playoffpuzzle. Shedarts around the board, filling in
blanks,erasing, moving, hopping, jumping-untilthat final moment
when she knows she'scompleted the puzde without errors. Thenshe
bows !o the audience and sits downperfectly composed. Her most
wonderfulmoment was winning her first tournamenl"There's an element
of Znn in finishingsomething perfectly. I couldn't contain
myhappiness so I danced around a little bit."
Barboni has participated in 10 contests,never placing below
fifth place. She rainsby doing speed trials. "I bought myself
adigitalwatch with astop-watch elapsed timerand I time myself." She
uses a mechanicalpencil and ries to break her
self-imposedtlree-minutebanier for daily N ew Y o r kTitne spuzzles
and six- to nine-minute banier for aSunday-size puzzle. She has an
"efficient
handwriting," but is limited by how fast shecan write.
Barboni recognizes that she can't trulyappreciate the beauty of
the grid or ttre clueswhile she's feverishly racing for speed.
Butshe will "go back and look at a puzzle andtake time to savor the
clues."
Barboni attibutes her success at cross-words to amind
that"celebrates theplayful-ness of logic and language." Musically
ori-ented, she plays several instruments, writesfree-lance music
reviews, and composes andrecords music. She reads many magazinesand
newspapers ranging from Rolling Stoneto technical publications, and
watches"Jeopardy" regularly.
Barboni enjoys the contests for the men-tal stimulation and
because of the sharedcamaraderieof theothercontescants. "I havemet
some of ttre nicestpeople through thesepuzzles."
O
JON DELFIN, a 36-year-old pianist andvocal coach from New Yorh
City, startedsolving puzzles as a child when he watchedhis parents
solve tle crossword in the news-paper and emulaled them by solving
math,science, and word puzzles in children'sbooks.
He sarted competing in 1985 when hesuccessfu lly
solvedacontestpuzzle n Game smagazine as a prelude to qualifying
for theU.S. Open and received four additionalpuzzles. Successful
completion of thesepuzzles would guarantee him a spot in
thecontest.
Delfin had no problems with the frstpazzle,' ?icture Perfect"
:
"Photographlng
aquarlums?t''?hotographlng tennls
tourneys?tt
'Snapplng turtlestt
"Shootlng matchest'
nor with the secon4 "Punny Express":
"Blrth
pazzle, in which 27 audro clues---a voicespeaking in Esperanto,
the soundmadeby atowhee, music by the Platters, Dr. Ruth'svoice,
etc.- were played on tape whilesolvers were racing against the
clock fillingin the blanks.
Delfin lovedMe alser":
"Cold ectoP' "Reymond Bry''"9[elt llltmant'"Mtlh's flvorlte
poet"
despite his only mistake in the tournament,spelling K@ne, New
Hampshirc, with an"a" and losing precious poins. He placed27th
outof a field of 250 andhad caughtthecontest bug.
In 1986 he returned !o the U.S. Open andsolved the first five
puzzles without anymistakes, including Henry Hmk's "Can YouDraw?"
in which a picture of a "can" had 0obe entered in a square to
answer clues like"hi-tech X-ray" for "cat scan" and "Spock's
ranquilizers" for "Vulcan nerve pinches."Delfin was one of the
three playoff con-
testrnts who solved Philip Greco's "'Word
Mosaic" with l5-letter entries stacked onOne another:
I I A W A I I A N I S L A N D S
A I R C O N D I T I O N E R S
T R A C T I O N E N G I N E S
Delfin's excellent showing (third place)spurred him to continue
competing. Heplaced 5th, 3rd, and 2nd in three tourna-ments in 1987
and won the North JerseyCrossword Open in 1988. He whizzedthrough
Richard Silvestri's "Animal Crack-ors" with ic themed food ennies
of 'bollie
flower," "turtleini," and "rhesus pieces,"and successfully
figured that the gimmick inDavid Davidson's "Sleepwriting"prrzzlg
qr65to place "zz" in one square for " tazzf,e dtr rle,""Lizzie
Borden," and "pizzL"
Delfin won four contests in a row be-tween 1989 and 199f-the
Long IslandCrossword Open, the Channel 13 Tourna-ment, the American
Crossword Tournarnent,and the North Jersey Crossword Open (aGrand
Slam spread over two years), earninghim the title of "Crossword
Solver of theYear" from Games magazine.
Delfin, a liberal arts graduate of VassarCollege, is aconsistent
solver who has madethe playoffs in almost every contest
he'sentered. He doesn't do anything specific totrain; he just
continues to solve 100 puzzleseach month. He makes sure he ges
enoughsleep before a contest and refrains fromeating chocolate
because he avoids "any-
(Continued on Page 9)
Maura Jacobson's "Drop
announcements?'"Sendlng cheese byalrllft?'
"Stork quotatlonstt
"Chutlng the Brles"
In contrast, the third puzzle "What DoYou Know?" was so
difficult that Delfinbeat his "brains out to finish it." He
"started
using one bookstore asadefacto researchlibrary where I found
everything I needed tofinish the puzzle." Delfin had to
determinethat "Seiji Ozawa," conductor of the BostonSymphony,
answeredthe clue "Hub leader"; and that "Pence" was "Gary Haft's
loss"(His original name was llartpence).
Delfin enjoyed the final puzzle "Cross-
Out"" with its gimmick of removing each"T"' that appeared in any
of the clues. Thus"Letter from a route" was really "Leer froma
roue" and answered by "ogle."
Delfin's efforts were successful and heenteredthe competition
where he especiallyenjoyed Mike Shenk's "Hear Ye, Hear Ye"
May/June 1991 cRossw RD Page 7
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Solvers (from Page 7)
thing that's going to cause energy shifts."Delfin grew up
listening to music, watch-
ing TV, going to the movies, andreading-all activities that he
continues today. Hesubscribes to about 25 magazines a month."I feel
that there's stuff floating around inmy brain which I can access
quickly."
Delfin has no jitters during the playoffround. He's the only
contesiant who reallyappears to enjoy himselfas he solves in
frontofan audience. "I'm aperformer; that'sjusta fact. My job
involves being in front ofpeople and getting it right." Delfin
takes adeep breath, gets himself "into a perfor-mance mode" where
he feels his "adrenaline
pumping."Delfin doesn't plan to retire, although
several contestants have openly suggested itto him. '?erhaps if
I could beat (formerchampion) David Rosen's winning streakI'd
retire."
o
DOUG HOYLMAN, a 47-year-old ac-tuary from Chevy Chase, Maryland,
startedsolving puzzles as a child but "didn't spenda lot of time at
it. There was a period when Ithought crosswords were pretty
boring."
He entered tlp tcnrmament scene in 1986 attlreU.S.
Open,placingeighth outof250.'1 foundttnt I enjoyed the mmpetition.
Through tlrrattoumamenf I learned about the
AmericanGosspordFederation and started subscribingtothe
Crossworder's Own Newsletter, where Ileamed about other
conte$s."
Hoylman entered the 1987 PresentingBaltimore's 2nd Annual
Crossword Openand placed fourth. He quickly caught on tothe gimmick
in William Lutwiniak's "Note"
which required solvers to separate the titleinto two words and
drop all letter combina-tions of "te" before being placed in the
grid.Thus tle answer to "third party action" was"intervention," but
the word to be entered inthe grid was "inrvention."
Hoylrnan "likes the clever defi nitions andthe way they test
your bits of knowledge. Ienjoy catching the wordplay in clues."
Whenhe won first prize in the 1988 AmericanCrossword Puzzle
Tournament, he chuckledttnough Merl Reagle's "One Fine Day
inHollywood":
"Actor _ off the set
In a huff' 'oTerence Stamped""Actress
_ reporters'
questionstt"Dlrector
_ toward
literary workstt
"Sally Fielded"
"David Leanedtt
and was challenged during theplayoff puzzleby Trip Payne's
"Endgame":
'Notrdflr$ bassnan"ttlt's often posedtt'6fou mlght not have
thls ln the world""Tlral's the truthltt
(whd'"A threat"
"A ctrett"Is lt evertt
Hoylman, with a BA from MIT and aPhDin math from the University
of Arizona,attributes his success to several things. He"has a good
memory for superficial informa-tion and for remembering words and
howthey're spelled." He also feels that his mathability is a
contributing factor in his victo-ries.
"There seem to be a lot of numberpeople(statisticians, computer
programmers, stockanalysts, etc.) at the toumaments who placewell.
Mathematicians think of words assequences oflettrs and are
conscious ofthenumber of letters in words."
He doesn't ftain for tournaments, per se."But I do do a lot of
reading----newspapersand about 20 magazines a month. I go to afew
movies a week and I try to watch 'Jeop-
ardy' every day."He's not fazed by solving the final puzzle
in front of an audience. "I've never beennervous about gening up
in public as such.I'm only nervous if I don't know what I'mdoing.
But when I'm solving I just concen-trate on thepvzzle."
Hoylman methodically fills in theblankswithout any display of
emotion. Even afterwinning, his only acknowledgement is tosmile
shyly. Hoylman is just as low-keyabout his victories. "It's not
money, pres-tige, or my future that's on the line. It's notgoing to
change my life."
a
ELLEN RIPSTEIN, a 39-year-old ac-tuary from New York City, was
oneof thosepioneers who journeyed to Stamford for thefirst
competition where she solved JordanIasher's "Puazle With a
Twist":
"Gather salary
Intelllgence" "Nose through the payt'"Indian shoe
craftsmentt "Mohlcans of the lasttt
and Maura Jacobson's "Movies You MavHave Missed":
tTlench Tarzan's
adyentures" "DeGaulle of the \illld""Changing tlmes
In the nursery" "The Dldy Dozen"'Tenus's drrtcomings
exposedt 'T.arewell Two Arms"
After placing 31st out of 161 she was"bitten by the bug" and has
competed in 31tournaments-ftaveling to Baltimore, LongIsland, North
Jersey, California, and Con-necticut. She madetheplayoffs 16 times
andwon two competitions.
Ripstein "comes from a family of cross-wordpuzzle fanatics. My
parents boughtanexha copy of the Sunday New YorkTimesjust for the
crossword and were the neigh-borhood authorities on puzzles. As
soon asI could write, I happily filled in children's
puzzles tucked into drawings of bunny rab-bits andkangaroos.
Progressing through Delleasy, medium and hard puzzles, I was
sooncompleting the Simon and Schuster cross-word puzzle books.
Crosswords were a partof my life."
What Ripstein didn't anticipate was thather "solitary pastime"
would be tested incompetitions and that she would turn out !obe one
of the consistent top solvers. Thr,oughcompeting she has found
friendship andromance, earned some money, and acquireda collection
of trophies, dictionaries, andreference books.
Ripstein successfully decoded ThomasSchier's "Drop In!" gimmick
when she wonthe 1986 North Jersey Crossword Open byeliminating "in"
from the answers. Thus theanswer to "annoyance," when filled in
thegrid, was "patheneck" ("pain in the neck").
Theplayoffptrzzle here was Mike Shenk's"Open Wide," where common
words wereclued difficultly:
ttMornlng snorttt ttDye openertt"Skeln constituentstt "Gsett
tTake a headeft ttStumblett
'Some pms make mdt "Flne llnett
Ripstein has a bachelor's degree in satis-tics from Barnard and
a master's in HealthPolicy and Management from llarvard.
Sheprepares for a tournament "the same way anatllete or musician
trains-practice! I doevery decent puzzle I can find, as many as 25a
day. I also practice with other contestants,
(Continued on Page 10)
!t ti
May/June 1991 CROSSW RD Page 9
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_ -----_
Solvers (from Page 9)
racing on the same puzzles under tourna-ment conditions." An
ex-boyfriend gave hera pocket timer, which she uses to "judi-
ciously record" her solving times.Ripstein subscribes to 40
magazines a
month, rangin gfuom People ta the AmericanJournal of Public
Health. She sees a lot ofmovies and is an avid reader. She's an
experton trivia and recently passed the qualiffingtest to become a
contestant on "Jeopardy."
When Ripstein won the Nor0r JerseyCrossword Open in 1987 she
raced throughWayne Robert Williams' "Lifestyles of theRich and
Famous":
r'_ hls shlrtstt (ueremy Irondt" hls colttt "Red Buttonst'"_ her
graln" "Hayley Mllls"
and successfully solved Henry Hook's "Left
to Right" playoff puzzle:
'Takesserlously?" "Iveds""Suit ofclubs?" "Class actlon""Paclfic
palf' "Ces,t
Ripstein has developed atoumamentrou-
tine with its own superstitions. "I face tlpclock, so I can see
the all-important secondhand. I write in pencil (Though I
normallyprefer the smoottr feel of apen, using ink ina toumament
would be suicidal) and guardagainst equipment failure with my own
bat-tery-operated sharpener. "
However, when she gets to the playoff
She has no intentionof retiring, 'It's niceto know you're
one
of the best in thecountry.'
pazzle, she "blanks out" and admits thatshe's "not that good in
front ofan audience.I can't find a starting place. It's a
nerve-wracking situation." She makes false starts,erases a lot, and
appears exasperated withherself, all the while losing precious
mo-ments until she gets into the solving rhythm.Then she zips
through the diagram. Yet,
Ripstein has no intention of retiring fromcompetitions. "It's
nice to know thatyou'reone of the best in the country."
Crossword winners don't eam the bigpurses associated with most
competitivesports, but the lure for those on the circuit isthe
camaraderie of the other contestants.Most participants are bright
and friendly andthe verbal bantering ttrat goes on at compe-titions
is lots of fun.
Contests are also appealing for the sheerbeauty of the
crosswords themselves and theunusual ambience of mass solving.
Tourna-ment crosswords, printed on quality stockwittr bold
lettering, offer an esthetic allurenot found in crosswords in daily
newspa-pers.
Moreover, the sound ofhundreds ofpen-cils filling in the blanks
in an othenwiseintensely quiet auditorium quickens solv-en'
adrenaline and gives an impetus thatgenerally doesn't exist when
one solves solobehind a newspaper.
HELENE HOVANEC, author of C r eativ eCruciverbalists, is a
writer and puzzle con-structor.
tr
PEANUT GALLERY oy cnartes E. cerschACROSS
1 Per _ (daily allowance)5 Study of sin?9 Money substitute
14 Obsessed with15 Olympian spouse16 Star Trek characler17
Colorado congresswoman19 Capekcreature20 Able-Baker follower21 Hog
haven23 Agreed, visibly25 Sci. activity26 Part of a Stein line28
Secretary's need30 Go lo the _ (strive
persistently)33 Home of the Mavericks35 Triumphant card-game
cry36 Lovable redhead37 Barkin ot The Big Easy38 W-L star39
Muckworm40 Fatal Aftrrctionrole41 "Beyond the _" (Darin
hir)
5657596061
626364
Cook eggsYasgur's Farm eventNobelist PaulingBat Mastsrson
weaponStar Trek: The NextGeneration characterWhats in it?They may
be liberalHound sound
DOWN1 Compact itm2 "3 Ticonderoga taker4 Havana harbor castle5
Bad time for Caesar6 Buy back7 Dander8 lrving hero9 Billowed
10 Butcher-shopdisplay11 Goldberg, ot crazy-
invention fame12 Torn curtain, nowadays13 First name of
17-Across18 Hemingway title character22 Revolution site of '79
24 Small carriage26 Glimmerings27 Go forth29 Refueling place30
Noted shopping place?31 Vinegary prefix32 Beginners34 Barker who
played Tarzan
36 Actress Ullmann38 Princess irritant39 Marks of commendation41
Type of meet42 Strings along44 Richard's request45 Early TV
network47 Montreal arena49 Hamburger portion
Kicker's target?One of a 1492 trioWomen's org.EPA concernPart of
a short journeyPatty Hearst's kidnappersCrew need
(tulution is on page 29)
5051s254555658
42434446
47485053
War of the Foses directorThesaurus wd.Oscar giver, e.g.Popular
comedian'snicknameHome-loan agcy.Haarlem
bloomersHyper-inquisitiveChanges genetically
t t o t l z 3
l 4 5 I t i
I 8 I
to t1 a2
23 a4 l5
l6 a l la B to l 1 tz
tit ,4 t5 )6
,t t6 l9
t l t2
t3 t4 t5 +tt
7 +U 19
to r1 t2 )U A t5
t5 t7 a
t9 to t1
i2 t3 t4
Page 10 CROSSW RD May/June 1991
