Oops

I was very nearly finished constructing crostic #5 (as in, it's printed here all finished being proofread) when I realized I had screwed up the name of the book I took the quote from! Meaning I'm two words short, can't use some of the words, etc. And I had already had to cut out a line off the end of the quote because the letter distribution was too wonky for me to successfully work it out anyway (although with two more words, maybe it will work a little better). I'm too disheartened to finish it right now, so I guess that means I get to read a book tonight and look for another quote.

In better news, I wrote some more tools to make some of the bookkeeping for this a little better (I often had troubles, the way I used to do it, with missing out some letters and so not having a word containing letter #17 and the like). The algorithm for assigning numbers to letters is a bit too random, as 12 of the 27 words had two letters assigned to the same word in the quote, so that's not yet ready for prime-time.

No One Told Me Matt Gaffney Was Color Blind

My pen and pencil from being an all-around good person for February arrived this past week. I don't know what color choices he had available, but this is what I got:
Well, it doesn't matter, really, since I'll probably never be using them both at the same time. The goal at the moment is to use the pencils at the next ACPT (and since I said pencils the plan is to win more than one, but that will have to wait on events I suppose) and use the pens to brag. (Well, the pencils will be bragging too.) (Note: this post is not complaining, but is also bragging.)

In other puzzle news, P&A now has hints! This is exciting; the hints so far have gotten me from 1 puzzle to 1.3 puzzles, and if I ever get back to Double Digits I might have 2.3 puzzles (no hints really needed for that puzzle, just not screwing it up). I need to go back to Double Dating too; that one I wanted a hint on, but more like "the answer to XXX is not YYY", because I'm pretty sure I followed all the directions right up until it asked me to do something to my answer that couldn't be done. Poor little answer.

I've Been Busy

Ever since the first week of February, I've had an activity of some sort (either QB, mahjongg, or crossword) every weekend. Next weekend will finally be no activity of any kind (okay, possibly breathing, and maybe eating).

It is probably not a coincidence that today, a full 30 days after it was released, I finally solved my first puzzle in the back of the recent issue of P&A. I think it will fit in the meta, if the obvious gimmick is used. I hope that's the gimmick I'm supposed to use; maybe I'll check the hints. I'm glad he has hints, although they have helped not a whit so far this issue; either I'm way ahead of the game (like Double Digits, where I knew everything in the hints, I just screwed up the puzzle the first time and haven't gotten back to it really) or way behind (like Double Talk, where the hints just seem to recapitulate the flavortext -- ok, rhymes are involved, great, but that doesn't help me any).

I owe people things and maybe it will happen soon.

Online Dutch Open Round 6

Not holding my breath department: one of the most vocal MJT critics, who claims that her games are manipulated by the system and that they're always watching her, etc., equated the MJT admins with various obscene things and said something like "and now watch my afternoon scores". Since she scored over 200 points in the last round, one wonders whether an apology or even a changing of minds will happen.

Anyway, had a couple of big wins in my last round to win the table with 120 points. Remember how I was -4 on the leader before round 6? Let's look at the final table:

Rank	Name	Number	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Totals
1	tarabarsky (SS +0.172)	49	4,19,34 86  4	7,21,35 46  4	10,23,36 40  4	13,25,37 129  4	2,28,39 85  2	5,30,40 -135  1	19 251
2	GreatMind (SS +0.05)	17	2,32,47 -79  0	3,31,60 35  4	4,45,58 322  4	5,44,56 139  4	6,43,53 47  2	7,42,51 178  4	18 642
3	windbag (SS +0.167)	2	17,32,47 24  2	16,45,59 84  4	30,43,56 -63  0	29,41,53 180  4	28,39,49 172  4	27,37,46 65  4	18 462
4	tabstop (SS -0.217)	10	25,40,55 64  4	24,38,52 10  2	23,36,49 27  2	22,34,46 64  4	21,32,57 1  2	20,45,54 120  4	18 286
5	Heliangelus (SS -0.0167)	12	27,42,57 114  4	26,40,54 7  2	25,38,51 53  2	24,36,48 141  4	23,34,59 282  4	22,32,56 -75  0	16 522
6	rodedraak (SS +0.289)	25	10,40,55 53  2	11,39,53 42  2	12,38,51 67  4	13,37,49 106  2	14,36,46 21  2	15,35,59 142   4	16 431
7	dzumshud (SS -0.0667)	13	28,43,58 -95  1	27,41,55 162  4	26,39,52 70  2	25,37,49 -78  1	24,35,60 175  4	23,33,57 122  4	16 356
8	OttoM (SS -0.0333)	43	13,28,58 86  2	15,29,57 66  4	2,30,56 54  4	4,16,55 50   2	6,17,53 84  4	8,18,52 -35  0	16 305
9	ohna16 (SS -0.389)	11	26,41,56 123  4	25,39,53 93  4	24,37,50 382  4	23,35,47 20  1	22,33,58 -11  1	21,31,55 -16  1	15 591
10	nobody (SS -0.289)	14	29,44,59 257  4	28,42,56 -79   0	27,40,53 -29  1	26,38,50 18  2	25,36,46 110  4	24,34,58 107  4	15 384
11	joselui (SS -0.306)	19	4,34,49 -33  1	5,33,47 147  4	6,32,60 -29  1	7,31,58 196  4	8,45,55 -47  1	9,44,53 80  4	15 314
12	a3geffen (SS -0.228)	1	16,31,46 170  4	30,44,58 10  2	29,42,55 -33  1	28,40,52 68  4	27,38,48 64  2	26,36,60 -47  2	15 232
13	lajosch (SS +0.178)	47	2,17,32 21  1	5,19,33 -98  0	8,21,34 89  4	11,23,35 30  4	15,26,37 65  2	3,28,38 82   4	15 189
14	Dragonhunter (SS +0.211)	59	14,29,44 -53  2	2,16,45 57  2	5,18,31 48  4	8,20,32 231  4	12,23,34 -29  2	15,25,35 -97  1	15 157
15	timiki (SS +0.00556)	42	12,27,57 17  2	14,28,56 54  2	1,29,55 32  2	3,30,54 151  4	5,16,52 -8  2	7,17,51 -1   2	14 245
16	fleurtje (SS +0.0111)	26	11,41,56 -3  1	12,40,54 168  4	13,39,52 -119   0	14,38,50 176  4	15,37,47 71  4	1,36,60 -55  1	14 238
17	delnihoks (SS +0.0667)	35	5,20,50 76  4	7,21,49 17  2	9,22,48 40  4	11,23,47 -79  0	13,24,60 53  2	15,25,59 64  2	14 171
18	DAJA (SS -0.128)	3	18,33,48 55  4	17,31,60 -23  1	16,44,57 154  4	30,42,54 -45  1	29,40,50 71  4	28,38,47 -60  0	14 152
19	Bribri974 (SS +0.128)	45	15,30,60 -86  1	2,16,59 -48  1	4,17,58 7  2	6 ,18,57 66  4	8,19,55 98  4	10,20,54 4  2	14 41
20	tankbot (SS -0.211)	18	3,33,48 -35  1	4,32,46 -153  0	5,31, 59 25  2	6,45,57 65  2	7,44,54 210  4	8,43,52 40  4	13 152
21	Zenedar (SS -0.0667)	51	6,21,36 -46  2	9,23,37 133  4	12,25,38 -72  0	15,27,39 0  2	4,30,41 104  4	7,17,42 -65  1	13 54
22	wongdordor (SS -0.144)	16	1,31,46 -115  0	2,45,59 -93  0	3,44,57 17  2	4,43,55 261  4	5,42,52 151  4	6,41,50 19  2	12 240
23	lilou974 (SS +0.0556)	39	9,24,54 -1  2	11,25,53 -117  0	13,26,52 128   4	15,27,51 -2  1	2,28,49 -127  1	4,29,48 194  4	12 75
24	Blom1234 (SS +0.189)	36	6,21,51 209  4	8,22,50 -6  1	10,23,49 -70  0	12,24,48 66  2	14,25,46 -90  0	1,26,60 208  4	11 317
25	Rostved66 (SS +0.133)	15	30,45,60 146   4	29,43,57 65  2	28,41,54 127  4	27,39,51 -70  0	26,37,47 -8  1	25,35,59 -109  0	11 151
26	yakuz888 (SS -0.189)	8	23,38,53 21  2	22,36,50 72  2	21,34,47 64  2	20,32,59 -123  1	19,45,55 29  2	18,43,52 9  2	11 72
27	Enel (SS +0.178)	60	15,30,45 -116  0	3,17,31 25  2	6,19,32 80  4	9,21,33 102  4	13,24,35 -91  1	1,26,36 -106  0	11 -106
28	oreggia (SS - 0.206)	22	7,37,52 54  4	8,36,50 102  4	9,35,48 -2  1	10,34,46 -90  0	11,33,58 -23  0	12,32,56 -22  1.5	10.5 19
29	Ladyfinger (SS +0.111)	30	15,45,60 56  2	1,44,58 -33  1	2,43,56 30  2	3,42,54 -16  2	4,41,51 -22  1	5,40,49 146  2	10 161
30	kirchenmaus (SS +0.106)	5	20,35,50 28  2	19,33,47 -48  1	18,31,59 -7  1	17,44,56 23  2	16,42,52 -93  0	30,40,49 152  4	10 55
31	4eva (SS +0.178)	57	12,27,42 -51  1	15,29,43 26  1	3,16,44 -6  1	6,18,45 -32  1	10,21,32 95  4	13,23, 33 -19  2	10 13
32	once (SS +0.267)	23	8,38,53 48  4	9,37,51 -10  2	10,36,49 3  1	11,35,47 29  2	12,34,59 -98  1	13,33,57 -63  0	10 -91
33	djanam4 (SS +0.0222)	40	10,25,55 -26  1	12,26,54 -78  1	14,27,53 69  4	1,28,52 38  2	3,29,50 50  2	5,30,49 -163  0	10 -110
34	bent181 (SS -0.0889)	48	3,18,33 19  2	6,20,34 60  4	9,22,35 10  2	12,24,36 -87  1	1,27,38 -58  1	4,29,39 -131  0	10 -187
35	Janco (SS +0.0167)	31	1,16,46 51  2	3,17,60 -37  0	5,18,59 -66  0	7 ,19,58 62  2	9,20,56 -79  1	11,21,55 149  4	9 80
36	briesje (SS -0.439)	9	24,39,54 86   4	23,37,51 -73  0	22,35,48 -48  0	21,33,60 -2  1	20,31,56 115  4	19,44,53 -133  0	9 -55
37	daja58 (SS +0.00556)	27	12,42,57 -80  0	13,41,55 -42  1	14,40,53 39  2	15,39,51 72  4	1,38,48 -97  0	2,37,46 38  2	9 -70
38	hushishou22 (SS -0.0667)	6	21,36,51 -51  1	20,34,48 26  2	19,32,60 -6  2	18,45,57 -99   0	17,43,53 -84  0	16,41,50 105  4	9 -109
39	rendo (SS +0.122)	38	8,23,53 -11  1	10,24,52 -15  1	12,25,51 -48  1	14,26,50 -122  0	1,27,48 91  4	3,28,47 -8  2	9 -113
40	knurft (SS +0.322)	28	13,43,58 158  4	14,42,56 97   4	15,41,54 -167  0	1,40,52 -134  0	2,39,49 -130  0	3,38,47 -14  1	9 -190
41	dertienwezen (SS -0.128)	29	14,44,59 -83  1	15,43,57 -157  0	1,42,55 151  4	2,41,53 -36  2	3,40,50 -29  1	4,39,48 -56  1	9 -210
42	BellJensen (SS +0.0333)	58	13,28,43 -149  0	1,30,44 73  4	4,17,45 -148   1	7,19,31 -125  1	11,22,33 10  2	14,24,34 -14  1	9 -353
43	playgmes (SS +0.261)	32	2,17,47 34  4	4,18,46 -64  >1	6,19,60 -45  0	8,20,59 17  2	10,21,57 -50  0	12,22,56 -22  1.5	8.5 -130
44	GRDavies (SS -0.244)	20	5,35,50 21  1	6,34,48 15  1	7,33,46 216  4	8,32,59 -125  0	9,31, 56 59  2	10,45,54 -80  0	8 106
45	Bonny1 (SS +0.00556)	46	1,16,31 -106  1	4,18,32 260   4	7,20,33 -130  0	10,22,34 -19  1	14,25,36 -41  1	2,27,37 13  1	8 -23
46	mamahjo (SS +0.111)	52	7,22,37 -143  0	10,24,38 104  4	13, 26,39 -79  1	1,28,40 28  1	5,16,42 -50  1	8,18,43 -14  1	8 -154
47	RoseAnne (SS +0.189)	56	11,26,41 -2  2	14, 28,42 -72  1	2,30,43 -21  1	5,17,44 -101  0	9,20,31 -95  0	12,22,32 119  4	8 -172
48	c00pdNnatop (SS +0.0444)	33	3,18,48 -39  0	5,19,47 -1  2	7,20,46 -67  1	9,21,60 -120   0	11,22,58 24  4	13,23,57 -40  1	8 -243
49	ComboRus (SS +0.111)	34	4,19,49 -14   2	6,20,48 -101  0	8,21,47 -44  1	10,22,46 45  2	12,23,59 -155  0	14,24,58 68  2	7 -201
50	Daja60 (SS -0.283)	41	11,26,56 -118  0	13,27,55 25  2	15,28,54 -4  1	2,29,53 -72  0.5	4,30,51 -13  2	6,16,50 -39  1	6.5 -221
51	Derai (SS -0.133)	7	22,37,52 50  2	21,35,49 -38  0	20,33, 46 -19  2	19,31,58 -133  0	18,44,54 65  2	17,42,51 -112  0	6 -187
52	fleurdelotus (SS +0)	21	6,36,51 -112  0	7,35,49 -25  1	8,34,47 -109  0	9,33,60 20  2	10,32,57 -46  1	11,31,55 14  2	6 -2 58
53	rijka (SS +0.0611)	4	19 ,34,49 -39  0	18,32,46 -43  2	17,45,58 -181  0	16,43,55 -143   1	30,41,51 -69  0	29,39,48 -7  2	5 -482
54	Japio (SS +0.161)	53	8,23,38 -58  0	11,25,39 -18  1	14,27,40 -79   0	2,29,41 -72  0.5	6,17,43 -47  1	9,19,44 56  2	4.5 -218
55	JulJul (SS -0.0667)	54	9,24,39 -82  0	12,26,40 -97  0	15,28,41 44  2	3,30,42 -90  0	7,18,44 -81  1	10,20,45 -44  1	4 -350
56	merslith (SS +0.0556)	37	7,22,52 39  1	9,23,51 -50  1	11,24,50 -122  1	13,25,49 -157  0	15,26,47 -128  0	2,27,46 -116  0	3 -534
57	mahjong6002 (SS -0.0944)	24	9,39,54 -3  1	10,38,52 -99  0	11,37,50 -111  2	12,36,48 -120  0	13,35,60 -137   0	14,34,58 -161  0	3 -631
58	MANNABEL99 (SS -0.0111)	44	14,29,59 -121  0	1,30,58 -50  0	3,16,57 -165  0	5,17,56 -61  1	7,18,54 -194  0	9,19,53 -3  1	2 -594
59	grahame (SS -0.161)	50	5,20,35 -125  0	8,22,36 -168  0	11,24, 37 -149  0	14,26,38 -72  1	3,29,40 -92  0	6,16,41 -85  0	1 -691
60	Bolal (SS + 0.189)	55	10,25,40 -91  0	13,27 ,41 -145  0	1,29,42 -150  0	4,16,43 -168  0	8,19,45 -80  0	11,21,31 -147  0	0 -781

The formatting is wonky; I blame Mac (somehow the copy'n'paste put line breaks in weird places and whatever). Next time maybe I'll turn off the "line breaks = paragraph breaks" option instead of writing a 22K HTML file that contains one and exactly one line.

Online Dutch Open Round 5

Again we only finished six hands, but that's mostly due to two draws. I finished above water, with a score of 1, good enough for second place. I couldn't seem to build a hand at all that round; managed to get one win off and played some defense.

I'm now in 9th place overall; the leader stumbled (still in the lead, but only got a 2nd place last round) so there are no undefeated players left; my -4 compared to the top is unlikely to allow for a win.

Online Dutch Open Round 4

The tournament has imploded at this point; it started about a half-hour late, as Europeans are apparently unable to tell the difference between 4pm and 5pm and most of them were not there at the appointed starting time, and even with the delay many chairs were filled by computer players. At this point in time, there are allegations of cheating being thrown around in the chat (apparently someone made an unwise discard, and the lucky recipient won by a point), to add to the usual complaints of "I didn't get good tiles, the system doesn't like me."

We played very slowly, finishing six hands; I won two and won the table and am now in 7th place.

Online Dutch Open Round 3

Won my two hands at the end instead of at the beginning, which made it look like a bit of a comeback. We had about 10 minutes for the last hand, but we couldn't get it done, so I finished in second place again.

There's been some surprising results with some top players not doing very well; also, I think there was a solo player in round 3 (winning 9 hands at a table is pretty darn good, but I know two of the competitors were absent), and there are still two undefeated players. Currently my 8/12 is good for 11th place.

Online Dutch Open Round 2

A rather dissatisfying round on all levels. I won the first two hands, and that was it; one of the players is apparently psychologically incapable of making a decision in under 10 seconds; and the other two players discovered the "voice chat" (where you choose one of a few dozen canned statements to express your feelings -- the fun part being (a) the computer actually says it (b) in your own language (if your language is supported)). So not only did the games go forever (we only got through six in 90 minutes), but the whole time a nonsensical conversation was going on.

I did end up with two table points, which means I'm currently 13th of 60 (the people with 6 points are currently 5th through 14th, so you can see how I'm doing on tiebreakers).

Online Dutch Open Round 1

I didn't even try to save the game, since I have not played a hand of mahjongg since the last tournament. On the other hand, I did win three hands (two of them because of luck and poor defense, one because I'm just that good) which left me at first place at the table, barely. I'm not at the bottom of the tiebreakers, but it's pretty close.

More crosswords and statistics

So my scans are up, and I found my other error in puzzle 5 (I had incompletely removed one governmental organization to replace it with another governmental organization).

Anyway, the tab-delimited file only goes to puzzle 6 (I don't know why), but I think I figured out a way for Excel to tell me an estimate of the number of people who got a puzzle right (they must have scored at least 10w points, where w is the number of words, and the excess over that value must be a multiple of 25). This formula will (incorrectly) count people who have 5n words wrong, for any multiple of n and who had enough of a time bonus to deal with the at least 125-point hit (you can get three letters wrong and miss five words, so 50 points for the words and 75 points for the lost time on letters). I can't say how often that happens. This is my data:

Puzzle 1	549
Puzzle 2	303
Puzzle 3	362
Puzzle 4	636
Puzzle 5	111
Puzzle 6	500
Puzzle 7	449

Remembering that there were 675 participants, that means that I estimate 81.3% of all solvers correctly solved puzzle 1, while a whopping 94.2% of solvers correctly solved puzzle 4 (the high), and 16.4% solved puzzle 5 correctly (the low). I wonder how often puzzle 4 outperforms puzzle 1 like that, and by how much.

There were clear winners on puzzles 2 and 4 and 7.

Because it's my blog, statistics about me:

Puzzle	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Median>	1065	975	1297.5	1210	480	1595	1855
Me	1165	1470	1525	1310	1155	1945	2375

These have been UPDATED now that data for puzzle 7 is available. I have checked that the formulas are counting exactly the numbers I want them to count; again, I cannot say quite how many people "luck into" a score that could be a correct score.

So crosswords

Friday: The plane leaves half an hour late; but due to a tailwind arrives on time. Bit of a scrum at the cab rank, as the family two spots ahead of me got a cabbie unable or unwilling to take her to the Bronx, and got back in line and the cabbie wouldn't leave without a fare. They (the dispatcher and the cabbie) were still arguing when I left. Arrived without incident, wandered a bit, sat down for the Friday night puzzles. A late arrival took the seat next to me just before starting, and a glance at his packet revealed him to be Justin "justinspuzzles.com" Smith. During the panel, which was hard to hear because the hotel didn't bother to turn the speakers for the PA system on, I started working on one of his puzzles instead, which got his attention, and so we started talking about puzzles in general.

Then the puzzle contest happened; it was a two-fold Pick Your Poison competition. The first round you were stuck with KenKen (eh); either four 4x4 puzzles or 2 6x6. In the second round you could choose between a cryptic, a diagramless, and a split decision. The 6x6 KenKen I finished, but not very speedily; the cryptic was fun (by Cox and Rathvon) and apparently I was #42 to finish overall on that round. Of course since Tyler Hinman also chose 6x6 and cryptic....

Saturday: Ended up sitting next to people I had sat next to before (a father-daughter pair) and Erin McKean. Puzzle 1 went well (it was hard for a #1, I felt, but then it was Byron Walden). Puzzle 2 I liked, by BEQ of all people, and I think I would have voted it for puzzle of the tournament if we were doing it again this year (did they only have money for a constructor prize for one year?). Puzzle 3 was Merl, and it was what you would expect from that. I managed to talk myself out of a pun on this puzzle, causing my error. I don't know how you talk yourself out of a pun on a Merl puzzle, but I did.

Instead of lunch, I had a nap. (It was while I was falling asleep that I realized my error, actually.)

The afternoon found me in the same place with all the same neighbors. Puzzle four was by ACMe and Myles Callum; a straightforward puzzle with a straightforward theme. According to the results, a reasonably large number of people broke three minutes on this puzzle; I was not one of them. Puzzle 5 is what it is: the least amount of theme Will will let you get away with, non-straightforward cluing, etc. I got stung by one blind cross (I had thought I had seen the across clue and the down clue before and remembered the answers, but they were inconsistent. I went with the across, but the down was right) and the scoresheet says one other error that I will update when the scans are up because I don't know what it is. And then the palate-cleanser that is Maura. (Staying one minute off Tyler et al. on this puzzle makes me feel good.)

Instead of supper, I had a nap.

This night's entertainment was game-show themed: first there was Pliska and Chaneski's "Crossword Clue Family Feud" (they would give an answer and the teams on stage had to come up with the most popular clues in the last however many years of puzzles. Not a bad idea, the execution could have used a little work, and it ran about fifteen minutes too long. Then Stan Newman did his trivia game, which was interesting, even if, as he claimed, the point was to eliminate people as fast as possible. Last, the man himself had put together chain reaction (I was hoping for the main game, but it was the "Go" bonus round instead). After one memorable round of some hilarious, but painful, playing, Will pretty obviously stuck with choosing people he already knew and thought would do well, or at least two-out-of-three.

Sunday: somehow our row mostly reassembled itself, surprisingly (Lorinne who had been on the other side of Erin somewhere ended up across the aisle). In proof that flattery will get you everywhere, the father-daughter next to me actually asked me to solve a puzzle for them during the break and discuss how I tended to solve a puzzle, which I did. Nobody ever watches the C finals (we were all doing whichever version of the puzzle we wanted; I did the B version in 8:15). The B finals were pretty quick; after all, Dan F. was tied for the overall lead, had a huge head start and more-or-less demolished the puzzle. Dan Katz wasn't far behind; Len Elliott limped in for third with an error. And then the A finals. Yeah. No head start, for the first time ever. Some pretty hard clues. And the stereotypical Tyler win: you don't have to be first, if you can be right. I can kind of, but not really see, how they made the error (I've been desperate before too) but I would have thought that the right word would have been much easier to spot than the word they used. (I'm being vague just in case (a) anybody even reads this and (b) they want to do the puzzle later. This is probably very silly.)

Played some cards during the break. Then came the banquet, which was actually pretty good; it was a Food Network chef I've never heard of, but apparently has a show where he is booked to do banquets but isn't told about it. The story apparently is that he arrived at the hotel at 5am, told that he was cooking for a crossword tournament, and that each dish had to embody a cliche, which the top solvers had to guess from pictures. The food was good, ranging from pate to barbecued ribs, served buffet style. Probably the best banquet we've ever had at an ACPT.

Left and got to split a cab five ways to LGA. Sat around LGA for four hours; the AirTran board was all red delays/cancellations except for one, which conveniently was the flight to Newport News. I have no idea whether the Emory Symphony Orchestra, which somehow I got in the middle of during check-in, ever got back to Atlanta.