American Crossword Puzzle Tournament

Don Christensen The winner, Erik Agard (c) with final puzzle constructor Sam Ezersky (l) and Will Shortz (r)

Congratulations! Erik Agard Dan Feyer David Plotkin Joon Pahk Tyler Hinman Andy Kravis Francis Heaney Stella Zawistowski Emily O'Neill Kiran Kedlaya See Results by Rank B division Marie desJardins Andrew Ries Ken Crowell Full B Division Results C division Adam Doctoroff (Rookie) Kyle Mahowald Jenna LaFleur (Rookie) Full C Division Results See left panel for all results.

Capsule History

Year 41 • 2018 • 674 contestants

Richard Rogan, the crossword editor of The Times of London, spoke on Friday night. A cryptic crossword competition, with puzzles made by Rogan (U.K.) and Rich Silvestri (U.S.), was won by Catherine Cevoli and Jon Delfin, respectively. On Saturday night Max and Emy Zener performed a 10-minute comedy, "Two Puzzles Walk Into a Bar," introduced by the playwright, Donna Hoke. Nancy Salomon was awarded the 3rd "MEmoRiaL" prize. HBO filmed the tournament for the program "Real Sports," slated to air in May. In a stunning "A" division final, 24-year-old Erik Agard defeated defending champion Dan Feyer in a record time of 4 minutes 58 seconds.

Will Shortz

Capsule history of all previous years.

Social Media

Email the webmaster if you want a link to your blog, images, videos, etc. included

Wordplay - the crossword column of the New York Times - written by Deb Amlen

Facebook: American Crossword Puzzle Tournament Attendees

Twitter: #ACPT | #ACPT2018

Blogs

• Horace Fawley — ACPT - Special Report!
• Andrew Ries — ACPT Recap

YouTube

• Ben Zimmer: 2018 Division A Finals
• Matt Ginsberg: Saturday Night Merl Reagle MEmoRiaL award - Nancy Salomon | Talent Show, Part 1 | Talent Show, Part 2 | C Finals | B Finals | A Finals

Solving Perfection

The following 76 contestants solved all 7 puzzles with no mistakes.

Sue Adams, Erik Agard, Matthew Besse, Laura Braunstein, Patty Buethe, Kevan Choset, Frank Colangelo, Kathy Conarck, Paul Coulter, Ken Crowell, Jon Delfin, Jon Delfin, Marie desJardins, Adam Doctoroff, Sam Donaldson, David Eckert, JRP Edwards, Alex Egervary, Steve Feldman, Dan Feyer, Stephen Fineman, Jeff Frank, Randy Guggenheimer, Craig Harman, David Harris, Travis Hime, Tyler Hinman, Will Irving, Josh Knapp, Jeffrey Krasnick, Andy Kravis, Robbie Kubala, Jenna LaFleur, Jeff Levinson, Frank Longo, Kyle Mahowald, Brian McCarthy, Robin Morrissey, Jonathan Olsen, Emily O'Neill, Joon Pahk, Michael Paleos, Doug Peterson, Kelly Petitt, Greg Pliska, David Plotkin, Ira Rashbaum, Arnold Reich, Maureen Rekrut, Andrew Ries, Peter Rimkus, Ellen Ripstein, Meredith Rosoff, Dawn Ross, Dan Sadoff, Matt Sandler, Hollie Schmidt, Dan Seabolt, Roberta Strauss, Andrew Sullivan, Tom Tabanao, Rob Tricchinelli, Melissa Tsai, Jennifer Turney, Finn Vigeland, Finn Vigeland, Nikolas Wada, Kevin Wald, Lawrence Wasser, Lawrence Wasser, Katie Weir, Thomas Weisswange, Thomas Weisswange, John Wilson, John Wilson, Stella Zawistowski.

In the News

• Puzzle Lovers Find Their Tribe at a Crossword Tournament Deb Amlen, The New York Times [March 26, 2018]

Constructors

Learn more about this year's Puzzlemakers.

Officials — 2018