A New King of Crossword

A New King of Crossword

This past weekend the Brooklyn Marriott was swarmed with some of the fastest crossword puzzlers in the country, all competing to win the coveted first place in the 33rd Annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament.

Dan Feyer, who’s been working his way up the rankings over the past couple years (he took first place in the C division in 2008 and first in the B division last year) is this year’s winner, not only taking home a hefty prize of $5,000, but also relieving five-time champion Tyler Hinman.

Hinman, though undoubtedly disappointed at his standing in fourth place, seems to be taking the defeat well. On his web site tylerhinman.com he wrote, “Congratulations to Dan Feyer for what was frankly a ludicrously dominant performance. Those who say my five-peat will never be duplicated may want to cool their jets.”

On his own blog SoDanDoesNotBlog.blogspot.com, Feyer wrote brief entries each day of the tournament, sharing on Friday his predictions for the weekend (including that he wouldn’t win), and on Sunday, “It’s over, and I won. Yay!”

Congratulations to Dan and the rest of the winners, and good luck next year!