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Report from the crossword tournament
Mar. 28th, 2011 03:12 amWell, no, it's more of a report not from the crossword tournament. I've finally finished the crosswords (I was brought copies; I did several of them a few nights ago, and a few more just now). The long and short of it is that, thanks to my rather stupidly leaving a couple of empty squares in one of the puzzles, my score would have been 10,910 points, which would put me at 46th. The last time I attended, in 2004, I placed 64th, so I suppose to my surprise I've actually improved significantly.
On the other hand, if I hadn't made that mistake, my score would have been 11,175, which would put me at 29th. That sounds good, but it's 9th place in the B division, which lines up pretty much exactly with one of my main reasons for not going to the tournament: I expect to place high enough that I'll never drop from the Bs to the Cs, but low enough that I'll never be one of the top three in the Bs and thus rise to the As. (You have to not be in the top 20% for three years running to drop from the Bs to the Cs, and 46th is certainly in the top 20%. Being in the top three in the Bs means the excitement of solving in front of everyone on the Big Boards, as well as the chance to win almost as much as you paid to register. Well, OK, if you come in first, the prize money actually is higher than the registration fee. Not the registration fee plus a night in the hotel, mind you.)
Of course, who knows what "tournament conditions" would do to my times, but I suspect the answer is "not all that much". Maybe some day if they change the way the divisions work, or if I get a whole lot faster, or if I win the lottery, it'll start looking worthwhile again to attend. Until then, I'm happy to stick with the MIT Mystery Hunt and the NPL convention as my weekend puzzle gatherings for the year.
On the other hand, if I hadn't made that mistake, my score would have been 11,175, which would put me at 29th. That sounds good, but it's 9th place in the B division, which lines up pretty much exactly with one of my main reasons for not going to the tournament: I expect to place high enough that I'll never drop from the Bs to the Cs, but low enough that I'll never be one of the top three in the Bs and thus rise to the As. (You have to not be in the top 20% for three years running to drop from the Bs to the Cs, and 46th is certainly in the top 20%. Being in the top three in the Bs means the excitement of solving in front of everyone on the Big Boards, as well as the chance to win almost as much as you paid to register. Well, OK, if you come in first, the prize money actually is higher than the registration fee. Not the registration fee plus a night in the hotel, mind you.)
Of course, who knows what "tournament conditions" would do to my times, but I suspect the answer is "not all that much". Maybe some day if they change the way the divisions work, or if I get a whole lot faster, or if I win the lottery, it'll start looking worthwhile again to attend. Until then, I'm happy to stick with the MIT Mystery Hunt and the NPL convention as my weekend puzzle gatherings for the year.