The final results for this year's ACPT:
My rank: 215 out of 655. Approximately 68th percentile, up about 10% from 2010. I continue to improve my performance even though I didn't really train as much as I'd intended. My brother nosed me out, finishing 203rd overall, and Ma improved to 608th, the highest she's finished since I started coming. My score puts me at 49th for the New York City region.![[info]]()
agrumer thinks I should add "top 50 competitive crossword solver in NYC" to my resume. I'm thinking about it.
Happily, while I finished only 6 of the seven puzzles, my completed puzzles were all clean, and the portion of puzzle 5 I finished was also all clean. So I think I have accuracy nailed down. Now I have to build speed. My solving strategy to date has involved reviewing each clue in order, acrosses first, then downs, on the first pass, so that going forward I (at least in theory) have seen all the clues at least once. (For puzzle 5, I knew I was in trouble when the first clue I could fill in was 76 Across in the lower right corner...) I will need to see if I can lower my times by adopting a more flexible approach. I did a little of that in the tournament, not waiting to finish my initial run-through to fix mistakes in the acrosses that I find on the first pass through the downs.
I also think I can trust my instincts a bit more in knowing when to turn in the puzzle. I kept three puzzles a bit longer to review them especially carefully and crossed the minute line in the process. The time scores are calculated by whole minutes, so 16:05 left on the clock is by the rules one minute more than 15:59. I could have finished ten or fifteen places higher in the standings if I had those three minutes.
I would not have posed a threat to Dan Feyer's successful title defense, however. To give you an idea how scary the guy is, the puzzle for the three top division finals is the same grid, with three progressively harder sets of clues. For example, one answer is VIM. The Division C clue is "Liveliness," the Division B clue is "Moxie," and the Division A clue is "Drive" (much more ambiguous). The A clues are all like that, ambiguous, obscure or worse.
Dan Feyer solved the puzzle with the A clues perfectly in six and a half minutes.
This is what I'm up against.
My goal for next year: break the top 200, and finish puzzle 5.
My rank: 215 out of 655. Approximately 68th percentile, up about 10% from 2010. I continue to improve my performance even though I didn't really train as much as I'd intended. My brother nosed me out, finishing 203rd overall, and Ma improved to 608th, the highest she's finished since I started coming. My score puts me at 49th for the New York City region.
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=87.3)
agrumer thinks I should add "top 50 competitive crossword solver in NYC" to my resume. I'm thinking about it.Happily, while I finished only 6 of the seven puzzles, my completed puzzles were all clean, and the portion of puzzle 5 I finished was also all clean. So I think I have accuracy nailed down. Now I have to build speed. My solving strategy to date has involved reviewing each clue in order, acrosses first, then downs, on the first pass, so that going forward I (at least in theory) have seen all the clues at least once. (For puzzle 5, I knew I was in trouble when the first clue I could fill in was 76 Across in the lower right corner...) I will need to see if I can lower my times by adopting a more flexible approach. I did a little of that in the tournament, not waiting to finish my initial run-through to fix mistakes in the acrosses that I find on the first pass through the downs.
I also think I can trust my instincts a bit more in knowing when to turn in the puzzle. I kept three puzzles a bit longer to review them especially carefully and crossed the minute line in the process. The time scores are calculated by whole minutes, so 16:05 left on the clock is by the rules one minute more than 15:59. I could have finished ten or fifteen places higher in the standings if I had those three minutes.
I would not have posed a threat to Dan Feyer's successful title defense, however. To give you an idea how scary the guy is, the puzzle for the three top division finals is the same grid, with three progressively harder sets of clues. For example, one answer is VIM. The Division C clue is "Liveliness," the Division B clue is "Moxie," and the Division A clue is "Drive" (much more ambiguous). The A clues are all like that, ambiguous, obscure or worse.
Dan Feyer solved the puzzle with the A clues perfectly in six and a half minutes.
This is what I'm up against.
My goal for next year: break the top 200, and finish puzzle 5.