Crossword Tourney & April Fools' Day video
Brand new Hollywood scandal crossword!
In this newsletter:
American Crossword Puzzle Tournament Wrap-Up
Magic on CBS Mornings: Video
“Midnight” Enigmas!
Upcoming appearances
Crossword Puzzle: “Hollywood scandal”
American Crossword Puzzle Tournament Wrap-Up
Well, simply put, I had the BEST time at the ACPT. It had been 14 years since my last visit. Now I have to figure out how to work this into my travels every March!
Friday night began with some fun warm up puzzles. There was a Word Spiral, Split Decisions and a Cryptic. Will Shortz offered a prize for whomever finished each puzzle first. The Cryptic was a lovely puzzle by Bob Stigger provided by Games World of Puzzles. You can try it here. Now let’s talk about Paolo Pasco, last year’s ACPT champion. He finished both the Word Spiral and the Cryptic before anyone finished one of them. I think the total time was about 5 minutes — 1 minute for the Spiral and 4 for the Cryptic. Insane.
Saturday was solving day. Did I compete? No way! I solved leisurely in the back of the room. But had I competed, I would have placed about 350th in the country.
One of the best parts of the ACPT is hanging out and playing late night word games. There were some epic Codenames battles and countless rounds of Q Less. This is a great solitaire word game if you’re looking to stretch your brain in idle moments or simply don’t like talking to people at social events.
Sunday was my performance. And let me tell you, this was one of the best shows I’ve ever had. My people! Usually I come out with my Scrabble K mug and I say, "Does anyone know what the K stands for?" I usually get a few 'Kwongs' before, after a beat, I say, "It stands for Potassium," which is pleasantly met with groans. But on at the ACPT I said, "Does anyone know what the K stands for?" and twenty people yelled "Potassium" before I could open my mouth to say anything else. It was the best!
I performed almost all the magic pieces from The Enigmatist and added a mind-reading trick, which I performed on Greg Pliska’s son, Nicky. Unfortunately, I’ve broken his brain forever. I also included a “mean tweets” section in the show, reading some of the best/worst comments and direct emails (!) I received about my Art Heist puzzle. This was perhaps my favorite:
Reddit User: PassengerDangerous23
THIS ONE THO was pure ass booty
The finals did not disappoint. The A Bracket finals was an incredible showdown between Will Nediger, Dan Feyer and Paolo Pasco. Dan has won the tournament a record nine times and won six tournaments in a row from 2010-2015. Paolo won the tournament last year. Paolo and Will were tied going into the finals and were give a several second head start over Dan. This would prove to be essential, as Dan and Will virtually finished at the same time! The judges had to go to the tape to review who definitively declared they were done first. It was Will by a split second. But Paolo finished before both of them, claiming his second consecutive title. He completed the puzzle in just under four minutes. Which is bananas!
Here’s the video of the entire day of the finals. I’ve cued up the aforementioned A Bracket. Enjoy!
And a big congrats to the genius Paolo Pasco!
CBS Mornings Video
We all know April Fools’ Day is a national holiday for magicians. I wanted to share the video from my appearance a few weeks ago. It features a coin trick that young (and young at heart) magicians can do at home, plus a brand new (and if I dare say, diabolical) sleight of hand trick. A big shoutout to the cleverest magician John Stessel who is the evil genius who came up with this trick!
“Midnights” and signed “How to Fool Your Parents”
I love these cards too much and had to post about them again. These are the brand new Puzzle Hunt playing cards in the “Midnight” color scheme, the third color in the series. You can grab a deck here or shoot me an email.
For the uninitiated, these cards are themed on the Riverbank Estate, the bizarre early-twentieth-century location from my one-man show, The Enigmatist. As always, I’ve included the four original puzzle hunt cards. Solve these puzzles and unlock an expertly crafted Puzzle Hunt by Dave Shukan!
And as always, signed How to Fool Your Parents copies available here or email me to order.
Upcoming Appearances
I’m working on bringing The Enigmatist to Toronto in June. I’ll announce that shortly!
London! Hoping to get to you this fall. More soon here as well 🐰
New Crossword: Hollywood Scandal
Conjurors and cruciverbalists, it’s brand new crossword time! This one is inspired by the latest foofaraw in Tinsel Town. It’s a Thursday difficulty level. Solve it here, and please let me know what you think in the comments! Subscribe for an original crossword each newsletter!
Events
Interested in booking me for your next event? More info here on private parties, corporate speaking & performances and team-building puzzle hunts.
Let the record show I shouted that K stands for KELVIN!
It was so good meeting you IRL finally, and yes that final was bananas!
Great CBS appearance! Loved the "In the money trick!
'Amy from the HS Library