Hundreds Across, Few Down at Crossword Meet

For some, the thought of taking a timed test under exam pressure is enough to rattle nerves. Over the weekend, several hundred verbally inclined enthusiasts gathered to do so for fun at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, which had its largest attendance in its 31-year history.

"It's a lot of fun for word nerds," the crossword editor of The New York Sun, Peter Gordon, who finished third in the "B" division, said. Finalists stood before easels completing puzzles large enough for the audience to see. In the tournament's most talked-about match, Tyler Hinman, sporting a red Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute baseball cap, clinched the top "A" division title for a fourth consecutive time, which set a record, after a Floridian, Trip Payne, completed his puzzle first but had two letters wrong. "The puzzle was incredibly hard but fair," Mr. Hinman said.

In order to solve tough puzzles, one needs "a certain flexibility of mind," another crossword solver, Katherine Bryant, a Massachusetts-based editor of science textbooks for middle schools, said.

Although crosswords tend to be a solitary endeavor, the annual conclave was noticeably gregarious, attracting many leading puzzle solvers. "If you think you're pretty good, this is the place to come," the New York Times crossword puzzle editor, Will Shortz, the founder and director of the gathering, said.

While competition remains serious, humor abounded on and off the checkerboard page. The audience roared during the finals when Mr. Hinman wrote "beats me" in jest when he was temporarily stumped. Contestants enjoyed a Maura Jacobson puzzle on Saturday that contained phrases the cartoon character Elmer Fudd might have uttered. The answer to a clue for parakeet noise in the Netherlands, for example, was "Dutch tweet."

Merl Reagle's puzzle featured words that sounded as though they should mean something else. "Pigmentation" was the answer to a clue for a word meaning the transformation of people into swine.

Mr. Reagle, who helped offer play-by-play analysis over the loudspeaker at the finals yesterday, has constructed other puzzles around themes such as operas that would be popular if they were made for dogs. "Down, Giovanni" and "Poochini" are examples.

Mr. Reagle said there has been a trend away from obscure references in puzzles to ones with more contemporary idioms, such as "gas guzzler." A retired investment counselor, Norman Davis of Englewood, N.J., told the Sun that clues referring to the latest television stars or rock groups can stump him.

Each puzzler has areas that are weaker than others: A former Hunter College student, Angela Halsted, who now resides in Iowa City, Iowa, said certain geography clues can give her pause. "I need to study my rivers," she said.

Between puzzle solving sessions, she and a throng of others visited tables that sold fare such as crosswords emblazoned on items ranging from umbrellas to mouse pads. Vic Fleming sold crossword puzzle shirts that came with a disclaimer written, of course, in puzzle form.

Robert Mackey of Eatontown, N.J., was blogging about the tournament for thePuzzleBrothers.com. He said that while most people have problems in their daily lives that they are unable to solve, crosswords are a release from that. "With luck, hope, and knowledge, a crossword puzzle can be solved," he said.