Hello from Stamford, Conn. I’m here at the 2018 American Crossword Puzzle Tournament — hanging out with friends, eating, drinking at the bar, complaining about puzzles, and solving a few puzzles, too. Not necessarily in that order … okay, fine, exactly in that order. I won’t make any predictions about who the top three finishers of the A division will be; there are too many strong contenders and there are always surprises. As for me, I’d like to improve on my finish from last year but I don’t feel I’ve become appreciably faster as a solver since then, and plenty of other solvers could easily outrace me. So my goal is always the same: Finish all the puzzles in time, don’t make any mistakes, and most of all, just have fun. By the time you read this post, hopefully we’ll know if I’ve met my goal. The having fun part is a given, though. You can follow the standings here.

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