Poll
8 votes (30.76%) | |||
18 votes (69.23%) |
26 members have voted
Quote: SOOPOOIts official. David came in 4th place amongst all comers, and defended his Junior championship. He easily outdid Dr. Fill, and now is the proud owner of an "I beat Dr. Fill" button.
Yay for the locals! Gratz, Son of SOOPOO =)
Quote: SOOPOOIts official. David came in 4th place amongst all comers, and defended his Junior championship. He easily outdid Dr. Fill, and now is the proud owner of an "I beat Dr. Fill" button.
Nice! Looks like all of us over-estimated the computer's skills. Too bad you couldn't make a few bucks on the side :).
Quote: SOOPOOIts official. David came in 4th place amongst all comers, and defended his Junior championship. He easily outdid Dr. Fill, and now is the proud owner of an "I beat Dr. Fill" button.
Congratulations to David on his outstanding performance. Are there details about how Fill was programmed with the clues? Did an operator pre-load them prior to the actual start of the competition?
Quote: AhighAWESOME!
It is! And thanks! Considering how many people do crossword puzzles recreationally, probably more than most 'major sports', the denominator is quite high. Last year when he was 4th place I tried thinking who was the 4th best basketball player, 4th best actress, 4th best vocalist, etc.... Knowing my son is included in that list is remarkable. Hopefully when I visit for the Nickolay challenge i will be bringing good news. I'm giving him a 20% chance of making the top 3, and a 5% chance of winning it all......
Quote: SOOPOOIt is! And thanks! Considering how many people do crossword puzzles recreationally, probably more than most 'major sports', the denominator is quite high. Last year when he was 4th place I tried thinking who was the 4th best basketball player, 4th best actress, 4th best vocalist, etc.... ....
Bust top 3 and he's in Olympian territory. (I assume by analogy) No pressure!
Anyway, best of luck (and skill)!
Quote: rxwineBust top 3 and he's in Olympian territory. (I assume by analogy) No pressure!
Anyway, best of luck (and skill)!
The top 3 get cash, too. $5,000 for first place. I can't remeber 2nd and 3rd, but I think it is maybe $1000 and $500 or something like that.
Quote: teddys
Thanks for the link, Teddy. I am in NYC now, as today is the first day of the NY Times Crossword championship, also called the American Crossword puzzle championship. David is probably starting the event now. There are 6 puzzles today, and I will update the forum on his ranking after the end of day. I won't be seeing him until after the final written puzzle tomorrow morning. If he finishes in the top 3 then he gets to be on stage and try for the $5,000 first prize. I made the odds 20% on him making top 3, then 5% on winning it all. He is probably 90% at retaining his junior title, and 90% at retaining his regional title (he is listed as being from the 'south', as he is in school in Mississippi).
Quote: BuzzardGo DAVID Go !
After the first of 7 puzzles, David is in an 11 way tie for first place. The three competitors who beat him last year are in that same tied grouping.
I know the Jeopardy champions work on speed button pressing and who knows what else.
Is he going to enter again next year?
Quote: rxwineI wonder how much better the couple top people really are? Maybe they just honed a few extra tricks. Why if you write a letter with one less pencil stroke you potentially shave off time incrementally filling out puzzles so you could move on to the next one.
I know the Jeopardy champions work on speed button pressing and who knows what else.
Is he going to enter again next year?
He is entering this year. The competition is March 8 and 9 in Brooklyn, NY. If any WoV member is interested in attending the finals, they are doing the final puzzle on Sunday around 11am. I'll be there David thinks he has improved enough that he has a chance for the World Championship. He still is eligible for the under 25 title, which he has won the last 3 years. The best he has done in the overall competition, 2 years ago, was 4th place overall. It seemed like the top 3 were a notch above the other competitors, but David feels he has closed the gap, and with some positive variance he thinks he can win.
For those who want to see him in action, check out his victorious puzzling by googling 'David Plotkin crossword'..
He is also a world class triviaologist, and I will be trying to get him to match wits with the Wiz one day.
Quote: SOOPOOI'm leaving for NYC tomorrow morning. I will post his results on Monday when I get back. Between last post and now, David informed me that his school, University of Florida, won some regional trivia contest, and has qualified for a national competition that will be held in Portland, Oregon. He gets to go all expenses paid. He has beaten the computer both times it has entered the crossword competition. Anyway, lets hope variance is on his side this weekend!
Good luck to Son of SOOPOO. Will you be coming out to Portland for the trivia contest?
Son of SOOPOO finished 8th overall, 2nd in the under 25 y/o, and first in the 'south'. His best year was 4th overall. His goal is to crack the top 3, which gets you into a one puzzle playoff, where anything is possible. The champion, now 4 years in a row, seems to be light years better than the rest.
Unfortunately the competition has been moved to Stamford Connecticut, from Brooklyn, to save money. I went last year, but have chosen to go to Vegas this year instead. Which casino will be taking action.....?
Quote: dummyArthur Wynne will not be attending.
I was not aware of who he was until I wikipediaed him. Coincidentally, Mr. Wynne first lived in Pittsburgh at age 19. A century later David was in Pittsburgh at Carnegie Mellon University. Maybe the karma will propel him to victory.
He also competes in some grad school trivia contests, and once again he led his team to a place in the nationals. That contest will be in Minnesota this year.... I will keep the forum informed.....
I regret not going to Stamford last year and will not make that mistake again. Leaving on Friday to hopefully get to watch him on stage on Sunday.
He has beaten Dr. Fill every year by the way.
Wish my boy luck......
Quote: SOOPOOIts that time of year again. David is coming off a 3rd place finish last year and is hoping to make it to the finals (top 3) again. The two competitors who bested him last year are big favorites over him. The winner, Erik Agaard, is younger than David and had what is likely the best performance ever on the final puzzle last year to crush David and the second place competitor. I would make Erik a 1-5 favorite.
I regret not going to Stamford last year and will not make that mistake again. Leaving on Friday to hopefully get to watch him on stage on Sunday.
He has beaten Dr. Fill every year by the way.
Wish my boy luck......
Massive good luck wishes! I hope he gets a good rail all the way to the finals and at least challenges Erik for the win. Maybe you both (mom Soopoo) could come up with another video this year?
Go David Go!
https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/local/amp/Jeopardy-champ-Erik-Agard-to-compete-for-second-13709895.php
Good luck, David!
Edit: after 2 puzzles, David is tied for 3rd.
Direct link to current results
Quote: BozThe bastard should be disqualified for having Kaepernick looking hair. F him, Go David!
I'm there. Erik is a very nice young man. It is hard to root against him. (But I will!). The above analysis is correct. Erik has to beat David by two minutes in the 7th puzzle or David is virtually assured of third place going into the finals. And only the top three make the finals. Maybe this is David's year!
Quote: beachbumbabsMassive good luck wishes! I hope he gets a good rail all the way to the finals and at least challenges Erik for the win. Maybe you both (mom Soopoo) could come up with another video this year?
David told me that there will be a quasi official video uploaded to YouTube sometime after tomorrow's finals.
From a Twitter feed, it looks like Dan Feyer took on all comers with no problem to win the title, with Joon Pahk (who qualified second) second and David third.
I keep reminding him that he is not 3rd place out of 800, but 3rd place out of the billion or so English speakers on the planet.
Son of SOOPOO has done me and his mother proud.
Is there an age cutoff for this? How long can he participate?
Quote: GWAEIs there an age cutoff for this? How long can he participate?
According to the results, there were 15 competitors 80 or order. In fact, the eighth-place finisher is in his sixties.
Too bad he wasn't doing this 20 years or so ago, when there was a $10,000 (winner-take-all) "Random House Crossword Challenge."
It worked something like this:
You bought a book for about $20 (in 1996 dollars, mind you) that contained 50 crossword puzzles - 49 of them were something like 15x15, and the last one was New York Times Sunday level. You also had to figure out a 98-letter message that consisted of two letters from each of the first 49 puzzles, but the instructions didn't say how they were determined. The book also had the solutions to the first 49 puzzles, which seemed strange for a contest.
Did I say "solutions"? Not exactly; each solution had one square with the wrong letter. Both the right and wrong letters in that square were the two letters from that puzzle used in that message. The message said to find a particular-length word in the final puzzle grid (treating it like a word search puzzle), remove two letters, and anagram the rest to form a famous name, then to call a phone number with the answer. I think something like 70 people got the answer; they were sent a tiebreaker puzzle, but with the Down clues arranged alphabetically and without numbers. From there, there was a second tiebreaker puzzle, this time with the Across clues unnumbered; when nobody got it, they were told which of the Across clues had seven-letter answers, then which ones had three-letter answers, then a couple of more clues; three people finally got the answer. However, there does not appear any mention anywhere online as to what happened after that, although I think there was a conference call between the finalists and the book's author.
Quote: GWAE3RD is great but I am sure he is disappointed. Maybe next year will be his year.
Is there an age cutoff for this? How long can he participate?
He is NOT disappointed! The two who finished ahead of him are just better, Dan by a lot and Joon by a little. And Erik is the best of them all I think and over time will have the results to prove it. He just made a mistake on the first easy puzzle because he was trying to be the first ever to successfully do that one in less than two minutes. So it was bad strategy and an unnecessary risk. His second error came because he knew he needed to top David by two minutes on puzzle 7 and had nothing to lose.
Anyway, David just aims to be in contention to be in the final 3, and has done so in 3 of the last 4 years. He really has not been close to second on the big stage any of the 3 years. So I would not say he is disappointed. But of course he wants to win.
There is no age limit. But like most 'athletic'? events like this you need a little experience to be your best, then after a certain age your mind slows down. David (29) probably has a few more years to improve. But Erik is younger than David, and Joon is pretty young too. David 'trains' year round, as do the other top competitors.
Who knows what the future will bring, but next year the competition may move back to NYC. If it does, I hope to have a WoV cheering section for him!
Quote: SOOPOOHe is NOT disappointed!
That is good to hear. I am sure you are incredibly proud of him.
My daughter has finished 5th in the world twice in a much smaller competition and it is incredibly satisfying.
Fwiw, the poll question: David beat Dr. Fill, the computer. I think it placed 11th or something.
I keep meaning to ask. When they get to the final puzzle, do the 3 start from zero? Or do their preliminary scores carry over?
Quote: beachbumbabsHuge congrats to David! Outstanding result!
Fwiw, the poll question: David beat Dr. Fill, the computer. I think it placed 11th or something.
I keep meaning to ask. When they get to the final puzzle, do the 3 start from zero? Or do their preliminary scores carry over?
Preliminary scores carry over a teeny bit. David started the last puzzle 12 seconds after Dan and 2 seconds after Joon.
SP, do you think there are things that can be done to raise his performance via training? For example, reading more, doing reflex, hand-eye type things, memorizing past puzzles and clues, etc.; or do you believe that David is at his peak potential for this contest?
Quote: AyecarumbaCongratulations to David on a podium finish. Amazing work.
SP, do you think there are things that can be done to raise his performance via training? For example, reading more, doing reflex, hand-eye type things, memorizing past puzzles and clues, etc.; or do you believe that David is at his peak potential for this contest?
David does train year round. He does puzzles on line for most of the year to get practice with clues/answers. As it gets closer to the contest he adds paper puzzles because that is the format of the contest. Rather than saying 'memorizing' clues I'd say the top puzzlers 'familiarize' themselves with common letter combinations. If you do enough puzzles you know Yoko is ONO. ALAI follows Jai. And Boston is ENE from NYC. And lord help you if you do not know what a EWER is... Etc.....