Springbrook with Connie and Tom

Connie and Tom, Floating Decks

C.C. & Connie

Tom & C.C., 5/4/2023

 

Andrea Carla Michaels MN Visit Oct 2021

Tom Pepper, Andrea Carla Michaels, C.C.

 

So tall!

Andrea's Childhood Home

  Oct 5, 2021

Andrea Carla Michaels MN Visit May 2021

 

Boomer, C.C., Tom Pepper, Andrea Carla Michaels

May 26, 2021

Andrea's childhood home

Mears Park, St. Paul

Terri, Boomer, Tom and C.C.

Boomer and Tom,

6/22/2019

Minnesota Constructors Gathering (2017)

Dec 3, 2017 Sunday

Seated, L to R:  C.C. Burnikel, Theresa Horan (Teedmn), Kathy Jaschke (LAT debut earlier this year)

Standing:  George Barany, Tariq Samad (Cryptics constructor), Stew Lelievr (been to the ACPT for about 20 years straight), Andrew Sand, Amy Bemis, Jay Kaskel, David Hanson (Rosebud), Marcia Brott, Christopher Adams, Victor Barocas and Tom Pepper

Picture from Tom Pepper, who also gave me the extra info on constructors. Thanks, Tom!

The Sixth Minnesota Crossword Tournament

Left to right: George Barany, Jeffrey Wechsler,Victor Barocas, David Hanson, C.C., Andrew J. Ries, Chris Adams, Tom Pepper &  David Liben-Nowell

Left to right: George Barany, Jeffrey Wechsler,Victor Barocas, David Hanson, Andrew J. Ries, Chris Adams, Tom Pepper &  David Liben-Nowell

 

The beautiful Landmark Center

  David Liben-Nowell and Tom Pepper 

Victor Barocas & George Barany 

Tom Pepper and Marcia Brott

Jeffrey Wechsler & George Barany

C.C. & Tom

Boomer and Peppermint Patty

Entryway to the St. Paul Hotel

Tournament Notes:

Final result: Marcia Brott's team won the Team champions. Alyssa Mondelli is the Amateur Division champion and Carl Voss is the Expert champion.  Congratulations to all the winners!

Thanks to Victor for his tireless work editing all the puzzles, esp for helping me with my theme. His puzzle this year is very clever, like all his puzzles. 

Andrea Carla Michaels and Mark McClain (not present) made another smooth puzzle despite some difficult letter combos. Andrea is coming to MN next week and I look forward our lake walk.

George and Chris elevated a common puzzle gimmick. Wonderful local tie-in.

David Hanson's puzzle has a tight and consistent theme set. Great title too. Ages ago, David used to comment on our blog as Rosebud.

Andy's theme is lovely. Sparkly theme entries, fill and thoughtful clues.

Jeffrey the Artist was busy working, but we had a few quick spurts of chat. He's truly passionate about puzzle making and constantly challenges himself.

David Liben-Nowell's puzzle is another masterpiece. Just amazing!

Tom's puzzle is a crowd-pleaser. Incredibly clean (his trademark). One solver walked up to him afterwards marveling at the middle theme answer.

Andrew's themeless has a gorgeous stagger stack. He also had the tough job of writing three different sets of clues for the finals.

Thanks to the Friends of the St. Paul Public Library for hosting this event every year. Thank you, Liz, all the sponsors and volunteers!

Thanks to Argyle & D-Otto for test-solving my puzzle and giving me constructive feedback. I love you guys!

The Fifth Minnesota Crossword Tournament

David Liben-Nowell, Cathy Long (David's friend), Tom Pepper, Jeffrey Wechsler, David Hanson & C.C. 

Tom, Jeffrey and C.C.

Victor & Eric Maddy

C.C. & Eric

David & Victor

C.C. & Tom Pepper

David Hanson,Victor Barocas, C.C. & Andrew J. Ries

David Liben-Nowell& Andrew J. Ries

David Bael, Marcia and Tom

Victor & Andrew

Lisa Odom (Friend of Andrea Carla Michaels) & C.C.

Marcia

David Liben-Nowell, Cathy Long (David's friend) &  Tom Pepper

Boomer