Puzzlers duel it out — on paper

Annual competition pits crossword, sudoku enthusiasts

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/MELISSA SUE GERRITS - 04/26/15 - NPR host David Miller, left, and veteran crossword contestant Sharum Dinning, work on a puzzle during the annual Crossword and Sudoku Puzzle event contest April 26, 2015 at the Clinton School.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/MELISSA SUE GERRITS - 04/26/15 - NPR host David Miller, left, and veteran crossword contestant Sharum Dinning, work on a puzzle during the annual Crossword and Sudoku Puzzle event contest April 26, 2015 at the Clinton School.

The winner of the crossword competition at the eighth annual Arkansas Puzzle Day festival Sunday was decided when Ellen Brantley made her last pencil strokes and raised her hand just moments before the second-place finisher.

Though it turned out that Brantley made an error and left a box blank while writing the word "open-ended," her biggest competition, Wes Lacewell, made a similar mistake.

They both finished with 95 out of 100 points, and Brantley was awarded first place thanks to her speed.

Soon after the competition ended, Brantley told Lacewell, "Well, thank you for making the same mistake."

"I know Wes, and he's a really good solver. He's really fast," said Brantley, a former Pulaski County Circuit Court judge.

"I was scared that he was going to finish before me, because he usually does. So, when I finished, I just left it. I missed that 'E'."

A few dozen puzzle enthusiasts gathered at the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service on Sunday afternoon to test their speed and accuracy in completing either crosswords or sudoku.

Participants were given the same crossword or sudoku and had 20 minutes to complete them. In an out-of-sight room, judges scored the puzzles as they came in, deducting five points for every incorrect letter or number. Competitors went through four rounds of increasing difficulty before the finalists were announced.

Bethany Levi of Little Rock took first place in the sudoku competition. It was either the fifth or sixth time she's taken the top prize in sudoku since the Puzzle Day festival started in 2007, she said.

"I had no idea that I did it fast," Levi said. "I just did it at home, back when I had a very young daughter and it was something that I could do quickly. I had no idea I was fast until I came to the first competition."

Sunday's event was the first time Puzzle Day was held in conjunction with the Arkansas Literary Festival, which was Thursday through Sunday in Little Rock.

As part of the literary festival, novelist David Rosenfelt talked to a packed room at the Clinton School on Sunday about his experience writing novels and several made-for-TV movies.

Right after his presentation and book signing, the room cleared out, and Puzzle Day competitors took their seats.

During the 20-minute rounds, competitors leaned over their puzzles scribbling answers as fast as they could. Between rounds, they chatted about the difficulty of each puzzle.

"Puzzle enthusiasts, like any other enthusiasts, they're people who like to get together with their tribe," said Vic Fleming, a Little Rock District Court judge who helps organize the event. "It's about just getting together and having fun and having a common experience."

Fleming said he's had a "puzzle-making mentality" since he was young, when his mother suggested he do crosswords as good brain exercise, he said. Fleming now creates crosswords, and 44 of them have been published in The New York Times.

Before the final round Sunday, Fleming asked his fellow puzzle enthusiasts why they attended the event.

"It's enjoyable to sit here around other people who enjoy doing the same thing," answered Barbara Crabb of Cabot. "It's just fun."

Metro on 04/27/2015

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