Free crossword tournament set for Southold library
What’s a 14-letter word for someone who likes crossword puzzles? If you know the answer, or even if you don’t, word nerds who love sitting down with a pencil and their weekly Suffolk Times can enter Southold Free Library’s inaugural East End Crossword Tournament.
The free event, slated for Saturday, March 14, is organized by the library’s special projects manager Anakin Jackson Mignone, teen services librarian Penny Kelley, and Greenport Harbor Brewing Company head brewer and trivia host Sean Galligan.
Mr. Galligan, a self-proclaimed crossword fanatic, developed the event with Mr. Mignone after attending the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament the past three years, with plans to enter the next contest again in April.
“This is just kind of a more informal way for people who are not necessarily super competitive speed solvers to have fun with word play,” Mr. Galligan said of the tournament in Southold.
Mr. Galligan was inspired to compete in the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, directed by New York Times puzzle whiz Will Shortz, by his girlfriend Sam Cicchetti. The two complete The New York Times’ Games puzzles most days, and when he spotted the tournament ad on the back of a puzzle book — he just had to go. Ms. Cicchetti reluctantly went with him to the tournament, which she joked as having an atmosphere equivalent to an SAT session.
He has continued to hone his crossword-solving skills on the The New York Times Games app, and is working on trimming the time it takes to fill in all the answers to the Gray Lady’s Monday puzzle to under three minutes.
“Really the only issue there is I just can’t type that fast,” Mr. Galligan said. “But if I were to do one of those on paper, I could do it in maybe four minutes.”
Content in crossword puzzles has become a bit more pop-culture focused than previous iterations’ more academic focus, Mr. Galligan said. Geography clues are another commonly-used question in puzzles, he added.
“[There’s] a lot of geographical stuff I wouldn’t know otherwise,” Mr. Galligan said. “One I think about a lot is Iloilo, which is a place in the Philippines I would not know if not for crosswords.”
For the library’s tournament, competitors will complete public domain-sourced mini, midi and full-size puzzles. All participants will retain the opportunity to improve their ranking as the tournament progresses as no one will ever be fully eliminated.
In the final round, the three top scorers will complete a 15-by-15 puzzle on a whiteboard easel in the library’s second-floor teen room. It will be streamed online, Mr. Mignone said.
Prizes include a finalist T-shirt for those in the top three, library merchandise and a New York Times crossword puzzle book. The top finisher will get a custom-engraved mechanical pencil in a custom box with a plaque commemorating their tournament win. The winner’s photo will be hung up in the library alongside a plaque for the tournament.
Leading up to the tournament, community members can stop in the library and complete a clue on a dry erase puzzle board and earn a raffle ticket for a bin filled with crossword puzzle books and a shirt featuring the library’s mascot Olive the Osprey.
“An event like this is a really good fit for the library just because it’s a nice marriage of an academic kind of approach but also very community building and fun,” Mr. Mignone said. “We’re encouraging all ages to come out and participate, observe and get excited.”
Registration for the tournament is available online at southoldlibrary.org or by phone at 631-765-2077. Tweens, teens and adults are invited to compete as individuals or pairs during the competition, which will take place between 1:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. at the library on 53705 Main Road.
An instructional tips and tricks session will be held Friday, March 13, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Registration for the tips and tricks session is available online at southoldlibrary.org.
“When most people think about crossword puzzles, they’re a little intimidated,” Mr. Galligan said. “I’m hoping to kind of allay some of those fears and say, ‘This is for everyone and you can definitely do it.’ We have a lot of approachable puzzles.”
Oh, and the answer to that 14-letter word: cruciverbalist.
