Less Than One Second.

And a promise for an "unkind" kindness.

The win at the end of this year’s American Crossword Puzzle Tournament was decisive: Paolo Pasco finished in 3 minutes, 43 seconds, his second win and second in a row. The contest for second place was far closer—Will Nediger and Dan Feyer were within a second of each other, forcing the judges to evaluate the footage afterward. I didn’t even know the ACPT had the capacity to examine slow-motion replays to the millisecond, but it sure paid off here. Nediger was second, Feyer third.

All three of these are familiar names to me even outside the tournament space. Paolo and Will have constructed crosswords in multiple venues, but I follow them in The Atlantic and the Bewilderingly blog, respectively. Nine-time winner Dan has been a great friend and a vocal supporter of my campaign for Guinness recognition—I inched a little closer to that this weekend, from the looks of things! I forgot to ask if I can talk about his recent work here, but they’re lucky to have him—and here’s a summary of his editing resume.

I always regret not doing more meeting and greeting than I did at the ACPT. I did get to see Quiara Vasquez, Ada Nicolle, Tyler Hinman, Will Eisenberg, and Will Shortz himself, looking good a year and change after the stroke. Also Brendan Emmett Quigley, and here’s a note to myself to try Brendan's Boston Globe puzzle Align. Met Malaika Handa in person for the first time. Probably others I’m forgetting, apologies in advance!

Plus a lot of interesting first-timers. I tried not to brag too much about the Ubercross Abecedaria, but sometimes the chats would go, “Do you make/publish crosswords?” and I’d be like, “Well, not in normal sizes…”

The star of the lobby was not interested in crossword conversation, only pets and treats. This would be Babka, of the crossword feature xwordswithbabka, here with his “owner” Dan Schwartz to soak up the people’s love. Dan had treats on hand, just to make sure Babka got over his early skittishness. Before long, Babka understood this was a place where good things happened and was making friends with passers-by.

Snacks felt like a theme this year. Random snacks helped guide people to solve in the side rooms—attendance topped 1,000 this year and still sold out in 14 hours; the main ballroom no longer has enough seats for everyone. Post Malone Oreos were available in the lobby, and someone reassembled the Snickers candies into a dirty criss-cross:

SINS *and* NECKER? Yeah, that gets me snickering.

But there was one snack I felt was missing. This year was the twentieth anniversary(!) of the filming of Wordplay, the documentary that culminates with the 2005 ACPT. In the Wordplay clips they showed Saturday night, crossword star Merl Reagle rearranges DUNKIN’ DONUTS 🍩 into UNKIND DONUTS. When Merl passed away, I made this in his memory—he was kind to me when I joined the scene, but then, he was kind to everybody:

A Dunkin’ was less than a mile from the tournament, on my way back as I walked to my hotel. I got a couple donuts in memory of Merl. And I made a vow: if I make it back to the ACPT in 2026, I will buy some donut holes—surprisingly affordable in bulk—and present the tourney with some rebranded “Unkind Donuts.” (I may not be able to draw faces on all of them, but I can at least play with the packaging.) For Merl, and for the community.

Next: A meta-catalog of comics devices!