A Quick Summary of the Pleasantville Tournament
I'm really enjoying this weekend with no plans and look forward to repeating it again next weekend. I was out shopping today and now I'm home watching my recording of (American) Life on Mars and I thought I'd type up what happened at Pleasantville.
On Monday's puzzle I came in second to elainetyger by one second if I remember correctly. I sat next to cazique and he finished right after I did.
I struggled on Tuesday's puzzle and finished fifth, but with an error. I should have known TACET because I learned that word while playing my fifteen white key (and six chord button) Hammond organ when I was a kid, but I spelled it TACIT by mistake, unable to figure out why IRIN would be a poetic island.
Just like last year, I had all but given up any hopes of going into the finals, so I walked around outside while I was waiting for time to run out. Last year I walked around outside only to finish first on the third puzzle, so maybe it could happen again?
The Wednesday puzzle was easier, but cazique was faster and finished first. I didn't see at the time who finished second, and I finished third. Then cazique asked me about W.W. I French fighter planes. This was part of a tough crossing, but my SuperMemo studies include "W.W. I Allied plane" with the answer of SPAD, so I was pretty sure I had that one. Wow, was I glad I'd studied that one. One of the judges who will remain unnamed said that "studying had served [me] well." Then a second unnamed judge gave me the thumbs up signal, so I was sure I was in! I was so sure, in fact, that I updated my status message on Facebook to say that I was in the finals, figuring that no one else there would be checking Facebook.
No one, that is, except cazique. "Well, that's a bit presumptuous!" he said and I immediately knew what he was talking about. OOPS! ;{)} Good thing cazique is a good sport, or at least acts like one. ;{)}
It was true, I was in the finals due to the SPADS error and the fact that elainetyger finished second on the Wednesday puzzle. (Since she was already in the finals because of her Monday puzzle performance, the next finisher gets to be in the finals.) In the finals were Bob Mackey, elainetyger, and me. Once again, I could not come up with a single answer for the entire first minute. I've already come up with a strategy for not freezing, because, while I'm not extremely nervous, I really seem to have trouble getting that first word down. As you may have read, elainetyger finished first but left a square blank, Bob finished second but with a clean puzzle for the win, and I had time to check all of my answers and finished third but in second place.
I'm very happy about making it to the finals again, but I'm still hoping for that first place trophy...