The room is quiet with anticipation; the only noise being the light chatter of patrons outside of the competition. With an enthusiastic crow of “have fun, and good luck,” over 100 participants ready their pencils over paper for the 26th Annual New York Times Crossword Competition at the Westport Library.
On Feb. 3 from 1-4 p.m., players scrambled to finish an array of crossword puzzles, huddled together at tables that stretched across most of the second floor. It’s been an almost yearly tradition since 1997.
“I do the [New York Times Crossword] every day, at home online,” competitor Trudy Potter said. “I learned about this event a few years ago, and last year I participated for the first time. I kind of walked into the library on the day it was going on, and [that’s how I] got introduced to it.”
Competitors climbed their way through the ranks of puzzlers over the course of four rounds, in which during the fourth round players were narrowed down to three. The fourth round was particularly special because it featured Will Shortz, the New York Times’ official crossword Editor who’s been in attendance since 1998. Shortz spoke to the eager crowd before his overseeing of the tail end of the competition, sharing details about his recovery from a recent stroke and his hopefulness for what the recovery process would amount to.
After hours of competition, the final round finally began. The winner was Quiara Vasquez, with second and third place being awarded to Claire Rimkus and Ken Stern, respectively.
“This is a community of people that come together for [the puzzle],” EJ Crawford, the marketing director for the Westport Library, said. “Everybody that’s here is so passionate about the puzzles and so excited to see Will.”
Crawford has been with the library for years, this being the third Crossword Competition he’s been a part of.
“All of them working together, it’s so much fun to have all these people who are so passionate about something in the same place,” Crawford said. “It creates a real sense of community that I think is really nice. You kind of feel everybody here rooting for each other.”
