Pick up your pencils and polish your puzzling skills. There were
plenty of people who joined in the fun on Saturday’s first-ever
Silicon Valley Puzzle Day.
Morgan Hill – Pick up your pencils and polish your puzzling skills. There were plenty of people who joined in the fun on Saturday’s first-ever Silicon Valley Puzzle Day.
“We had a lot of people who are real crossword and puzzle fanatics, but we also had people who like to do the crossword every morning or just fool around with puzzles now and then,” said Puzzle Day coordinator and Morgan Hill resident Emily Reich Shem-Tov.
The event, held in the Sobrato High School library, drew puzzlers from all around the Bay Area, including Sunnyvale, Soquel and Pleasanton.
American Institute of Mathematics Executive Director Brian Conrey participated in the Sudoku competition, along with his mother.
Shem-Tov said she was pleased with the multi-generational aspect of the event, which evolved from a mere fundraising event for the Friends of the Morgan Hill Library’s “Beyond Books” campaign into something more.
“We had people here from 8 to 80,” she said. “How many events can you take your grandparents or grandchildren to and find something for everyone?”
The morning Sudoku competition and the afternoon crossword puzzle face off culminated in a finals round at the end of the day. There were 22 Sudoku competitors and 28 crossword puzzlers.
From the earlier-timed competition, three finalists emerged from Sudoku and three from crosswords. The finals turned what usually are personal puzzles into spectator sports, with finalists working giant puzzles on display boards, competing against the clock and each other.
The three Sudoku finalists were Allan Levovitz, Dave Holstrom and Laurel Brock, with Levovitz coming out on top in the final competition. In the crossword finale, Arian Sarris was the champ, with close competition by finalists Laurel Brock and Yoshie Pilachinskil.
Brock won a prize for being the best all-around Morgan Hill puzzler, and Julie Sullivan was lauded with a judges’ award for best handwriting.
But what was so good, Shem-Tov said, was that there were “loads of spectators, teens, kids and adults, as well as people who wandered in to do a puzzle or two but not compete.”
One of the more popular activities was a giant group crossword with Morgan Hill-related clues and answers. People wandered by the board all day filling in answers they happened to know.
There were also group Sudoku boards and a slew of word puzzles strewn about the room for those who wanted to wander as they puzzled.
For those with inquiring minds who were not puzzling, there were several “enigmatic” workshops, including two by noted Java programing language expert Josh Bloch, one on cryptarithmetic and one on Java puzzlers.
“One of the things we’re really proud of is that our crosswords were created by people from the Bay Area,” Shem-Tov said.
Two were created by Myles Callum, who has published puzzles in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles, Times, Washington Post, USA Today and in crossword puzzle books.
The event’s final crossword puzzle was created by Santa Clara University Professor Byron Walden, whose puzzles have appeared in numerous publications including the New York Times.
The Friends of the Library charged an entrance fee to participate in the competitions, but did not charge entrance to the event or just to “puzzle around.” Proceeds from the event, which included a raffle with donated gift baskets, will benefit the “Beyond Books” campaign.
Organizers had not completed a final tally of proceeds less expenses by presstime.
Friends of the Library President Carol O’Hare said the event had several purposes besides fundraising.
“We really wanted to promote the library and our ‘Beyond Books’ campaign, and we wanted people to enjoy a day of puzzles and perhaps experience their first competition of this kind,” she said. “We were all pleased with how it turned out, it was very successful.”
O’Hare said the Friends of the Library hopes the “Beyond Books” campaign will raise $180,000 for art and equipment for the new library.
“Right now, we’re at the $130,000 level, and we’re now looking to the community to help us reach that goal,” she added.
