The below email was sent to to all in-person registrants on or after September 26.
If you have not received that email, first be sure you are checking the address that you used to register via paypal, and then check all spam folders.
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We are looking forward to seeing you in Chicago on Saturday, October 4 for the Midwest Crossword Tournament! We have you registered to attend in person. Please read this email in advance of the tournament so you know what to expect. If you have any questions, please email us at midwestcrossword@gmail.com.
Where and When
The Midwest Tournament will take place at the University of Illinois Chicago Student Center East, 750 S. Halsted Street, Chicago IL 60607. There is a public entrance facing Halsted St.
The Student Center East is a short walk from the Blue Line station at UIC-Halsted. Parking is available for $9/day at the Halsted/Taylor parking garage across Halsted and less than a block away.
The tournament will be held in the Illinois Room on the third floor of the Student Center. There are escalators leading to the third floor, and there will be signs to point you in the right direction. There is also elevator access to the third floor.
Registration will begin at 9:30 a.m. The program will begin at 10:15 a.m.
Here is a schedule we are aiming to follow for the day:
9:30 a.m. Registration opens
10:15 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. Puzzles 1, 2, and 3
12:15 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Lunch break
2:00 p.m. - 4:15 p.m. Puzzles 4 and 5 and bonus activities
4:15 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. Finals and wrap up
For those of you who are constructors, if you would like to bring copies of your puzzles to share, please feel free to do so. We will have a table for that purpose and we are expecting about 232 solvers.
There will be a lunch break from approximately 12:15 p.m. until 1:50 p.m. You will be on your own for lunch. There are a few food options in the building (some of which are open on Saturdays), and plenty of food options within walking distance (we have recommendations on our website!). You are also welcome to bring your lunch. We are not allowed to bring outside food into the Illinois Room, but there is a food court on the second floor of the building that has seating available.
We will have beverage service (water, coffee, tea) in the Illinois Room throughout the day.
While we will have some pencils on hand, we recommend that you bring your own pre-sharpened pencils. You may also want to bring a clipboard or similar surface for solving.
Rules
In order to make sure the Midwest Tournament is a safe and welcoming environment, we have established a code of conduct that we ask you to review and follow.
If you are eligible to do so, we encourage you to consider getting your flu shot and covid booster as early as possible. We are following the public safety guidelines in place by our host. You can find more information here: https://www.mwxwt.com/conduct-and-policies
If you aren’t feeling well on the day of the tournament, we’ll gladly switch your registration to Online.
Solving and Scoring
When you registered, you were asked to choose one of three solving divisions:
Chicago Fire: Intended for experienced tournament solvers and those who are regularly able to solve New York Times Saturday puzzles. If you ranked in the A or B divisions after your most recent ACPT, you belong here.
Minnesota Nice: Intended for all other individual solvers. Recommended if this is your first crossword tournament.
Pairs: All solvers registered as pairs will be in the Pairs division.
There will be six puzzles to solve.
Note: All solvers will solve the exact same first five puzzles! The divisions will determine who you are competing against in the standings.
After the first five puzzles, the top three solvers in the Chicago Fire and Minnesota Nice divisions and the top three pairs will solve the final puzzle on stage to determine the winners. There will be different sets of clues for the Fire (harder) and Nice (easier) divisions. The leaders in the Pairs division will solve using the Nice clues.
Everyone else will have an opportunity to solve the final puzzle (using the clues of your choice) before the finals begin, but that puzzle will not affect your standing.
Your score on each puzzle is determined as follows:
10 points for each correct word
1 point for every second remaining on the clock (only applied if puzzle is at least half correct)
150 point bonus for a completely correct solution
We are looking forward to spending the day with you. We are excited for you to solve six fabulous puzzles constructed and edited by Midwesterners!
If you have any questions or concerns, send an email to midwestcrossword@gmail.com (don’t respond to this email; it is send only) and we will get back to you. Bring those sharpened pencils, and a clipboard if that’s your style, and we’ll see you soon!
We know this is a lot of information – thanks for reading all the way through! Two more quick things:
We are nearly at capacity, and it looks like the in person portion of the tournament may sell out. Of course, we have unlimited space in the online portion of the tournament. If you know someone that might enjoy solving at home, please encourage them to check it out.
We have merch! We won’t have any available onsite at the tournament, but you can order Midwest Tournament merchandise online.
See you in Chicago on October 4th!
Shannon, Sally and the Midwest Tournament Team
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