Editor’s note: Judge Vic Fleming wrote the post below about the Inauguration Day puzzle competition he officiated at the Clinton School. CLICK HERE for yesterday’s post, including a downloadable Inauguration Day puzzle. Follow the link for the puzzle solution: puzzle-solution.pdf.
Posted by JUDGE VIC FLEMING – One letter was the difference between first and third places at the Clinton School Watch Party’s “exercise with prizes” yesterday.
Everyone seemed to have fun, which was my number one goal. All activity took place in Sturgis Hall while CNN coverage of the Inauguration loomed on a large screen on the wall.
The tie-breaker section of the problem asked for “daffy-nitions” of the crossword’s five longest answers. One team really outdid the others on this section. Regrettably, they were not in a tie, so these fabulous clues did not get them any points:
ALL-AMERICAN: “Muslim God, without the h, French ocean, Obama’s ‘Yes __’ (4 words).” That should spell ALLA-MER-I CAN. I love it!
PRESIDENTIAL: “Suite that’s the most sweet.” Great wordplay!
BARACK OBAMA: “Take a chance on me.”
GIVE ME A BUZZ: “Drunk dialing.” Been there! You?
INAUGURATION: “Swearing in, in a good way.”
That was the team of Sara Himelfarb and Chanley Painter. They came in third place and received $15 gift certificates to Boulevard Bread Co., which is right across President Clinton Avenue from the school’s new building.
One more correct letter on the crossword would have been worth 20 points to Sara and Chanley and would have tied them with two other teams for first place. Had that occurred, they’d have edged out the winners on the basis of my subjectively preferring their funny clues.
The winning team’s daffy-nition clues were super as well, though:
“Apple pie, baseball but not Budweiser” for ALL-AMERICAN;
“Like Will Ferrell or Chevy chase on SNL” for PRESIDENTIAL;
“Condolence for Cubs fans” for BARACK OBAMA;
“Request a celebratory drink” for GIVE ME A BUZZ; and
“Party like it’s 2009” for INAUGURATION.
Congratulations, Jennifer Hicks and Joanna Klak, who received $50 gift certificates for first place. They had an identical score on the crossword, Jumble, Wishy-Washy FITB and Clue-Bluffing parts of the problem with Ali Turro and Olivia Wilmot. But the latter did not fill out the tie-breaker section and thus had to settle for $25 gift certificates as the second place prize.
I was pleased with the results. Eleven teams turned in answer sheets. Of those, eight of the teams substantially completed the crossword puzzle. Of those eight, three successfully completed the Jumble, which was “GOOD-BYE GEORGE W. BUSH.”
Some of the teams showed good humor in what they wrote on the Jumble answer’s line:
WE GIVE UP NOW; GO USHER GWB GOOD-BYE; YES WE HUG GOOD; WE BE GOOD GEORGE BUSH. (No, the letters don’t all work right in these, but they’re fun anyway!)
Kudos to Clinton School Dean Skip Rutherford for sponsoring this event, giving nice prizes, garnering great publicity (we were blogged about in the Wall Street Journal before noon) and for being a fine guy all around! He also gave me a $50 Boulevard gift certificate, which I intend to spend on his students, if I can figure out when they’re going to be there. Maybe I’ll have to invite them.
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