I hesitate to comment as I have a few reservations about the whole endeavor, but I would note that if you took two people not named Orange and Rex to pick winners for the same categories, I'd be surprised if you had more than 5% agreement with the choices here.

In regard to Best Overall Constructor, you name four people who mostly specialize in themeless puzzles. They're all very good; no argument there. I am a bit surprised, though, that Patrick Blindauer was not mentioned. Time and again he created crosswords that took puzzling to a whole new level. B2 made some of the most inventive puzzles of the year, a good number of them at that, so if I were picking (and I'm not) he'd be on my short list and maybe at the top.

Amy's reply: John, we hope to expand our "association," such as it is, this year to include more people in the voting. Rex and I share some of our tastes in crosswords—not everyone was as captivated as we were by DON'T TASE ME BRO and HEATHER HAS/TWO MOMMIES, I'm sure, and we probably both lean towards the sensibilities of younger constructors (45 and under). We omitted many fantastic puzzles, but are pleased to shine the light on a handful of the puzzles that delighted us the most last year.

And we did recognize Blindauer, in that fabulous WSJ puzzle co-constructed with Tony Orbach. I got just a smidgen more joy out of that puzzle than from the other Sunday puzzles (by Hook and Walden) I considered for my honorable mentions. PB2 may have diluted his vote by publishing so many genre-busters last year—like an actor with two star turns in a year who doesn't get an Oscar despite two nominations!
JJF | 01.04.08 - 2:20 pm | #

I like Patrick Berry as the winner but would have put his 11/18/07 "World Pay" as the best Sunday.

Amy's reply: That one was on both our short lists. Another puzzle with the same gimmick was Merl Reagle's puzzle from the '05 or '06 ACPT—he moved an R rather than an L. "Bill of Rights" turned into BRILLO FIGHTS—it was a hilarious theme! I would be delighted to see a few more Sunday-sized puzzles with variations on this theme, as the "aha" moments are so tasty.
rick | 01.04.08 - 3:01 pm | #

Great verbal trip down memory lane, with categories ripe for future outings.

Even nicer of you two arbiters to provide links to each gem in question.

Attempting my own showcase, I know how difficult it can be to a) set out award divisions and b) pick a winner among such a gifted mob.

I side with JJF about B2's omission, particularly in the ultimate gong grouping. Innovation needs to be applauded, and Patrick's middle name has to be ALVA.

With the mercury nudging 40-celsius, I'll be hitting the beach for 3 weeks, out of the Fiend loop. But if anyone wants a taste of cryptic clues, check out my website over January where I'll be running the best clues culled from too many hours solving English puzzles. (Almost as many untold hours revelling in crucigramma Americana.)

Take care. And well done Rex and Amy for hosting such a night of nights.

Amy's reply: I liked all the puzzles on your list, too, David! There is no shortage of excellent puzzles worthy of attention. And yes, Patrick Blindauer does do a tremendous job of pushing the envelope, stretching it, poking holes in it, and filling it with helium to see how high it goes. (Obviously it's an envelope without holes poked in it that's getting filled with helium.)

I added the RSS feed for your blog to my e-mail so I won't miss your favorite cryptic clues. Can't wait!
DA | Homepage | 01.04.08 - 3:09 pm | #

Is it a good or bad thing that I can't remember the feted January and February puzzles?
I am sure I did them and loved them.

All the honored constructors are among my faves. As for the year's toughest, I remember that Newman Saturday stumper, but I vote for KLAHN. Even Ellen Ripstein struggled with it:

http://ennienyc.livejournal.com/ ...241.html#cutid1

Amy's reply: Barry, crosswords are so disposable, with more of them published each day and people tossing the paper in the recycle bin. And once you've solved it, another pass through the clues doesn't offer the same experience. But crosswords are also lovely creative endeavors that can be worth remembering. The really amazing ones don't have to fight hard to be remembered. For example, the CLINTON/BOBDOLE gimmick. ACPT puzzles that hundreds of people solve in pressure-cooker conditions and then talk about, cementing the puzzles in their collective memory. Amazing gimmicks like Patrick Berry's 15x5 word ladder in the midst of a normal crossword. Patrick Blindauer's body-parts word search or connect-the-dots star.
barrywep | 01.04.08 - 3:31 pm | #

Amy and Rex---I want to congratuate you for coming up with an excellent list of awards and presenting them in such a dignified manner. If you recall, there was an attempt at such a thing on the New York Times Forum (the awards were called YUMMIES), and it was booed out of existence.

People talk about us being in the "golden age" of crosswords, and rightly so. Shortz, Gordon, Norris, et al, have helped to bring crosswords out of dictionary arcana into the language we speak and hear. I love it.

And I give much credit to the two of you (and the other bloggers, notably Madness) for helping to create a community of solvers. If I've read one 'I-just-stumbled-onto-this-blog-and-it-really- makes-the-puzzle-more-fun' comment, I've read hundreds of 'em. A huge Congratulations! to the two of you.

Amy's reply: Thanks! And amen about the golden age. And thanks! The crossword community has so many brilliant and congenial people, and it's so much more fun to do a puzzle and then interact with them than to do a crossword in solitude and toss it in the recycle bin. The blogs allow crossword editors and constructors to get an unprecedented amount of feedback about their work, and to see what sort of things please or displease the solving audience. And regular-Jane-and-Joe solvers also sometimes get to break down the traditional divide between solver and constructor when cruciverbal craftspersons comment publicly. No longer are the bylines all just vaguely familiar names—instead, you might get a taste of his or her personality, or a glimpse into how a puzzle was created.
kratsman | 01.04.08 - 4:47 pm | #

Wow! I'm floored. I'm glad you liked my work so much. I only had nine puzzles published this year so to have two of them recognized this way means a lot to me, honestly.

Two things --

1. This needs a flashier name than the ACCA Awards. Maybe the Crucies? The Boxies? The Ulees? Just spitballing here...

2. PB1 is my favorite overall constructor, but it's hard to argue that anyone had a better year than PB2. I vote we give him the "2007 Crossword Fiend Readers' Award for Excellence in Cruciverbalizing" (the "CFRAEC") Seconded?

Amy's reply: Rex and I have already heard from constructor Andrea Michaels, who makes a living as a naming consultant. She also had a few suggestions for award names. I wouldn't mind having little Oona statuettes. Maybe they could be eerie Oonas singing arias?
Alex | Homepage | 01.04.08 - 6:51 pm | #

Great puzzles, all. Think all the constructors should have received IHOP gift cards, or a bronzed pancake, or something along those lines.

I also thought that NY Times Sunday puzzle containing the geographically correct postal abbreviations, CANADA and MEXICO was another winner this year.

Thanks, Orange and Rex, for putting this together; a fun read after a long workday :).

Amy's reply: Howard, I always love a good geographical theme! I can't recall who constructed that one—do you know? And yes, bronzed pancakes with a butter pat on top. Although actually, IHOP has little scoops of butter, so it'd have to be a round scoop.
Howard B | 01.04.08 - 11:13 pm | #

On behalf of PB2, I'd like to thank you guys so much for the kind words - specifically, for the WSJ "Westward Ho!" kudos. It has been an absolute pleasure to collaborate with Patrick for what is coming up on 2 years: Alex's motion seconded for sure!

A quick look back to working on this postal abbreviations puzzle - Patrick produced the map of abbrs. and there was a collective "Hmmm". We tried various routes in various directions - thoughts of the gold rush, route 66, North/South possibilities - and finally landed on a route we could work with. Some angles that didn't pan out: OH/IN (SINO GALLERIES, anyone?), KS/CO (SHOOTING BLANCO?) and, my favorite, MA/NY (PUNY SNEAKERS).

Lastly, thanks to Amy and Rex for all their great work, awards or no - great insight and entertainment all year long.

Amy's reply: Thanks, and you're welcome! And thanks for the glimpse into the inner workings of Blindauer and Orbach—I'm sure it took many hours of two-brain effort to make a puzzle that's so elegant. I think it enriches the solving experience to know what goes into the process of making a puzzle like that.
Tony Orbach | 01.05.08 - 7:51 am | #

Thanks for the nod.

Amy's reply: You're welcome.
Brendan Emmett Quigley | 01.05.08 - 2:19 pm | #

Amy & Rex:

Glad you liked XPDNC - its an honor since you had so many gems to pick from. I should mention that it was inspired by a Cox-Rathvon puzzle. As usual, Will's guidance in theme entry selection and cluing (Advantageousness, for XPDNC, e.g.) elevated the puzzle to this level.

It is always interesting to see which puzzles excite solvers (and the comments on your blogs helps us constructors), compared to what fellow-constructors may find impressive. In that vein, if I may, I would like to point to three puzzles that blew me away (since I am mostly a 21x weekend solver, my bias is toward themed puzzles). All of them are constructed by marquee names already on your list!

1) Byron Walden: "In Other Words", April 8, 2007, NYT. Amazing feat of multiple instances of two intersecting anagrams, further defined by a theme answer which contains a third anagram! Elegant!

2) Patrick Berry: "Process of Elimination", September 9, 2007, NYT. Nine terrific theme answers with a specific letter composition, followed by a meta-theme, or a puzzle-within-a-puzzle. A construction coup.

3) Merl Reagle: "Come on Down", November 18, 2007, PI. Nine 21-letter answers cascading down, with another 21-letter phrase crossing these nine answers, explaining the theme and the unclued 21-letter down answers! Brilliant.

I can see why deciding between any of these constructors is a difficult exercise. Luckily for the rest of us, we enjoy all of them and don't have to decide!

Keep up the great work - via your insightful blogging, you have definitely built up the momentum started by Wordplay. And your blog's readers, via their comments, provide direct feedback to lurking constructors!

Ashish
Ashish Vengsarkar | 01.05.08 - 3:03 pm | #

Great work on the awards. I included a link to this post in my blog.

The Sunday puzzle with the geographically distributed postal codes and with CANADA to the north and MEXICO to the south was called "Lay of the Land" by Joe DiPietro back in Dec. 2006. Having KS smack dab in the middle made me smile. You can see it from my database through this link: http://www.xwordinfo.com/ShowPuz...date=12/17/ 2006
Jim Horne | Homepage | 01.05.08 - 4:13 pm | #

Kudos! Yes, this is the Golden Age of crosswords and these amazing constructors deserve recognition.

The crew over at crosswordese.com would love to be a part of the Best Cluing decision process in the future. We struggle regularly with the Clever Clue of the Month and may be able to provide some constructive input. However, I can't argue with your winner this year...
Paul Stynsberg | Homepage | 01.05.08 - 5:52 pm | #

Wow, get behind on your reading, and sometimes you miss a lot!

I'd like to thank the ACCA-demy... OK, I'm kidding.

But seriously, I am honoured to receive the gold for the best Sunday-sized puzzle. Thank you both, and I'm glad you both liked it that much.
Craig K | 01.06.08 - 1:26 am | #

FWIW, the Merl Reagle "double-digit" puzzle is a reprint from an '80s-era GAMES. Merl apparently redid the fill in a few areas to remove some old-timey stuff, though. I'm glad it was reprinted though, it's a worthy classic. I do wish Merl would indicate when the puzzle is a reprint in a notepad or something, though.
Jangler | 01.06.08 - 10:48 am | #

Finally getting around to reading the awards post Thanks for all the work you and Rex put into this.

Some of the puzzles don't ring a bell at all, so I appreciate the links. The one I definitely remember (with shudders) is Klahn's most recent. If it stumped Ellen, it was tough!

I agree with some, but not all, of your assessments (just like the Academy Awards), and I look forward to next year.
Linda G | Homepage | 01.06.08 - 11:56 am | #

Thanks for a nice list of categories and honorees! Maybe someone (anyone out there with an inside connection?) could get Nabisco to provide OREO prizes for all the winners next year -- it seems the least they could do after all the free advertising they get in the crosswords every week!

I wonder if next time you might also generate a list of the best (i.e., gold only) puzzle of specific theme types -- e.g., best letter swap/omission/addition, best quote puzzle, best original quip puzzle, etc. My thinking is that the majority of puzzles each week rely on tried and true theme categories -- they're our "daily bread" so to speak, as opposed to really wowing fancy stuff that makes up much of your award list. Highlighting the best of the "everyday" puzzles might be a nice addition and counterpoint to the amazing and praiseworthy sorts of puzzles you highlighted here.

btw, Heather Has Two Mommies is a children's picture book, not a work aimed at young adults. The curious can see a few sample pages using the "Search Inside!" feature at Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Heather-Ha...d/dp/ 1555835430
Jeff A | 01.08.08 - 4:32 pm | #