Over 200 competitors vied yesterday, at the 26th annual Westport Library Crossword Puzzle Contest.
A first time winner out-puzzled them all.
Quiara Vasquez finished a Friday-level New York Times puzzle in just 6 minutes and 16 seconds — about the time it takes a normal solver to fill in just a few answers.
Quiara Vasquez (right), with runner-up Claire Rimkus (center) and third-place finisher Ken Stern.
As always the Trefz Forum was filled with regulars, first-timers, and those cruciverbalist superstars who make the rest of us feel like we should have stopped playing games at Word Search.
The crowd skewed older, and came from 6 states. The furthest competitors — for the second year in a row — were from Georgia.
Times puzzle editor Will Shortz was once again on hand, and led several NPR-style games before the final round.
He was greeted with a well-deserved standing ovation. Besides coming every year — the only event he attends, besides the national tournament — he is recovering from a stroke.
He was stricken exactly a year ago — the day after he was in Westport for the 2024 Crossword Puzzle Tournament. Shortz described that event, and his rehabilitation over the past year.
Will Shortz (Photos/Dan Woog)
In addition to Vasquez, certificates were handed out to over 50 competitors who completed all 3 puzzles correctly.
Plus the 2 with the best handwriting (one pencil, one pen).
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Westport Country Playhouse’s “Season of Laughter” continues this month.
“Native Gardens” — a comedy about well-intentioned neighbors who become feuding enemies — debuts playing February 18.
Expectant parents Tania and Pablo Del Valle move next door to longtime suburbanites Virginia and Frank Butley. A dispute over the property line spirals into a war over taste, class, personal identity — and gardening.
Click here for tickets, and more information.
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Looking for a fun and different Valentine’s Day celebration, a few days early?
How about a drag show this Saturday, with Boston’s own Patty Bourrée?
Westport Pride is hosting the February 8 event (7 p.m., MoCA CT; 18+ only). It features songs, comedy and cocktails. All genders and orientations welcome!
Click here for tickets ($40), and more information.
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Oscar Edelman is having a great season for the Wesleyan University basketball team.
The 6-8, 225-pound freshman — a Westport resident and former Greens Farms Academy player, who won a gold medal at the Maccabi Games 2 years ago — has helped the Cardinals to a 20-0 record. They are the only unbeaten men’s team in all of Division III.
Oscar Edelman
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Westport Sunrise Rotary’s speaker most recent speaker was Edward Spilka.
The Wheel it Forward USA board member described his organization’s not-for-profit library. People donate or borrow free medical equipment and assistive technology like wheelchairs, hospital beds, toilet risers, walkers and knee scooters.
Warehouses in Stamford and Bridgeport serve 600 people every month. Donations kept over 100,000 pounds of equipment out of landfills, and saved users more than $1 million in 2024 alone.
Edward Spilka, at the Westport Sunrise Rotary meeting.
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Sorelle Gallery welcomes Carol Young next Saturday (February, 2 to 4 p.m.), for a meet-and-greet at their Church Lane gallery.
The Connecticut artist specializes in acrylic and oil landscapes. Click here for more information.
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Jeff Mitchell sends today’s “Westport … Naturally” feature. He writes:
“On a walk at Sherwood Island State Park Saturday morning, I encountered 4 different migrating birds.
“Those in the upper left are ring-billed gulls (note the black tail feathers with white dots). Under that is a rather large juvenile herring gull.
“In the upper right are 2 Brandt geese. Under them is one of a huge flock of long- tailed ducks floating too far from shore to get a good picture of on my phone.
“Below that is a stock picture of the same duck, for reference. They would dive under the water for up to a minute.
“I walk at Sherwood Island quite often. These are all rarities, which is why I’m passing them along.”
(Photo collage/Jeff Mitchell)
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And finally … Barry Goldberg, a keyboardist who was part of Bob Dylan’s famous electric set at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965, died last month in Los Angeles. He was 83, and suffered from lymphoma.
He played at Monterey Pop with his band the Electric Flag; on Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels’ “Devil With a Blue Dress On/Good Golly Miss Molly”; albums by the Byrds, Leonard Cohen, Rod Stewart and the Ramones — and preceded Mark Naftalin (now a Westport resident) in the Paul Butterfield Blues Band.
Click here for a complete obituary.
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