NOTE: All queries and challenges will be addressed within about a week. Puzzle scans (see left) will be available for several months and then permanently removed. All available scans are posted.
![]() Don Christensen
The winner!
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Congratulations!
B division
C division
See left panel for all results.
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Capsule History
The tournament returned to the Stamford Marriott, where it began. The Friday night program featured two multimedia crosswords, solved by teams on iPads, in which about two-thirds of the clues contained audio, visual, or video components. The app was provided by Serhiy Grabarchuk and unipuzzle.com. Saturday night featured the world premiere of a documentary short, "A Man, A Plan, A Palindrome," by Vince Clemente, followed by a 10th-anniversary celebration of the filming of "Wordplay," with the director and producer, Patrick Creadon and Christine O'Malley. Dr. Fill finished in 55th place. In the "A" division playoffs, Dan Feyer beat Tyler Hinman by a split second to become the first person to win the ACPT six times in a row.
Will Shortz
Capsule history of all previous years.
Pictures from the Tournament
- Don Christensen: Friday Night | Saturday | Sunday morning | Playoffs
- Lynn Feigenbaum: Crossword apparel and a beaming winner!
Social Media
Facebook: American Crossword Puzzle Tournament Attendees
Blogs- Deb Amlen - Wordplay/The Crossword Blog for the New York Times: A.C.P.T. 2015: Welcome to the Show (to read all the blog posts, start here and read up to the exciting conclusion) | Special Post - Humans of A.C.P.T.
- Mary Jean Babic: A Rookie at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament
- Eric Berlin: American Crossword Puzzle Tournament 2015: The Re-Re-Re-Re-Rematch
- Evan Birnholz: PUZZLE #42: Themeless 18 (and ACPT Recap)
- Glenn Dallas: ACPT Wrap-up!
- Dan Feyer: ACPT 2015: Eke!
- Tom Gardner: The Best of Times at the 38th Annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament
- Patrick Merrell: Number Six … and Not: The Thrill of Victory and the Agony of Almost Victory
- Brendan Emmett Quigley: ACPT Recap
- Ben Zimmer's Vocabulary.com blog: A Heart-Stopping Finish in the 2015 Crossword Showdown (with great video)
In the News
- A Million Little Boxes Oliver Roeder, fivethirtyeight.com [April 17, 2015]
- Hillsborough man places third in national crossword contest Liza Jaipaul, mycentraljersey.com [April 8, 2015]
- Crossword champ Dan Feyer beats rival by a half-second to win sixth straight title Chris Morris, Yahoo! Games - Plugged In [March 30, 2015]
- Video Premiere: 'A Man, a Plan, a Palindrome' Chris Higgins, Mental Floss [March 30, 2015]
- Crossword Puzzle Competitors Return to Stamford (with video report) Priscilla Lombardi, It's Relevant - Stamford Edition [March 29, 2015]
- Maritime crossword enthusiast competes internationally CTV Atlantic , CTV Atlantic [March 29, 2015]
- Mamaroneck Puzzle Solver Readies For 39th Crossword Competition Jeanne Muchnick, Mamaroneck Daily Voice [March 27, 2015]
- For Dobbs Ferry Resident, Solving Crossword Puzzles Is A Family Affair Jeanne Muchnick, Rivertowns Daily Voice [March 26, 2015]
- Pleasantville's Will Shortz Brings Crossword Puzzle Tournament Home Jeanne Muchnick, Pleasantville Daily Voice [March 25, 2015]
- Across And Down, Armonk Family Is All About Crossword Puzzle Tournament Jeanne Muchnick, Armonk Daily Voice [March 25, 2015]
- Chappaqua Resident To Compete In 21st Crossword Puzzle Tournament Jeanne Muchnick, Chappaqua Daily Voice [March 25, 2015]
- Across And Down, Crossword Puzzle Tournament Returns To Stamford Jeanne Muchnick, Stamford Daily Voice [March 25, 2015]
- Life After 'WordPlay': American Crossword Tourney Returns To Stamford Susan Dunne , Hartford Courant [March 22, 2015]
Solving Perfection
The following 39 contestants solved all 7 puzzles with no mistakes.
Howard Barkin, Evan Birnholz, David Bleich, Patty Buethe, Joe Cabrera, Vic Chandhok, Kathie Conarck, Paul Coulter, Ken Crowell, Jon Delfin, Dan Feyer, Adam Gale, Peter Gordon, Katie Hamill, Francis Heaney, Tyler Hinman, Richard Kalustian, Steven Katten, Kiran Kedlaya, Eric Maddy, Marc Maximov, Phoebe McBee, Rich Norris, Doug Peterson, David Plotkin, Christine Quinones, Elaine Renner, Ellen Ripstein, Dan Sadoff, Al Sanders, Anita Spielman, Dan Stacey, Ken Stern, Andrew Sullivan, Rob Tricchinelli, Jennifer Turney, Kevin Wald, John Wilson, Stella Zawistowski.
More stuff
- 2015 Tournament Puzzle Constructors
- Kickstarter campaign for "'A Man, a Plan, a Palindrome" — if you enjoyed the short documentary, please help to fund the feature film!
Officials — 2015

Photo by Don Christensen - Click for enlargement
Director | Will Shortz |
Coordinator | Helene Hovanec |
Webmaster | Nancy Parsons |
Scoring Programmer | Matt Ginsberg |
Database Preparer | Joe Cabrera |
Online Tournament Manager | Peter Ritmeester |
Photographer | Don Christensen |
Nametags | Mike Shenk |
Playoff Announcers | Ophira Eisenberg and Greg Pliska |
Special Guests | Patrick Creadon and Christine O'Malley |
Judges and referees | |
Andrew Stern, Anna Ball, Ashish Vengsarkar, Brad Wilber, Brendan Emmett Quigley, Bruce Haight, Bruce Venzke, Byron Walden, Carolyn Pahk, Casey Julia, Charles Foreman, David Kwong, Denny Baker, Donna Tessitore, Doug Ashleigh, Ethan Friedman, Evan O’Donnell, Evie Eysenburg, George Barany, Ian Livengood, Jeff Chen, Jennifer Tanner, Jim Page, Jim Russell, Joan Kuhn, Joanne Sullivan, Joel Fagliano, John Lieb, Judy Raphael, Jules Markey, Kristian House, Lea Berlin, Leanne O’Donnell, Mala Nagarajan, Marilyn Kelly, Mark Danna, Martin Ramos, Merl Reagle, Michael Dewey, Michael Smith, Michael Topel, Michelle Arnot, Mike Nothnagel, Mike Shenk, Nancy Baker, Nancy Schuster, Nicole Mobley, Patrick Merrell, Peter Broda, Peter Collins, Rich Silvestri, Sara Sadin, Sherry Topel, Stan Newman, Stephanie Osher, Steve Salitan, Susan West, Todd Gross, Tracy Bennett, Tracy Gray, Valerie Salitan, Vic Fleming | |
Scoring room team | |
David Quarfoot, Fred Piscop, Janie Smulyan, Jen Yuan, Nancy Parsons, Matt Ginsberg, Paul Bruneau |