day one hundred seventy-five.

ALA: day three

(sunday)

hello, seth meyers.

i had a, let's say, low impact sunday at the conference.
i showed up after lunch and took a break to go to the grocery store.

but i did make it my business to go see this man:

enigmatologist and nyt crossword editor, the legendary will shortz.

he split the room into two teams to play puzzle games with plays on presidential names, american cities, and tom swifties: fiction v. non-fiction (fiction won)

he revealed that the youngest submitter to have a puzzle published is only 14, and the oldest 95 (and creating puzzles since 1955!).

he also said that sometimes when editing, he changes things just because they "aren't important enough for you to know" rather than inaccurate, like that UCLA was jim morrison's alma mater.


a few examples from the cities game:

1. The Playboy Club is putting out a movie with an ___________ cast.


2. Of all the fruits grown in Asia, residents of Bombay think the ___________ the best.


and from the Tom Swifty game:

3. "Get rid of all the conservative party in England," Tom said _________.


(leave a correct and non-cheating answer in the comments and i will send you a postcard!)

after my grocery field trip, i loitered for a while with GSLISers whitney and katherine

this happened:

then we were off to the GSLIS alumni reception at the renaissance hotel down the street

swanky.

post-reception, dairy-free chocolate noir sorbet from pitango, which tasted like the best chocolate ice cream you could imagine eating on a humid summer sidewalk in chinatown surrounded by transplanted illinoisans (as in, delicious)