Constructors
Kate Baicker
Kate Baicker is a health economics professor and is Provost of the University of Chicago. Her puzzles have appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, Boswords, Crosswords Club, and Universal Crosswords. She started constructing in 2021 and loves collaborating with new people (though Laura is her favorite - don't tell the others). She lives in Hyde Park with her husband and cats.
Zhouqin Burnikel
Zhouqin Burnikel is a crossword constructor from Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. She started making crosswords in 2010. She loves walleye, wild rice, T.C. Bear, and most things Minnesotan.
Laura Dershewitz
Laura Dershewitz is a former high school English teacher who now writes and edits educational materials. Her puzzles have appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal, Universal Crossword, and the Inkubator. She started constructing in 2021 with the help of her co-constructor and friend, the amazing Kate Baicker. Laura and her family live outside of Chicago, where she enjoys reading, cooking, doomscrolling, and admiring her cats.
Will Eisenberg
Will Eisenberg is a French horn player, music teacher, and puzzlemaker from Minneapolis. He’s the current third horn of Orchestra Iowa and a founding member of the Minnesota Horn Quartet. Will is part of the leadership team for Lil AVC X in 2024. More of his puzzles can be found on the blog Half-Baked Puzzles.
Kelsey Dixon
Kelsey Dixon is a crossword constructor and editor from Chicago. She orders her Italian beef dry with sweet peppers and prays every night for the return of the Rainforest Café frog.
Kelsey also designed our amazing logos!
Carly Schuna
Carly Schuna (she/they) is originally from Minnesota and has lived in Madison, WI for 15 years. She is SO PSYCHED that the Midwest finally has its own crossword tournament and even more psyched to be a part of it! When not puzzling, Carly is a circus artist and coach. She likes rock climbing and hanging out with her three dogs.
Sid Sivakumar
Sid Sivakumar is a crossword constructor (by night), and MD/PhD student at Washington University in St. Louis (by day) who's greeted at work by a beautiful east-facing view of downtown St. Louis. Sid regularly contributes puzzles to several publications, and edits for AVCX+ and the Lollapuzzoola crossword tournament in New York City.
Bonus Content
Randy Hoelscher, Twitch Host
Randy Hoelscher is a photographer, woodworker, and retired pharmacist. He was born in Eldora, Iowa and currently resides in Iowa City. Sideline interests include coding, swimming, travel, tennis, architecture, chess, and the occasional easy crossword puzzle.
Decrypting the Cryptic Crossword - Live Workshop with Joe Pasini
Workshop will take place during the lunch break in the food court.
Cryptic crosswords (which are crosswords with a mini wordplay puzzle injected into each clue) have an infamously steep learning curve—but the view from the top is fantastic! Joe Pasini (who constructs as joeadultman) will flatten that curve to a gentle slope in this interactive workshop, where you’ll learn the basics, solve your first cryptic clues, and get next steps for your cryptic journey. All experience and interest levels welcome! For more info, find Joe. He may or may not be three kids in a trench coat.
Joe Pasini is an adult man and game designer who lives in the Pacific Northwest and enjoys sharing cryptic crosswords with people, whether on stream or his blog.
Midwest Trivia by Christopher Adams
Tables will complete in groups of up to eight people in a battle of Midwest trivia.
Christopher Adams is a puzzlemaker and trivia host. When he's not writing trivia, he's usually running around Iowa City (in a quest to run every single street), and he heartily subscribes to the Kate Bush workout plan (it builds character, and by "character" he means "thighs").
Murder Across Downing Square by Sandy Weisz of The Mystery League
Tables of up to eight will work together to solve a detective mystery hidden in crossword puzzles written by our tournament constructors.
Sandy and his team run tabletop escape games, remote trivia competitions, alternative reality games, mystery hunts, and more for puzzle fans and team building events across the Chicago area. Join their free newsletter full of puzzley goodness.
Plus! bonus paper puzzles:
Cryptogram by Ben Bass. As a longtime Midwesterner, Ben Bass does not wait "on" line or put ketchup on hot dogs. He is a member of the National Puzzlers League, an official at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament and the cryptogram writer for the New York Times. When not streaming crosswords “downs only” on Twitch, Ben enjoys playing tennis and watching other people do it correctly.
Cryptic Crossword by Becky M. Liari is the nom de plume of Becky M., an orthopaedic research engineer and mom in Ohio. She discovered cryptic crosswords in mid-2020 and began constructing them in early 2021. Liari sets for the Independent (in the UK) and the Browser. Her other puzzles can be found at her blog and at MyCrossword. Liari's alter ego recently began creating American-style grids as well and has been published at USA Today, Apple News+ and Crossword Flow.
Crosswords from tournament director Shannon Rapp and tournament editor Christina Iverson.
Leadership
Shannon Rapp
Co-Organizer
Co-Organizer
After enough trips around the tournament circuit, hearing "so when is someone going to host a midwest tournament!?" enough times and eventually realizing that someone had to be me, here we are!
I'm so excited to bring to life the first annual Midwest Crossword Tournament in Chicago. We have such a depth of crossword talent in the Midwest that I can't wait to showcase in a tournament setting for your solving pleasure.
Sally Hoelscher
Co-Organizer
Co-Organizer
Sally Hoelscher is a crossword constructor (for various publications), editor (Lil AVC X), and blogger (Off The Grid: Sally Breaks Down the USA Today Crossword). When not crosswording, she enjoys traveling, reading, hiking, playing board games, and snuggling with her cat. Sally has lived in the Midwest since she was eight months old, first in Missouri, and now in the crossword-friendly state of Iowa.
Christina Iverson Editor
Christina is a crossword constructor and associate puzzle editor for the New York Times, currently living in Ames, Iowa. She grew up outside of Duluth, Minnesota, and after living on both coasts, she is happy to be back in the Midwest. She has two young kids, and loves playing games and doing puzzles with them. In her limited free time, she enjoys reading, hiking and cycling.
Tracy Bennett
Editor
Editor
Tracy Bennett is a puzzle editor for the New York Times and a co-founding editor for Inkubator, a publisher of puzzles by women and nonbinary creators. Before changing careers in 2020, Tracy spent decades as a managing copy editor at Mathematical Reviews/MathSciNet in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she still resides.