This morning, Bangle skated at the USFSA South Atlantic Regional: the first step on the road to nationals and her first competition far enough away to have to go by plane. Seeing as how it was only her third competition at this level (Intermediate: step 6 out of 9 from beginning official competition to the senior (Olympic) level and she’d jumped two levels in less than a year, expectations were modest. (It also helps that we try not to be parents from hell). The main goal of the trip was for Bangle to get experience at a big-time event like this and to gain confidence that she belonged at this level.
With that in mind, she got the job done. She didn’t get enough points to move on (she was 13th out of 18 with the top four advancing), but she beat her personal best by more than 4 points. She landed five double jumps and had no falls. And with the Olympic judging system, she has a detailed readout of each element in the program and how the judges saw it. That will help shape the plan for the next year’s training, so next year she can have a shot at advancing.
Falcon reports that he’s had to step up his game to solve the National Post cryptic (it’s been a bit harder than usual the last few weeks), but he’s up to it. Are you?
Hex also have a variety cryptic in the Wall Street Journal. It too was a little harder than most WSJ variety puzzles, but you can solve it if you have a little persistence.
The New York Times variety puzzle is a Hex cryptic. Deb Amlen blogs it at Wordplay, reporting that it didn’t quite mesh with her knowledge.
Richard Maltby offers a Playfair Square in Harper’s. The cryptic part is easy (compared to other Maltby puzzles): now I have to figure out the code.
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