A Few Bugs In The Ultimate Coffeehouse Crossword Challenge

I've already mentioned my difficulties in obtaining the first puzzle in the Ultimate Coffeehouse Crossword Challenge. What I didn't mention was that the Starbucks employees in St. Paul were unaware that a contest was taking place, much less where the puzzle was.

orange reports:

"I don't know if it's just my neighborhood Starbucks store or all of them, but when my husband went to buy the Sunday paper with the contest puzzle, the staff informed him that the puzzle (by Patrick Berry) came with the Saturday paper, but gave him one to accompany the Sunday paper. What the...? Anyway, I haven't started the puzzle yet, but I've got it scanned in and printed on plain paper. If you'll excuse me, I've got a crossword to do now."

I take very little consolation in the fact that other puzzlers around the country are having the same difficulty. This is a comment to orange's post:

"Well, at least you guys got the puzzle. Here in Santa Rosa, CA, a town of 153,000 with 14 Starbucks shops in the area, my store's Sunday NY Times didn't have the puzzle. Nor did either of two other Starbucks stores across town. Nor did one in Rohnert Park, a neighboring town. Nor had any of them even HEARD of the contest. Yoicks! I e-mailed Christy Salcido, who's listed at the Starbucks site, and she offered to send me the puzzle tomorrow. But it seems unlikely we're the only town to have this problem, so if it's playing out across the country ... wow. It may be generating more ill will and frustration than the fun and excitement Starbucks was presumably hoping for."

I received about 20 visits today from people googling some variation of "starbucks crossword contest," from various places around the country, so it would seem that this is playing out across the country.

I called a number of Starbucks in Minneapolis, hoping to find the puzzle. Not only did they not have it, but some of the Starbucks weren't even aware of the contest.

I have an email in to Michael Ramirez, the person who informed me of the contest. He doesn't work for Starbucks or the New York Times, but for Edelman, a public relations firm.

Lori from the Starbucks on 25th and Riverside informs me she should have them by 9:00 am tomorrow.

Hopefully they will have the bugs worked out by next week.

Ultimate Coffeehouse Crossword Challenge Starbucks New York Times Edelman