10,000-Plus Pre-Shortzian Puzzles Now on XWord Info, Jane S. Flowerree's American Crossword Puzzle Academy Additions, and Doug Peterson First to Solve Blast! Challenge

Project Update

I'm delighted to report that late Friday night I received the following in an e-mail from Jim Horne of XWord Info:

Fun fact: now that 1966 is up, there are over 10,000 pre-Shortz puzzles now in XWord Info!

That's amazing—thanks so much, Jim!  And many thanks again to all the litzers and proofreaders who helped us get to this milestone!  To see all 10,000-plus puzzles, click here.

10,000-plus puzzles

This week was a bit quieter on the proofreading front, undoubtedly because of the holiday season and Matt Ginsberg's word list project, which continues to occupy many proofreaders!  Todd Gross sent in 10 puzzles Friday morning, though, with 17 mistakes, so we made some good progress—thanks again, Todd!

Next week the blog will be on hiatus because of Christmas, but I'll continue to process puzzles, so please do keep sending them in—and let me know if you'd like more (or to try your hand at proofreading!)!

Doug Peterson First to Solve Last Week's Blast! Challenge!

On Monday at 8:28 p.m. Doug Peterson was the first to guess the answer to the last Blast! challenge—congratulations, Doug!  The clue, from the June 14, 1959, puzzle, was "Current political issue," and the answer was INTEGRATION.  It's always interesting to see which issues are so significant that they get preserved in black and white!

Next week's challenge is a bit different:  Instead of providing the clue, I'm listing the entry, and the challenge is to guess the clue!  I'll announce the winner in two weeks—as usual, a new letter will appear each day.

Jane S. Flowerree Adds to Mark Diehl's American Crossword Puzzle Academy Treasures

In the December 6 post, I reported on and linked to Mark Diehl's American Crossword Puzzle Academy and Hall of Fame treasures.  This week Jane S. Flowerree, the subject last week's post and Todd Gross's interview, sent in several more American Crossword Puzzle Academy items, including the missing Report 3, which was published in May 1990 and can be seen here (scroll down after clicking)!

Jane also sent the American Crossword Puzzle Academy and Hall of Fame Bylaws of the Board of Governors, dated December 21, 1989; to read them, click here.

Interim Notice

In addition, she sent an Interim Notice, dated October 27, 1989, about a meeting that was to be held on Saturday, November 18, 1989.  To see a larger version of the above image, click here.

Thanks so much again, Jane, for these great additions!

I find it fascinating that there could be so many bylaws for an institution like the American Crossword Puzzle Academy and Hall of Fame; at the same time, however, I wonder whether such bylaws were necessary.  Perhaps the complexity of the organization  contributed somewhat to its downfall!  I also very much enjoyed reading Report 3 of the newsletter, though I once again wondered whether these reports were the best way to inspire interest among members.  All the letters to the editor are interesting historically in that they can be considered predecessors of crossword blogs, but were they of real interest to members back in the day?  My guess is that the Academy would have survived longer had its bulletins contained puzzles to solve, as Crossworder's OWN and Crossw_rd did.  If the American Crossword Puzzle Academy had used its funds to launch another crossword market rather than to hold meetings, constructors from around the country, rather than just those in New York, would have been able to feel involved.  Then again, the letters may indeed have been fascinating for constructors since they'd never really seen such fan mail before.  Perhaps modern constructors are more jaded now that both wanted and unwanted feedback about their published work can be accessed with the click of a button.

Mark Diehl's American Crossword Puzzle Academy Treasures—Plus Blast! Change and Another Proofreading Log

Mark Diehl's American Crossword Puzzle Academy Treasures

Now that the Thanksgiving holiday weekend is behind us—delightfully topped off by Puzzazz's free thank you gift for everyone, Bruce Leban's Jumping to Conclusions hangman riddles!—it's time to revisit the American Crossword Puzzle Academy and Hall of Fame.  As I mentioned last week, I have something more on this short-lived but historic enterprise, thanks to litzer and proofreader extraordinaire Mark Diehl!  After my November 21 post on the Crossword Puzzle Academy appeared, Mark wrote me that he was able to dig up the original membership solicitation flyer he'd received in 1989 from Robert Guilbert!  Mark continued:

I remember paying for the membership and signing a Charter Member placard for the proposed display wall.  I think the missing section of page 3 and 4 was the application form and it had a drawing of the proposed signature display wall.

I didn't attend the first and only meeting in 1990.  I vaguely remember talk of a commemorative book of puzzles with pic and bio of member-contributors as a fund raising project.  Don't know if this ever happened—I wasn't contacted to submit anything.  Perhaps Guilbert passed away and the book never saw the light of day.

I wonder if the signature wall was ever created or if the signature placards are still in existence—what a great collection of Pre-Shortziana that would be!

I've posted the four pages of the flyer on Scribd—you can see them by clicking here.  The first page mentions the May 11, 1988, meeting at the Harvard Club in New York, which was attended by Frances Hansen (who stood in for Maura Jacobson), William Lutwiniak, Eugene T. Maleska, Stanley Newman, Will Shortz, Mel Taub, and Will Weng.  Maura and the six male attendees became the "ad hoc Founding Board of Governors."  The second page mentions British constructor ("setter") Paul Henderson, who reportedly was in touch with Guilbert about the possibility of establishing a U.K. Academy and alludes to an upcoming meeting in Britain to discuss that, along with the idea of an International Academy and Hall of Fame.

This page also lists the following nominations for the Crossword Puzzle Academy Hall of Fame:   Arthur Wynne, Margaret Farrar, Prosper Buranelli, Gregory Hartswick, Jules Arensberg, Harold Bers, Jack Luzzatto, and Anne Fox.  It notes that Mervin Edward Griffin (of Wheel of Fortune fame!) was "elected for induction as a Fellow."

Membership in the Crossword Puzzle Academy was $10.00; here is what it included:

Then, a few days ago, Mark wrote me again, saying he'd found another stash of Crossword Puzzle Academy papers while searching for something else.  I've posted them all on Scribd—to see each one, click on its name below:

Nominating Ballot and other information
Proclamation of December 15, 1988
Report 1 (September 1989; contains the names of the original 82 members, plus 55 comments)
Report 2 (December 21, 1989; contains more comments, plus a demographic map)
Report 4 (July 1990; contains more comments)
Sketch of the wall (which you can see below in reduced form)

Report 4 also mentions the possibility of publishing a compendium of puzzles by members, which would also include a headshot and thumbnail bio of each constructor (like with the crosswords I edit for the Orange County Register's associated newspapers), to "acquaint puzzle fans with the real people behind the names as well as the identities of those who supply generic feature fare."  It goes on to say that individual members might also write "a brief essay on the nature of the craft and its historical genesis."

Thanks so much, Mark, for saving these amazing treasures from the past for all these years and sending them in—they really bring the American Crossword Puzzle Academy and Hall of Fame to life!  Robert Guilbert was clearly a visionary—perhaps someday his idea will be revived.

Blast! from the Past Change

Puzzazz's new hangman book gave me an idea for a change to the Blast! from the Past format.  Since figuring out the answers to the Blast! challenges has been a bit tough without any surrounding information of the sort that would be in crossword grids, I've decided to provide a new letter each day.  When the Blast! challenge first appears, you'll just see blank underscores for where the letters should be.  The next day, one letter will be filled in (in all the appropriate spots); the third day, a second letter will appear, and so on.  So the challenge will still be to see how fast you can solve it, but I'm hoping this format will make doing so easier!

Project Update, Plus More of Dave Phillips's Proofreading Log

It's been a busy week, and we're finally closing in on 1966—I'm just waiting for the last few proofread puzzles!  Saturday night Mark Diehl sent in 30 puzzles and then 31 more Sunday morning.  Sunday afternoon Denny Baker sent 31 more, which were followed by another 30 from Mark that night.  Monday night Dave Phillips sent in 30 puzzles, along with a continuation of his very interesting proofreading log from the October 10 post (reproduced in two parts below).  And then Thursday afternoon Todd Gross sent 11 puzzles, in which he found 16 mistakes.  Thanks so much again, everyone—we're making great progress!

Happy Thanksgiving Holidays!

The blog is on hiatus this week because of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, but I hope everyone had a wonderful time yesterday eating and solving crosswords!  See you next week, when I'll be presenting something related to last week's post on the American Crossword Puzzle Academy and Hall of Fame.  In the meantime, here's a brief project update . . . along with the solution to last week's Blast! challenge!

Image courtesy of artfire.com

Project Update and Blast! Solution

Despite the impending holiday, we had a fairly busy week on the proofreading front!  Sunday morning Todd Gross sent in 11 puzzles with 19 mistakes, and a few hours later, Mark Diehl sent in 30 puzzles with 57 mistakes.  Monday night Mark sent 31 more but didn't count the mistakes, and then late Wednesday, he sent another 31 puzzles.  Thanks so much again, Mark and Todd—great job!

There were no correct answers to last week's Blast from the Past! challenge.  The clue from this 1959 puzzle was:  "Once-important educator."  The hint:  "The answer is 2 words—the first is 5 letters long, and the second is 7."  And the answer was . . . LATIN TEACHER!  Mirabile dictu!

American Crossword Puzzle Academy and Hall of Fame

Project Update

It's been a slightly slower week on the proofreading front—I'm guessing that some people are still busy scoring Matt Ginsberg's word lists, since there's a lot of crossover between volunteers on these two projects!  In any case, early Tuesday morning Todd Gross sent in 10 puzzles.  Then Thursday afternoon an anonymous proofreader sent in 8 puzzles with 11 mistakes.  And Friday Denny Baker sent in 32 puzzles.  Thanks so much, everyone!  We're still finishing up 1966 and will soon be into 1965, a year that had quite a few publication problems—mostly missing, duplicate, and incorrectly typeset puzzles.  Definitely a challenge!

Blast! Solution

Speaking of challenges, there were no correct answers to last week's Blast! from the Past.  The clue, from the June 12, 1967, puzzle, was:  "Guy, good or bad."  The hint:  "The answer is 3 letters (1 vowel, 2 consonants)."  The answer was EGG!  As usual, this week's Blast! challenge appears in the sidebar.

American Crossword Puzzle Academy and Hall of Fame

I recently came across an article in a 1992 CROSSW RD magazine about efforts to establish a crossword academy.  The article, written by constructor and American Crossword Puzzle Tournament organizer Helene Hovanec, profiled Robert Guilbert, a marketing and communications executive and freelance writer who spent his final years trying to create a crossword academy.  Guilbert's "vision was to recognize many levels of professional crossword people—constructors, editors, writers, publishers, contest winners—and house the Academy in a public institution in Washington, D.C."

Photo of Robert Guilbert courtesy of CROSSW RD

Intrigued, I Googled Guilbert and found a 1990 New York Times article by Randall Rothenberg, "Money Is the Word to Cruciverbalists."  Apparently Guilbert had begun laying groundwork for the academy in 1988, which Rothenberg wrote about in his August 10, 1988, Times article, "Puzzle Makers Exchange Cross Words."  The 170-member group, whose official name was the American Crossword Puzzle Academy and Hall of Fame, held its first—and seemingly only—meeting on Saturday, September 15, 1990, in New York and was attended by 28 constructors and editors.  The meeting lasted for three hours and focused on "ways to improve contracts, fees and publishers' profits."  This fascinating Times article, which you can read by clicking here, includes comments by Dorothy Davis, Maura Jacobson, William Lutwiniak, Eugene T. Maleska, Stan Newman, Lou Sabin, and John Samson.  And another article on Guilbert and his academy appeared in a blog post on kolynychboss8, which you can see by clicking here; it includes comments by William Lutwiniak and Mel Rosen.

Unfortunately, as Helene Hovanec's article notes, Guilbert passed away shortly thereafter, and "the idea of the Academy seemed to die also."  She adds, "No one in the puzzle field has expressed any interest in continuing the project as he envisioned it."  I did find a listing for the academy on Bizopedia, which you can see by clicking here.  It shows that the academy was registered as a Wisconsin Non-Stock Corporation on June 9, 1989.

I wonder whether there would be interest today in reviving the academy or creating something like it.  If anyone has any thoughts about this, please feel free to comment or contact me directly.  And if you attended this historic meeting and care to reminisce about how it went, I'd welcome any comments on that as well!