Stan Newman Finds William Lutwiniak NSA Interview; Constructor Regina M. Heil Identified

Stan Newman Finds William Lutwiniak NSA Interview

Some time ago I received an email from Newsday crossword editor Stan Newman, who'd discovered a long piece about William Lutwiniak, one of the most prolific New York Times crossword constructors ever.  Lutwiniak, a former cryptologist for the National Security Agency (NSA), published at least 304 pre-Shortz puzzles in The Times, which are available here on XWord Info.  Stan's find is a long, formerly top-secret but now declassified interview by Robert Farley of the NSA on October 18, 1981.  Here's Lutwiniak discussing his background:

To read the full interview, click here.  (And for more on William Lutwiniak, see other links on this blog, including on the Pre-Shortzian Constructors page; this CROSSW_RD Magazine profile by Helene Hovanec; and, as Stan suggested, links that come up when Googling "Lutwiniak NSA," such as this Wikipedia entry.)  Thanks so much again, Stan, for this great discovery!

Constructor Regina M. Heil Identified

Regina M. Heil. Photo courtesy of Bill Heil.

In mid-April, Thomas Heil emailed The New York Times about his mother, Regina M. Heil, who'd built a daily crossword puzzle edited by Will Weng.  The puzzle was published on January 29, 1973.  Tom wondered whether The Times had a copy in its archives or wanted one for its files.

The email made its way to Times crossword editor Will Shortz, who sent Tom a copy of the puzzle, which our records at the Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project (and now on XWord Info) had previously listed as being by "Unknown."  Tom confirmed that this was indeed the puzzle his mother had constructed; he also mentioned that he recalled her having submitted two other puzzles to Will Weng before this one was published.  "Mr. Weng put my mother through Goldilocks editing," Tom noted.  "The first puzzle was too hard, the second too easy and the third was just right."  She received $10 for the puzzle.  Tom added that his mother "never missed a day of the puzzle, all while raising nine kids.  She was pretty amazing."  At the time, she lived on Thomas Road in Wayne, Penn.

Will suggested that Tom send a headshot of his mother, if he had one, to Jim Horne at XWord Info so it could appear with her puzzle.  I emailed Tom too asking if we could write about her on this blog and encouraging him to send along any further information or photos.

I then received an email from Bill Heil, Tom's brother, along with this photo and the one above:

Regina M. Heil. Photo courtesy of Bill Heil.

Bill wrote that their sister, Mary Colleen, had reiterated Tom's "Goldilocks" comment.  In a follow-up email, Bill reported that he'd asked Regina's 81-year-old brother, Brian Torsney, for more information, and Brian had written:

My father used to sit in the den and do the NY Times Sunday puzzle.  My father could do at least 3/4's of the puzzle and when he was stumped, he would get your mother and I to brainstorm.  I still do the NY Times crossword puzzles.  They appear in the Desert Sun (the Palm Springs paper) daily and Sunday. I can complete the Sunday puzzle in one sitting about 1/2 the time, and completely at least 90% of the time. I run into trouble when they use rap music stars, current movie/TV stars or new movies as clues.

And Tom, who'd originally contacted The Times, added:

Did I mention that I also do the puzzles every day but Sunday. Sundays Bobbie [Ed.: Tom's wife], who does at least a puzzle a day, and I work on the puzzle together. It's good for the marriage — 28 years now.

Thanks so much again, Tom, Bill, Mary Colleen, and Brian, for helping us identify and get to know the long-lost constructor of this puzzle!  It's also wonderful to see how an interest in puzzles was passed down over three generations—from Regina's father, to Regina and Brian, to Tom himself.

Crossw_rd Magazine Cornucopia, Barry Silk's Jack Luzzatto Find, and More from Todd Gross

Happy New Year, everyone—as promised, here are a few cruciverbal treats to start the year off right!

Crossw_rd Magazine Cornucopia

Some of you may have read the previous articles I've posted on Scribd from Crossw_rd Magazine.  I still have a treasure trove of them left that I've been meaning to put up for some time.  One of my New Year's resolutions was to post them all, and since things will get busy once school starts up again, I've done it in one fell swoop—enjoy!

Mike Shenk
First up is legendary constructor and editor Mike Shenk, whose 1996 profile was written by Marilynn Huret—click here to read it.  Mike, now crossword editor of The Wall Street Journal, was then editor of Games Magazine.  Mike has published at least one pre-Shortzian puzzle in The New York Times and seven Shortz-era puzzles.

Mike Shenk. Photo copyright 1996,
2017, Megalo Media, Inc. Reprinted
by permission of Stan Chess and
CROSSW-RD Magazine.

For a more recent profile of Mike, see this 2014 article in Penn State News.

Mel Rosen
Crossword luminary Mel Rosen is profiled by Alex Vaughn in this 1994 article, which you can read by clicking here.  Author of the classic Random House Puzzlemaker's Handbook and former editor of The Crosswords Club, Mel has published at least 24 pre-Shortzian Times puzzles and 14 in the Shortz era.

Mel Rosen. Photo copyright 1994,
2017, Megalo Media, Inc. Reprinted
by permission of Stan Chess and
CROSSW-RD Magazine.

For more on Mel, see this 2010 L.A. Times Crossword Corner interview and this 2013 one that appeared on this site.

Manny Nosowsky
Manny Nosowsky, one of the most prolific constructors ever, is profiled by Alex Vaughn in this 1994 piece—click here to read it.  Manny, whose first career was as a urologist, has published at least 8 pre-Shortzian New York Times puzzles and 246 Shortz-era puzzles.

Manny Nosowsky. Photo copyright 1994,
2017, Megalo Media, Inc. Reprinted by
permission of Stan Chess and CROSS-
W-RD Magazine.

To read more about Manny, see this 2012 Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project interview.

Randolph Ross
Randolph (or Randy) Ross, another prolific constructor, is profiled by Helene Hovanec in this 1993 article, which you can see here.  Randy, also a longtime high school principal, has published at least 2 pre-Shortzian Times puzzles and 101 in the Shortz era.

Randolph Ross. Photo copyright 1993,
2017, Megalo Media, Inc. Reprinted by
permission of Stan Chess and CROSS-
W-RD Magazine.

For more on Randy, see XWord Info creator Jim Horne's 2009 interview on Wordplay.

Maura Jacobson
Celebrated crossword constructor and editor Maura Jacobson is profiled by Helene Hovanec in this 1993 article—to read it, click here.  Maura, who was honored with the first MERL Memorial Award in 2016 for lifetime achievement, published at least 63 pre-Shortzian Times crosswords and 3 in the Shortz era.

Maura Jacobson. Photo copyright 1993,
2017, Megalo Media, Inc. Reprinted by
permission of Stan Chess and CROSS-
W-RD Magazine.

For more on Maura, see this 2011 article in New York Magazine.

Nancy Nicholson Joline
Nancy Nicholson Joline, who had her very first crossword accepted by Eugene T. Maleska, is the subject of this 1995 profile by Marilynn Huret—click here to read it.  Nancy published at least 61 pre-Shortzian puzzles in The New York Times and 48 in the Shortz era.

Nancy Nicholson Joline. Photo copyright
1995, 2017, Megalo Media, Inc. Reprinted
by permission of Stan Chess and CROSS-
W-RD Magazine.

For more on Nancy, see this 2008 article on Barnard constructors that originally appeared in Barnard Magazine.

A. J. Santora
Another hugely prolific constructor (and, appropriately enough, constructor of homes), A. J. Santora is profiled by Helene Hovanec in this 1994 article, which you can read here.  A. J. had at least 185 pre-Shortzian Times puzzles published and 68 in the Shortz era.

A. J. Santora. Photo copyright 1994,
2017, Megalo Media, Inc. Reprinted by
permission of Stan Chess and CROSS-
W-RD Magazine.

Karen Hodge (Karen Young Bonin)
Karen Hodge (aka Karen Young Bonin) is the subject of this 1994 profile by Helene Hovanec, which you can read here.  A longtime high school French teacher who started the Connecticut Shoreline crossword contest, Karen published at least 2 pre-Shortzian puzzles in The New York Times and 11 in the Shortz era.

Karen Hodge. Photo copyright 1994,
2017, Megalo Media, Inc. Reprinted
by permission of Stan Chess and
CROSSW-RD Magazine.

For more on Karen, see this 1999 article in the Hartford Courant.

Cathy Millhauser (Cathy Allis)
Another renowned punster, Cathy Millhauser (aka Cathy Allis) is profiled in this 1994 article by Alex Vaughn—to read it, click here.  Cathy has published at least 4 pre-Shortzian Times puzzles and 84 in the Shortz era.

Cathy Millhauser. Photo copyright
1994, 2017, Megalo Media, Inc. Re-
printed by permission of Stan Chess and
CROSSW-RD Magazine.

For more on Cathy, see this 2011 article in the Albany, N.Y., Times Union.

Obituaries:  Will Weng, Eugene T. Maleska, and Jordan S. Lasher
Several noteworthy obituaries appeared in CROSSW_ORD Magazine, including this lengthy joint one on Will Weng and Eugene T. Maleska, who both passed away the same unfortunate year.  Written by Helene Hovanec in 1993, it can be read here.

Will Weng (left) and Eugene T. Maleska (right).
Photo copyright 1993, 2017, Megalo Media, Inc.
Reprinted by permission of Stan Chess and CROSS-
W-RD Magazine.

Two years later, a short but informative obituary on Jordan S. Lasher appeared without a byline—to read it, click here.  Jordan passed away at an early age (48), having published at least 60 pre-Shortzian puzzles in The New York Times.  A chemical engineer, he created the "world's hardest puzzle" for a bookstore contest.

For more on Jordan, see this 1995 obituary in The New York Times and other articles listed on the Pre-Shortzian Constructors page.

Eric Albert's Op-ed on Puzzle Tedium
I came across this 1993 op-ed on puzzle tedium written by New York Times constructor Eric Albert, "So Damn Dull," and found it most interesting historically—to read it, click here.  Clearly crosswords have come a very long way since then!

Stan Newman on Crosswordese
Finally, I can't think of a better way to finish up this crossword cornucopia than with this four-part crosswordese (and brand name) series by the inimitable Stan Newman, new-wave crusader and Newsday crossword editor—click here to read it.

Barry Silk's Jack Luzzatto Find

Some time ago New York Times constructor and Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project volunteer Barry Silk wrote to me about a great find.  He'd been watching some old What's My Line? videos and discovered this one with an appearance by Jack Luzzatto, one of the most creative and prolific pre-Shortzian constructors ever.  Jack appears at approximately 20:45 in the video; to see it, click on the link above or watch it below.  Terrific find—thanks so much again, Barry!

More from Todd Gross

Following up on last week's post, crossword historian Todd Gross just published this article on pre-Shortzian constructor Helen Pettigrew.  Congratulations, Todd!

Todd also found articles on pre-Shortzian and Shortz-era constructors Derrick Niederman and Merl Reagle that are now linked to here and on the Pre-Shortzian Constructors page.  Thanks, Todd!


That's it for now—I look forward to seeing many of you at the ACPT and in the meantime wish everyone a happy and puzzle-filled 2017!

Project Done—1942 through 1951 Puzzles Up, Next Steps, and "Moving Forward" Metapuzzle

Project Update

Big news:  Thanks to Jim Horne, the 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, and 1951 proofread puzzles are up on XWord Info, which means all the available pre-Shortzian puzzles are now there and the project is essentially done—appropriately enough, on Will Shortz's birthday!  Happy Birthday, Will!

I still can't believe we were able to accomplish this feat in just four years (or three years, two months since the project's official start).  I'd like to extend a huge thank-you to everyone in the crossword community who helped me accomplish my dream of having all the pre-Shortzian puzzles in a digital format—there's no way this could have happened without all your continuous time, support, and motivation.  As a community, we've accomplished something that each of us individually would have dismissed as too challenging and unrealistic, which I think is very special.  We've created a resource that will entertain curious minds for years to come, change the way we look at the history of crosswords (and maybe even history itself), and ensure that the names of the exceptionally prolific pre-Shortzian constructors won't just be footnotes in puzzle history.  We can now learn lessons from generations of earlier constructors, and we just might find a handful of usable entries for our own puzzles that were previously lost to time.  And even if most of the uniquely pre-Shortzian entries are too obscure, it can't hurt to have an extra 52 years of clues to draw from!  The uses for the database we've created are only limited by the creativity of the crossword and puzzle community, which I'm convinced is boundless.  But perhaps the biggest takeaway from the Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project is that a whole world of possibilities can become reality through teamwork.  If an impractical high school freshman can watch his dream come true one step at a time over the course of four years, who knows what else can be accomplished?

I'd like to take a moment to thank all the litzers again, especially Mark Diehl, Barry Haldiman, Nancy Kavanaugh, Jeffrey Krasnick, Denny Baker, Howard Barkin, and Ralph Bunker, who were the most prolific.  Their totals, along with the totals for all the other litzers, can be seen on the Litzer & Proofreader Totals page.  (Some of these totals were slightly revised recently after I recalculated them from my current spreadsheet.)

Thanks, too, to all the proofreaders, of whom there were far fewer.  Proofreading was less appealing to many people, but it was an essential part of this process.  I didn't keep a running total of the proofreaders' totals while the proofing was under way because I didn't want people to compete with each other and race through the puzzles.  I calculated those totals recently, though, and you can now view them at the bottom of the Litzer & Proofreader Totals page, underneath the "found mistakes" tallies.

Special thanks to Mark Diehl, who was not only the Litzing King but also the Proofreading King!  Even more amazing, Mark's old-school litzing by hand beat out more technologically advanced (and very impressive!) optical character recognition litzing methods—congratulations again, Mark!

Thanks, too, to Todd Gross, not only for his litzing and proofreading but also for his painstaking research on pre-Shortzian constructors.  Todd's findings have been a major feature of numerous posts and added a richness to what might otherwise be just a list of constructor names.

Along the same lines, I'd like to thank all the pre-Shortzian constructors—and friends and relatives of constructors, or simply crossword aficionados—who provided interviews or sent in reminiscences of, or memorabilia from, pre-Shortzian constructors and times.  These have been delightfully entertaining and informative, and I hope to add new ones in the future.

Special thanks, too, to Barry Haldiman, who gave me the puzzles he and various other people, including project litzer and proofreader Denny Baker, had begun litzing back in 1999.  These puzzles got the project off to a running start—thanks again, Barry!  Barry also provided much historical context for the litzing and helped tremendously in tracking down copies of puzzles missing from ProQuest on good old-fashioned microfiche.

A few other people have offered to help search for the missing puzzles, contacting libraries and even the Times itself to that end.  Even though none of these efforts has proved successful so far, they've been great starts and helped rule out a number of formerly promising possible sources—thanks again to all the puzzle detectives!

I'd also like to thank everyone who's made a financial donation to the project.  Jim Horne was the first, generously giving the project a month of his XWord Info donations, and in the past few years several other people have contributed as well.  These donations have been much appreciated and helped pay for prizes and other expenses.

A few people have also helped by donating old books and newsletters, which have been exceptionally useful—thanks so much again!  I'm still making my way through the newsletters, and I'm always on the lookout for more old books containing the pre-Shortzian daily New York Times puzzles with bylines.  I'll be updating the Pre-Shortzian Crossword Books page as soon as time permits, but suffice it to say I'm still missing many of these old volumes, some of which may be the only way we can identify the remaining anonymous constructors.

I'd also like to thank the Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project Advisory Board members, Jim Horne, Stan Newman, and Will Shortz.  They've been incredibly helpful over the past few years, and I think it's fair to say that without them, the project simply would not have taken off.  Thanks, Jim, for being the best partner in all this that anyone could ever want—XWord Info is a masterpiece, and I'm honored that I've been able to contribute to it in a significant way.  Thanks, Stan, for the hundreds of books, newsletters, and, most important, your encyclopedic knowledge and memory of the pre-Shortzian era and people—you've been a tremendous support (not to mention a delightful lunch companion!).  And thanks, Will, for being so generous with your time and advice and allowing me to hunt through your treasure trove of crossword books for constructor names—you are not only the Puzzlemaster but an inspiration, and I hope the project's completion makes your birthday an especially memorable one!

Finally, I'd like to give a shoutout to Kristena Bergen (aka my mom, Karen Steinberg).  If I wrote about everything she's done to help with the project, Blogger would likely implode, because there would simply be too much!  In addition to helping with the PDF downloading, puzzle-packet assembling, litzing, and proofreading, she spent countless hours just helping to keep track of everything, pitching in wherever and whenever needed, and making a final pass through almost all the available pre-Shortzian puzzles before I sent them to XWord Info.  Mom never took credit for any of the work she did, but without her this project never would have gotten as far as it did so quickly.  On behalf of us all, I'd like to give her a virtual round of applause with a standing ovation!  My mom is my hero, and if I can grow up to be a fraction of the person she is, I'll consider myself even more fortunate than I already am.  I love you, Mom—it is truly an honor to be your son!

Next Steps

Now that there are no more puzzles left to litz, proofread, or look through before sending to XWord Info, you might be wondering what's next for this project.  As I mentioned in a previous post, many tasks still remain.  First, the rest of the PS Notes from our litzers and proofreaders need to be entered onto XWord Info.  I'll be working on that over these next couple of weeks before heading off to college.  Second, the constructor names on XWord Info need to be standardized and, in some cases, updated.  When I was doing research at Will's house last summer, I was able to find the first names of many constructors for whom the only identifying information we had was a last name or a pair of initials.  I entered all this data into my spreadsheet but didn't make changes to the actual puzzle files because they were already up on XWord Info and because the focus was on finishing the rest of the puzzles.  As for the standardization, Jim Horne has pointed out a number of instances in which the spelling of constructors' names has been inconsistent.  Some of the incorrect spellings are simply oversights, but in most cases, different sources (i.e., the Times itself and books of reprinted puzzles) used slight name variations.  For example, it's clear that Marian Moeser and Marion Moeser were the same person, yet 22 puzzles are listed on Marian's XWord Info page and 15 on Marion's.  When time permits, I'll also be posting information on the project's style guide and editorial decisions, which will clarify how words and punctuation were usually handled.  Finally, I'm going to keep trying to hunt down the missing puzzles.  I haven't had a lot of success recently, but I haven't lost hope yet!

"Moving Forward" Metapuzzle

Last but not least, to celebrate the final major milestone of the Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project, I constructed another 23x23 metapuzzle, "Moving Forward."  The puzzle, in either Across Lite or PDF format, will be available on XWord Info at 2:00 p.m. Pacific time today from a link I'll insert here—http://www.xwordinfo.com/MovingForward/—and also post on Twitter, Facebook, and Cruciverb.  Very important instructions will appear in a notepad in the Across Lite file, so read carefully!  Send your answer to preshortzianpuzzleproject at gmail dot com (using the standard format).  The deadline for submitting your solution is September 2 at 2:00 p.m. Pacific time.  You may only submit one answer, so be sure you're 100% happy with your answer before clicking "Send"!  One lucky winner will be chosen at random from the correct solutions.  That person will receive a $50 iTunes gift card courtesy of the Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project!  Even though only one solver will receive a prize, everyone who submits a correct answer will have his/her name listed in a wrap-up blog post (unless you tell me you'd rather not have your name appear).  Names will be listed in the order in which the correct solutions came in.  Have fun—and good luck!

Litzing Done, Proofreading Contest Under Way, 1972 Puzzles Up on XWord Info, September Litzer of the Month Tracy Bennett, and a Gem from Stan Newman's Collection

Litzing Done (for Now)

We reached another major milestone on Saturday:  The final available litzed puzzles came in, so we're now done!  We finished up one day before my goal of having all the litzed puzzles back by the end of August—thanks again, everyone!  As the litzing thermometer shows, we're at 16,077—148 puzzles shy of the 16,225 pre-Shortzian crosswords.  Most of the missing puzzles weren't published in New York because of newspaper strikes; at some point in the future, I'll continue looking into other ways of locating these puzzles.  In the meantime, thanks so much to everyone who made it happen—awesome, awesome job!

Pre-Shortzian Proofreading Challenge Gets Under Way

Here's the lowdown on the rest of this past week:  On Saturday afternoon, Tracy Bennett sent in 31 proofread puzzles.  That night, Martin Herbach sent 28 litzed puzzles, and then two minutes later, Mark Diehl sent in 31 proofread puzzles!  Monday morning, September 1, the Pre-Shortzian Proofreading Challenge officially began, and Mark sent the first batch of puzzles—26, with 16 mistakes!  A couple of hours later, he sent another 26 with 31 mistakes . . . then that afternoon, 31 more with 73 mistakes!  Late that night, Todd Gross sent in 10 puzzles with 13 mistakes.  Early Tuesday morning, Mark sent 28 more puzzles with 13 mistakes, and late that night, another 31 with 15 mistakes.  Wednesday afternoon, Todd sent 10 more puzzles with 9 mistakes, and late that night, Mark sent 31 more with 20 mistakes.  Thursday afternoon, Todd sent another 10 puzzles with 25 mistakes.  And this week Howard Barkin sent 31 puzzles with 31 mistakes.  As I write this, Mark has found the most mistakes so far (168) and is followed by Todd (47) and Howard (31)!  Great job, everyone!  If you'd like to participate in the contest, just let me know—details, along with the latest proofreading totals, can be found on the Contest Totals page.

1972 Puzzles Up on XWord Info

In other news, thanks to Jim Horne, the 1972 puzzles are now up on XWord Info!  I hope you all enjoy looking through and/or solving this latest installment.  We're almost done proofreading the Will Weng puzzles—just three more years to go, most of which are done or well on their way!  I've even been sending out a few packets of Farrar puzzles for proofreading, and I expect we'll be well into the age of puzzles with periods at the ends of their clues by the time the proofreading contest winds down.

September Litzer of the Month Tracy Bennett

I'm also delighted to announce that New York Times constructor Tracy Bennett is the September Litzer of the Month!  In addition to having litzed 49 puzzles, Tracy has proofread hundreds more, usually sending a new batch at the end of each month.  To read more about Tracy, click here or on the Litzer of the Month tab above.

A Gem from Stan Newman's Collection

I was looking through my rapidly expanding collection of old crossword books and came across one that particularly intrigued me:  Puzzles for Everybody.  This book, which comes from Stan Newman's collection, appears to have been published in 1955.  The book is jam-packed with crosswords, anagrams, trivia quizzes, and all sorts of other word and math puzzles . . . and there's a picture of a different scantily-clad (for that time period, at least) woman every few pages whose name is incorporated into one of the puzzles!  (Since this book's publisher is Avon, referring to these women as "Avon ladies" from here on out seems fitting!)  What I find fascinating is that this book is titled Puzzles for Everybody but clearly targets a male solving audience!  The book seems to epitomize the rampant sexism during the '50s and '60s by indirectly excluding women from "Everybody."  In any case, the crosswords in this book definitely aren't as eye-catching as the Avon ladies!  To their credit, these 11 x 11s don't contain very many glaring obscurities, but they appear to rotate through the same few grid patterns and are heavy on crosswordese. The grid patterns themselves have handfuls of unsightly cheater squares, but at least there aren't too many two-letter words.  The clues are mostly standard, though there are a few clever ones, such as "It's all around you" for AIR.  I was ultimately more impressed with some of the novel variety puzzle forms in this book than with the crosswords.  One of my favorites was a letter maze that, when traced properly, spelled the 8-word, 39-letter phrase KEEP DIGGING AND YOU WILL EVENTUALLY LOCATE IT!  In sum, this puzzle book was quite entertaining to look through, and the Avon ladies definitely distinguished it from some contemporary volumes I've thumbed through.  Here are some pictures of Puzzles for Everybody:

Front cover

Crossword No. 1

An "Avon lady"

Back cover

Featured Puzzle

Today's featured puzzle, whose constructor is unknown, was published June 28, 1961; edited by Margaret Farrar; and litzed by Nancy Kavanaugh.  Instead of going with the traditional themeless structure from this time period (four corners with scores of seven-letter entries), the constructor of this sparkly 70-worder opted for a more sectioned-off grid with numerous wide-open spaces.  I don't think I've seen such a grid in a pre-Shortzian puzzle—I really appreciate the creativity and ambitiousness of this design!  The 6 x 5 chunks in the upper right and lower left are particularly visually appealing, and the middle and remaining two corners don't disappoint aesthetically.  Highlights in the fill include PARSEC, KNIVES, SANS SERIF, WIREMAN, SUNDAE, and SLIPPERS; also, although I've never heard of QUANTICO (clued as "Marine Corps base in Virginia."), it sounds nice and uses a Q.  What really makes this puzzle stand out, though, is that the fill is almost junk-free:  The only two entries that seem unreasonably obscure are RABIC ("Pertaining to hydrophobia.") and CUNEO ("Wedge-shaped: Comb. form.)—very impressive given the challenge posed by the grid structure!  The clues are mostly standard definitions—the only one that really gave me pause was "Former monetary units of Lithuania." for LITS.  This is exactly the type of clue that proofreader Todd Gross would cite as being unnecessarily obscure; I would have much preferred something like "Wagons-___ (sleeping cars)."  Nevertheless, this puzzle feels very strong on the whole, and I look forward to seeing more creative themeless grids as I continue looking through puzzles from the the early '60s and late '50s!  For now, this puzzle's solution can be seen below:

East Coast Wrap-Up, August Litzer of the Month Peter Broda, and Greek Entries of the Week

East Coast Puzzle Extravaganza Wrap-Up

I've just returned from an amazing couple of weeks on the East Coast, where I spent four awesome days and nights in Portland, Maine, at MaineCon, the National Puzzlers' League convention!  I had a blast playing Bananagrams and Fluxx at midnight, meeting new NPLers and reuniting with old friends, trying new games such as Cluesome and Paperback, solving a brilliant Extravaganza with an equally brilliant team of runners, and exploring some of Portland's lovely restaurants!  On one of the days, I went to lunch with Stan Newman (a.k.a. Famulus) at a place that served sapid lobster pizza and other seafood treats; when we got back to the hotel, Stan gave me two references books that were used by many pre-Shortzian constructors:  the Longman Crossword Key and Funk & Wagnalls Crossword Puzzle Word Finder.  Both of these tomes are full of possible crossword entries sorted by letter pattern; the main differences are that the Funk & Wagnalls includes 2–6 letter words (whereas the Longman Crossword Key includes 3–15 letter words) and that the Funk & Wagnalls allows you to find words with more than one fixed letter.  The Funk & Wagnalls is particularly interesting since it describes a deliberate process for how words were selected for inclusion in the book, which has definite connections to modern-day word-list scoring.  Thanks again for these neat old references, Stan!

I was also delighted to have lunch in Philadelphia with Bernice Gordon, who has become my "adopted grandmother" of sorts!  She showed me some of her more recent constructions, and we had a lot of fun playing a game called Bookworm on her computer (which can be played online).  Bernice also gave me several beautiful books, a couple of which she bought in England years ago!  My favorite of these books, An Exaltation of Larks, contains the names for different groupings of people and animals, such as "a siege of herons" and "an untruth of summoners."  The book also has lovely illustrations to accompany many of the terms and etymological information about some of the more esoteric ones.  I look forward to looking through Bernice's books in more detail when time frees up and jet lag fully wears off!

I also spent a few days in Pleasantville, New York, where Will Shortz generously made his crossword book and magazine collection available.  Using his complete collection of Simon & Schuster volumes, along with countless other contemporary puzzle books, I was able to identify the first names and/or genders of many more pre-Shortzian constructors.  One of the most interesting discoveries I made was that Horiguchi (whose first name turned out to be Yurie) submitted her crosswords to the Times from Tokyo.  I wonder if English was Yurie Horiguchi's first language—if not, then her ability to construct quality American-style crosswords by hand is even more impressive!  Will also gave me a few extra copies of The Bantam Great Masters Winning Crossword Puzzles series, which has photos and bios of numerous pre-Shortzian constructors, and let me photocopy more extensive bios of certain puzzlers from his Four-Star Puzzler anthology.  I'm planning to scan these in the near future and make them available on Scribd.  Will and his assistant, Joel Fagliano, also gave me a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at how New York Times puzzles are selected and edited, although I spent most of my time conducting research.  Thanks so much again for the books and for letting me do some great research, Will!

Finally, right before touring the college renowned in crosswords for calling its students ELIS, I was able to pay a visit to Noah Webster's grave—here's a picture:

Noah Webster's grave in New Haven, CT

Project Update

On the litzing and proofreading front, there was a lot of activity while I was gone!  Thursday the 17th, Alex Vratsanos sent in 1 litzed puzzle.  Saturday the 19th, Todd Gross sent in 11 proofread puzzles.  Sunday the 20th, Nancy Kavanaugh sent in 7 reassigned litzed puzzles, and then early Monday the 21st, an anonymous litzer sent in 4 puzzles.  Later that morning, Denny Baker sent 31 proofread puzzles.  Tuesday the 22nd, Larry Wasser sent in 28 more proofread puzzles.  Saturday the 26th, Martin Herbach sent 7 more litzed puzzles, putting our total at 16,038 on the litzing thermometer!  Sunday the 27th, Denny sent in 29 more proofread puzzles.  Tuesday the 29th, Todd sent in 16 more proofread puzzles.  And over the past couple of weeks, Howard Barkin sent in 31 more proofread puzzles.  Thanks so much, everyone, for all this great work—we're making excellent progress and on track to finishing the litzing by the end of this month!

August Litzer of the Month Peter Broda

Now that we're in August, we have a new Litzer of the Month—Peter Broda!  Peter is a New York Times constructor who hails from Regina in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan.  To read more about him, click here or on the Litzer of the Month tab above.

Featured Puzzle

Today's featured puzzle, "Fabrication," was constructed by Diana Sessions; published August 26, 1962; edited by Margaret Farrar; and litzed by Mike Buckley.  This 21 x 21 tour-de-force features 16 symmetrical theme entries that contain a type of fabric, such as WOOL GATHERER (clued as "Idle fancier.").  All the theme entries are elegantly arranged in either stacks of two or, in the center, mind-boggling interlocking webs; to top off the eye-pleasing gridwork, the constructor mostly included theme entries that don't directly tie into the types of fabric they contain!  My favorite theme entry is LAME DUCK ("Act of 1933."), which completely disguises its original fabric, lamé, though FLANNEL CAKE ("Menu item.") and CREPE PAPER ("Party decoration.") are close runners-up.  Cramming in 16 stacked and interlocking theme entries is no easy task, but the constructor made it look like a piece of cake by producing such a consistently smooth fill!  The central entry, SCARFED, is a lovely touch that subtly gets at the theme, and entries like CHARCOAL, CHAPLIN, and WALRUS add a nice bit of zest to this puzzle's 146-word grid.  Speaking of 146 words, I really appreciate that the constructor opted for a word count slightly above the modern New York Times limit of 140 rather than throwing in some lengthy partials and additional obscurities in a more open grid.  I don't see any pairs of black squares that would have been particularly easy to remove, and the grid certainly doesn't feel chunky and sectioned off as a result of the higher word count.  Most of the less-than-stellar entries that did wend their way into the grid appeared in numerous other pre-Shortzian puzzles—the only one that really irks me is BTS ("British titles: Abbr."), but this entry too was used as recently as the Maleska era.  I much prefer the way old Los Angeles Times and Merl Reagle puzzles treated BTS (by cluing it as the abbreviation for boats and beats, respectively).  In all, this is a standout pre-Shortzian puzzle, and I look forward to seeing more from Diana Sessions as I slowly make my way through litzed packets!  Below is the answer grid with highlighted theme entries:

Entries of the Week

The July 22, 1962, crossword, "All Greek to Me" by Jules Arensberg, contained scads of unusual words purportedly from Greek as theme entries.  I've listed an ennead of my favorites below:  

• UCALEGON
• Neighbor whose house is on fire.
• SCHOENOBATIST
• Tightrope walker.
• HYPOCORISMS
• Pet names.
• GYASCUTUS
• Imaginary lopsided beast adapted for circling hills.
• CHICHEVACHE
• Lean monster that feeds on patient wives.
• DEIPNOSOPHIST
• One skilled in table talk.
• LULLILOO
• Whoop by slapping hand against mouth.
• POGONOTROPHY
• Beard growing.
• AICHMOPHOBIA
• Fear of being stuck with needles.

I knew the word deipnosophist from a previous entry of the week and ucalegon from hearing Will Shortz list it as his favorite word so many times, but the rest of these were new to me.  The two words on this list that intrigued me the most were gyascutus and Chichevache—here are some beautiful pictures of these two imaginary beasts I found on DeviantArt!

Gyascutus image courtesy of DeviantArt

Chichevache image courtesy of DeviantArt

ACPT Wrap-Up, New XWord Info Feature on Women Constructors, and In 1948

This year's ACPT was awesome, as usual!  I arrived very late Thursday night and ran into XWord Info's Jeff Chen and litzer Doug Peterson in the lobby.  The next morning, I braved the subway with my parents and went to Chelsea Market in Manhattan, where we had scads of sapid comestibles!  I was hoping to see Alton Brown of Cutthroat Kitchen (one of my favorite shows!), since the Food Network is in the same building, but that didn't happen (though I did see a TV crew filming in one of the shops).  We got back to the hotel in the early afternoon, and Stan Newman and I had an authentic New York pizza nearby.  Later that afternoon I got to meet and shake hands with crossword legend Henry Hook!

Crossword greats Merl Reagle (l.) and Stan Newman (r.)

I was also delighted to see an article by Jonathan Kalman about the Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project appear on the very first day of the ACPT!  To read his piece, "Teenage Crossword Puzzle Maven Goes Digital," click here.    

Friday evening, puzzlemaster Will Shortz got the tournament events under way with a very fun Carnival of Puzzles in which attendees solved their choice of any four of ten puzzles created by noted puzzlemakers!  I realized too late that there was a strategy in choosing which puzzles to solve (though at least—thanks to my parents' warning!—I managed to avoid humiliating myself on Stan Newman's Digital Trivia Quiz!).  I discovered that solving a diagramless for the first time under timed conditions was not one of my better ideas, though I was able to finish Fred Piscop's Split Decisions puzzle and Roy Leban's USA Word Search.

Soon everything became a whirlwind of activity!  In the post-games reception, I met and reuned with many new and old friends, both in the lobby and in long conversations in the sixth-floor puzzle suite.  Over the three-day weekend, I was able to talk with many litzers, including Howard Barkin, Tracy Bennett, Peter Broda, Joe Cabrera, Lynn Feigenbaum, Andrew Feist, Vic Fleming, Mangesh Ghogre, Angela Halsted, Nancy Kavanaugh, Jeffrey Krasnick, Andrew Laurence, Tom Pepper, Doug Peterson, and Brad Wilber (apologies if I've left anyone out).

Jim Jenista in another awesome costume

Saturday began with the puzzle market—an entire hallway filled with tables of puzzle books and merchandise—at which I picked up plenty of freebies.  I was also thrilled that one of my puzzles appeared in the Times that day—out here in California, I've never actually seen anyone solving one of my puzzles in public, so seeing and talking to hundreds of my solvers was amazing!

Later that morning, Will kicked off the actual tournament.  I had a blast solving such a twisty, creative octad of crosswords over the weekend!  Merl Reagle and Brendan Emmett Quigley gave me a real run for my moola, but I was still able to (mostly) finish everything.  And comparing notes with other solvers after finishing each puzzle was great fun.  At lunch I shared a delicious plate of chicken skrewers [sic] with Tom Pepper.  Later on, I was amazed that I could actually identify a couple of the celebrities in a game of Peter Gordon's Celebrity: Get a Clue app!

Saturday night, Will's "'Clever' Clues" game was very entertaining, especially since I finally had a use for the many hours I've spent poring through various clue databases.  Then I gave a talk on the Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project and a brief summary of the results from my statistical analysis of gender in the authorship of New York Times crosswords over the years—a project I did for my Science Research course this year.  Nancy Shack and Don Christensen were both kind enough to record the talk (thanks so much again, Nancy and Don, for this and all the other videos and photos!)—Nancy's video appears below:

I've received a lot of positive feedback about this research, and I'm hoping to continue it in the future.  Clearly the relatively small proportion of puzzles published by female constructors over more than 70 years is an issue of great importance, especially as the crossword community moves forward.  When I returned from the ACPT, I presented my findings at a regional Intel science fair and was also delighted to discover a new feature on XWord Info that I think many people will be interested in:  Stats about women constructors!  This is a fascinating compilation of data that I'm planning to look into more closely after school gets out.

The final talk on Saturday was Matt Ginsberg's phenomenal presentation about Dr. Fill and its performance on this year's puzzles!  I look forward to hearing "moa" about the evolution of Dr. Fill next year.  Here's Don Christensen's video of the talk:

Back to the wrap-up:  By late Saturday night, I think many litzers had forgotten about the get-together in the lobby.  In fact, I was so busy with other things that I forgot about it myself until someone reminded me.  But a few litzers stopped by for two ilks of Oreos, and I had fun joining in on a game of Ghost!

Sunday morning was Puzzle 7, after which I had a delightful New York brunch with Jeb Balise and the Daily Celebrity Crossword crew at Junior's.  Unfortunately, I didn't end up seeing the always entertaining "Crossworders Got Talent" show live, but luckily, a video of it was available online—here it is:

I was surprised and honored to win second place in the D division this year, and I'm looking forward to moving up to C in 2015!  Congratulations to all the other winners and participants, especially Dan Feyer, Tyler Hinman, and litzer Howard Barkin, who were the top three scorers!

And thanks again to Will Shortz, Helene Hovanec, and all the judges and constructors who make the ACPT such an enjoyable experience every year!  I'm already counting the days until Stamford!

Puzzlemaster Will Shortz

On to the project!  It's been a busy couple of weeks, despite the ACPT.  Two weeks ago Friday, Tracy Bennett sent in 31 proofread puzzles in the evening.  Saturday morning, Lynn Feigenbaum sent 4 puzzles.  That afternoon, Denny Baker sent in 7 more, putting us over 15,400 on the litzing thermometer!  And that night, Todd Gross sent 11 more proofread puzzles.  Monday morning, Nancy Kavanaugh sent another mega-batch of 42 puzzles, which were followed that afternoon by 4 from Barry Haldiman and 4 more from Denny.  Tuesday morning, Lynn sent another 4 puzzles.  Wednesday afternoon, Joe Cabrera sent 7 more puzzles, which were followed by 4 from Denny on Thursday afternoon.  Friday morning Peter Broda sent 6 puzzles, then this week early Monday morning Mark Diehl sent 19.  Tuesday morning Barry Haldiman sent 8 more, putting us at 15,500 on the litzing thermometer and his own total at more than 1,400—congratulations, Barry!  That afternoon, new litzer Susan O'Brien sent in her first puzzle—welcome aboard, Susan!  Wednesday afternoon, Denny sent in 4 more puzzles, which were followed by another 3 from Susan Thursday morning and 9 more from Mark late that night.  Early this morning, Todd Gross (who recently celebrated his 50th birthday—happy birthday, Todd!) sent in 10 proofread puzzles.  And this week Howard Barkin sent in 14 puzzles too!  Awesome job, everyone—thanks so much again!  I know it's slower going with the Sunday puzzles now (especially the 23x ones!), but we'll get there—as I write this, we're already at 15,531!

We're now also sending out puzzles from 1948—a year that was of particular importance to those of us interested in letters and words!  According to Wikipedia, architect Alfred Mosher Butts had invented two word games—first Lexiko, then a variation on it called Criss-Crosswords.  In 1948, James Brunot bought the rights to manufacture the game and made a few alterations to it, including changing the name to Scrabble.  Here's a picture of a Scrabble board:

Today's featured pre-Shortzian puzzle, whose constructor is unknown, was originally published August 8, 1964; edited by Margaret Farrar; and litzed by Mark Diehl.  This puzzle's theme—greetings and farewells—initially struck me as being rather simple and a bit dull.  However, when I looked at the puzzle more closely, I discovered that the theme is actually quite elegant:  The theme entries are symmetrical and interlocking; each synonym of hello and goodbye is contained in movie, book, or song titles; all the theme entries containing greetings read down, while all the theme entries containing farewells read across; and no synonym of hello or goodbye is repeated.  Also, with the slight exception of A FAREWELL TO ARMS, all the greetings and farewells are at the beginnings of their entries.  It's very rare to encounter a pre-Shortzian puzzle whose theme is consistent on so many levels, so from a thematic standpoint, this puzzle is way ahead of its time, even though ADIEU TO THE PIANO feels slightly less in the language than the other three theme entries.  I also like how the constructor was able to incorporate a smattering of lively eight- and nine-letter entries by lowering the word count to 72—SALT MINES, APIARISTS (cleverly clued as "Men in the honey game."), HIMALAYAN, DIME STORE (also cleverly clued clued as "Place to buy pans, pens, pins, etc."), and DAPPLED are particularly strong!  On the other hand, the puzzle contains quite a few uncommon pieces of crosswordese, partials, and iffy abbreviations, including TECO ("Mexican native."), ENARE ("Finnish lake."), DADE CO ("Site of Miami, Fla."), ALEMS ("Turkish flags."), MOD SP ("Present-day orthography: Abbr."), A DIRE ("C'est ___ [that is to say]."), SOLUS ("Alone on the stage."), and PIMAN ("Of an Arizonan people.").  The entry that intrigued me the most in the nonthematic fill was SPALPEENS ("Irish rascals."), which has yet to appear in any other puzzle in the Ginsberg clue database.  According to Merriam-Webster, we get the word spalpeen from the Irish spailpin, both of which originally referred to a poor migratory Irish farm worker.  One Web site speculates that spalpeens had such a low status in Irish society that they became synonymous for rascals or mischief-makers in general.  What an interesting word!  Anyway, aside from the APIARISTS and DIME STORE gems, the bulk of this puzzle's clues are standard for their time period.  I was particularly amused to see HESSE clued as "Part of West Germany.," which is no longer accurate.  In all, this is an interesting pre-Shortzian puzzle whose theme is a cut above!  The answer grid (with highlighted theme entries) can be seen below.

I always find pre-Shortzian clues containing the word "modern" particularly amusing, as the entries in question often end up being incredibly obsolete and/or long established by today's standards.  Here are ten such "modern" clues from puzzles published during the mid-to-late Farrar era:

• April 21, 1968 (constructed by William A. Lewis, Jr., litzed by Mark Diehl)
• Clue:  Modern convenience.
• Answer:  HOT WATER
• September 12, 1967 (constructed by Cora Goodman, litzed by Mark Diehl)
• Clue:  Modern building material.
• Answer:  GLASS
• April 1, 1967 (constructed by Cora Goodman, litzed by Alex Vratsanos)
• Clue:  Modern dress style.
• Answer:  TENT
• January 25, 1967 (constructed by Louise Earnest, litzed by Mike Buckley)
• Clue:  Rebel, modern-style.
• Answer:  BEATNIK
• January 24, 1967 (constructed by Michael Dubin, litzed by Mike Buckley)
• Clue:  Feature of modern industry.
• Answer:  AUTOMATION
• December 12, 1966 (litzed by Mark Diehl)
• Clue:  Modern aid for buyers.
• Answer:  CREDIT CARD
• December 5, 1966 (litzed by Mark Diehl)
• Clue:  Modern defense equipment.
• Answer:  RADAR
• November 29, 1966 (litzed by Mark Diehl)
• Clue:  Modern machine.
• Answer:  COMPUTER
• November 8, 1966 (litzed by Mark Diehl)
• Clue:  Modern sound effect.
• Answer:  DIAL TONE
• July 12, 1966 (litzed by Mike Buckley)
• Clue:  Modern warning device.
• Answer:  RADAR (again!)

The DIAL TONE clue tickled me the most, as the telephone itself is losing ground to the almighty cellphone with its much catchier assortment of RINGTONES.  Here's a picture of an early telephone model.  The three silver protuberances accurately depict my facial expression upon discovering that people actually used phones like this at one point!

Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

Litzing Contest Poll Results, Over 15,000, List of Missing Puzzles, and Another Stan Newman Book Treasure

The results of last week's poll are in!  There were only seven votes, which leads me to think that most people didn't feel strongly one way or the other.  Of those seven, though, one person was in favor of running the contest and finishing the litzing, one didn't want the contest because of training for the ACPT, three didn't want the contest because they preferred that we take our time, and two weren't sure and said either way would be fine.  So since more than half the votes were against running the contest, we'll just proceed as usual rather than embarking on a World War II–era crossword "litzkrieg"!

We passed another milestone this week:  15,000 litzed puzzles!  Great job, everyone!  The week started off with 7 puzzles from Vic Fleming on Saturday afternoon.  Early Sunday morning, Jeffrey Krasnick sent in 16 puzzles, bringing his total to 1,000 litzed puzzles—congratulations, Jeffrey!  That afternoon, Lynn Feigenbaum sent 7 more puzzles, then that night, Denny Baker sent in 7 puzzles.  Monday evening, Todd McClary sent 5 puzzles, putting us over 15,000 on the litzing thermometer!  Tuesday evening, Vic sent 6 more puzzles, then 10 minutes later sent 7 more!  Wednesday morning, Lynn sent in 7 more puzzles, which were followed by 7 from Barry Haldiman that afternoon.  Friday morning, Barry sent in another 7, which were followed by 7 from Lynn that afternoon.  And Howard Barkin sent in 21 puzzles this week.  Thanks so much again, everybody—we're at 15,065 and in the home stretch!

Some time ago I mentioned that as we got closer to the end, I'd post a list of the missing puzzles.  I've grouped them below into those that were missing because of newspaper strikes and those that were missing for some other reason.  None of these missing puzzles and/or solutions could be found on ProQuest.  When I searched for some of them on microfilm, they weren't there either.  Though if necessary we can try solving the puzzles that are just missing solutions, I think the best bet with the newspaper strike puzzles is to search for them in papers that ran the puzzles concurrently.  Margaret Farrar, in her foreword to Crosswords from the Daily Times, Series 9, said that during the strike between December 1962 and April 1963, the daily puzzles were published concurrently in the International and Los Angeles editions of The New York Times.  This book contains those daily puzzles from that period, so we already have them.  But we're still missing Sunday puzzles from that time, as well as many daily and Sunday puzzles from other strikes.  I'm planning to continue trying to find these puzzles when I have more time this summer, but if anyone wants to try now, that would be great!  If you do find anything, please send me the PDFs, and I'll update this list.

Newspaper strike:  129 missing puzzles (and their solutions)
11/30–12/8/53 (9 puzzles; 12/6 is Sunday)
12/12–12/28/58 (17 puzzles; 12/14, 12/21, & 12/28 are Sundays)
12/16, 12/23, 12/30/62 (3 Sundays)
1/6, 1/13, 1/20, 1/27/63 (4 Sundays)
2/3, 2/10, 2/17, 2/24/63 (4 Sundays)
3/3, 3/10, 3/17, 3/24, 3/31/63 (5 Sundays)
8/10–8/12/78 (3 puzzles)
8/14–11/5/78 (84 puzzles; 8/20, 8/27, 9/3, 9/10, 9/17, 9/24, 10/1, 10/8, 10/15, 10/22, 10/29, & 11/5 are Sundays)

Others:  10
9/18, 9/25, & 10/2/65 (3 Saturday puzzles—Sunday-like puzzles appeared instead)
10/9, 10/11, 10/13, 10/14, 10/15, 10/16 (solutions for these 6 daily puzzles were incorrect and actually were for earlier puzzles—correct solutions for these 6 dates were never printed)
9/19/65 (solution to this Sunday puzzle missing)

Today's featured puzzle, whose constructor is unknown, was originally published on May 22, 1965; edited by Margaret Farrar; and litzed by Todd McClary.  This puzzle's 14 music-related theme entries aren't arranged symmetrically and are rather inconsistent in that some are legitimate musical terms (such as BARREL ORGAN), while others are unrelated entries with a musical term in them (such as STRING BEAN).  Nonetheless, the theme density and theme entry interlock are jaw-dropping!  Even better, many of the theme entries have humorous and clever clues, which give the puzzle a unique, Weng-like feel.  My favorites of the wackier, less plausible theme entry/clue pairs include ROUND STEAK ("Food for certain singers."), CONTRABAND ("Loot, apparently in opposition to the orchestra."), BASS ("Fish for F clef readers."), and RAG ("Duster liked by jazz men.").  BUGLE BEADS ("Trimmings for brass instruments."), TRUMPETWEED ("Shrubby plant for brass."), and WIND DRIFT ("Average breeze direction for a brass instrumentalist.") feel less familiar as words/phrases than do the other theme entries; still, I'm impressed that the constructor was able to find any theme entries for those spots, especially given how many other theme entries they had to cross and that there were no computerized word lists to search through back in 1965.  The nonthematic fill is also impressively clean, which I think justifies the use of 45 blocks—I'd much rather see a puzzle with too many words and/or too many blocks than a puzzle with a whole slew of partials and obscurities.  That said, there are a few small entries that feel weak, particularly ORF ("A fish, the yellow ide.") and DKS ("Ship levels: Abbr."); also, I wasn't familiar with BALCONETS ("Railings outside windows.").  While I was hunting for a definition of balconet, I discovered that the term also refers to a bra style that came into fashion in the 1950s.  I'm definitely not surprised that Margaret Farrar defined BALCONETS as the railings!  Speaking of defining, this puzzle had quite a few more interesting clues than usual.  AOK was clued Space Age–style as "Astronaut's 'all's well.'," IBM had the fascinating precomputer clue "Type of ballistic missile.," BUG was defined colloquially as "Hidden mike: Slang.," and LAURA had the semithematic clue "Lady of classic lyrics."  In sum, although this puzzle is a bit crazy, I think it's very cool and a nice example of how Margaret Farrar was willing to bend the rules once in a while.  Here's the answer grid (with highlighted theme entries):

I was looking through the collection of crossword books Stan Newman sent me last year and discovered six volumes of Bible crosswords that date back to the 1920s and 1930s.  Two of these books were published in 1925, though neither one has more specific publication specs; I'm guessing the older of the two (and the oldest in my collection) is Bible Cross-Word Puzzle Book, by Reverend Paul J. Hoh.

The back cover notes that the author was a pastor at the Lutheran Church of the Ascension in Mt. Airy, Pennsylvania, and states that the Bible Cross-Word Puzzle Book was the first of its kind.  The back cover also implies that the book was written as supplementary material for religious education, noting that a "[p]amphlet containing solutions will be sent upon receipt of fifteen cents."  I find it fascinating that the author chose to leave out the solutions, especially since errata in crossword books are almost inevitable.  I have noticed that many of the earliest crossword puzzle books didn't include solutions, but since this is a book of crosswords intended for religious schools, I have to wonder whether the author intentionally left out the solutions to discourage students from cheating (which he may have considered sinful).  Luckily, Stan also happened to have the detached solutions pamphlet for this book, which contains a date stamp reading FEB 21 1925, a slip of paper reading "Deaccessioned from the NYPL after microfilming" (!), and a foreword not found in the book itself that reflects crossword solvers' attitudes in the earliest days of the checkered pastime's popularity.  The fascinating anecdotal middle paragraph reads as follows:

A teacher recently entered a Sunday school room and found four of the older boys absorbed in the solution of a Cross-Word Puzzle in a daily paper.  He helped them over some hard places, and was struck by the fact that when he supplied an unusual word the boys invariably asked its meaning.  That is the value of the "Bible Cross-Word Puzzle Book."  It concentrates attention upon the Bible.  Instead of Webster's the solver must use the Bible or Bible Dictionary or Concordance, and naturally he will want to know something about the names and unusual words he finds.  He cannot fail to increase his Bible knowledge.

What really makes this paragraph interesting to me is how solvers in the early days were so open to learning about and researching unfamiliar words and phrases.  If a handful of obscure biblical references were used in a crossword today, crossword bloggers and commenters would likely throw their virtual hands up in frustration and see the puzzle in a very negative light.  So what has happened to crossword solvers over the course of nearly a century?  My impression is that everyone in general has become more impatient.  People no longer care for crossword puzzles that simply build vocabulary or knowledge—nowadays, in order to be well received, themed crosswords must be fantastically twisty and filled with common words to the greatest degree possible.  It's interesting that the way in which puzzles provide entertainment has completely changed.

Anyway, on to the Bible crosswords themselves.  Although the puzzles have a sizable number of two-letter words, unchecked squares, and disconnected regions, they're jam-packed with theme entries.  Almost all the biblical clues read in the style of "A city of Shinar. (Gen. 10.)" [for ERECH]; when the constructor got stuck pluralizing a biblical term, it received a clue like "An Eastern Country. Poss. (II Kg. 16.)" [KIR'S].  I was a bit disappointed to discover that the author used a single clue each time an entry appeared (CANA was clued as "Where Jesus performed first miracle." in puzzle 1 and puzzle 2).  I assume the constructor didn't vary the clues because he wanted his solvers to feel like they had learned something that could then immediately be applied to a subsequent puzzle, though seeing the same definitions over and over again makes one's solving experience rather dull.  One aspect of puzzle construction in which the author was exceptionally creative was grid design.  At 9 x 9 and 11 x 11, the Bible crosswords' grids were smaller than those of most contemporary crosswords; however, the constructor still found ways to make them resemble religious items ranging from a candelabra (puzzle 12) to a church (puzzle 28).

PUZZLE No. 12 

PUZZLE No. 28

Puzzle 30 goes so far as to make the grid look like a pyramid!  The constructor accomplished some of these wacky grid designs by using black and white circles and triangles in conjunction with the traditional black and white squares.

PUZZLE No. 30

One puzzle in this book (15) stands out to me as being truly brilliant and nearly a century ahead of its time!  The grid is shaped like a compass rose, and the clue headings read AROUND THE CENTER and TOWARD CENTER rather than the traditional HORIZONTAL and VERTICAL.  The entries NORTH, SOUTH, EAST, and WEST are pre-entered into the grid, and solvers are required to rotate the book to enter answers into the grid.  Seeing such creativity in a crossword puzzle from 1925 is awesome!

PUZZLE No. 15

All in all, I very much enjoyed looking through Paul J. Hoh's Bible Cross-Word Puzzle Book!  Thanks again to Stan Newman for sending me part of his collection of old crossword books, and I look forward to seeing what other interesting puzzles crop up in the other books I have from that time period!