Report #2 s = 21 December 1989 3}, Dear Member Odd, youmightsay. 7” Ff Fy Add these names to your lis of members: ‘Even puzzling. The response to Report sandra Burlit fastrgioronneionte bout, SPA |G RIOISIS| Ge pores Sone 8 Gudon Doi a, — Groat, David B. Horowitz, Oliveros ‘ments was far fewer than expected~-n0 [AIG A DE MIY] ["B.9 Metioyd, David A Rosen, James V, Schick more than 25. First, the comments: Pe & By (2) I is very exciting to see the or- ganization taking shape-and 1 would % UHLAI LIL F AIM) - ‘Add these Comments: like to help! 2, 4 trwould de wonderful ifthe Academy could Q) This organization isa splendid idea. TING 4" promote better pay for constructors. Good ‘Membership ats the stamp of “professional” O° uk 0b ‘on the constructor and should indicate (to edi- ~ 35) 1 took upon crosswording as a highly develoy tors that quality work can be expected. ND EL BD rd communicaton tn wilen which ory ‘The umber of persons enrolled so farshouldcnablethe eters as imponan ac part of an algebra formula be comec Academy to be instrumental in bringing about many needed and ifn isn'tcomrec,itain'tright. I get upset when a constructor changes, some of which are mentioned by your members in this ties o tell me a tidal wave is a tsunami,eg. —~ "S", VA brochure. Only through an organization such as this can our voice be heard strongly enough to make an impression on publishers. It Reference Materials ‘seems to me that many editors are not aware of the amount of time a and work entailed in producing a quality puzzle. Some weat us as OUT first dea to publish a comprehensive list of reference works peons who must work for almost nothing. The setting of standard WS eae eae aw Depegecy fees for puzzles should be the first step. Another important step is Puzzler col ae, ee aie ‘a uniform manner for submitting a puzzle and a retum to the For more such tomes, we again refer you to works by members, to seeded Gof Waal equates bioeeet the American Crossword Federation, and to GAMES magazine. Best wishes for your endeavors! (Tunick/Bursziyn’s Capra Press CROSSWORD CROSSTALK ‘i " ‘ includes as complete a list as anyone might wish.) (Best Tite ( Again, sper jb, T think the board is realizing thatthe Rar ae sera amen Wl Shows ify. fot shel of books institor is treasure. Congratulations! eine Joy of Lex") ‘Thanks forhetoofulzomepraze. Institorwouldhavelikedsohaveleft this comment outbid Insitor can serve as censor on anything. And At wo your Works by Members hats that od saw about “One persons treasures another's i aie ‘Lutwiniak, William “Scrabble Crossword Puzzic Book,"’ Vols, 1- (4) Your published comments are fascinating and constructivel 4, Checkerboard Press, NY. ""World Almanae Crossword Puzzle agree with nearly all of them. May T suggest that the board Bcy's3°" Wonld aisanac NY. Suiedy Crosswords" Paper members be weighted onthe side ofthe constructors. : ‘Will Weng and Eugene T. Maleska for The Hall of Fame! 3#¢kS Ltd. Toronto and NY. “Thank you forall your go0d work! Wiliams, Wayne. Crosswords: Doubleday Book Clubs. Times (5) Thanks, Bob, for Report No. 1. You're doing aremarkable POOkS (with Will Weng). a ‘Ada toMarkets: Concerning constvcors who desire higher payment: why not organise aunt Memberscould witnhokdpusslesuntl publics. Wste Trude Michal Jaf, 8 West End Avenue, Now York, NY ters agreed to pay the asking price. If they didn't comply, solvers 10025; enclose SASE for specs on Los Angeles Times daily 15s. ‘would undoubtedly revolt, Puzzleless newspapers would face subscription cancellations, picketing, etc. and puzzle book compa- nies would soon be out of business. (Continued jrom previous colure) =, Hometen Rass ee (ike me) who are willing "6. viustnew members be elected unanimously? etc. See above. s : By the way, can you tell me who Jules Arensberg was? (elected (10)Mr. Guilbert: Ihavea lotof questionsre: the Hall of Fame: to HOF 11-07-88) The Board regards him as an outstanding 1. Who elects the members? Ar its November 1988 meeting, the innovator. current Board nominaied and elected the present 8. Tn my opinion, you have rendered a remarkable service to the 2, How often are new members inducted? To be decided. American crosswords community. May youone day bein the HOF 3. How many new members may be inducted at atime? To be yourself! Hoo, thanks! But Insttor is not eligible for Academy decided. ‘membership. 4. What are the criteria for selecting new members? The final criterion was a unanimous voie ofthe Governors. (11) Foralong time, Thave been selling puzzles tosome unusual 5. Who determines such oriteria (I hope the criteria are pub- markets, Several trade publications in the musical instrument lished) To be decided. cas tesesaiasx ei (Please tw the page) CUTHERE _ seen REMANretailing, car wash, and automotive fields have used my puzzles. T have also sold puzzles for advertising and corporate communica- tion purposes. Tam working on a computer program which generates submis- sion quality grids, with umbering. It requires MS-DOS 2.0 or higher and an Epson compatible printer. (12) Glad to see things are moving along. Tenjoyed a number of the comments from members, especially those re improving ratesand income for puzzle constructors. A unionized frontamong constructors is quite feasible, if all egos can be satisfied by a ‘common awareness of need and objectives. AsItold you, I'm willing to serve on a committee. The one on “Pricing, Submission, etc." seems to suit me best. I volunteer. ‘Now what? (QAIET bet a thousand dollars that I could solve a NY Times ‘puzzle faster than Stan Newman (I'd lose!), would that jeopardize ‘my membership in the xword Hall of Fame? (15)Re dues: You will see: the Academy will be self-financing. ‘The T-shirt people, and a host of other commercial types will beat ‘a path to your door. (16)Superb first report to members. Glad to see so many cruciverbalists joining the Academy, surprised Henry Hook was ‘not among the enrolled. Keep up the great coordinative efforts. ‘Mr. Hook apparently has declined to join--to date. (17)Thank you for a newsletter that was both interesting and informative, My comments: Make the dues high cnough for the ‘Academy to be able to reimburse you! This note card is a fund- raiser fora charitable organization of which Iam amember. Could the Academy sell note or greeting cards featuring donated puzzles? (18)Sonry this is so late. Thank you for the crossword markets, (21)Why can’t some magazines pay for a puzzle where it is scheduled in a book, even tho the publication date is 6 months hence? Why must contributors wait until the magazine comes out, and then another month or more to get paid? Doesn't seem fair. (22){ zeally would love to contribute to the effort, but I'm sorry ‘not 10 volunteer. Job travel, job stress, commute, etc. have ‘subwacted a lot from my leisure, including xwp's. Stay tuned ... (25)The Academy isa splendid idea and it looks as though itis off and running. Congratulations. Dues Structure: $20/year - $10/year -- $15/year ~ $25/ycar; year, $40--$25/year ~- $50 /year-- $15/year--$20/yearS25/ycar = $l0/year - $10/year -- $15/year -- $20/year ~-S25/year --515/ ‘year [Average: $19.25] Nominations for the Board: While most were for current Governors, it was decided — at the Board meeting in NYC on November 18th, that with only 14% of members responding with ‘named nominees - it would be best toamend the Bylawsto put into play a slate made up of those members interested enough to actively volunteer to serve the Academy in some way. (Please note ARTICLE Il, section 3.04, in your copy of the Bylaws, herewith.) ‘Not slated is Founding Member Eugene T. Maleska, who tells us, “Thanks, but I do not choose to run."” ‘Tax-exempt Status, The Academy is exempt from Federal Income Tax under section 501 (a) ofthe Internal Revenue Code as ‘an organization described under Section 501 (c) (6). So far as we ‘know, this does not exempt us from State and local sales taxes. Tt does permitus toenjoy third-classmail privileges granted 501 (c)s, bat for a mailing each time of no fewer than 200 picces. So the requisite number of dummy mailings were added to bring us up to that quantity, savings of some $24.00 in postage. (Thus operateth the mystique ofthe Feds.) Happy Holidays suggestions. nisritor 2p fullest ~ ‘Geographic demographics of Academy membership. Each dot represents a member residing in that sat, Note the heavy Concent mm tion of members in and around greater NYCity and along the cast