Submissions should be made directly to:
Fred Piscop (Editor)
158 Northfield Rd.
Hauppauge, NY   11788
(631) 234-2869
fred@macnamarasband.com

If you have further questions after reading this sheet, email or phone the editor.

Constructor is paid $300.00 for an accepted puzzle upon publication. Constructor will have signed and returned a contract stating that the work is original and has never been published elsewhere. An additional $25 will be paid for those puzzles that are submitted electronically. The Washington Post Magazine Puzzle purchases all rights to the puzzle, including the right to resell it to syndicates and to include it in puzzle collections in book form.

Electronic submissions must be on an IBM-compatible floppy disk, or as an e-mail attachment. Accepted formats are Crossword Compiler for Windows (preferred - that's what I use), CrossDown, Across Lite, and Mel Rosen's CWP program. If you have none of those but would still like to submit electronically, let me know and I'll send you a text file template, which you can fill in and return to me. If you submit your puzzle electronically, you don't have to submit a paper copy.

If you submit a paper copy, make sure the completed diagram is neat and legible and correctly numbered. You don't have to submit a blank diagram. Make sure your clues are in tabular format: number[tab]clue[tab]answer[return], and that the page is double-spaced to leave plenty of room for editing. Be sure to put your name, address and puzzle title on each page. And don't forget a SASE with sufficient postage.

I'll strive for as quick a turnaround as possible regarding acceptance or rejection of your work. If you haven't heard from me within, say, a couple of weeks, don't be afraid to give me a gentle nudge via e-mail or phone.

Because of space limitations, definitions should be concise. Try to keep them short but creative, and try not to resort to one-word, straight-out-of-the-dictionary synonyms.

Diagram must be 21x21 squares, with the usual rules: normal crossword symmetry, full interlock, no "unchecked" letters and no two-letter words. If you have a super theme that requires left-to-right symmetry, I'll consider it.

Maximum word count is 144 words. Constructors are encouraged to make full use of this limit whenever possible. We're striving for the cleanest diagram possible, as free as humanly possible from the types of undesirable entries listed later on. We believe that solvers are generally oblivious to word count, so we feel that constructors should avoid low-word-count grids that are compromised by rotten entries.

Black square count should follow the "one-sixth" guideline of no more than 73-74 in the diagram. However, this is a guideline rather than a strict rule. If you need to go over this by a couple, that's OK.

Themes should be fresh, interesting and consistent. Stay away from themes that you've seen a hundred times before, and from themes that are not consistent with respect to things like part of speech, tense, or number. Constructors are *strongly* encouraged to run a theme by me before beginning construction. If I like a theme but I think that one or more of the theme entries doesn't fit, we'll work together to get the theme into its final form.

Pun themes are fine, as long as the puns sound close to the punned phrases. Puns that have extra syllables or for some other reason are way off will not be considered. Quotation themes will be used sparingly, so try not to send me these unless you think they're absolutely great. We'll also be staying away from "rebus" puzzles (in which you may be called upon to write CAT in one box,e.g.) and trickery that might be beyond the ability of most solvers to figure out.

Difficulty, for all you Times solvers and contributors, should be in the Wednesday-Thursday range.

Try to give your puzzle a clever title that will reflect what the theme is about.

Encouraged fill entries: colorful words and phrases, especially new additions to the language. Things like NEWBIE, HOVLANE, JUNKFAX, VCHIP, BADHAIRDAY, ZAMBONI, SAMESEX, MOSHPIT... you get the idea.

Discouraged fill entries are as follows:

• Foreign words or phrases that have no English usage are forbidden. I've never put ETE in a puzzle and I'm not about to start now.
• Obscurities: No Mongolian buzzards, 12th-century Turkish coins, or Zimbabwean villages of population 57, please.
• Partial phrases - CANOF, ANUT, TOTHE - should be held to an absolute minimum. These can be clued only with an uncreative, fill-in-the-blank clue.
• Brand names. OK if used sparingly and if the brands are national and well-known.
• Abbreviations, acronyms, prefixes, suffixes that are specific to a subject or area that would be unfamiliar to most solvers.
• Pluralized proper names are always undesirable, in my opinion. If you have to use one, make sure that there are more than one well-known person with that name. Don't try, for example, to slip SHAQUILLES into a diagram.
• "Crosswordese" - those words that appear nowhere else in the world but in crossword puzzles. I've never put ESNE or ANOA into a puzzle and I'm not about to start now. You know the usual suspects: ERNE, EVOE, ENATE, and so on.
• Rock bands, singers and song titles - OK if they're well known enough that a solver might be likely to know his, her or its name even though he's not necessarily familiar with the music. Not OK otherwise. These kinds of clues are usually of the either-you-know-it-or-you-don't variety, and more often than not, solvers won't know them.
• Contrived phrases like BLUECAR, TORNSHIRT, EATBEANS, and such - you get the idea.
• Little-known or obscure sports figures, actors, historical figures and such. Stay away from old ballplayers who aren't Hall of Famers, bit-part actors from the '30s, minor political figures, and so on.
• Nonsensical entries like letter runs (EFGH,e.g.)
• Any word listed as offensive, disparaging or vulgar in your dictionary.
• Avoid repeating word forms in the diagram. If you use EAT, don't use ATE too; avoid using both LOGBOOK and BOOKCASE, etc.
• Try to avoid echoing entry words in other clues. For example, if you have STEIN in your diagram, don't clue ALE as [Stein filler] .

Style issues:

• For spelling, spacing, punctuation and the the like, Webster's New World Collegiate Dictionary, 4th ed., is the Washington Post default. If you don't own one, don't worry; we'll make the necessary adjustments on this end.
• Titles of songs, books, movies, plays and the like should be enclosed in quotes. Magazine titles, newspaper names, and books of the bible do not get quotes.
• Use two underscores for a blank.
• For abbreviations, variants, prefixes and the like, use a colon followed by Abbr., Var. or Pref. You can also signal an abbreviation in the diagram with an abbreviation in the clue. Do not use abbreviations in clues if they do not correspond to abbreviations in the diagram.

Any other questions regarding anything at all: please get in touch! I'll be happy to chat or e-mail.