The Daily Herald from Chicago, Illinois • Page 59

The sand of how crossword puzzles are made by Cathy Collison "The great God Ra whose shrine once covered acres Is filler now for the cross-word puzzle makers," --Keith Preston Today's crossword puzzle-makers have little need for Ra. Ever since Arthur Wynne devised a "word-cross" for the 1913 Christmas edition of the New York World, puzzle solving and designing has grown into a sophisticated pastime. Many of the avid puz zle solvers step up and across to puzzle designing. And 'those successful at designing are veritable word masters. Knowing a bit of everything helps a designer.

Joseph La Fauci, a former fruit broker with his father, always has lived in Boston's North End, but his knowledge of words spans several nations. La Fauci is a full-time crossword puzzle maker. With 40 million or so people trying to solve such puzzles, La Fauci and other designers are busy. If you dropped in to see La Fauci or called him, chances are you'd catch him in-between puzzles. Now In his 40s, La Fauci has been designing puzzles for 25 years, IS years full- time, He's under contract to King Features, a newspaper syndicate.

He also contributes to the New York Times and Dell Publishing. IA Fauci estimates he designs about 300 puzzles a year for King Features six each week. He's quick to credit a Boston education under Jesuit teachers for his language mastery. 1 "bless Jesuits for the Greek," La Fauci says, Not only did La Fauci master "attic Greek" while growing up, he also learned Latin and French. Later he picked up German and he easily learned Italian at home.

Being well-versed in that many languages helps any crossword puzzle maker. If La Fauci's stuck with using a rare three- or four-letter word which he tries to avoid in most cases another language can help. That rare species of monkey probably isn't familiar to most solvers, La Fauci says. So he recalls the word also means "I Know" in Italian and he adds a second clue. "I'm now grateful" for all the language discipline in school, La Fauci says.

That discipline perhaps led La Fauci to find the New York Times puzzle "not all that difficult." He then sent one in; it was published and hence a crossword star was born. La Fauci always is "scanning the paper for newer words. You have to have -a tremendous command of words," he says, apologizing for an air of conceit. La though, is modest not only does he know a half-dozen languages, he easily can recall 50 words or so to substitute in any one space. That's necessary for a full-time designer, or "cruciverbalist." (A newly discovered La Fauci word for puzzle maker.) Designers, too, share a liking for words and puzzles.

One must have a "love of words," La Fauci says. He found it boring attending college as an English major. But 15 years of full-time puzzle'designing doesn't tire him. La Fauci strives to "stay away from banal stuff" and pick those interesting phrases and words that delight puzzle fans. Puzzle designing starts with the pattern.

La Fauci presets patterns every two months, then spends about one month on the patterns and words. Last comes the clues and crossword definitions. What's a "minor curse" to a crossword puzzle designer? No, it's not an obscure word, but the occasional demands to complete puzzles for would-be contest winners. To avoid such demands, La Fauci puzzles run under the name of Thomas Joseph -a combination of La Fauci's first name and AVI, EL and Y. Got it? If not, you are not alone.

This puzzle caused a "big uproar," Lutwiniak says. The editor, besieged with queries from still puzzled fans, wrote a special letter-to-the-editor explaning the gist of the theme. After all, the letters AVI are the center or middle letters of the word gravity grAVIty. The bottom or last two letters in barrel are el. And in Fourth of July, yes, is the fourth letter.

Puzzle making, though, for Lutwiniak, is just a hobby. "I guess I could keep daily and Sunday papers supplied," Lutwiniak says, but he prefers part-time work. Lutwiniak was only 15-years-old when he designed his first puzzle. But he "didn't bother 'til long after the war" to take it up again. Lutwiniak, like La Fauci, Is a master of words.

He can look at a puzzling situation and know 72 words or so to fill in that blank. What about those obscure words more obscure than "ra?" "Constructors don't like to do it," Lutwiniak says. Known words are the favorites. "Most (editors) reject obscure words crossed with obscure those rare enough lo drive us to a dictionary." Lutwiniak touts using tried and true cliches-such as those in his theme puzzles. A typical Sunday magazine puzzle might build on "go" for well-known phrases such as "Go through fire and water," "goes it alone," "Go along with," "Goes through the motions," to "GoBetweens." For 21 by 21 square puzzles, he uses about 100 letters of theme material.

Lutwiniak (Continued on page first name of King Features editor Thomas Sheehan. Apocryphal tales about encounters with avid puzzle fans abound. Master designer and first puzzle editor of the New York Times, Margaret Farrar, had several such tales. In "Crossword Puzzles, their History and their Cult" author Roger Millington relates several of Mrs. Farrar's encounters.

When the clue "To make a go of" ran with a typo "To make a goof" several solvers were puzzled and irate that the answer was "to succeed." Another time her clue "Manager of the Globe Theatre" brought in a call from a solver who had phoned New York's Globe and said the theater had" two managers -neither of the names properly fitting the space. Mrs. Farrar kindly explained that she was thinking of William Shakespeare. William Lutwiniak, New York Times contributor and regular designer for the Newspaper Enterprise Assn. puzzles in the Chicago Tribune Sunday magazine, has an equally amazing story.

One Lutwiniak puzzle in the New York Times necessitated an explanation even after the answers were disclosed. Clues read "center of gravity," to "bottom of barrel" to "Fourth of July." The answers: A beginner's first attempt If you don't think crossword puzzle making is all that hard, try it. I did. Armed with graph paper, pencil and the words in my head, I scratched away at various patterns. The puzzle patterns gradually shrunk until I found a workable, but most irregular size 8 by 10 squares.

Then I added more of those black squares as I went along. Because the puzzle must be symmetrical, add' ing a black square in the upper right-hand corner meant adding a black square in the lower left-hand corner. The following puzzle is a very bad example 26. We, then it's the object of a crossword but a genuine sample of a novice's first try. ACROSS 1.

A GOP who split rails, not votes 4. Something adorning an angel 8. "For it is, it is a glorious thing To be a (2 words) 12. Colloquialism for eat, al-' so French for and 13. When to wed they vow, I 14.

French, hither 15. Comes after before 16. Musical instruments 17. British physicist who formulated that the product of the pressure and volume of a gas at constant temperature is constant 21. is not a very good grade 22.

Type of art 23 First and last letter of the Buckeye state 24 Egyptian sun god 26. We, than it's the object 28. "I'm called little dear little also flower, plural 32. Window decoration 33. What the Concorde is DOWN 1.

From which we are descended, Darwin says 2. A lid 3. Hesitant sound before speaking, such as "um" 4. Masculine of she 5. It unlocks doors, also a clue (2 words) 6.

Chinese measurement 7. Fairy tales begin with this word 9. It tries to sell you something 10. beornot be 11. RTA, Carter wanti to tax it 15.

Jovel 17. No.siree 18. Musical composition, single piece or set of pieces, numbered in the order of publication 19. "The policeman's is not a happy one!" (plural) 20 gad! 24. Abbr.

for rest and relaxation, also railroad 25 Opposite of DC 26. Mail service competing with the post office 27. Britain, France fly it 29. Farewell 30. What's that you say? 31.

Celebrated 201st birthday Comes after do (Continued on page 8) THE HERALD August 27,1977 Page 7.