RULES FOR CONSTRUCTION OF CROSS WORD PUZZLES
Reported by the Committee on Rules, and adopted by The Amateur Cross Word Puzzle League of America at its meeting, September 27, 1924, in The Wanamaker Auditorium, New York City.
1. Pattern
- The pattern shall interlock all over.
- Only approximately one-sixth of the squares shall be black.
- Only approximately one-tenth of the letters shall be unkeyed.
- The design shall be symmetrical.
2. Words
- Obsolete, and dialectic words may be used in moderation, if plainly marked and accessible in some standard dictionary, such as Webster’s New International (Merriam’s), Funk & Wagnalls’ and Century.
- Foreign words that are more or less familiar and are easily accessible, may be used, but should be marked with the language to which they belong.
- Technical terms that are found in a standard dictionary may be used.
- Abbreviations, prefixes and suffixes, should be avoided as far as possible. When used they should be plainly marked and must be legitimate.
3. Definitions
- Great variety may be attained in writing the definitions and as wide a scope as possible must be left to the constructor. The only requirement is common sense. This means that the definitions may be of the safe and sane dictionary kind, may be literary or historical, may employ secondary meanings cleverly, may be legitimately funny. Synonyms that are too far removed from the word and what Gelett Burgess calls “smarty-cat definitions” should be avoided.
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