I started constructing Double Crostics in 1951, while a Brooklyn College junior. Unlike today, there was something of a demand; many of the myriad puzzle magazines then published were using them.
Late in 1954, after military service, I tried my hand at a N.Y. Times crossword which was rejected because of too much 3&4 letter crosswordese. My third attempt was successful and I became a regular Times contributor.
Puns and Anagrams were then a monthly feature in the Sunday Magazine. Margaret Farrar, the editor, accepted the first one I tried, editing about 80% of the definitions. This was in May 1955.
I kept them coming and, gradually, the editing diminished. Almost all P&A contributors either stopped doing them or passed away and I wound up doing the vast majority of them, starting in the 1960s.
In October 2003, I saw an entry on the Cruciverb Network about an interesting crostic on "Sue Gleason's Website" and I got in touch. Since Sue was willing to look, I decided to send her some of the stuff I had on hand, for which there is practically no market nowadays. The more I looked in my files the more I found and sent..