diff --git a/1984/anonymous/README.md b/1984/anonymous/README.md
index 73f0100e1..5155cdff0 100644
--- a/1984/anonymous/README.md
+++ b/1984/anonymous/README.md
@@ -53,6 +53,10 @@ If we add to the CFLAGS `-include unistd.h` we will run into another problem:
 	ssize_t  read(int, void *, size_t) __DARWIN_ALIAS_C(read);
 		 ^
 
+## Author's comments:
+
+No comments were provided by the author.
+
 
 Copyright (c) 1984, Landon Curt Noll.
 All Rights Reserved.  Permission for personal, educational or non-profit use is
diff --git a/1984/decot/Makefile b/1984/decot/Makefile
index e88641dc8..f8bfad024 100644
--- a/1984/decot/Makefile
+++ b/1984/decot/Makefile
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ ARCH=
 
 # Defines that are needed to compile
 #
-CDEFINE= -traditional-cpp
+CDEFINE= 
 #CDEFINE= -DIOCCC=26
 
 # Include files that are needed to compile
@@ -172,6 +172,10 @@ TARGET= ${PROG}
 ALT_OBJ=
 ALT_TARGET=
 
+# FORCE use of -traditional-cpp
+#
+CFLAGS+= -traditional-cpp
+
 
 #################
 # build the entry
diff --git a/1984/decot/README.md b/1984/decot/README.md
index c648fadd9..88287c2f8 100644
--- a/1984/decot/README.md
+++ b/1984/decot/README.md
@@ -31,6 +31,10 @@ This program prints out a string of garbage.
 
 The judges also offer this one comment: understand comments!
 
+## Author's comments:
+
+No comments were provided by the author.
+
 
 Copyright (c) 1984, Landon Curt Noll.
 All Rights Reserved.  Permission for personal, educational or non-profit use is
diff --git a/1984/laman/README.md b/1984/laman/README.md
index b9b5e389b..71caffee8 100644
--- a/1984/laman/README.md
+++ b/1984/laman/README.md
@@ -10,6 +10,19 @@ Mike Laman
 
 	./laman <positive number>
 
+## Try:
+
+The program accepts ONE positive argument.  Seeing is believing, so try things
+like:
+
+	./laman 4
+	./laman 9
+	./laman 16
+
+This code should run you in circles.
+
+NOTE: this program will likely segfault if you do not provide an argument and it
+will not print anything if the number is not positive or not a number.
 
 ## Judges' comments:
 
@@ -24,17 +37,12 @@ to:
 	;++f)a[		b<<5|c]		=d++,b+=	e;for(		f=0;f<O
 	<<5|c]^=	a[b<<5		|c]^=a[		(k-(b+1		))<<5|c]
 
-I hope you have a C beautifier! The program accepts ONE positive
-argument.  Seeing is believing, so try things like:
+I hope you have a C beautifier!
 
-	./laman 4
-	./laman 9
-	./laman 16
+## Author's comments:
 
-This code should run you in circles.
+No comments were provided by the author.
 
-NOTE: this program will likely segfault if you do not provide an argument and it
-will not print anything if the number is not positive or not a number.
 
 
 Copyright (c) 1984, Landon Curt Noll.
diff --git a/1984/mullender/README.md b/1984/mullender/README.md
index e1d882bd3..15f51230e 100644
--- a/1984/mullender/README.md
+++ b/1984/mullender/README.md
@@ -12,9 +12,10 @@ Robbert van Renesse
 
 	./mullender
 
+NOTE: This entry is likely to fail and/or dump core on modern computers.
+
 ## Judges' comments:
 
-NOTE: This entry is likely to fail and/or dump core on modern computers.
 
 Without question, this C program is the one of the most obfuscated
 C program that has ever been received!  Like all great contest
@@ -41,6 +42,11 @@ makes direct calls to the write() Unix system call to produce a
 message on the screen.  Can you guess what is printed?  We knew you
 couldn't!  :-)
 
+## Author's comments:
+
+No comments were provided by the author.
+
+
 Copyright (c) 1984, Landon Curt Noll.
 All Rights Reserved.  Permission for personal, educational or non-profit use is
 granted provided this this copyright and notice are included in its entirety
diff --git a/1985/applin/README.md b/1985/applin/README.md
index 166983f60..2deb96d23 100644
--- a/1985/applin/README.md
+++ b/1985/applin/README.md
@@ -21,6 +21,10 @@ see for yourself what happens!
 One liner programs are short but twisted.  This "Hello, World" version
 certainly takes its time saying hello.
 
+## Author's comments:
+
+No comments were provided by the author.
+
 
 Copyright (c) 1985, Landon Curt Noll & Larry Bassel.
 All Rights Reserved.  Permission for personal, educational or non-profit use is
diff --git a/1985/august/README.md b/1985/august/README.md
index 4ba694b92..689d5aa07 100644
--- a/1985/august/README.md
+++ b/1985/august/README.md
@@ -32,6 +32,11 @@ If you let it, the program will continue to print a numerical sequence
 (can you guess in what base it is printed?) until you run out of
 memory or until they sell your computer, which ever comes first.
 
+## Author's comments:
+
+No comments were provided by the author.
+
+
 Copyright (c) 1985, Landon Curt Noll & Larry Bassel.
 All Rights Reserved.  Permission for personal, educational or non-profit use is
 granted provided this this copyright and notice are included in its entirety
diff --git a/1985/lycklama/README.md b/1985/lycklama/README.md
index 3bf070056..980fed673 100644
--- a/1985/lycklama/README.md
+++ b/1985/lycklama/README.md
@@ -32,6 +32,11 @@ The program itself looks like tty noise.
 In the past 'define' in `#define` could even be defined but to get this to work
 on modern systems we had to change the `#o` lines to `#define`.
 
+## Author's comments:
+
+No comments were provided by the author.
+
+
 
 Copyright (c) 1985, Landon Curt Noll & Larry Bassel.
 All Rights Reserved.  Permission for personal, educational or non-profit use is
diff --git a/1985/shapiro/README.md b/1985/shapiro/README.md
index e1fa78e1d..6de057edf 100644
--- a/1985/shapiro/README.md
+++ b/1985/shapiro/README.md
@@ -24,6 +24,11 @@ This program was selected for the 1987 t-shirt collection.
 We found this program is be simply a**maze**ing! Run this program without
 arguments and notice the output. 
 
+## Author's comments:
+
+No comments were provided by the author.
+
+
 
 Copyright (c) 1985, Landon Curt Noll & Larry Bassel.
 All Rights Reserved.  Permission for personal, educational or non-profit use is
diff --git a/1985/sicherman/Makefile b/1985/sicherman/Makefile
index 01d2e7cf4..2425fd68a 100644
--- a/1985/sicherman/Makefile
+++ b/1985/sicherman/Makefile
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ ARCH=
 
 # Defines that are needed to compile
 #
-CDEFINE= -traditional-cpp
+CDEFINE=
 #CDEFINE= -DIOCCC
 
 # Include files that are needed to compile
@@ -169,6 +169,9 @@ TARGET= ${PROG}
 ALT_OBJ=
 ALT_TARGET=
 
+# FORCE use of -traditional-cpp
+#
+CFLAGS+= -traditional-cpp
 
 #################
 # build the entry
diff --git a/1985/sicherman/README.md b/1985/sicherman/README.md
index 22bd6d2a4..d7f336f3e 100644
--- a/1985/sicherman/README.md
+++ b/1985/sicherman/README.md
@@ -30,6 +30,11 @@ does, then you don't, so read it again!  Explain why:
 results in diff reporting a difference on some machines.
 
 
+## Author's comments:
+
+No comments were provided by the author.
+
+
 Copyright (c) 1985, Landon Curt Noll & Larry Bassel.
 All Rights Reserved.  Permission for personal, educational or non-profit use is
 granted provided this this copyright and notice are included in its entirety
diff --git a/1986/applin/README.md b/1986/applin/README.md
index f66e56da0..3e91b27b4 100644
--- a/1986/applin/README.md
+++ b/1986/applin/README.md
@@ -24,6 +24,11 @@ The judges were so amused by this little program that we created an
 award just for it.  This program is portable to the C and Fortran 77
 compilers as well as executable by the Bourne shell!
 
+## Author's comments:
+
+No comments were provided by the author.
+
+
 
 Copyright (c) 1986, Landon Curt Noll & Larry Bassel.
 All Rights Reserved.  Permission for personal, educational or non-profit use is
diff --git a/1986/august/README.md b/1986/august/README.md
index 126e0952a..d38fa1d25 100644
--- a/1986/august/README.md
+++ b/1986/august/README.md
@@ -22,6 +22,11 @@ dump.
 This program will pass lint on your system assuming your lint is brave
 enough to try and parse it correctly.
 
+## Author's comments:
+
+No comments were provided by the author.
+
+
 Copyright (c) 1986, Landon Curt Noll & Larry Bassel.
 All Rights Reserved.  Permission for personal, educational or non-profit use is
 granted provided this this copyright and notice are included in its entirety
diff --git a/1986/bright/README.md b/1986/bright/README.md
index f5484f6e9..81c94913c 100644
--- a/1986/bright/README.md
+++ b/1986/bright/README.md
@@ -6,12 +6,17 @@ Walter Bright
 
         make all
 
+## To run:
+
+	./bright some_file
+
 ### Try:
 
 	./bright bright.c
 
 	./bright bright
 
+
 ## Judges' comments:
 
 Compile this program and give a filename as an argument.
@@ -21,6 +26,11 @@ excessive shifting to obfuscate an otherwise useful binary display
 program.  This gives you a small example of what it is like to
 maintain the Bourne shell! :-}
 
+## Author's comments:
+
+No comments were provided by the author.
+
+
 
 Copyright (c) 1986, Landon Curt Noll & Larry Bassel.
 All Rights Reserved.  Permission for personal, educational or non-profit use is
diff --git a/1986/hague/README.md b/1986/hague/README.md
index 6d509c8be..209f248b2 100644
--- a/1986/hague/README.md
+++ b/1986/hague/README.md
@@ -32,6 +32,11 @@ similar variables can be obfuscating!  The author notes that this
 program implements the international Morse standard.  Now for extra
 credit, what Morse message does the program spell out?
 
+## Author's comments:
+
+No comments were provided by the author.
+
+
 Copyright (c) 1986, Landon Curt Noll & Larry Bassel.
 All Rights Reserved.  Permission for personal, educational or non-profit use is
 granted provided this this copyright and notice are included in its entirety
diff --git a/1986/holloway/Makefile b/1986/holloway/Makefile
index fd2894a3d..c97caf5e5 100644
--- a/1986/holloway/Makefile
+++ b/1986/holloway/Makefile
@@ -184,6 +184,7 @@ all: ${DATA} ${TARGET}
 	supernova deep_magic magic charon pluto
 
 ${PROG}: ${PROG}.c
+	@echo "NOTE: this entry uses non-standard args to main which will not work on all compilers."
 	${CC} ${CFLAGS} $< -o $@ ${LIBS}
 
 # alternative executable
diff --git a/1986/holloway/README.md b/1986/holloway/README.md
index b123cdbd6..0ed6b1c52 100644
--- a/1986/holloway/README.md
+++ b/1986/holloway/README.md
@@ -20,9 +20,14 @@ argument of main(). If you have gcc under macOS it might work just as well.
 
 Believe it or not, this is the old standard "Hello, world" program
 performed in a very complex way.  The judges and the author defy you
-do determine how it does it.  It is a good thing that K&R didn't use
+to determine how it does it.  It is a good thing that K&R didn't use
 this version as the first C program!
 
+## Author's comments:
+
+No comments were provided by the author.
+
+
 
 Copyright (c) 1986, Landon Curt Noll & Larry Bassel.
 All Rights Reserved.  Permission for personal, educational or non-profit use is
diff --git a/1986/pawka/README.md b/1986/pawka/README.md
index d36e079b5..69c3f73db 100644
--- a/1986/pawka/README.md
+++ b/1986/pawka/README.md
@@ -22,6 +22,10 @@ The judges found this entry to be one of hardest to read without the
 aid of `/lib/cpp` and a good editor.  When run, the program asks if it
 is obfuscated, of all things!
 
+## Author's comments:
+
+No comments were provided by the author.
+
 
 Copyright (c) 1986, Landon Curt Noll & Larry Bassel.
 All Rights Reserved.  Permission for personal, educational or non-profit use is
diff --git a/1986/stein/README.md b/1986/stein/README.md
index bb57f6abf..3da823481 100644
--- a/1986/stein/README.md
+++ b/1986/stein/README.md
@@ -24,6 +24,11 @@ Try the program with the following argument:
 output cleanly.  Your system may require another set of characters.
 In time, you will figure out what it does. :-)
 
+## Author's comments:
+
+No comments were provided by the author.
+
+
 
 Copyright (c) 1986, Landon Curt Noll & Larry Bassel.
 All Rights Reserved.  Permission for personal, educational or non-profit use is
diff --git a/1987/biggar/README.md b/1987/biggar/README.md
index 23dcb1f43..eef3f6e21 100644
--- a/1987/biggar/README.md
+++ b/1987/biggar/README.md
@@ -11,14 +11,13 @@ Santa Monica, CA
         make all
 
 
-## Judges' comments:
+### To run:
 
-Passes BSD and UTS lint.  At least one version of lint is thrown into
-an infinite loop by this entry.
+	some_command | ./biggar | od -c
 
 ### Try:
 
-	... | ./biggar | od -c	(remember to compile as indicated above)
+	cat biggar.c | ./biggar | od -c
 
 
 By changing the compile line you can make this program do anything you
@@ -34,7 +33,18 @@ One vendor's lint got hung in an infinite loop over this entry!
 > FYI:  We will let Mark get away with this truly sick entry this time, but 
 > for the future on we have placed a limit on the size of a compile line.
 
-Also see our comment in Larry Wall's entry regarding Mark's contribution.
+Also see our comment in [Larry Wall's entry](../wall/README.md) regarding Mark's contribution.
+
+## Judges' comments:
+
+Passes BSD and UTS lint.  At least one version of lint is thrown into
+an infinite loop by this entry.
+
+
+## Author's comments:
+
+No comments were provided by the author.
+
 
 Copyright (c) 1987, Landon Curt Noll & Larry Bassel.
 All Rights Reserved.  Permission for personal, educational or non-profit use is
diff --git a/1987/heckbert/README.md b/1987/heckbert/README.md
index 71024f9d8..7fe2c4d10 100644
--- a/1987/heckbert/README.md
+++ b/1987/heckbert/README.md
@@ -35,6 +35,11 @@ Try not to
 files.  :-)
 
 
+## Author's comments:
+
+No comments were provided by the author.
+
+
 The judges used this program to fold up very long lines which the
 BSD fold(1) was unable to process.  This program has been added
 to the contest tool chest.
diff --git a/1987/hines/README.md b/1987/hines/README.md
index 9ae9c4d64..0d05ee191 100644
--- a/1987/hines/README.md
+++ b/1987/hines/README.md
@@ -38,6 +38,11 @@ We consider this to be a beautiful counter-example for Frank Rubin's
 letter to ACM form titled: _"'GOTO Considered Harmful' Considered Harmful"_.
 See the Communications of the ACM, March 1987, Page 195-196.
 
+
+## Author's comments:
+
+No comments were provided by the author.
+
 Copyright (c) 1987, Landon Curt Noll & Larry Bassel.
 All Rights Reserved.  Permission for personal, educational or non-profit use is
 granted provided this this copyright and notice are included in its entirety
diff --git a/1987/lievaart/README.md b/1987/lievaart/README.md
index f713b9584..abfa133b3 100644
--- a/1987/lievaart/README.md
+++ b/1987/lievaart/README.md
@@ -9,7 +9,19 @@ Amsterdam, The Netherlands
 
         make all
 
-NOTE: The original entry may be built with "make alt".
+NOTE: The original entry may be built with "make alt" if you have an old enough
+compiler.
+
+## To run:
+
+	./lievaart
+	# enter a level and start playing as described below
+
+	./lievaart2
+	# enter a level and start playing as described below
+
+NOTE: if you enter invalid input the program will enter an infinite loop
+displaying a string like `"You:"` repeatedly.
 
 ## Judges' remarks:
 
@@ -35,6 +47,11 @@ program.  The file lievaart2.c contains what the program would have
 been without the size restriction.  This version has the full end game 
 logic and displays the board after each move!
 
+
+## Author's comments:
+
+No comments were provided by the author.
+
 Copyright (c) 1987, Landon Curt Noll & Larry Bassel.
 All Rights Reserved.  Permission for personal, educational or non-profit use is
 granted provided this this copyright and notice are included in its entirety