Where was the phone number hidden in Henry Hook's trivia challenge book?

treasure/henry.hook New

New entry, edited from material collected for the archive and not yet in a released version.

Problem

Where was the phone number hidden in Henry Hook's trivia challenge book?
The beginning of the book states "An important hint will appear before
you after you've pounced on the crossword at the end of the book."

[ Editor: problem statement reconstructed from the postings; the
contest deadline was New Year's Eve 1995. ]

Show solution

>   Once the deadline has passed (about 12 hours from now), could someone
> please tell me where the phone number was hidden?
>   A good book ... a nice reference for anybody who makes puzzles.

-- Ed Pegg Jr

In the beginning of the book, it states "An important hint will appear
before you after you've pounced on the crossword at the end of the book.
The seven starred letters in the grid spell out "OPEDNCU".  As you will
no doubt figure out, these letters transpose to "pounced."  This,
however, is not what you have to do.  What you need to do is take the
letters OPEDNCU as written and convert them to numeric code by the usual
method:
     O     P     E     D     N     C     U
     15    16    5     4     14    3     21

That's 1-516-541-4321.  Call this number and you got this message:

"Hi!  This is Henry Hook.  How did you get this number?  Oh, I know how.
Well, you know what you have to do, so, say what you have to say.  And
never call me here again."

I realize that it is not strictly New Year's yet in all parts of the
country, but I will make the (hopefully justified) assumption that if you
are reading this, you are not sending in an entry.  Besides, it's past New
Years in the part of the country where you will find the phone you are
calling.  (Yes, for me the answer was a local call.)

-- Thomas Weisswange <thomasw@liii.com>, January 1996