some responses to larry's comments ...

         You write:

      << i was constrained to use the mathematical reviews
    transliteration, with two distinct outputs
    required... >>

         Being no longer constrained since TeX 3 of 1989
    is the basic incentive to devise a more comfortable
    scheme.  [...]

i'm still constrained.  math reviews still uses the cyrillic
input scheme as designed.  however, no one else should be
constrained and i fully agree that other approaches are more
suitable for uses other than the limited math reviews use.

    <<..there is an alternate input encoding for wncy*,
    with some letters consisting of a letter plus a
    digit...>>

    Interesting.  Could we have a simplest example?

i've attached a summary of the scheme.  this was originally
part of the ams distribution, but it was removed (i voted to
keep it there, but was overruled).  for a simplest example,
e0 = yo, i0 = i kratkoe.

by the way, the ams distribution does include alternate virtual
cyrillic fonts; there are quite a few such .vpl files on our
ftp server, with a readme file that says ams doesn't support
them.  i'm not sure whether these correspond to the .vf files
that someone (larry?) in another message suggested that ams
might consider including; this collection is also on ctan,
in font/amsfonts/cyr-alt/ .  if someone could check whether
these are the same as the suggested collection, i'd appreciate
it; if they're not, i am willing to recommend that the others
also be included in the ams distribution, again without support.
-- bb
--------------------

<mf82.amf>CYRILLIC.LIGS   This is a list of all the letter ligatures in
the AMS cyrillic fonts.  Please keep this file up to date. 29 Jun 84

LOWER CASE LIGATURES
    A. All-letter ligatures

ch = `q
dj = '016
kh = `h
lj = '011
nj = '010
sh = `x; xc = `7 (shc); 7h = `w (shch)
ts = `c
ya = '037
yu = '030
zh = '031

    B. Ligatures with keyed numerals

c1 = '017
d1 = '016 (dj); d2 = '012 (dzh); d3 = '036 (dz)
e0 = '033; e1 = '013; e2 = '015
i0 = '032; i1 = '014
j1 = '037 (ya); j2 = '030 (yu)
l1 = '011 (lj)
n1 = '010 (nj)
p1 = '176; p2 = '177
z1 = '031 (zh)

UPPER CASE LIGATURES
    A. All-letter ligatures

CH, Ch = `Q
KH, Kh = `H
LJ, Lj = '001
NJ, Nj = '000
SH, Sh = `X; XH, Xh = `6 (SHC, SHc, Shc); 6H, 6h = `W (SHCH, SHCh, SHch, Shch)
TS, Ts = `C
YA, Ya = '027
YU, Yu = '020
ZH, Zh = '021

    B. Ligatures with keyed numerals

C1 = '007
D1 = '006 (DJ); D2 = '002 (DZH); D3 = '026 (DZ)
E0 = '023; E1 = '003; E2 = '005
I0 = '022; I1 = '004
J1 = '027 (YA); J2 = '020 (YU)
L1 = '001 (LJ)
N0 = '175 (Number sign); N1 = '000 (NJ)
P1 = '136; P2 = '137
Z1 = '021 (ZH)

DEACTIVATED LIGATURES
The following were the original way of building dzh and DZH ligs, but were not
compatible with desired keyboarding schemes.

dz = '036; '036(roman s)h = '012 (dzh)
DZ = '026; '026(roman S)H = '002 (DZH)