  Radial velocity data for both components of W Crv are presented. In spite of
providing full radial-velocity information, the new data are not sufficient to
establish the configuration of this important system because of large seasonal
light-curve variations which prevent a combined light-curve/radial-velocity
solution. It is noted that the primary minimum is free of the photometric
variations, a property which may help explain their elusive source.
Photometrically, the system appears to be a contact binary with poor or absent
energy exchange, but such an explanation - in view of the presence of the
mass-transfer effects - is no more plausible than any one of the semi-detached
configurations with either the more-massive or less-massive components filling
their Roche lobes. Lengthening of the orbital period and the size of the
less-massive component above its main-sequence value suggest that the system is
the shortest-period (0.388 days) known Algol with non-degenerate components.
