I’m standing in on this puzzle for Rightback, who is away. The 40th anniversary that was celebrated was the Woostock festival, which opened on 15 August 1969. There were also some links to Woodstock, the bird from the Peanuts comic strip, and a separate mini-theme of things electronic. All in all a very enjoyable puzzle, which I got to solve twice through losing my original copy before coming to write the blog. I might have just about equalled one of Rightback’s legendary solving times on my second attempt.
Key:
dd = double definition
cd = cryptic definition
* = anagram
< = reverse
| Across | ||||||||
| 1. | PIRATE | I R in PATE | ||||||
| 4. | THE WHO | HEW (cut) in TWO, with one of the W(eek)s replaced by H(ospital) | ||||||
| 10. | ELECTRONIC | ELECT RON IC | ||||||
| 11. | RUBATO | (A TROUB (adour’s))*. An Italian musical term indicating subtle variations in the tempo of the music. | ||||||
| 12. | AMNESIAC | N in (n)AMES + I AC | ||||||
| 13. | PSYCHOSES | PSYCHO (Hitchcock film) + SE(t)S. My least favourite clue, I think: the name of the film is too close in meaning to the final answer. | ||||||
| 15,21. | JONI MITCHELL | (JIMI H CELLO T(u)N(e). Although she recorded a song called Woodstock she didn’t appear at the festival. | ||||||
| 16. | TEEN | E(lectronic) in TEN | ||||||
| 17. | SHIFT KEYS | One of those “reverse cryptics” – if you “shift KEYS” you get SKYE, and the shift key changes letters frojm lower to upper case. | ||||||
| 22. | EL PASO | A S in POLE* | ||||||
| 24. | MOONSTRUCK | (Keith) MOON (drummer fo The Who) + STRUCK (hit) | ||||||
| 25. | AQUA | A QUAD less D | ||||||
| 26. | SNOOPY | Woodstock’s friend in Peanuts, and “prior” sounds like “prier” – one who snoops. | ||||||
| 27. | UDDERS | (r)UDDERS – a nice definition! | ||||||
| Down | ||||||||
| 1. | PEANUTS | (SET A PUN)* | ||||||
| 2. | RUMBA | RUM + B(e)A(t) | ||||||
| 3. | TREMOLO | R.E.M. in TO LO | ||||||
| 5. | HATING | Hidden in tHAT INGratitude | ||||||
| 6. | WOODSTOCK | WOOD (trees) on STOCK (family). “Bird drawn” is the Peanuts character. | ||||||
| 7. | ORIGAMI | Just a long-winded cd with a slight homophone, I think – reference to “creasing” paper, and origami practitioners often make models of animals and birds. | ||||||
| 8. | MEGACEPHALOUS | MEG + ACE + PHALOUS (“phallus”) | ||||||
| 14. | CRESCENDO | END in SOCCER* | ||||||
| 16. | TRIPODS | T (model) + R + IPODS (“electronic music players”) | ||||||
| 18. | FREAKED | (c)AKE in FRED – I thinik of this as a rather hippy-ish word, so appropriate to the theme. | ||||||
| 19,9. | YASGUR’S FARM | SUGARY* + SF (type of writing) + A RM (Royal Marine = “jolly”). The site of the Woodstock festival | ||||||
| 20. | PENT-UP | PEN + PUT< | ||||||
| 23. | PEACE | PE + ACE. Woodstock was billed as “An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music”. | ||||||
Thanks Andrew. I got there in the end but, as an ignoramus on the pop music scene, only with the aid of Google.
If, like me, you thought Puck’s puzzle underserved its theme, try this instead: same grid, same 6 down, just more Woodstock-related clues:
http://www.x-oku.com/Puzzles/CW001.htm
Solving times are recorded automatically, and there’s a prize for the fastest. More exclusive than a Collins dictionary, it’s a copy of Classic Albums, a rare book of interviews from the original radio series.
I found this quite easy, even though I knew very little about Woodstock. It was made easier by the full-page feature in that Saturday’s Guardian – a bit of a spoiler.
The most interesting thing I learnt was that Woodstock was held about 60 miles away from Woodstock itself. A bit like holding a festival in Carlisle and calling it the Newcastlefest. Or opening a new airport in Oxford and calling it London.
I thought this was a wonderful puzzle.
Nick
Joni Mitchell didn’t just record the song called Woodstock, she wrote it!
Although the version by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young (who were at Woodstock) is probably the best-known, it was left to Matthews Southern Comfort (a Fairport Convention side-project who, like Joni Mitchell, weren’t at Woodstock) to top the British charts a year or so after the event with an idiosyncratic version full of melancholy for an idealistic dream that came to nothing. There’s an interesting take on this version here.
Thanks, Andrew. This was an enjoyable puzzle. I really liked 17ac, and all the ‘electronic’ themed ones. 8dn and 27ac made me smile!
I think this might be the first time I managed to finish the prize crossword with out any help so I thoroughly enjoyed it…my absolute favorite clue (although one of the last I solved) was Moonstruck… “the Who’s stick man” for “moon”: loved it!