I enjoyed the theme, even though WOODSTOCK was way before my time. I'm familiar with, and have respect for, all of the musicians mentioned, and I've even seen one of them (SANTANA) in concert. Fun puzzle! I always appreciate a musical theme. đ¶
3
Sure I'm missing something but what is connection between Hoover and era - not heard those two used together . . .
@Sunny Applied to Presidential time in office, at least in recent times--the Reagan Era, the Clinton era, etc
1
@Sunny
Apparently âHover Eraâ is used in regard to J Edgar Hoover, long-time Director of the FBI, and not in regard to President Herbert Hoover.
J. Edgar Hoover *was* the FBI from its conception. His 5 decades in the DoJ were definitely an era: it could be argued that his reign was the longest and widest reaching than any politicianâs in American history.
1
Even though the twinkle in my parentsâ eyes post-dates Woodstock, all the elements of the theme today are so iconic that it made for a quick, smooth solve for this Gen-Xâer.
Now, speaking of CAT SKILLS: Where is Lewis and an update on Wiley?
2
Once I saw the circled letters spelling BAEZ and SANTA NA, I figured the theme was Leapfinger's traditonal favourites. Reading the clue for 63A, not a moment's hesitation, but it may be a telling typo that I mis-typed the entry WEEDSTOCK. At the time 50 years ago, I was so elsewhere (even in that nearby 71A location) that I knew nothing about it, and doubt if I'd heard that I would have given it Credence.
Nice to be reminded of THE CAT SKILLS, anyway, and I'd add to the list:
stalking,
pouncing,
purring,
langorous cuddling,
racing up window screens
hanging from curtain rods (after the previous)
plucking heartstrings of biped housemates
Nice NYT article with Nikon B&W photos taken by young photo journalist on site, unseen for past 50 years.
FREEDOM FREEDOM
5
@Leapfinger
Richie apparently improvised that song because he had to play longer than expected because other performers were late to arrive (you might already know that but I didnât till this morning):
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richie_Havens
2
@Leapfinger - there is also, of course, the CATS' KILLS.
https://www.livescience.com/26670-cats-kill-billions-animals.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cats_in_Australia
Teethe? Please explain!
@Jonathan Leal When babies teethe they get their teeth- or their bite. It's the process when teeth come in.
2
see Language: English.
noun - verb:
breath - breathe
bath - bathe
cloth - clothe
swath - swathe
sheath - sheathe
teeth - teethe
sooth - soothe
wreath - wreathe
thief - thieve
grief - grieve
life - live
glass - glaze
grass - graze
brass - braze(n)
half - halve
calf - calve
proof - prove
safe - save
serf - serve
because...Language! English!
10
Seethe comment by @David Connell
9
File me under grumpy Gen-Xer, but I found this puzzle to be equal parts too easy and oddly clued. 17A revealed the entire theme, and I wound up saying "Really?" to clues like 64D.
I guess the 50th anniversary of Woodstock is something to remark upon, but I'm kind of tired of having everything that any Boomer ever did become a cultural milestone. Harrumph!
7
@LarryB - ¥Olé!, when written properly, is written with an accent. An accent on the "e". It's wordplay.
@Larry. I thought the puzzle was fun but as a 90s kid I get your sentiment. I guess what ticks me more is how we can have an entire puzzle dedicated to 60s nostalgia without much issue but any time a popular hip-hop artist gets referenced we always get the predictable flood of "why should I have to know this" compliants.
14
@LarryB Oh, now, abide your soul in patience. It's not so long now til we boomers are long gone - and not much longer til you, my dear, will find yourself prone to reminiscence.
11
I am told that my family, along with 4 year old me, was stuck in traffic on our way back from a Catskills vacation. I'm sure my father added some colorful words to the weekend.
I do have a vague memory of it but I admit it could have been implanted by the retelling of the stories over the years.
Peace.
4
Howâs Yardley, these days? My daughter says if she gets any money sheâs making an offer on her childhood home in Pebble Creek off Dolington Road. Happy memories.
2
My mother could be found on the couch completing her NYT crosswords waiting till I returned home from Fillmore East concerts featuring Joe Cocker, Janis Joplin, Santana, etc. late at night. And she tackled them on Sundays when I did my best impressions of Joan Baez in the living room. Loved this musically based puzzle, the memories evoked, & the new words/expressions I learned. She would be surprised (and mildly honored) Iâm carrying on her tradition of word searching.
13
Super fast Wednesday. I liked Tiny inheritance?
6
If memory serves, one of the birds Charles Schulz used to draw in his "Peanuts" strip was named Woodstock.
Not a bad puzzle. There's always a clue that provokes a quibble and today's is 33D: the clue is better and more accurate if "Like a" is deleted.
2
@Dr W
You are correct about Woodstock! In fact, he used to hang around with my favorite character Snoopy!
1
Dr W - "Scalene" describes _any_ polygonal figure, however many sides it may have, where no two sides are equal in length. Only scalene triangles are "like" scalene triangles. The clue is accurate, and not redundant.
2
Daring to step between a physicist and a linguist on a matter of mathematical description...
*Since SCALENE is an adjective that can describe any polygon, the clue is accurate and not formally redundant as written.
but ...
*No sense is lost deleting "Like a..." (i.e., other polygons need not be considered because the clue specifies a triangle).
but...
*Deleting "Like a..." does not make the clue any more "accurate" (and "better," given the above, is a matter of taste).
(Ducks crossfire)
2
In golf, isnât a golf the end of redoing? It limits your score to what youâve done, not give you a chance to do it again.
1
@Don Brearley Mulligans are given to friends in casual games. Not part of the official game rules.
5
@Don Brearley
Saint Mulligan is the patron saint of duffers everywhere. All of us deserve second chances, and some of us third and fourth as well.
4
Sha Na Na were the kings of Woodstock. (You know it's true.)
2
Hereâs a thought for a Hendrix entry and itâs even Woodstock-related.
THE BAND REMIX
I will leave it to the more âexperiencedâ clue writers to take it from here.
5
@Andrew
You should edit a Puns and Anagrans puzzle. The NYT version shows up every 3rd or 4th Sunday.
2
@Dr W
Wow! Thanks. I will have to check out those puzzles. Iâll be looking for retirement projects in the next little while.
Clue for my Hendrix entry:
âI Shall be Releasedâ at 63A.
@Andrew
Check into digging up past P&A puzzles. There should be a link somewhere. On the Sundays when they appear they are discussed in the Wordplay section of the online NYT just like the big one, except no answer key is provided (so far!).
You might also want to consider the NYT Sunday acrostic-- which Mrs W is addicted to.
Another one for the âSolvedâ column - - and a new PB - - except that the APP is not giving me my âhappy musicâ for some reason and Iâve had to fly-speck for a typo. (Iâm convinced that there is none but Iâm going to hit âCheck Puzzleâ anyway.)
I never understood why anyone would want to be cheek-by-jowl with 400,000 complete strangers wading around in mud, piddling in the bushes and sleeping on the ground. Definitely NOT my cup of tea. Iâm glad to have not taken up space for anyone who wanted to be ther.
2
@PeterW
Iâm sure that Woodstock is more glamorous in hindsight than it was at the moment. But it was still a monumental event to have been a part of.
I wouldnât have wanted to be hundreds of thousands of miles from earth, piddling in a spacesuit, with no gravity either. But those two summer of â69 events pretty much sum up the magic of a lost era.
10
I think the idea was to get high and have a lot of sex.
3
I'm pretty sure nobody was expecting the vast crowd, the mud and the mess, although perhaps the "organizers" ought to have....
Again we get ELHI, approved for crosswords, not because educators use it, but apparently some textbook publishers do.
In my day, a school with grades 1-12 was called a "union school," not that it had anything to do with trade unions, nor with the Union of States. (Nor with union suits, long underwear having top and bottom all in one.) It just meant that elementary and high schools were united on the same campus. My father was principal, sucessively, of three union schools in Wayne County, NC, before taking the principalship of an elementary shcool when I was 11.
Tangent #1: When my father was principal of New Hope School in southeast Wayne County, the principal of Grantham School in the southwest corner asked to trade positions with him for family reasons. My mother's family was from the Grantham area, so the move was appealing for both families. When the request went to the school board, one member remarked, "I've heard of ball teams trading players, but this is the first time I ever heard of two mules swapping stables!" Nonetheless, the move was approved.
Tangent #2: My dad tells that when he was a child, they usually washed out their union suits and hung them out overnight. Often they would freeze and need thawing out in the morning before wearing. On one such morning, one of his brothers playfully swatted another brother with his frozen underwear, whereupon it snapped into two separate pieces.
End of free association. We now return you to the topical zone...
16
@Alan J
Thanks for the anecdotes. Where else but Wordplay can we find spontaneous oral history like this?
Upon further review:
I s'pose Metropolitan Diary comes close for contempory tales of the city.
3
@Alan J I knew as soon as I saw ELHI that there would be grousing in the comments. My mom, a schoolteacher all her working life, was quite familiar with the term and was surprised to hear it was unfamiliar to others in the biz.
Also, this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Elhi-Textbooks-Serials-Print-2011/dp/1592379389/ref=dp_ob_image_bk
Saw the documentary in a theater in '70, more or less... I'm sure it was the best way to see it, because UGH what a mess! Newsweek magazine had photos, as I recall, esp of the aftermath.
I also remember the quote differently (see title of blog.)
Oh, the puzzle. The CLOCK TOWER makes me feel a bit queasy (Charles Whitman, not a town square, comes to mind.
Jimi Hendrix didn't make the puzzle? Hmm.
See you At the Hop!
5
@Mean Old Lady
Wow! And I thought I might be being overly sensitive with my queasiness about CHOKE HOLD!
My association with the Whitman shooting is that it was always called the "Texas Tower," although I guess it had a clock on it.
2
I'm not of the WOODSTOCK generation (pre-Boomer), nor much of a follower of any of the artists. In fact, I have to confess I got a little tired of hearing about WOODSTOCK approximately 49 years ago. So the theme didn't resonate with me.
Plus, I'm with Jeff in not being too tickled by themes that rely on letters spread through entries.
That said, there was much I enjoyed in the puzzle: CLOCK TOWER, SCALENE, BAKED ZITI, the new-to-me info about OTTAWA, the welcome clue to INIGO, the "Roots" cluing of LEVAR.
CHOKE HOLDS not so much.
So the puzzle was a mixed pleasure for me. What I did enjoy, though, was how the various WP commenters reminisced about where they were, or more often weren't, during the WOODSTOCK weekend.
1
@Deadline
âthe new-to-me info about Ottawaâ
Me too.
4
WWYWW: I was a Boy Scout finishing up my Eagle project (to create a flora and fauna map for what became Hidden Oaks Nature Center), about to start at Annandale High School (Fairfax County), and was somewhat oblivious to the happenings in NY. Living in the DC area, we had passed through protests and riots and the concert didn't register on my adolescent radar screen.
3
@Robert Michael Panoff
What does WWYWW mean? Google's no help.
Deadline,
Where Were You When Woodstock?
(I'm not Google)
@Barry Ancona
Thanks Barry.
(I'm sorry I asked.)
Since we're doing a "where were you," HenPet and I had just moved to Austin with our 4-month-old daughter KarPet, having recently decamped from Urbana in our VW bug (1600, sans a/c). While Armstrong landed on the moon, we built bookcases (no Ikea, kids), and barely knew Woodstock was happening a few weeks later. There's the insularity of experience for you, something familiar to sleep deprived parents.
5
I miss Jimi Hendrix.
It always amazed me that my very straight-laced and proper brother loved Jimi's rendition of the "Star Spangled Banner." Man, he could play the guitar!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKAwPA14Ni4
Thanks for the memories, David!
5
My sister got married that weekend, so I was on the other side of the Hudson, in Rhinebeck. Contrary to Arlo's report, the New York State Thruway was *not* closed, man (that was Route 17, man). Life imitating some art (see "Hair") and predating other art (remember Alice?), the following Monday I reported to a building down on Whitehall Street...
10
The significance of Whitehall Street is not lost on me. I reported 2 years earlier to Fort Hamilton for similar reasons, of course not by choice.
Although I did not attend Woodstock, it was a defining moment of my generation, less about the music then about what it stood for. Having seen the Rolling Stones last week, I could not help but think about the ill fated West Coast attempt to duplicate Woodstock at Altamont.
The puzzle was of the correct degree of difficulty for a Wednesday and the revealer definitely helped. A fun revisiting to a baby boomer singular event.
4
@Barry Ancona
I remember Alice. Listening to Alice's Restaurant on Thanksgiving morning was our family tradition for many years.
5
@Barry Ancona
I remember Alice. Listening to Alice's Restaurant on Thanksgiving morning was our family tradition for many years.
3
REDO for the fairly common "mulligan" is a tricky clue - but no mention of ATOZ, ADZE, or ELHI (none of which I have ever heard of)? Especially with ATOZ and ADZE crossing each other...
"Your mileage may vary" indeed!
5
ATOZ is A to Z. ADZE will show up very often in crosswords - itâs one of those âfile awayâ words.
8
@Ms Korunova
Good grief - thank you! "AtoZ" completely escaped me obviously, guess I should quit trying to solve before my 2nd cup of coffee.
7
@Rob H
ELHI is heard more often in NYT XWP than the real world of ELementary through HIgh school education. But it is heard now and again.
7
"I would have loved to have had Jimi HENDRIX in there (he was the closing act at the concert), but the crossword gods were telling me it wouldnât work."
I'm surprised you couldn't, David Kahn. You're said to be a veteran constructor. Are you experienced?
17
Not surprised to see relatively few comments about the quality of the puzzle or the solving experience today; I won't be an exception.
Dr. J (my spouse) was scheduled to go with a group of friends, but something came up at the last minute and she didn't make it. Me? I was in about week six of basic training. But I heard and saw and read so much about it afterward that it still somehow feels like a part of my history.
Also couldn't help but notice JFK, LBJ and 'Roots' referenced in clues - all of them reminders of the changes that were taking place in that decade. Alex Haley spoke at my college in the fall of '67. He mostly talked about Malcolm X, but at the end mentioned that he was working on a book about his family history (and yes, I'm aware of the controversies - but it still had a significant impact at the time).
I've often said (maybe even here before) that the 60's of myth and legend started in 1968 and were over by 1971. Woodstock was certainly a central event in that era.
And lastly, one of my favorite songs and clips and a reminder of one other thing I've often noted about my generation: With a few exceptions, we couldn't dance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hf0Dm-OaTNk
..
5
"I was in about week six of basic training."
Rich,
Refresher, please. Where basic, and where AIT?
(PCS)
@Barry Ancona In order:
Fort Campbell.
Fort Polk.
BTW, I was actually trained as an 11c, but never touched a mortar again after training.
You?
Rich,
BCT: Fort Jackson. No AIT (71Q CAS).
Do I recall correctly that you also spent some stateside time at Fort Carson?
ELHI again, with the usual valid complaints from teachers and friends of teachers. The answer is fine; the clue is either wrong or a dastardly misdirect. ELHI is *not* "ed-speak" for any *EDucator* I've ever known; it is or at least was "ed-speak" for *EDitors* (and others) I know at Scholastic and other textbook publishers.
6
@Barry Ancona
Aha!
1
A lot of theme entries and yet the fill is surprisingly lively. David couldn't have done a solider job!
13
@ad absurdum
"David couldn't have done a solider job!" I was going to comment but yours is clearly gooder.
8
I enjoy your column, and it's been helpful in learning to complete the puzzles. But your 'hi kid's' comments really crack me up. I find the 'Hi mom' comments helpful with clues that I have no idea about. Anyway, it's fun and makes solving entertaining.
11
Thank you, @Kristin. Itâs all in fun, and we are lucky enough to have such a wide age group of solvers that it became necessary.
6
@Kristin
The âHi Kidsâ routine is one of my favorite things about this venue.
At age 77, this is the ONLY place anyone EVER calls me a âkidâ any more!!
. . . Or is Deb referring to todayâs kids?? If so, Iâve just destroyed one of my last remaining delusions.
5
@PeterW
Relax. A fair number of us are entering the 9th decade.
3
Loved the puzzle. As to Woodstock, I've never liked crowds and was helping my mother clean the barn that long ago weekend.
I find this ERA's Woodstock commemorations a little sad, as I think about what happened to the aspirations of that time. Seems like AEONS ago.
13
@Carol
It seems like a âThe glass is half fullâ vs. âThatâs not a glass, thatâs a plastic bottleâ situation. Lots of strides forward, lots of falls backward. I wasnât going to link to any music from Woodstock, but youâve inspired me to turn to Richie Havensâ âFreedomâbecause it sort of sums up my feelings (and he didnât make the puzzle)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rynxqdNMry4
4
@Carol
The Movie "A Mighty Wind" made me cry....we had such hopes....
3
WOODSTOCK was before my time but I loved the references to SANTANA, whose music is amazing today. Hereâs Black Magic Woman being performed: https://youtu.be/95kCv10duFw
For fellow fans of LEVAR Burton, did you know he makes a great podcast called LeVar Burton Reads? Itâs like Reading Rainbow, but for adults. He picks a piece of short fiction and reads it, comments on it â sometimes with the author, sometimes in front of a live audience. He picks stories he likes so they often have a sci-fi or fantasy edge but not always. Itâs great when youâre driving or going for a walk.
FWIW, I was a classroom teacher and never heard of ELHI.
ADIEU!
9
@Ms Korunova
That stupid ELHI never fails to annoy me. Never heard it in undergraduate years (double major in elementary and special education) nor in graduate school nor in years of reading and writing about education. I was certified for Pre-K through grade 12, and EL Hi appears no where on any certificate or license. I would like to see it banished, but apparently it's just too, too handy....
2
@Mean Old Lady
As mentioned elsewhere, as well as in previous occurrences, itâs apparently a publishing term. Couldnât prove it by me, though.
Retired teacher of 40 years experience.
1
@Mean Old Lady But it's not wrong, even allowing for your experience. My mom was also a teacher, grade school and special ed, and was surprised to learn others in the biz were not familiar with the term.
And: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Elhi-Textbooks-Serials-Print-2011/dp/1592379389/ref=dp_ob_image_bk
50 years ago Sue Stevenson and I climbed aboard my Honda 305. We rode from Syracuse to White Lake and a weekend of mud, music and mescaline. It more of an awareness of than a gathering of tribes as two young WASPS from Upstate NY saw 400,000 vs. the usual 10 people who were a lot like us. The rest, as they say, is history.
Oh, the puzzle. Lemar for LEVAR slowed me down. The rest went down like..... well Window Pane.
Thanks David
8
I was 11 at the time, and I remember my brother, who was then 15, arguing with my mom about going to Woodstock. It was promising to be THE event of the decade - a culmination of the tumultuous 60s. My brother obviously lost his argument with my mom, and we had to make due with the heavy news coverage of the event on our black and white Sears console TV. The double album of the concert was released soon after the event, and my folks had to deal with hearing the "Fish Cheer" blasting from our communal stereo (also from Sears) which was in our living room, making it so that the entire house needed to listen to the music of whoever got to it first.
And here is the aforementioned "Fish Cheer" (WARNING: F-Bomb clip!):
https://youtu.be/ScxI94XDdtY
7
My two sisters and my mom and I lived in suburban Rockland County New York, in a small apartment after my mother got divorced in the summer of 1969. My sister snuck off to Woodstock with her boyfriend, and after the album came out, our whole apartment building would vibrate to the sound of the fish cheer on my motherâs rumbling hi-fi unit.
5
"The double album of the concert was released soon after the event..."
Steve,
*Triple* album, man!
3
Plus, it is "make do" not "due."
Just sayin'.
I enjoyed this one immensely; thanks all...One of the puzzleâs four headliners missed ROLE call for, what was then an impromptu, real time, dress rehearsal for the âreally big showâ in Bethel NY. This individual, born in NYC, must have had a conflicting booking the weekend prior to WOODSTOCK.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Atlantic_City_Pop_Festival.jpg
5
August 1969. What a time. What a feel. What an era. We were innocent, hopeful, bold, war-angry, free and open. I will never forget the feel, and the music was so intertwined. Fifty years dissolves in a twinkle the moment I think about it, and this puzzle took me right back. Thank you, David!
14
By the way, I will be away for a few days -- back Monday or Tuesday.
2
@Lewis
We'll miss you. But not as much as Wiley will. First separation?! Trauma!
2
Fine Wednesday puzzle that brought back a lot of memories. I did not go to Woodstock - busy at my first job in NYC, tho even so I probably wouldn't have gone. I was a little worried about the crowd. I still avoid crowds, actually. The puzzle made me want to get out my old Baez and Cocker records - love them both!
9
LETTER BOXED THREAD
H-S (5) S-G (8)
A fast effort during a sleep interruption. First word is archaic. Another instance of leftover letters yielding a word.
@Liane
Same as you. Didnât know the first word either but gave it a shot.
@Liane
We could have a record number of 13s today.
I found a very quick A-S(7) S-N(6).
Then, with my magic word generator, I determined that there are at least two more.
@Phil P
Same as you.
Great tribute puzzle. I didn't look at 63A until I got there, so was slow to get the theme, but once I did I really had fun with it. I'm glad that I didn't, as it would have been over too soon; I like to savour a puzzle.
I've been a Joan Baez fan from the beginning of her career. Unlike other commenters who were too young for Woodstock, I had school aged kids at that time, besides being over 30 and the saying in those days was "Never trust anyone over 30" ( with a few variations) . We did go to a Joan Baez concert on November 24, 1963, obviously a very emotional one as it turned out.
This puzzle brought back many memories .
14
@suejean
We saw her in DC last year. She was wonderful, and as relevant as ever (it was during Kavanaugh hearings).
5
@Ann/suejean
Joan reminiscing on Woodstock.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/05/arts/music/joan-baez-woodstock.html
4
@suejean November 24, 1963.
Wow. I can't imagine what that must have been like.
1
SPELLING BEE
24 words, 118 points, 1 perfect pangram
4 5 6 7 8 Tot
A 1 - 1 - - 2
H 5 6 3 2 2 18
M - 2 - - - 2
Y - 1 1 - - 2
55
@x thank you, x.
No HORARY??? How Times have changed.
4
@x Many Thanks. 3 slangy 'words', all ending with 'HOO' mar this puzzle, while some legitimate words are left out. No HAMMAM (but another word from that culture), AYAH, HYMNARY, HORARY...
14
@Mari Thankyou, x, for the grid, and you, Mari, for the comment about the slangy 'words'. I had everything but the A6 word, and decided to come back here and see if there were any hints - and your comment did it - since I had only two of the slangy 'words'
10
Took me twelve minutes to find out I had misspelled RIVALED (and not paid enough attention to that "low score" bit. Most of the puzzle was a breeze and 41 minutes would have been one of my quicker Wednesdays.
IDK. i was meh about this puzzle. got the theme quite quickly but iâm kind of sick of hearing about woodstock TBH. as far as cultural moments go it seems to get far more than its proportionate share of coverage. (already, separate from its anniv.) and the fill today felt especially... fill-y. and then that dang AMAHL! yet again! i know i should just memorize it but... guh. it (and to be fair, some denseness on my part on some of the crosses) added several minutes to my solve time.
@a.
See re: AMAHL in replies to Gary, next earlier comment.
I was 17 going on 18 in September in 1969. My mom, dad and I arrived for a vacation to a Cape Cod estate that my aunt and uncle had rented two days before Woodstock and my 'barely' 19 year old cousin and her girlfriend were leaving for Woodstock that day. She invited me to go with them and I begged my mid-western father to let me go but my pleas fell on deaf ears. My cousin and her friend returned on Wed., covered in mud with a teen-aged boy in tow. He stayed two nights and was gone. I've regretted my father's decision to this day. So close and yet so far.....
9
@Gary
September?
@vaer
when he turned 18.
@Peter S
Aah.
My wife and I and the rest of our rock band attended Woodstock. We were among the meager 10,000 or so who remained by the time Hendrix (preceded immediately by Sha Na Na) performed Monday morning, so we were able to watch from just outside the fence that separated the crowd from the stage. SNN were booed when they came onstage because it was clear that it was Jimiâs equipment they were performing in front of. I thought they were a lot of fun, though.
We also hosted a come-as-you-were party for the 20th anniversary. One of our friends came as her pregnant self.
A couple of years ago we were in the neighborhood of Bethel and decided to visit the site. We were astonished at how small it seemed. The museum is great for people of a certain age.
Oh, and I enjoyed the puzzle. :-)
14
Sorry Hendrix fans but clearly if you have Joe and Joan and Janis in your puzzle how could you possibly fit Jimi in?
@Crossword Gods
Well, how about the clue:
"Plea from a person with septic tank troubles"
with the answer:
HElpiNeeDRIdX (as in "Help, I need Rid-X")
:)
3
Lovely trip back to 1969. I was an IOTA too young and far away to attempt the trip to THE CATSKILLS, but a friend of mineâs 17-year-old brother and a couple of his friends hitch-hiked heading to WOODSTOCK. They made it as far as Virginia, but alas, no further. They were picked up for vagrancy and my friendâs father went to rescue (and throttle) his son. Still the boys were deemed very COOL for hitching as far as they gotânot to mention spending a couple of days in jail.
I saw SANTANA on AXS TV recently. Theyâre still great!
ODIC? Really.
ADIEU to you and you and you...
:-)
9
I know itâs tough for the creator to get everything to line up, but aeon is usually spelled without an a. I only got it from the across clue.
Often the clever themes go unnoticed by me until Iâm done, but this time knowing that the musician was Cocker in the across answer helped me solve 36 down, a weirdly worded clue.
AEON is a widely accepted spelling and is common crosswordese. Generally it is typeset with a ligature as in EncyclopĂŠdia Britannica.
7
@Doug In the US, it's not widely used. The Webster online dictionary lists it as "chiefly British."
2
@Kevin Davis It's a big world out there! :D
10
Wow, I loved the two woodstock videos! Thanks!
6
The Woodstock elements were very enjoyable as they came along, but I got only the ending of The Catskills at first, just "KILLS", and you know, there are several place names in New York that end with KILLS which distracted me until I got the initial TH from their crosses and my eyes were opened.
A few random thoughts:
The headline about breakfast refers to granola. Woodstock was as significant a culinary event as it was a musical one, since it introduced granola to a generation and forever linked it to hippie and boomer culture. Thanks for the fiber, man.
I'm surprised that the puzzle didn't work in Woodstock's least likely act, Sha Na Na, since they've made a frequent appearance in crossword puzzles (or at least they used to - haven't seen them in a while.)
I went to public schools as a kid and taught in them as an adult. Am I the only one who's never encountered the term ELHI outside of a crossword puzzle? Just wondering.
Speaking of "hi, kids", AMAHL and the Night Visitors is a lovely opera written for television that by all rights should be as well known as the Grinch or Frosty. Sadly I think part of the problem is that the Menotti estate holds a tight grip on the rights which keeps it from being performed more often. It's due for a remake I think.
It also reminds me of a joke I made up when I was a kid when our family would do last-minute holiday shopping in the evening and I would always say that it was A Mall and the Night Visitors. I kept trying to figure out the right way of formulating that so that it would actually be funny and I never succeeded.
Back to the garden.
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@James Jacobs
You are not the only one to have missed seeing ELHI in the wild. I've never seen this term, and only got it from the crosses. In fact it looked wrong to me, but since those letters were my last ones to be entered and I got the "you did it" notification, it had to be right, right?
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@James Jacobs
âA Mall and the Night Visitorsâ . . . I found it funny! And it brought back memories of last-minute mall shopping when everything suddenly looked like it might make an appropriate gift (âHey, what about a belt?!â).
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@Millie This is certainly not the first time I've seen it in a crossword puzzle, and some of them containing ELHI were pretty wild, but yes I'm glad to know I'm not alone.
Another random thought about Ms. Amlen's random thoughts - thanks to her I'm now wondering what a crossword puzzle festival with drugs and nudity would look like. Thanks a lot for that image.
11
I was wondering if and when we would be getting the Woodstock themed puzzle. And a round of applause to David J. Khan and the puzzle editors, if they helped, in splitting the performers in the puzzle 50/50 male and female.
According to one of the stories I read this week in the Times, Joni Mitchell, who wrote Woodstock, didn't go to because she was supposed to tape an appearance on the Dick Cavett show on the following Monday and her managers were worried she wouldn't make it back in time. She watched the coverage on television in her hotel room.
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Here's Joni performing on the Cavett show.
https://binged.it/2ZZMz7d
And here are David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Grace Slick showing up on the same show to talk about Woodstock. Bummer, Joni could have made it back in time.
https://binged.it/302ZPIa
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@vaer
Groovy set!
1
"Older constructors would have clued 59A "Architect Jones," but this is Erik so we should expect what we got."
That was my comment from just four days ago regarding the clue for the same answer that appears at 28A in this puzzle. And what was today's clue for INIGO?
Hmmm.
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I wouldn't have gotten it without you. Thanks!
@wags
I still think there are plenty of older constructors and solvers who know INIGO clued both ways.
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No musical link, just a big thanks to @Wags for mentioning INIGO Jones in his comment the other day. Vary prescient! Nice that David Kahn worked THE CATSKILLS into this WOODSTOCK puzzle. Too bad he couldnât work in Bethel as well, the actual CATSKILLS town that hosted the Woodstock Festival after the planned site in Woodstock, NY fell through.
An artistic link for THE CATSKILLS - some art from Kevin Cook, a great contemporary Hudson River School painter:
http://www.kevincook.com/
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@Puzzlemucker
It's like someone's been reading our comments.
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@Puzzlemucker
I thought of WAGS when I read 28D, too. This is the INIGO that I know.
@Puzzlemucker
Hand up for being glad to see the INIGO I (and Wags, and others) wanted in the first place.
1
50 years ago this weekend, my husband and I got married - more memorable to me than Woodstock.
24
@Bobbie - Happy anniversary!
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@Bobbie
Good call. Happy anniversary.
A fun puzzle, securely in my wheelhouse.
Trouble spelling AHMAL...AMHAL...AMAAL...oh, you know what I mean. TEETHE helped me out. Very smooth & speedy.
Monday was Wednesday, and Tuesday was Monday, and Wednesday was Tuesday...
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Since I feel like I've been fairly immersed in WOODSTOCK nostalgia for the past couple of weeks, this puzzle was pretty easy to crack. With BAEZ evident at 17A, the clue for for THE CATSKILLS and its cross-reference gave me WOODSTOCK immediately. I had not actually realized that the location was indeed in the CATSKILLS until one of the programs I saw recently-- I'd always thought it was farther north. I will admit that my knowledge of New York State geography is not great.
With that knowledge, SANTA MONICA and CLOCK TOWERS filled in quickly. JOB APPLICANT took a little longer, maybe because JABS wasn't a gimme for me.
Anyway, it's been fun to wallow in the WOODSTOCK nostalgia this month. I was way too young to have been able to go, but the music is certainly what I was listening to. Can't believe it's been 50 years!
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@Liz B
THE CATSKILLS and WOODSTOCK came very quickly for me, too. I wanted to go to WOODSTOCK (my brother went), but there was no way my mother was allowing that.
A great tribute puzzle!
2