High-Fidelity Anagram (Crossword, Actually)
January 1960 Electronics World

January 1960 Electronics World Table of Contents  Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics. See articles from Electronics World, published May 1959 - December 1971. All copyrights hereby acknowledged.

According to the Oxford English dictionary, the definition of an anagram is: a word or phrase made by using the letters of another word or phrase in a different order; e.g. "Neat" is an anagram of "a net." Therefore, the title of this Electronics World magazine puzzle appears to be misnamed. Sometimes an anagram crossword puzzle is created in which the clues are in the form of anagrams, but even that is not the case here. With any due apologies to author Comstock, I hereby re-title this a "High-Fidelity Crossword Puzzle." The "high-fidelity" part is entirely appropriate since it refers to the musical nature of the clues and words. As mentioned previously, the late 1950s through the early 1980s was a major era for interest in high fidelity radio receivers and playback gear. It represented the transition from powerful vacuum tube amplifiers to hybrid amplifiers, clear through to high power transistorized amplifiers. "Man caves" of the day were outfitted with the latest and greatest stereo gear, and might have included a 25" television, but that was an optional feature. Being able to measurably add to the permanent deafness of yourself and your buddies was a measure of success and increased social status. Remember the Maxell cassette tape ads of the time with the "Blown Away Guy" sitting in a chair in front of a speaker with his hair and leather jacket being blown back due to the intense "high fidelity" sound? You can pick up a pair of those vintage JBL L100 speakers on eBay for a mere $4k.

High-Fidelity Anagram

By John A. Comstock

Down

2. Wind instrument in the form of a slender conical tube in which the tone is produced by a double reed.

3. A music lover may consider it a _____ to criticize the music of the masters.

4. The button depressed on a tape recorder to cut off operation.

5. To regulate the tones of. as the pipes of an organ.

6. To put sound on a magnetic tape or disc.

7. Measurement of sound intensity which corresponds to the characteristics of human hearing.

8. Large drum.

11. Science of sound.

15. Component in reproduced sound not in original program material.

18. Familiar name for disc recording.

20. Hi-fi speaker especially designed to handle the lowest audio frequencies.

23. Bulb-type of record level indicator used in some types of tape recorders.

24. Musical tones corresponding to vibrations greater than 260 cps.

26. Note equal in time value to one-half of a semibreve.

27. "Baritone" of the violin family.

31. Marks the measure between two divisions in a musical manuscript.

Across

1.Network of component parts in a hi-fi system used to separate the high from the low frequencies. sending them to different speakers for reproduction.

9. A single pulse of recording signal.

10. To remove program material from a recording tape.

12. A device that plays records (Colloq.).

13.A small woodwind that sounds an octave higher than an ordinary flute.

13.Unit used to express magnetic tape recording speed. (abbr.).

16. An _____ amplifier makes sound louder.

17. Music often induces restful ____.

19.A slow fluctuation in turntable speed that causes a fluctuating pitch in program material.

21. A melody for a particular voice or instrument.

22. Accentuation of a bass note by resonance.

23.Abbreviation for a number of interconnected electronic components.

25. An interval of silence between musical notes.

28. Quality or character of sound.

29.Vibration of this small piece of cane or metal gives a woodwind its characteristic sound.

30. Wind instrument of the oboe family.

32.The _____ result to be achieved in any hi-fi system is realism.

33. Type of radio transmission (abbr.).

34. Public musical performance.

Here are other electronics-themed crossword puzzles from vintage electronics magazines (RF Cafe Crosswords here):

Answer to Puzzle