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Dear listeners,In 2012, shortly after the death of the legendary blues musician Etta James, the writer Matt Gaffney provided a somewhat unconventional eulogy on the website Slate, remembering James as “a woman whose handy, four-letter first name has gotten us out of many tough corners and spared us countless painful rewrites.” Gaffney is a crossword puzzle writer, and in this article he amusingly defined a specific type of renown: James was a perfect example of someone who was “crossword-famous.” If you do enough crossword puzzles (as I certainly do; shout out to my esteemed colleagues in The New York Times Games department for enabling my habit), you start to see certain names over and over. (Brian) Eno. (Yoko) Ono. And yes, Etta (James). Why these and not others? Gaffney explained, “short groupings of common letters are the lifeblood of crosswords, and you’ll need a lot of them if you want to make things work. For that reason, crossword-famous names are likely to be three, four or five letters long, with as many 1-point Scrabble letters as possible.” Today’s playlist is a compilation of songs by crossword-famous musicians. You’ll hear the aforementioned Eno, Ono and Etta, as well as a few more recent entrants into the pantheon of crossword fame: Sia, Adele and Ariana Grande. A certain Guthrie is also on this playlist, though avid crossword solvers know that the most famous folk singer with that last name is not necessarily the most crossword-famous. If you’re new to the art of solving crossword puzzles, I hope today’s playlist gives you some pointers — along with some enjoyable tunes. And if you’re more of an advanced puzzler who doesn’t pay much attention to popular music, this playlist should teach you a thing or two. Grab a pencil (or if you’re feeling especially confident, a pen), load up today’s New York Times crossword and press play. I feel like I win when I lose, Lindsay
Listen along while you read.1. Electric Light Orchestra: “Don’t Bring Me Down”“Mr. Blue Sky” band, for short; three letters. The British pop-rock outfit ELO appears on many crossword grids thanks to its terse, vowel-heavy acronym. This classic tune from the 1979 album “Discovery” also prompts one of rock’s most enduring mysteries: Who is the “Bruce” mentioned in the chorus?! In a 2016 interview with Rolling Stone, Jeff Lynne clarified that he’s actually singing “groose,” a seemingly nonsensical syllable he uttered as a place holder. “The engineer said that it meant ‘greetings’ in German, which I thought was lovely and decided to leave in,” he said. When he played it live, though, “everyone would sing ‘Bruce.’ I just ended up singing ‘Bruce,’ as well.”
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“A Playlist Packed With Crossword Clues” track list
Track 1: Electric Light Orchestra, “Don’t Bring Me Down”
Track 2: Brian Eno, “Baby’s on Fire”
Track 3: Ariana Grande, “R.E.M.”
Track 4: Etta James, “All I Could Do Was Cry”
Track 5: Arlo Guthrie, “The City of New Orleans”
Track 6: Yoko Ono, “Death of Samantha”
Track 7: Sia, “Cheap Thrills”
Track 8: Adele, “When We Were Young”
Track 9: Abba, “Waterloo”
“I want you to show me what you mean, then help me with the crossword in the mornings,” Lucy Dacus sings on her recent single “Ankles.” That’s romance!
Also, on this week’s Friday Playlist, we’ve got a great collaboration between two artists I love, Perfume Genius and Aldous Harding, along with new tracks from Tate McRae, Hurry for the Riff Raff, Ledisi and more. Listen here.
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