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Jazz Music References on Today’s Crossword – May 20 2023

JAZZ Clues

Jazz Music Lovers probably were happy to see at least 2 clues related to Jazz Music on Todays NYT Puzzle May 20, 2033.

Although Jazz is a music genre that emerged in early 20th century in America, it is still popular today not only among black Americans but in all other racial groups. It is characterized by a forceful rhythm combined with woood wind instrument (especially Saxophones), Brass and Piano. Singers are known for their improvisation and syncopation. Some notable styles include Free Jazz, Swing, Bebop, Dixieland, Ragtime, Jazz Fusion etc.

The clues making reference to Jazz Music today were
“Ella and ___” (1956 jazz album)

The answer of this clue was LOUIS.

It refers to the album Ella and Louis which is a studio-recorded 1956 album by Ella Fitzgerald sometimes referred to as the “First Lady of Song” and Louis Armstrong the famous American trumpeter and vocalist. They were accompanied by the Oscar Peterson Quartet.

The second Jazz Music clue was
Network behind the Ken Burns docuseries “Jazz”

The answer of this clue is PBS

It refers to the Miniseries TV Documentary named “Jazz” which was broadcasted in PBS Television in the year 2001. This docu-series was directed by Ken Burns. This mini series was nominated for an Emmy. It revealed in a chronological order all the influential figures of the Jazz Music that made history by being innovative composers and musicians.

Bert & Ernie appear on NYT Mini Crossword

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On the May 19 NYT Mini Puzzle a clue appeared
Bert’s pal on “Sesame Street”

and the answer of it is Earnie.
Bert and Ernie are two best friend characters who have appeared in multiple episodes of the children’s series “Sesame Street”.

Bert and Ernie live together in a small apartment at 123 Sesame Street. Despite sleeping in separate beds, they are roommates although they sleep in sepparate beds.

Thursday’s Puzzle Commentary

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ImageIf you remember we told you before that if a clue includes “e.g” it most certainly means that the item in the clue is part of a speficic category. For example in the clue “Lemon, e.g” might lead us to an answer such as LEGUMES.

Sometimes however you might want to forget all that. And remember that puzzle creators are very playful and make tricky connections. One way to imagine it is to imagine the puzzler as they climb and swing on various ideas of crossword conventions as if they were playing on monkey bars. Very few things are off-limits in terms of using or breaking a “convention” except of course if you were to push another puzzle construction off the monkey bars.

This Thursday Trenton returns with a crossword that will leave you bamboozled, unless you talk back to it or experiment with another puzzle such as WSJ Crossword which comes up several times per week.

1A/14A. Kinda cute cross-referenced clue. (Yes, it is possible.) A “Creative nugget” is an IDEA,  the “Start” of which is not the letter I but a GERM.

5A. I had POOF before PFFT for “[Just … disappeared!]”

20A. “Introduction to physics?” sounds like a freshman college exam, but here in this puzzle we are only looking for a prefix. The solution  is ASTRO, as in ASTROphysics.

21A. I you are a puzzle history nerd, It is always fascinating to see entries that have not been used for a long time. INKSAC returns to the New York Times Crossword for the first time since 1947.

Thats it folks for today’s puzzle commentary

For full solutions for today’s puzzle open this Link.

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