"Music Center," by Todd Gross

Constructor's Comments

Another music themed puzzle (see here for my last Puzzle Society crossword)!  I first sent this puzzle to David on December 31st.  My original version had CHICAGO as the first theme entry, but David wanted all the artists to be solo performers, so we used ICE CUBE instead.  This was surprisingly difficult to work with, and David and I went back and forth a few times with a few different versions of this grid before we had something we both liked.

I say "we both liked" because even though David is the editor and has the final say, sometimes I disagreed with his choice of entries (like THE T), but he'd also disagree with mine (like, uh, THE L).  This was a very collaborative effort, taking more than two months to get a final version.

Though I am interested in songwriting (see link above), I promise that most of my crosswords don't have music themes.  But if you really like those kind of themes, I highly recommend the Muller Monthly Music Meta puzzles—they're free to play, and you might even win a prize.  See pmxwords.com for more information.

And if you're interested in my songwriting, here's a link to a song I wrote called "Everyone's Connected."  It has an uplifting message and a guitar intro before I start singing.

By the way, did anyone notice that the puzzle's title, "Music Center," also has a C as its middle letter (i.e., a MIDDLE C)?

Editor's Comments

This is the 100th Puzzle Society crossword I've edited, and coincidentally, the theme is all about the letter C!  Okay, okay, I'll admit that I did a little schedule shuffling to make this happen, but it's nonetheless a nice coincidence that Todd sent me the theme at just the right time.  Coming up with a replacement for CHICAGO was tricky—fortunately, ICE CUBE came to the rescue, though we also considered STACEY Q (whose song "Two of Hearts" was a hit in the '80s) and KID CUDI (who's perhaps best-known for his 2008 hit "Day 'n' Nite").  And, finally, I hadn't realized that "Music Center" also has a middle C.  That's a very elegant touch on Todd's part!