See the 2 answer words debuted by Eileen Williams.
L | A | P | S | S | A | L | A | D | M | I | N | E | ||
E | X | I | T | I | M | A | G | E | E | M | I | R | ||
A | L | S | O | L | A | D | E | N | R | O | N | A | ||
F | E | A | R | L | E | S | S | M | A | G | N | E | T | |
Y | E | N | S | B | A | B | E | |||||||
G | R | A | B | A | T | V | A | R | Y | R | E | D | ||
R | O | L | O | B | L | A | N | K | S | P | A | C | E | |
A | C | T | O | R | E | L | F | S | U | D | A | N | ||
S | H | A | K | E | I | T | O | F | F | T | O | R | T | |
P | E | R | D | O | O | R | R | O | U | N | D | S | ||
S | O | W | N | H | E | A | P | |||||||
B | R | O | W | S | E | D | E | A | R | J | O | H | N | |
Y | U | R | I | Y | O | I | N | K | O | B | O | E | ||
O | L | A | F | O | U | N | C | E | B | I | A | S | ||
B | E | L | T | U | R | G | E | D | S | E | X | T |
★ I was so intrigued by "Name That Tune" today. What could MINE and FEARLESS have in common? Toss in BABE … RED …
BLANK SPACE is right!
I admitted defeat before piecing together ...
SWIFT.
SWIFT?
As in, what my brain was not, in still being unable to figure out the puzzle's theme?
I couldn't pick out Taylor Swift from a lineup of her, Elizabeth Taylor, and Jonathan Swift, and if offered one treeelion dollars to name any of her songs, I'd mumble "I'm lovin' it?" So my disappointment was appropriately SWIFT.
But wait! Even this pop culture moron's ears perked up, recognizing SHAKE IT OFF. Then I nearly broke my computer while listening to Taylor Swift tunes for 22 straight hours. As I bopped to the beats, I couldn't help but yell out FEARLESS! to the neighbors.
Alas, they responded with:
I'm taking it as a personal challenge to go through life speaking only in Tay-tay titles.
Nothing flashy in the grid, but STORYBOOK and I OWE YOU are fun. Although I'd have preferred more T-Swizzle sparkle, erring on the side of cleanliness is the right thing to do for most Tuesday crosswords. The fact that I couldn't pick out a single ding-worthy entry makes this debut a bit enchanted.
I'm so glad I gave this tribute puzzle a second look. Along with solidly smooth debut gridwork, I'm finding it as hard to SHAKE IT (this crossword) OFF as that earwormy song.