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Mad About Music Archive

July 2006

"Wildcards" Summer Special

Sunday, July 16, 2006

President Jimmy Carter, Katharine Graham, Lorin Maazel, Felix Rohatyn, William Buckley, West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Peter Jennings, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, Richard Meier, Valery Gergiev, Alec Baldwin, Tom Brokaw


Will Shortz

Sunday, July 02, 2006

Will Shortz, New York Times celebrity crossword puzzle editor and subject of the just-released fascinating documentary "Wordplay," reveals to host Gilbert Kaplan the power of music in his puzzles. Why? Because musical words often are short and have the highest concentration of vowels. The most popular opera is Aida, instrument, "oboe," and composer, Arne (best known for his “Rule Britannia”). Shortz’s favorite classical piece is Tchaikovsky’s Marche Slave and popular work, Electric Light Orchestra’s "Do Ya."