LA TIMES CROSSWORD
And just like that, “American Idol” Season 22 is down to its top 24 singers.
In Monday night’s episode, Katy Perry, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie heard 56 contestants give their all during the “Showstoppers” round.
After seeing a marathon of performances, the judges eliminated more than half of the remaining “Idol” hopefuls in a much more personal setting than Sunday night, when the judges ruthlessly cut more than 80 people from the pool of 143 contestants.
Richie, Bryan and Perry quickly put some of the contestants out of their misery, letting them know they would be advancing without much dawdling. However, the trio claimed to need tiebreakers for some of the musicians. KB Richins, Alyssa Raghu, Ziggy and Mackenzie Sol were among those who sang for their lives.
Advancing Roman Collins – who gave The Beatles’ “Come Together” a gospel twist – to the next round was seemingly one of the biggest no-brainers of the episode.
“For me, that was the best performance of the night,” Perry told the 24year-old car cleaner from Long Beach, California.
KB Richins and Alyssa Raghu do a sing-off of Lady Gaga’s ‘Shallow’
After KB took to the stage with “Simple Man” by Lynyrd Skynyrd and Alyssa put her own spin on the Gloria Gaynor classic “I Will Survive,” the judges were torn. So the two were called into the judgment room together.
“We argued over you,” Perry said, and the only resolution was a sing-off.
The women opted to give their vocal cords a workout with Lady Gaga’s “Shallow.” Though Alyssa and KB both had impressive yet imperfect renditions, KB’s version came through with more depth and gravitas. Alyssa had tears streaming down during KB’s performance and explained, “I’m only crying because it means so much to me.”
KB ultimately emerged victorious, and Alyssa took the news like a champ.
“I thought it was a fair game and they thought she had a lot of potential for this, and I totally agree. She totally deserves that,” Alyssa said.
“I sang for my life; I seriously gave it everything I had,” a crying KB said.
Who’s in the top 24 of ‘American Idol’ Season 22?
Here’s who made it through to the next round at Aulani, A Disney Resort and Spa, on Oahu, Hawaii:
● Abi Carter
● Triston Harper
● Odell Bunton Jr.
● Hailey Mia
● Jennifer Jeffries
● Jordan Anthony
● Nya
● Blake Proehl
● KB
● Jack Blocker
● Roman Collins
● Mia Matthews
● McKenna Breinholt
● Emmy Russell
● Will Moseley
● Ajii Hafeez
● Sam “Kayko” Kelly-Cohen
● Kennedy Reid
● Elleigh Marie Francom
● KBlocks
● Jayna Elise
● Julia Gagnon
● Mackenzie Sol
● Quintavious Johnson
ACROSS
1 Use a Keurig, say 5 Name associated with a philosophical razor
10 Branded tees or
mugs, maybe 14 Traditional
wisdom
15 “I’m not seeing it” 16 Follow 17 Bookworm 19 Alan of “Marriage
Story”
20 Lunch option on the Shinkansen, say
21 Took away (from) 23 “Who knew?”
25 With diffidence 26 PD alert
28 Ingest
30 In the past 31 Dollop 34 Sensitive subject 37 Surname in a
classic Styx song 39 Meat in Hawaiian
cuisine
40 Teaser ad 42 Italian wine region 43 Divination 45 Head-scratchers 47 Speedometer stat 48 __ boost
50 Twin set?
51 Dr. of rap
52 French “Cheers!” 54 Screwdriver, in a
pinch
56 Chewy candy bars introduced in 1921
60 Full of the latest 63 Triumphant cry 64 Fresh start
66 U2 singer
67 Little meower 68 Cannon of film 69 Toy on some
holiday cards
70 Matzo’s lack 71 “Last four digits” IDs
DOWN
1 Say too much 2 Wander about 3 Mid-March cry 4 United with
5 Have loans 6 African lake in
four countries 7 Surrenders
8 First name in
soul
9 Gentle carnival
ride
10 Gwen __: Spider-Man’s first love
11 Sky’s “Breaking
Bad” spouse
12 Campaign staffer 13 Chuffed
18 Bunch of
romantics?
22 __ gobi: South
Asian potato dish 24 Without a care in
the world
26 State in northern
India 27 Temporary, as a
bar or restaurant 29 Publisher with a mountain peak logo 31 Completely fall apart, as a deal, or an apt title for this puzzle? 32 Marine mammal that uses rocks to crack shells 33 State capital in the Treasure Valley 4/5/24