This week’s MMM may be a bit more challenging than usual. I worked in a French composer many of you probably haven’t heard of, who wrote what I think is the most beautiful flute sonata of the 20th century. In addition, I was forced into 6 Down, who’s a not-very-well-known rapper and thus gets a perhaps less-than-helpful alternative clue after the music-related one.
It's "just another word for nothing left to lose," according to Janis Joplin
9A
Prolific 20th century French composer Francis ____
10A
How DC area rappers such as Wale refer to their home
11A
One day ___ time
12A
Singer/trumpeter/bandleader Louis ___, who played blues, swing music, Italian folk songs, R&B, and early rock and roll
14A
___ and Sara ("Heartthrob")
15A
David Bowie album/persona "Aladdin ____"
Verticales
1D
Public safety org. in a city sung about by Tony Bennett, Otis Redding, and Journey
2D
Something given by a conductor
3D
Bodies of work, musical or otherwise
4D
K-___ (big name in compilation albums and music licensing and owner of the "Hooked on Classics" record series)
5D
Person like Stevie Van Zandt who is a constant source of outside-the-box thoughts. (Read his memoir, "Unrequired Infatuations," to see what I mean.)
6D
Rapper Mir ____ ("No Love," "Frank Ocean"), who has accused Cardi B of plagiarism) (if you're stuck, it's as if a synonym for "type face" were a saturated hydrocarbon)