| ITMATTERS | With 30-Across: Scotty McCreery song that won the CMT Digital First Performance of the Year last night at the CMT Music Awards |
| YOURPLACE | Ashley Cooke song that won Female Breakthrough Video of the Year last night at the CMT Music Awards |
| TORTURED | "The ___ Poets Department" (Swift's next album, which will drop on April 19th, as she announced during her acceptance speech (!) for winning Album of the Year last night) |
| AMER | Scotty McCreery is 2011's ___ Idol winner (abbr.) |
| ASDAY | Scotty Mccreery LP, Clear _ _ (2,3) |
| YELL | Start the year last of all with a shriek |
| KANEBROWN | He co-hosted the CMT Music Awards on Sunday with 22-Across (and won Video of the Year for "Thank God" along with his wife, Katelyn) |
| BALLERINI | Kelsea who co-hosted the CMT Music Awards on Sunday with 14-Across |
| MICHELLE | Beatles song that won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1966 (8) |
| BADBLOOD | Taylor Swift/Kendrick Lamar song that won the 2015 MTV VMA for Video of the Year: 2 wds. |
| HUMAN | Rag'n'Bone Man song that won the Brit Award for British Single of the Year in 2018 |
| OPENING | Sequence of moves at the start of a game of chess; or, the first performance of a play (7) |
| ABOUTDAMNTIME | Lizzo song that won the People's Choice Award for Song of 2022: 3 wds. |
| CASANOVA | This great lover of the 18th century may have attended the first performance of Mozart's Don Giovanni, the opera based on the mythical Don Juan |
| PREMIERE | The first performance of a musical or theatrical work or the first showing of a film (8) |
| ISME | This ___ Keala Settle song that won the 2018 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song: 2 wds. |
| STAYHIGH | Brittany Howard song that won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song in 2021: 2 wds. |
| DONTWANNAFIGHT | Alabama Shakes song that won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song in 2016: 3 wds. |
| THISLAND | Gary Clark Jr. song that won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song in 2020: 2 wds. |
| ONME | "Rain ___" (Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande song that won the Grammy for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance in March, 2021) |
