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February 15 - 21, 2016 Page 3 ACROSS 1. Actress __ B. Davis 4. Garrett, for one 8. Duryea or Marino 11. Accessory for Don Ho 12. Trick 13. Pompous person's problem 14. Role on "Two and a Half Men" (2) 17. "__ Air"; 1997 Nicolas Cage movie 18. One of Winnie the Pooh's friends 19. Distance above sea level: abbr. 21. "Non-__"; 2014 Liam Neeson film 24. Urich's initials 25. "Lie to __" 26. Prefix for legal or logical 27. Initials for film critic Ebert 28. "Sesame Street" fellow 30. Flynn of "The Middle" 32. Thirsty Frenchman's need 34. NBC weekend program, for short 35. "__ __ __ With Neil Patrick Harris" 41. Molinaro and Roker 42. Role on "The Goldbergs" 43. "__ __ Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!" 44. Stallone, to friends 45. Arizona Indian 46. "3rd Rock From the __" DOWN 1. Schooner drink, perhaps 2. Setting for "Bonanza": abbr. 3. Nessa, to Bernie Mac 4. Pennsylvania's __ Mawr 5. "See Spot __"; David Arquette film 6. "__ Wednesday"; Liz Taylor movie 7. "__ John" (1988-92) 8. Station 9. "Men of a Certain __" 10. Conjunction 15. "The __ __"; 1977-87 series for Gavin Ma- cLeod 16. 1992-97 series for Johnny Galecki 19. One of the Great Lakes 20. Temporary period of calmness 22. Actor Katz 23. Rind 29. Like Oscar Madison, according to Felix Unger 31. Lisa Marie's dad 33. "The Man From __"; John Wayne movie 34. "__-Pro"; 2008 Will Fer- rell film 35. __-relief; low-profile sculpture 36. Building wing, often 37. "What'll __ __"; Irving Berlin song 38. "A __ of the World"; 1999 Sigourney Weaver movie 39. Huge bird that cannot fly 40. "When Time __ Out ..."; 1980 Paul Newman thriller Solution on page 2. CoverStory By Jay Bobbin © Zap2it Being named best new artist at the Gram- mys is quite a corona- tion for any singer, and this time, it could be Sam Hunt's turn. A noted athlete during his high school years in his native Georgia, he also played football in college — where he taught him- self to play the guitar, a pursuit that has paid off in his two nomina- tions (also including best country album, for "Montevallo") in The 58th Annual Grammy Awards. CBS televises the ceremony from Los Angeles' Staples Cen- ter on Monday, Feb. 15 — and since he's the host, "NCIS: Los An- geles" co-star LL Cool J won't be lacking his usual Monday berth on the network. Competing with Courtney Barnett, James Bay, Tori Kelly and Meghan Trainor for best new artist, the pleasantly low-key Hunt says he expects "a very enjoyable experience, regardless of the out- come of the categories I'm nominated in. I'm just excited to be a part of the whole celebration of the music of 2015, and all of the artists who made it such a successful year. I love celebrating the genre of country music, but celebrating music as a whole is special in a different kind of way." Hunt also will be among the performers at the Grammys, along with Carrie Underwood (with whom he'll do a duet), Adele, Pitbull, Kendrick Lamar (the night's most-nominated artist, with 11 bids), The Weeknd (who has seven nominations), Justin Bieber and Little Big Town. A number of them are on the 2016 Grammy Nomi- nees album, featuring Hunt's Billboard-coun- try-chart-topping single "Take Your Time," which he co-wrote. "Leave the Night On" and "House Party" also have been platinum hits spawned by "Monteval- lo." After his post-grad- uation tryout with the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs didn't have the hoped-for result, Hunt relocated to Nashville, Tenn., and began writ- ing songs that attracted such talents as Kenny Chesney, Keith Urban, Reba McEntire and Billy Currington — all of whom have recorded his material. While he appreciates their "putting my music out there on a grand scale," Hunt also voices gratitude to "the people behind the scenes who really spent the hours with me in the writing room and in the studio, people who were a lot more experienced than me and helped give me direction. I was just a naive kid out of college, trying to find a way to be successful in this business." Though he's touring again this year, Hunt says it's "not nearly as much as last year. I re- alized, 14 or 15 months after ('Montevallo') came out, that I don't have nearly the time to write that I did before ... so I'm going to have to start consciously carving that time out. That's what I've done with this year's sched- ule, but I'm still going to spend time on the road because some people are just discovering our music for the first time, and I want to be able to reach them with the live shows as well." Country singer-songwriter Sam Hunt is a dual nominee and a performer in The 58th Annual Grammy Awards, Monday on CBS. Country newcomer Sam Hunt vies for wins at Grammy Awards Solution on page 2

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