Today's Entertainment

December 4 - 10, 2017 Page 3 ACROSS 1. Role on "Zoo" (2) 8. TV manufacturer 9. City near Lake Tahoe 10. "Last __ __" 14. __ Anderson 15. Beatle wife 16. Mediocre grade 17. Merle Haggard's "__ from Muskogee" 18. Suffix for long or strong 19. Notices 20. Long sandwiches 24. Public prosecutors, for short 27. "Star __" 28. "__ Life to Live" 29. "Major __" 32. "__ Betty" 33. "America's Got Talent" judge (2) 36. Part of NAACP: abbr. 37. MC 38. Actress on "American Housewife" (2) DOWN 1. Role on "Happy Days" 2. Oakley and Potts 3. Pitcher Young and his namesakes 4. "Deal __ __ Deal" 5. "__ and Stacey" 6. "Disney __ __"; skating show that tours the world 7. Designated regions 8. "Up in __"; 1978 Cheech & Chong movie 11. "My World and Welcome __ It" (1969-70) 12. "Touched by __ Angel" 13. Word in the title of Viola Davis' series 14. "NCIS: __ Angeles" 20. "__ 60 on the Sunset Strip" 21. Give encouragement to (2) 22. Actress Maria 23. "Vanilla __"; 2001 Tom Cruise film 24. Comment from Homer 25. As sturdy as __ __ 26. __ __ button back on; does a simple mending task 29. Refuse to admit the truth of 30. "I __ Weasel"; 1997-99 cartoon series 31. 1988 Martin Sheen movie 34. Suffix for violin or art 35. Put an end to; cancel Solution on page 2 CoverStory By George Dickie © Zap2it Whether it's making a record or designing cloth- ing, Gwen Stefani has an implicit trust in the creative process. And it's what guided her through the at-time daunting challenge of making of her first solo special for NBC, "Gwen Stefani's You Make It Feel Like Christmas." "You have to start at the bottom of the mountain," she explains, "and just (take) little baby steps, and it started just coming together. And it was really just coming down to 'Who am I and what am I trying to say?' And it just was like developing over time and it was like meeting after meeting of what I don't want to do and what I do want to do. And 'What is the message I'm trying to make?' And those kinds of things. "And then it just turns into a budget issue just like everything else," she adds with a laugh, "so that kind of edits things out. And then you try to get really creative within a budget problem, which is what I do with designing as well, which is part of the creative process. And you start to get really creative then." The hourlong program, which airs Tuesday, Dec. 12, sees the Grammy-win- ning singer/songwriter and former coach on the Peacock Network's "The Voice," performing selections from her new album "You Make It Feel Like Christmas" as well as classic holiday fare. There are also holiday-themed sketches and guest ap- pearances by Ken Jeong ("Dr. Ken"), talk-show host Chelsea Handler, actor/co- median Seth MacFarlane and recording artist Ne-Yo. Stefani also performs a duet with Blake Shelton, the country artist to whom recent reports have linked her romantically, and it's a song he wrote for her Christmas album. "I guess when he start- ed hearing about the kind of record I was going to make," Stefani explains, "he was so excited about it. And he was on his tour bus and he came up with this idea. And he was funny be- cause he sent me a voice message and it was like, 'OK, I was thinking about your record and I was just sitting around. I kind of came up with this. I don't know if there's anything here.' But it was basically like, 'I wanna thank ...' ... 'You make me feel ...' I was like, 'Oh my gosh! What a jerk!' Like he's so talented. He just sends me a hit like right when I'm try- ing to write this record. So I knew automatically that it was so good ... ." "Gwen Stefani's You Make It Feel Like Christmas" airs Tuesday on NBC. Gwen Stefani makes her first TV special 'Feel Like Christmas' on NBC

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