Jeff Tweedy Turned His Rock ’N’ Roll Obsession Into a New York Times Crossword

Jeff Tweedy has a new byline in the New York Times games section: he built a full-sized, rock ’n’ roll-themed crossword titled My Life Was Saved By Rock ’N’ Roll, and it wears its influences on its sleeve. David Bowie, the Sex Pistols, The Velvet Underground, Keith Richards and Johnny Cash all show up in the clues, which feels less like a puzzle and more like a musical mixtape you can fill in square by square.

The invitation came in the wake of the paper publishing its list of the 30 Greatest Living American Songwriters, an issue that also asked each listed songwriter to create a mini puzzle. Tweedy wasn’t among the thirty — despite a cheeky report that he voted for himself — but the Times still tapped him for the monthly bonus game, presumably because he’s a confessed crossword obsessive.

That lifelong habit is part of why the puzzle feels authentic rather than stunt-y. Tweedy told games editor Christina Iverson that decades of songwriting actually prepared him for constructing a puzzle. “I think putting a song together and finding the right word to express what you want to say succinctly or with clarity, that can feel like putting a puzzle together sometimes,” he said. “But the difference obviously is that there’s no right answer for a song, really, and there definitely is one for a crossword puzzle.”

He expanded on the compulsion in a Substack update, half self-aware and half proud: he called himself a “massive crossword puzzle nut” and admitted the obsession sits somewhere on the edge of unhealthy. “As an addict, you have to remind yourself that you’re still an addict, even when you aren’t doing things that are terrible for you,” he wrote. “Crossword puzzles are a pretty benign outlet for an addictive tendency, in my opinion.”

If you want to try the puzzle yourself and you subscribe to the Times, you can find the monthly bonus game here:.

Why should fans care beyond the novelty? Because Tweedy’s life in music — the records, the collaborations, the road — is the same ecosystem that produced this puzzle. Wilco have just announced a UK and European headline tour for this summer, and the band’s recent output remains part of the throughline: their last studio album was 2023’s Cousin, followed by the Hot Sun Cool Shroud EP the next year.

On the solo front, Tweedy spent last year unveiling Twilight Override, a triple album and his fifth solo record, a sprawling 30-track statement. He’s also been turning up in curious places: he joined Bleachers’ bill at Newport Folk Festival 2025 as a special guest alongside artists like Hayley Williams, Waxahatchee, Weyes Blood, Rufus Wainwright and Maren Morris.

And in a quieter, intimate moment earlier this year, Tweedy released an emotive cover of Cameron Winter’s “Love Takes Miles” for Valentine’s Day, dedicated to his wife Susan — a reminder that even the crossword-maker has a soft spot for love songs.

There’s a small, pleasing symmetry to it all: a man who writes songs about the textures of life also loves the compact satisfaction of finding the exact word that fits. Fans will likely file into venues this summer with that extra bit of trivia in their pockets — and some will probably try to hand him the puzzle at the merch table.