78 Down

NYT Daily • August 31, 2025

Improvise à la Ella Fitzgerald

Answer:

SCAT

Hint:

Not available

Explanation:

Ella Fitzgerald was famous for "scat singing," a jazz technique where singers improvise nonsense syllables instead of words. The clue hints at this by saying "improvise" and referencing her name, since she was a master of the style. "À la" just means "in the style of," so the answer is the term for that vocal improvisation: "scat.

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