Can you solve the Stereolab crossword?
It was starting to look like British-French avant-pop stalwarts Stereolab may never return to the studio. While mutually busy recording movie soundtracks and pursuing side projects, the only teaser following 2010’s Not Music—a collation of offcuts from 2008’s Chemical Chords sessions—was the tour that supported the remaster of their back catalogue in 2019.
Then, 16 years to the day since their indefinite hiatus was announced, Lab Report newsletter subscribers received a mysterious wordsearch. Stereolab posters reportedly began sprouting in select cities around the world, and lucky fans received a package labelled “unsolicited Stereolab material” featuring their brand new single, ‘Aerial Troubles’. They were back.
A fizzy pop marvel that oozed and squiggled with vintage synths and nonchalant vocal harmonies, Stereolab hadn’t lost an inch of their warm but idiosyncratic vintage indie sound, touching on a number that shimmers with surreality without lapsing into psychedelia’s clichés.
Shortly after, it was officially announced that their long-awaited 11th album would arrive in May 2025. Released via Warp Records and the band’s own Duophonic UHF label, Instant Holograms on Metal Film will feature 13 original songs written by core duo Tim Gane and Lætitia Sadier, plus contributions by Cooper Crain and Rob Frye of Bitchin Bajas, Ben LaMar Gay of International Anthem, Ric Elsworth, Holger Zapf of Cavern of Anti-Matter, Marie Merlet, and Molly Hansen Read. Then, around the release of the second single, ‘Melodie Is a Wound’, another puzzle arrived that proved more cryptic than the last.
Collaborating with The Guardian‘s crossword editor and The Observer‘s Everyman cryptic crossword overlord Alan Connor, Streolab issued a bespoke word grid filled with fiendishly difficult directions, from “Sun Demon: the French being direct?”, “Very quietly gripped by Sean playing Roland finally made sharp noise”, and “Go with Peng!‘s opener’s repetition”.
To the uninitiated, the clues may appear hopelessly oblique, but to the hardcore fans, pointers begin to emerge—”Peng!” being the title of Stereolab’s debut album, a safe bet for where to head.
So, is the Stereolab crossword solvable? It looks that way. Thanks to the good work of the band’s Discord server’s Rob “Gymnol”, a near-completed crossword has been presented. Without spoiling the challenge, it can be verified that 21 across is “snapped” and 22 down is “afraid”, but we’ll leave it there. Various forums have paraded this as a work in progress, supported by multiple comments positing plausible solutions to the empty words. If you’re keen to crack the puzzle yourself, then avoid any online Stereolab activity for the foreseeable future.
Delighting long-time fans and happily trending away on social media, Stereolab’s playful return heralds a much-needed blast of good news when we’re all in serious need of it. No one seemed as thrilled as Connor, penning an affectionate statement for the Lab Report: “Thank you for the warping, thank you Warp and thank you Stereolab. By the way, I sincerely believe that anyone in public life would do public life better if they listened to Emperor Tomato Ketchup‘s ‘Tomorrow Is Already Here’ a few times. What was then the future has borne out that one plenty.”
