Solution: Song and dance - NYT Crossword

Initially, I didn’t read the clue [Song and dance] as an idiom, and made a bunch of guesses like “regular act,” “regular gig” and “acting role,” getting ever closer while still missing the point. The correct answer is RIGAMAROLE, which has been in the Times Crossword three times before, always clued more directly. The etymology of RIGAMAROLE has an interesting element: In the 1300s, there was a game called rageman that involved a long, ridiculous list of descriptive verses that were used in what sounds a little like medieval rap battles. The notion of silly, extended discourse evolved into the meaning that we use today.