September 4, 2021

Title: TURN THE WIGS AROUND!

Constructor: Erik Agard

Editor: Erik Agard

Theme Answers:

HOW WRONG I WAS (19A: "Shows what I know!")

NGUGI WA THIONG'O (35A: "Moving the Centre" author)

BULGOGI WRAPS (55A: Sandwiches made with Korean-style grilled meat)

Theme synopsis: Each theme answer contains the letter string G-I-W, which is the word WIG backwards.

Things I learned:

• EY/EM (1A: Pair of Spivak pronouns) EY and EM are gender neutral, or gender inclusive pronouns. Gender neutral pronouns can be used by a writer to avoid making assumptions about a person's gender. The term "Spivak pronouns" was coined by mathematician Michael Spivak, who used gender neutral pronouns in his 1990 book, The Joy of TeX: A Gourmet Guide to Typesetting With the AMS-TeX Macro Package. 
• NGUGI WA THIONG'O (35A: "Moving the Centre" author) NGŨGĨ WA THONG'O is a writer and academic. He is currently Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Irvine. His book, Moving the Centre: The Struggle for Cultural Freedoms is a collection of essays in which he discusses the need to move the centre "in two senses - between nations and within nations - in order to contribute to the freeing of world cultures from the restrictive walls of nationalism, class, race and gender." NGŨGĨ WA THONG'O was born in Kenya. I cannot do justice to the story of his life in this blog post, so I highly recommend you read the biography page on his website. Although I was unfamiliar with NGŨGĨ WA THONG'O, I was able to fill his name in from crossing answers, and I appreciate learning about him.
• ALBUM (61A: "Silk Canvas" by VanJess, for example) VanJess is an R&B duo of sisters Ivana and Jessica Nwokike. Silk Canvas is their debut album, release in 2018. 

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• BULGOGI WRAPS (55A: Sandwiches made with Korean-style grilled meat) The Korean word "BUL-GOGI" translates to "fire meat." I learned about this grilled dish from the October 6, 2020 puzzle, and with the help of a few crossing answers, was able to recall it and WRAP it up.
• BLOG (59A: "Sally's Take on the USA Today Crossword" or "Diary of a Crossword Fiend") Well, isn't this a fine clue! It's not the first time I've been solving the puzzle and run into myself, but I doubt it will ever stop surprising me. Thank you, Erik, for the shoutout. Since you're reading this, you know about this blog. (And if you've found your way here because of this clue, welcome!) The team at Diary of a Crossword Fiend have been blogging about crossword puzzles for much longer than I have. In July of this year, they added the USA Today puzzle to the list of puzzles they cover. I have enjoyed having company in the USA Today crossword blog-o-sphere. It's been interesting to compare my takes on the puzzles to theirs.
• POET (70A: Writer of odes or tanka) An ode is a laudatory poem. Tanka is a genre of Japanese poetry. I have previously written a tanka about tanka. 
• YOU (2D: The y in tyvm) tyvm = thank YOU very much
• UNDO (7D: Computer command that reverses an action) Perhaps someday I'll write an "Ode to UNDO" (or "Ode to Ctrl Z") to honor my favorite computer command. UNDO has saved me many a time.
• HAIR (15D: What locs are made of) Locs are a style of HAIR formed by braiding or locking the hair. 
• IGLOOS (46D: Shelters made with pukaangajuq) Pukaangajuq is a term for hard-packed snow, the type best suited for building IGLOOS. 

Geography review:

• NORWAY (9D: Oslo's country) Oslo is the capital and most populous city of NORWAY. 
• NEPAL (49D: Kathmandu's country) Kathmandu is the capital and most populous city of NEPAL.

TURN THE WIGS AROUND is a line from Dreamgirls. The 2006 movie, adapted from the 1981 Broadway musical of the same name, is a fictional story inspired by The Supremes. The movie starred Beyoncé, Jennifer Hudson, and Anika Noni Rose. Today, however, TURN THE WIGS AROUND is our puzzle theme, featuring three great theme answers. HOW WRONG I WAS! is such a great phrase. It was fun to figure it out, as well as BULGOGI WRAPS. As I mentioned previously, I appreciate learning about NGŨGĨ WA THONG'O. This puzzle, like yesterday's, is asymmetrical. The asymmetry today is confined to one black square. The puzzle has 180-degree rotational symmetry (appearing the same upside-down as right side up) with the exception of the one black square at the end of NGŨGĨ WA THONG'O. This black square allows the inclusion of the 14-letter theme answer. This puzzle was a delightful way to begin my Saturday, and I promise I would say that even without the 59-Across clue.