June 16, 2022

Title: OUTER LIMITS

Constructors: Mikkel Snyder & Brooke Husic

Editor: Erik Agard

Theme Answers:

MALCOLM X (20A: Civil rights leader who asked, "Who taught you to hate yourself?")

MAGANDANGMORENX (37A: Movement created by Asia Jackson that challenges colorism in Filipino media)

MARCH EQUINOX (53A: When Nowruz is celebrated)

Theme synopsis: At the OUTER LIMITS of the theme answer we find the upper LIMIT - the word MAX.

And now a word from our constructors:

Mikkel: Brooke and I are back for the third time this year (what a sentence),

Metronome

and after helping with theming and cluing, this time it was time to actually help with the fill. And let me tell you, I picked an absolutely terrible first puzzle to attempt to grid. With 37A as the inspiration behind the the whole puzzle, it resulted in an incredibly challenging fill and even when I handed it to Brooke for the final stretch, there was some magic that had to be done. Still, it's a fun puzzle that will certainly be an adventure for everyone involved.

Brooke: What a joy, privilege, and honor to be able to keep doing this together. Mikkel crushed this. (X-X-Q-X who?) My favorite answers are MEI and I TOO SING AMERICA, and I love Mikkel's clues for CAT, RAID, ON IT, NECK, and TROLL. Stay tuned for our (currently still in progress) next one.

Bellchime

Things I learned:

• RAID (17A: Cooperative mission in the game Destiny) Destiny is a multiplayer video game that was first published in 2014. Players take on the role of Guardians, protecting Earth's last safe city from different alien races. In the game, a RAID is a mission designed to be played by a team of six players working together to defeat a major boss. (I learned about video game bosses from the January 21, 2021 puzzle.) I actually know a bit about RAIDs from listening to my son talk about the games he and his friends play (which I think include Destiny). I definitely needed a letter or two from crossing answers to jog my memory though.
• ANIME (9D: "Jujutsu Kaisen," etc.) Jujutsu Kaisen is an ANIME TV series based on the manga series of the same name by Gege Akutami.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• CAT (8A: Animal such as Jorts or Jean) Jorts and Jean are two CATs that gained Internet fame following an AITA ("Am I the asshole?") query on Reddit. If you have avoided learning about Jorts and Jean up to this point, I recommend diving into this hole, as it's quite entertaining. Jorts the CAT (and Jean) even have their own Twitter account. Alternate clue for CAT: [Animal such as Bellchime or Metronome]. These are Mikkel's CATs, pictured above.

  

  Willow

  
  Or, of course: [Animal such as Willow], pictured here sending love to those affected by the flooding in Yellowstone. It's a three-CAT-photo blog today!
• MALCOLM X (20A: Civil rights leader who asked, "Who taught you to hate yourself?") This quote is from a speech that MALCOLM X gave on May 5, 1962 at the funeral of Ronald Stokes (a member of the Nation of Islam killed by the Los Angeles Police Department). In the speech, MALCOLM X asked a series of questions, including "Who taught you to hate the color of your skin?" 
• MEI (27A: "Turning Red" hero) Turning Red is a 2022 animated movie about MEI, a 13-year-old Chinese Canadian girl who transforms into a giant red panda when she feels strong emotions. Rosalie Chiang voices the character of MEI.
• MAGANDANGMORENX (37A: Movement created by Asia Jackson that challenges colorism in Filipino media) Once I got this answer filled in - entirely from crossing answers - it looked familiar to me. There's a good reason for that; I wrote about #MAGANDANGMORENX when we saw the hashtag in a clue for ASIA. Black-Filipino actress and content creator, Asia Jackson, created the global movement #MAGANDANGMORENX in 2016 to celebrate the diversity of Filipino beauty, and to challenge colorism (the preferential treatment of same-race people based on skin color). MAGANDANGMORENX translates to "beautiful brown skin." On her website, Asia Jackson talks about her own experiences with colorism, and states, "My name is Asia Jackson and I think colorism must be dismantled."
• MARCH EQUINOX (53A: When Nowruz is celebrated) Nowruz is the Iranian New Year. It is celebrated on the MARCH EQUINOX, and marks the beginning of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. The MARCH EQUINOX is also know as the vernal EQUINOX. 
• NECK (63A: Part of a guitar or a giraffe) I enjoy clues that ask you to find the similarity between two seemingly disparate things. It's like the set up for a kid's joke. Q: What do a guitar and a giraffe have in common? A: They each have a NECK!
• I TOO SING AMERICA (2D: Opening of the Langston Hughes poem with the lines "They'll see how beautiful I am / And be ashamed) Langston Hughes wrote his poem, "I, TOO," in 1925. As the clue informs us, the poem begins, "I, TOO, SING AMERICA." The last line of the poem is "I, TOO, am AMERICA." It's always a good day to be reminded of these words.
• TEDX (10D: Lecture series that rhymes with "FedEx") TEDX events are local gatherings where TED-like talks are shared. TEDX lectures are a spin-off of TED Talks - videos filmed at TED conferences that present an idea in 18 minutes or less. The TED tagline is "ideas worth spreading."
• HENNA (34D: Dye at a mehndi night) A mehndi night is a pre-wedding celebration in South Asian culture. During the party, intricate designs are created on the hands (and sometimes legs) using HENNA.
• XEM (56D: Xe/___ pronouns) Xe/XEM are gender neutral pronouns.

Geography review:

• ANA (52A: Santa ___, California) Santa ANA is a city in southern California. Santa ANA is part of the greater Los Angeles region, and is the county seat of Orange County.
• ASIA (57A: Manila's continent) Located in Southeast ASIA, the Philippines is a country consisting of over 7,500 islands. Manila is the capital of the Philippines, and is located on Luzon, the country's largest island. Manila was a great choice for a clue for ASIA in this puzzle that features MAGANDANGMORENX as a theme answer.
• ROMAN (43A: Resident of Italy's capital) Rome is located on the shores of the Tiber River in west central Italy. 

This puzzle reaches for the OUTER LIMITS, that is, the MAX. In doing so, it achieves a crossword with four Xs - no small feat. I appreciated that the crossing answers of MAGANDANGMORENX were fair, to allow solvers not familiar with this hashtag (or those whose memory was rusty) to be successful. In addition to the answers I've highlighted, I enjoyed EUPHORIA (the [sheer bliss] of solving a lovely puzzle every morning), TROLL (somewhere I have a photo of Seattle's TROLL under the bridge...), and DELVE. Thank you, Mikkel and Brooke, for this puzzle that was a delightful way to begin my Thursday.