October 30, 2023

Title: THE HEX FACTOR

Constructor: Chandi Deitmer

Editor: Jared Goudsmit

Theme Answers:

CURSE WORDS (20A: They may be bleeped out)

SPELL IT OUT FOR ME (36A: "Explain this step by step)

CHARM BRACELET (54A: Piece of jewelry with trinkets)

Theme synopsis: The first WORDS of the theme answers are synonyms for HEX: CURSE, SPELL, and CHARM.

Things I learned:

• TARO (30A: Laing ingredient) Laing is a dish that originated in the Philippines. Laing is made of shredded or whole TARO leaves and meat or seafood, cooked in spiced coconut milk.
• BASS (8D: Victor Wooten's instrument) Victor Wooten is a five-time Grammy-Award-winning BASS player, songwriter, and record producer. He is the BASS player for the band, Béla Fleck and the Flecktones.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• HAGS (4A: "Enjoy the break from school!" acronym) HAGS = Have a great summer! I just learned this acronym earlier this month.
• BERETS (8A: Betniks' hats) Beatniks were part of a 1950s and 1960s social movement known for their anti-materialistic lifestyle. Many beatniks wore black clothing, BERETS, and sunglasses.
• ARETHA (16A: "Rock Steady" singer Franklin) "Rock Steady" is a 1971 song written and sung by ARETHA Franklin.
• ARIEL (60A: "The Little Mermaid" protagonist) and URSULA (2D: "The Little Mermaid" antagonist) It's fun to have both the protagonist and antagonist of Disney's 1989 animated movie, The Little Mermaid, in today's grid. I was glad these answers were in separate corners! In the 2023 live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid, Halle Bailey portrayed ARIEL, and Melissa McCarthy portrayed URSULA.
• ROLE (63A: Evelyn Wang, for Michelle Yeoh) Michelle Yeoh played the role of Evelyn Wang in the 2022 movie Everything Everywhere All at Once.
• SPAM (69A: Musubi meat) Musubi is a popular Hawaiian dish. A slice of grilled SPAM is placed on top of a block of rice and then wrapped with nori (edible seaweed).
• GO-GO BOOTS (6D: '60s shoes with block heels) We saw GO-GO as an answer just a couple of weeks ago. Nice to see the entire phrase GO-GO BOOTS in today's puzzle.
• ETHOS (11D: ___, pathos and logos) ETHOS, pathos, and logos are modes of persuasion, ways a speaker or writer can appeal to their audience. ETHOS is an appeal to authority, convincing the audience the person is qualified to address the subject at hand. Pathos is an appeal to the audience's emotions, and logos is a logical appeal.
• ARTHUR ASHE (29D: Tennis champion who said, "Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.") Great words of advice today from tennis great ARTHUR ASHE (1943-1993).
• HEAD (55D: The "H" of SMH) SMH = shaking my HEAD
• TEAM (59D: Mystics or Magic) The Washington Mystics are a WNBA TEAM. The Orlando Magic are an NBA TEAM. Nice choice of TEAM names to go along with today's theme.
• AND (60D: "Between the World ___ Me" (Ta-Nehisi Coates book) Between the World AND Me is a 2015 book by Ta-Nehisi Coates. This nonfiction book is written as a letter from Ta-Nehisi Coates to his son, who was a teenager at the time. The letter discusses being Black in the United States. I have previously written about Ta-Nehisi Coates.

Geography review:

• TOGO (18A: Neighbor of Ghana) TOGO, officially the Togolese Republic, is a small country in West Africa. TOGO has an area of just under 22,000 square miles, a bit smaller than the U.S. state of West Virginia. TOGO's neighbors are: Ghana on the west, Benin to the east, and Burkina Faso to the north. To the south, TOGO has coastline along the Bay of Benin. The capital of TOGO is Lomé.
• NOLA (66A: City with second lines, for short) Second lines are a tradition in New Orleans, Louisiana (NOLA, for short). A second line is a parade in which spectators are encouraged to participate. Often seen as a part of wedding and funeral celebrations, the parades have two parts. The first line is comprised of a grand marshal, a band, and whoever is being honored. The second line is the revelers that fall in behind, dancing and moving, often carrying banners and dressed in bright suits.
• LAKE (68A: ErhaI or Erie) Erhai LAKE (also known as Er LAKE) is located in Yunnan province, China. LAKE Erie, of course, is our crossword friend, one of the U.S. Great Lakes. Today Erie gets to be a clue instead of an answer.
• DES (22D: The ___ Moines Art Center) The DES Moines Art Center was established in Iowa's capital city in 1948.

Be careful. Don't let this puzzle put a HEX on you, or a CURSE, SPELL, or CHARM either. This puzzle is helping us get in the mood for Halloween. I especially liked the grid-spanning theme answer, SPELL IT OUT FOR ME. Thank you, Chandi, for this puzzle that was a CHARMing way to start my Monday.

One more thing today: Puzzmo is a new puzzle site that recently went public. The site features a daily midi crossword, as well as other puzzles. I've especially been enjoying Flipart. If you're not yet a Puzzmo member, I believe they are releasing a set number of "keys" to let people in each day. Anyway, in addition to letting you know about Puzzmo in general, I wanted to let you know that I constructed today's Puzzmo crossword. It's titled "Whodunit?"