NYT Crossword Answers for April 10, 2024

Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky Clues

WEDNESDAY PUZZLE — We’re a long way from next Halloween, but today’s crossword by Bill Thompson felt like a bit of seasonal creep. Solving it brought to mind a lyric from Donovan’s “Season of the Witch,” a song often added to spooky playlists come October:

You’ve got to pick up every stitch
Mm-hmm, must be the season of the witch

Mr. Thompson’s witchy theme certainly requires some stitching to be perceived, so I hope all of you solvers are in the mood for dark arts and crafts. What say you — shall we cast about for the answers together?

Today’s Theme

A series of magic spells are being “broken” throughout the grid, and the culprits are other themed entries. A “Spell that’s ‘broken’ by 23-Across” (11A), for example, is a HEX. But at 23A, we’ve got the “First U.S. secretary of war,” HENRY KNOX. One may not seem to have anything to do with the other, until we peer closely at the letters in each entry. HENRY KNOX “breaks” the word HEX.

Again, at 17-Across: The “Popular Italian entree, informally” known as CHICKEN PARM, “breaks” a CHARM at 39-Across.

It was only upon review of my completed grid that I appreciated the extra wordplay in the word “spell.” It refers both to the magic words and to the fact that we have to break up their spelling in order to spot them in other phrases.