| SOULMUSIC | Genre with its roots in African-American gospel singing (4,5) |
| BLUES | Genre with roots in African-American work songs |
| OPERA | Musical genre with its own glasses |
| EMO | Moody rock genre with its own fashion style |
| SOAPOPERA | Genre so named because of its roots in Procter & Gamble-sponsored radio dramas |
| YGGDRASIL | In Norse mythology, the ash tree that was thought to overshadow the world, binding together earth, heaven and hell with its roots and branches |
| GINGERALE | In gospel-singing era, less pop |
| GNOME | Small humanoid spirit with its roots in Renaissance magic (5) |
| VOODOO | Religion with its roots in West Africa (6) |
| RASTAFARIAN | British poet Benjamin Zephaniah is a prominent member of this religious movement with its roots in Jamaica |
| HOEDOWN | A lively folk dance/party with its roots in America's rural past; or, said shindig's associated country music (7) |
| ECHO | Word with its roots in both the physical phenomenon of sound reflection and the myth of a repetitive oread; or, a memory evoked (4) |
| SADIEHAWKINSDAY | Holiday with it's roots in "Li'l Abner" |
| MIMICRY | With its root in "pantomime", word for the act, practice or skill of aping, copying, imitating or mocking by a human, insect or other species (7) |
| NIL | With its root in Latin for "reduce to nothing", a word for a score of zero; or, nothing generally (3) |
| SASSAFRAS | Its root was once used in root beer |
| GRAPEFRUIT | Foxtrot in a cracking guitar arrangement, one having its roots in Barbados |
| PICKLE | Word, with its roots preserved in "brine", for a soused or steeped foodstuff such as Branston, chutney, fermented cabbage, kimchi, sauerkraut or a spiced gherkin; or, a messy muddle or sour state of a |
| RISOTTO | Italian dish — it's roots in a stew |
| DRINKINGGOURD | Celestial figure depicted in this puzzle's grid, in African American folklore |
