Girl in Byron's Don Juan / MON 1-6-14 / 1988 Best Play Tony winner inspired by Puccini / 2007 Stephen Colbert satirical book

Constructor: Zhouqin Burnikel

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: MMXIV — the ROMAN numeral version of this mostly still new year, each of which is the initial letter of a theme answer (67A: ___ numerals (what the initial letters of the answers to the five starred clues all are))

M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN (17A: *"The Sixth Sense" director)
M. BUTTERFLY (23A: *1988 Best Play Tony winner inspired by Puccini)
X-ACTO (39A: *Craft knife brand)
"I AM AMERICA" (47A: *2007 Stephen Colbert satirical book)
"'V' IS FOR VENGEANCE" (58A: *22nd in a Sue Grafton series)

Word of the Day: LEILA (35A: Girl in Byron's "Don Juan") —

Don Juan is a satiric poem by Lord Byron, based on the legend of Don Juan, which Byron reverses, portraying Juan not as a womaniser but as someone easily seduced by women. It is a variation on the epicform. Byron himself called it an "Epic Satire" (Don Juan, c. xiv, st. 99). Modern critics generally consider it Byron's masterpiece, with a total of more than 16,000 lines of verse. Byron completed 16 cantos, leaving anunfinished 17th canto before his death in 1824. Byron claimed he had no ideas in his mind as to what would happen in subsequent cantos as he wrote his work.

When the first two cantos were published anonymously in 1819, the poem was criticised for its 'immoral content', though it was also immensely popular. […] [In Canto VIII], Juan and John join fearlessly and bravely in the savage assault on Ismail. They scale the walls of the town and charge into battle. The conquest of Ismail causes the slaughter of 40,000 Turks, among them women (a few of whom are ravished) and children. Juan nobly rescues a ten-year-old Muslim girl, from two murderous Cossacks intent on killing her, and immediately resolves to adopt her as his own child. A noble Tartar khan valiantly fights to the death beside his five sons, just as instructed by Mahomet, presumably to be rewarded with houris in heaven.

Juan is a hero and is sent to Saint Petersburg, accompanied by the Muslim girl, whom he makes a vow to protect. Her name, Leila, is only revealed in Canto X.

• • •

Mixed reaction to this one. The theme felt oddly inconsistent as I was putting it together. The first letters are initials … but then they're not? "I" is just … the pronoun? "I"? "X" is part of a hyphenated brand name? Insofar as you pronounce the letters as letters, there is a kind of consistency, but it's thin. Also, it's January 6, so this has a belated feel to it. As a themeless puzzle, though, I kind of like it. The theme answers are interesting, and then there's the eerie KG thing going on with the long Downs: KELLY GREEN and KIRK GIBSON (29D: Dodgers slugger who was the 1988 N.L. M.V.P.). YOGA MATS (4D: They may be unrolled before meditation) also adds some relatively contemporary zing to this thing. And then there's MILEY, who sang "Wrecking Ball," which kind of recalls the ball dropping on New Year's Eve, which brings us back to the puzzle's theme, which might be genius after all, I guess.

A word about LEILA (35A: Girl in Byron's "Don Juan")? This is one of those answers that has been grandfathered in from the Maleska era, i.e. it's a kind of low-level crosswordese that gets treated as if it's common or easy, when in fact it's pretty arcane and most contemporary solvers will have no frame of reference for knowing it. None. There is no good clue for LEILA that does not involve centuries old poetry (in this case) or opera (in the other common clue for LEILA: ["The Pearl Fishers" soprano]). And it's not like she's a title character in either "Don Juan" (where she is decidedly minor) or Bizet's opera (though there she at least has a major role). I am in no way saying it can't be a crossword answer. But it should go behind glass marked "Use Only When Necessary," and there's really no way it should ever be a Monday answer. I finished this puzzle in 2:46, so clearly getting LEILA from crosses was no problem. But still, clues like that give crosswords a bad, musty name. The problem is, once it's in the database, constructors think "oh, others have used it, I can use it," instead of trying to rework the grid a little to allow for something fresher or at least more solid and common. LEILA was *never* important enough to be in a crossword puzzle. She is desperation fill. Treat her that way.



P.S. if you are thinking "but there are other LEILAs," let me stop you right there and tell you you are thinking of Eric Clapton's LAYLA, LAILA Ali, or LEELA from "Futurama." There are, actually, a few other LEILAs (an old-time actress, a character in a novel here and there), but they make the Byron girl seem Meryl Streep-famous by comparison.

P.P.S. Apologies to opera buffs, but come on.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld