Nickname for Empress Elisabeth of Austria / SUN 6-16-24 / Onetime Britney Spears partner, in the tabloids / ___ & Mariam (musical duo) / Notable bankruptee of 2001 / Honolulu palace name / Lin Ching-___, icon of Chinese-language cinema / Location identifier for a digital photo / Horror director Ari / Extra point as the result of a foul, in basketball lingo / Classic British sitcom character inspired by Jacques Tati / Formicary resident / Item repeatedly stepped on by Sideshow Bob on "The Simpsons"

Constructor: Chandi Deitmer and Wyna Liu

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: "Connections" — two-word phrases that basically describe the four all-caps words in the clues. I guess this is in reference to the NYT game "Connections," which, like the rest of the NYT's little games, I do not play (except for Wordle, but I played that before it was NYT property). How are the four words in the clues related? Today, each set of four can precede the same word in familiar phrases. So, for example ... APP, CONVENIENCE, GENERAL, and THRIFT can all precede "STORE," which is why the answer for that clue is STORE FRONTS (i.e. those clue words can all act as "fronts" (i.e. "opening words") for "STORE":

Theme answers:

• STORE FRONTS (22A: APP, CONVENIENCE, GENERAL, THRIFT?)
• SEASON OPENERS (32A: HOLIDAY, MONSOON, TAX, TOURIST?)
• TEAM LEADERS (40A: A-, DREAM, SWAT, TAG?)
• MOVIE PREMIERES (61A: B-, DATE, LIFETIME, SILENT?)
• ROCKET LAUNCHES (70A: BOOSTER, BOTTLE, HOUSTON, MODEL?)
• FRESH STARTS (85A: CERTIFIED, FUNKY, MINTY, POPPIN'?)
• NEW BEGINNINGS (95A: BRAND, LIKE, NOTHING, WHAT'S?)
• SHOWER HEADS (109A: BRIDAL, COLD, GATORADE, METEOR?)

Word of the Day: Lin Ching-HSIA (87D: Lin Ching-___, icon of Chinese-language cinema) —

[Chungking Express (1994)]

Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia (Chinese: 林青霞; pinyin: Lín Qīngxiá; born 3 November 1954) is a Taiwanese actress. She is regarded as an icon of Chinese language cinema for her extensive and varied roles in both Taiwanese and Hong Kong films. [...] She appeared in 55 films in the period between 1972 and 1979, and all her roles were romantic heroines in love stories. She then left for the U.S. in 1979 for a year and a half, to study and relax. // Known for being a "screen goddess" by Chinese film lovers, Lin's early collaborations with Hong Kong New Wave directors Ringo Lam, Tsui Hark and Jackie Chan in Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain (1983), The Other Side of Gentleman (1984), Police Story (1985) and Peking Opera Blues (1986) brought her success. In 1990, she won the Best Actress trophy at the 27th Golden Horse Awards for her depiction of a Chinese female writer who fell in love with a Japanese collaborator in Red Dust (1990). [...] At the height of her popularity, Lin was one of the most sought-after actresses in the Chinese film industry. She starred in more than 100 movies. Lin was credited for boosting Taiwan's film production in the 1970s before earning even greater popularity in Hong Kong in the 1990s, becoming a trans-island legend of her time. // She retired from acting in 1994. Her last acting role was in Ashes of Time (1994).

• • •

Once again, the NYTXW is acting as a kind of advertisement for its own properties. First (and very recently) it included "THE DAILY," and then "OP-DOCS," as crossword answers, and now they're just using the crossword to plug their other games. It's a little tiresome, tbh, this constant self-promotion, although Wyna (today's co-constructor) is in charge of "Connections," so she's entitled, I guess. But I'm gonna pretend that the puzzle doesn't have the boring title "Connections" and has nothing to do with that game, and just take it as a regular old puzzle-theme, and on those terms, it's fine. I enjoyed it just fine. Better than average for a Sunday, for sure. Sunday is (by far) my lowest-rated day of the week, so "Better than average" may not seem like high praise, but I think it's also better than average for any day of the week—any themed day, anyway, except maybe Thursday. This one doesn't have the pleasing trickiness of the average Thursday. But it's conceptually solid, and even if the theme answers themselves aren't particularly exciting, the non-theme fill is actually pretty good, with lots of sparkling longer non-theme fill (HARD PASS, "SERVES ME RIGHT," PANCAKE MAKEUP, SHACKS UP, "I FIGURED...") and a grid that's solidly built overall. As for the theme, it's basically an amped-up version of the "Words That Can Precede" theme variety. Like, each of these themers could be the revealer in its own puzzle, tying together a set of answers featuring all the words in the clue: say, for example, BRAND NAME, "LIKE I CARE," NOTHING SPECIAL, "WHAT'S UP DOC?" ... and then NEW BEGINNINGS as the revealer ([Fresh starts ... or the starts of today's longer answers?]), something like that. Not saying it would be good, just saying that that's a theme type we've seen. But today's puzzle gives us that "First words" thing eight times over. In the process, it occasionally strains the meaning of some of those "starter" words (LAUNCHES? I dunno, man. PREMIERES feels a little wobbly too). But overall, everything works pretty well, everything's symmetrical. People who like "Connections" can get a little thrill of recognition. As I say, it's fine.

While the puzzle overall was relatively easy, there were some patches that seemed at least slightly treacherous, all of them involving (surprise) names. The worst of these areas feels like the result of theme density; that is, theme answers are very close together in this puzzle, with lots of Downs running through two and even three themers, and because those themers are fixed (the first answers in the grid, the answers you build the rest of the puzzle around), they put a lot of pressure on the grid, narrowing (sometimes dramatically) the fill possibilities for the Down crosses. This can cause cascading problems in fill quality. Today, the main problem was in the connective tissue running from the middle of SEASON OPENER down to the back end of ROCKET LAUNCHES—let's call it the ORRIS-IOLANI Highway. I say this as someone who knew both ORRIS (34D: Root used in perfumery) and IOLANI (51D: Honolulu palace name), which will Not (I'm fairly certain) be the case for many solvers. Even knowing IOLANI, I botched the spelling initially. I don't think this patch would have seemed as potentially ruinous if it hadn't been for SISI and its (to me) remarkably obscure clue (50A: Nickname for Empress Elisabeth of Austria). There's an Empress of Austria? And she's famous enough to have a "nickname"? I really should've made her the Word of the Day, because this is all news to me. If you wanted to find the blindest of my blind spots, you'd definitely go to late 19th-century Bavarian history, because I'm reading her wikipedia page and absolutely nothing is ringing a bell. She was married to Emperor Franz Joseph until her assassination in 1898 (!): "While travelling in Geneva in 1898, Elisabeth was fatally stabbed in the heart by an Italian anarchist named Luigi Lucheni. Her tenure of 44 years was the longest of any Austrian empress." Anyway, her "nickname" was random letters to me, and I'm baffled by the choice to clue SISI this way, when it's the only thing connecting ORRIS to IOLANI. I once had an accomplished constructor/editor tell me that cluing "SI, SI" as an emphatic Spanish affirmative was problematic because it was kind of a caricature of how Spanish speakers speak. At least I think that was the reason. But I would've loved an easy [Emphatic Spanish affirmative] right there. Seems entirely plausible that solvers might wipe out on either one, if not both, of the "I"s in SISI (as clued).

[Your "S"-count may vary]

And the ugliness spills into adjacent fill, from the awkwardly possessive PLATO'S in the middle of the grid to the HOO-boy dated-as-hell K-FED (79A: Onetime Britney Spears partner, in the tabloids). I don't think history has been kind to the memory of K-FED, aka Kevin ... someone? See, I can't even remember. Federline! Hey, he's from Fresno, just like me! He now seems to be in a long-term marriage, possibly living in Hawaii, and working primarily as a DJ since ~2010. Good for him. He has not appeared in a NYTXW ... wait, ever!? Never ever!? I'm laughing so hard right now. This is so pure—the NYTXW catching a pop culture phenomenon very (very very) (very) (extremely) late. Wow. Wow. OK. Britney and K-FED divorced in '07, so ... yeah, sure, now feels like the right time to drop him in a grid, why not? Wow. OK. Happy NYTXW debut to you, K-FED. 

[A young Ike Barinholtz as K-FED! And a young Jordan Peele as the DJ!]

Still more names: MARTI! Totally blanked on it. That's my bad (73D: Leader in the Cuban War of Independence). I know Cuban history only slightly better than I know Austrian history. Thank god I knew RAMA, because otherwise I would've had no way of knowing how the fictional AVA of "Abbott Elementary" spells her name (EVA v. AVA). Then there's HSIA—no way, no hope. Doesn't help that she's known in the west primarily as "Brigitte Lin" (see Word of the Day, above). Turns out I have seen her before (in a couple of Jackie Chan films as well as Wong Kar-wai's Chungking Express); I wouldn't call her "obscure" by a long shot, but I would say that maybe that particular name part is? I have no problem learning about Lin Ching-HSIA, but as far as cinematic icons in crossword puzzles go: still no Agnès VARDA? Still no Yasujiro OZU? I am addicted to "Criterion Closet" videos, where actors and filmmakers go into the closet at the Criterion Collection and fill their tote bag with whatever Criterion DVDs and Blu-rays they want from the shelves; the videos are only a few minutes long, and they're remarkably entertaining, if what you're entertained by is people geeking out about great movies. Anyway, VARDA and OZU are two of the most name-checked names in Criterion Closet videos. Because they are icons. Also, they have short names with unusual letter combinations, so I Can Not believe that with all the minor names I've had to wrestle with over the years, I have never (in the NYTXW) come across OZU or VARDA. This is a crime against cinema.

[I've watched Kerry Condon talk about Dogfight more times than I can count]

[Ozu's Late Spring, first thing into his hands]

Lastly, name-wise, AMADOU (101A: ___ & Mariam (musical duo). I am going to look these two up now, because absolutely zero bells are being rung. The clue doesn't even tell you what *kind* of music, or give you a song or album or ... anything! OK, they are from Mali, and were nominated for a Grammy for Best Contemporary World Music Album in 2008. I'll bet they're great. But maybe not what you'd call Crossword Famous, I don't think. Still, I don't mind meeting them, since AMADOU is crossed entirely fairly, unlike SISI, which ... yeah, still baffled by that one. 

[They are a married couple who met very young at Mali's' Institute for the Young Blind. 40-year career! 8 albums! Sometimes I *do* like learning things]

Bullets:

• 27A: Snack sometimes served with birria (TACO) — I wrote in TAPA here at first. TACOs can be TAPAs, right? 
• 12D: Ancient performance space (ODEON) — at first I thought maybe the AGORA, but no, it's that other five-letter ancient space of crossword fame.
• 103A: Lives as lovers (SHACKS UP) — I love how '70s this answer is. The euphemism, the implicit judgment! Even the word "lovers," LOL, so throwback. I will take this opportunity to point out that there are three "UP"s in this grid, all pretty close together (SHACKS UP, SENDS UP, PANCAKE MAKEUP). I will also admit that I don't really care. On a Sunday, three appearances of a two-letter word seems fine. As long as the "UP"s don't cross, I'm fine with it.

["Packing up, shacking up's all you wanna do"]

• 45D: Arab honorific (SHEIKH) — stared at SHEIK- and thought "... another H? Why ... why does that look wrong?" Looks like someone conflated SHEIK and SIKH. But SHEIKH is correct. I think it's just that American popular culture has tended to spell it without the final "H":

Hey, west coasters! The Westwords Crossword Tournament takes place next weekend (Sunday, Jun. 23), in Berkeley, CA. West coast tournaments are rare, so this is a great opportunity to mingle with your fellow nerds and meet some of the best constructors and editors working today. Importantly, you can also participate online, from anywhere in the world (that has an internet connection). Here's the blurb from tourney co-organizer John Lieb:

Registration is open for the Westwords Crossword Tournament, which will be held on Sunday, June 23. This event will be both In-Person (in Berkeley, CA) and Online. Online solvers can compete individually or in pairs. To register, to see the constructor roster, and for more details, go to www.westwordsbestwords.com.

They announced the constructor line-up *in crossword form*; I'll let you solve it and discover the names for yourself. Adorable! If I weren't already traveling so much this summer, I'd be going to this tournament. Maybe next year. But you should go. Or do the online version of the tournament. Support this wholesome social endeavor and these creative people!

See you next time. 

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]