Shaders of gray? / SUN 9-27-26 / Sonic euphoria, colloquially / Disk-flipping strategy game / Greek PPP / Turned into an internet gag / German brewery since 1873 / Redheaded "Queen of Country" / DeVore who co-founded one of the first U.S. agencies for nonwhite models in 1946 / Portmanteau sandwich cookie with a layer of marshmallow / Cultural group of SW Britain / Buck enshrined in Cooperstown / Far from the target, in a guessing game

Constructor: Adam Wagner

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: "The Full 12 Rounds" — twelve-letter answers that go 'round (or LOOP BACK) (85A: Return to an earlier topic of conversation ... or what six answers in this puzzle literally do), thus mimicking the CORIOLIS Effect (49A: Kind of effect that deflects motion in one direction in the Northern Hemisphere and the opposite in the Southern Hemisphere [with a hint to this puzzle's shaded squares]) (i.e. the answers go clockwise in the northern hemisphere, counterclockwise in the south) 

Theme answers:

• TRADE DISPUTE (19A: ... in global commerce)(Conflict ...)
• PORT-A-POTTIES (28A: ... outdoor festivals)(Bathrooms at ...)
• PERSONAL LIMO (66A: ... transport)(Bigwig's ...)
• ONE-CAR GARAGE (73A: ... park an auto)(Narrow space in which to ...)
• INTERPRETIVE (112A: ... clarify or explain)(Seeking to ...)
• IN RETROSPECT (124A: ... of hindsight)(With the benefit ...)

Word of the Day: OPHELIA DeVore (21A: DeVore who co-founded one of the first U.S. agencies for nonwhite models in 1946) —

Ophelia DeVore (August 12, 1921 – February 28, 2014) was an American businesswoman, publisher, and model. She was the first model of African-American descent in the United States. In 1946, she helped establish the Grace Del Marco Agency, one of the first modeling agencies in America. [...] Ophelia DeVore began modeling at the age of 16. As a fair-skinned person of African-American descent, DeVore could "pass" for Norwegian and gain contracts throughout Europe. In 1946, determined to create a new market for non-White women in the U.S., DeVore established The Grace Del Marco Agency. // In the agency's early days, it was a stepping stone for countless household names; Diahann Carroll, Helen Williams, Richard Roundtree, Cicely Tyson and others. Racism was rampant in New York's fashion business and the Grace Del Marco Agency was one of the few places non-White models could gain work. (Wikipedia)

• • •

There are two things I like about this theme. First, the cluing conceit is clever—looping the clues like that, very nice. Second, I like the first revealer, CORIOLIS. Would've been better if the whole phrase, CORIOLIS EFFECT, were in there, but this is still good, and the fact that the themers loop in different directions depending on what "hemisphere" of the puzzle they're in gives the puzzle a much-needed purpose. Simply "looping" isn't much of an idea, which is one of the reasons I don't think much of the second revealer: LOOP BACK—the other reason is that it's entirely unnecessary. We can see that the theme answers LOOP BACK. The arrows around those answers give that away. Thus LOOP BACK "reveals" nothing. It just takes up space. Whereas CORIOLIS points out a feature I would not have noticed otherwise (i.e. it reveals something). Anyway, two nice features. 

Beyond that, though, I didn't enjoy much about this puzzle. It's yet another puzzle where the theme is almost entirely architectural. Answers go round, answers go round, answers go round. What those answers are, who cares? Irrelevant. It's only the going round that matters. There's no great aha with any of them. All six themers are pretty pedestrian. I guess we're supposed to be impressed that the Across segments of theme answers that aren't parts of longer answers are themselves viable answers—TRADE DISPUTE, for instance, gives us TETRAD (a real word) over UPSIDE (a real word). I suppose this adds a level of difficulty to the construction, but it doesn't add anything to the solving pleasure. Am I really supposed to delight in stuff like E-SPORT and MOPERS and RAGE ON (whatever that is) and SORTER (?!). Mainly I found the themers a joyless chore; you hack through them with a lot of short crosses and there's your answer, ta da. Not that interesting. 

And speaking of filling in short answers, wow did I have to do that a lot. A Lot. It's an astonishingly choppy grid, with nothing over eight letters outside the theme, and only two of those (SPLENDID, "ARE YOU IN?"). You've got banks of 7s in the NE and SW, but otherwise it's a sea of 3-4-5s. It got dreary after a while. And once again the fill was poor enough early on that I took a snapshot to document the moment it became alarming:

Few things are more crosswordesey than BRAES. And that came on top of MAHER (ugh), ORE CAR, THE WEB, TEPEE, ADE. I like MAD DASH and love Pam GRIER, but most of the short stuff ran from merely tolerable to regrettable. I'm probably never going be an enjoyer of purely architectural themes. The fill just ends up seeming like an afterthought, as opposed to the primary part of the solving experience.

Bullets:

• 116A: Disk-flipping strategy game (REVERSI) — I know this only from crosswords. And I don't know it perfectly—the first thing I wrote in was REVERSO. Othello is the modern variation of this game.

• 123A: Many a John Williams composition (THEME) — nearly counted this as a Star Wars reference, since the most famous of said THEMEs is most certainly the Star Wars theme, but Williams has written many, many movie themes, so ... judges say ... not a Star Wars reference!

• 3D: Unhelpful way to respond to "Hello?" ("IT'S ME") — Weird. "IT'S ME" might be very helpful, if the person you're responding to knows your voice very well. I can absolutely imagine saying it if my wife was not expecting me home and said "Hello?" from, like, the kitchen or upstairs. 
• 31D: Clothing brand named for perceived generational differences in the '60s (GAP)  — I had no idea. I did know that (The) GAP was founded in 1969, because ... so was I.

• 50D: Greek PPP (RHOS) — yesterday we got [H H H] as a clue for ETAS. That one always confuses a few people. Today, with "Greek" in the clue, the fact that we're dealing with Greek letters is much clearer.
• 52D: Chef Nosrat who wrote the best seller "Salt Fat Acid Heat" (SAMIN) — I know her book, and the show based on the book, and I've seen her on TV in many different contexts, and I still forgot her dang name. Really happy I knew that final "S" in CORIOLIS ...

• 74D: Portmanteau sandwich cookie with a layer of marshmallow (S'MOREO) — oh come on. What the hell is this? It sounds hellish. Or at the very least, unnecessary. Just eat a s'more or an Oreo, for god's sake. Speaking of hellish: "Banana Pudding" Oreos. Oreo is currently testing three potential new flavors, and while "Deep Fried" and "Chicken & Waffles" were good and weird-but-acceptable, respectively, "Banana Pudding" needs to be sent back to the pit of hell whence it came. Toxic levels of artificial banana flavor. I thought maybe it was just me, but then Penelope took all three of the test flavors into her grad students, and they were unanimous in their dead-last ranking of "Banana Pudding."

[1. Deep Fried; 2. Chicken & Waffles; 3. (disqualified on account of disgustingness) Banana Pudding]

• 86D: Fish hawk (OSPREY) — they're migratory. I just learned this. "American and Canadian breeders winter in South America" (wikipedia). For two weeks in late August / early September, there was one that hung out on a tree high above the Chenango River, and I'd see it nearly every day on my walk. I even saw it hunt a couple times (water go smash! so cool). Then it wasn't there any more. Then I learned they're migratory, so I probably won't see little fish-hunting buddy again. It was fun while it lasted.

• 97D: Astronomically demoted, as per a 2006 Word of the Year (PLUTOED) — I think it just means "demoted" now. Yes: pluto (v.) "to demote or devalue something." I mean, how often are things "astronomically" demoted. You can't use your Word of the Year very much if you just limit it to astronomy.
• 92D: Shaders of gray? (AGEISTS) — woof, this clue. "Shaders"??? As in "those who throw shade"??? Describing ageism as mere shade (i.e. disparagement) ... pretty flippant way of describing systemic discrimination. Also, the pun here Tortured.

That's all for today. See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. Happy anniversary, honey ❤️❤️❤️ What're we drinking? What goes with "23"?

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