Hindu festival of colors / THU 11-19-15 / 1946 creation originally intended to calculate ballistics tables / Pair on ketch / sibs sigs maybe / Zine distributors / Mario Puzo sequel / 2003 Lopez/Affleck flop / Christian Grey's specialty / Language akin to Tahitian

Constructor: Andrew Zhou

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: AUTOCOMPLETE (48A: Search engine feature ... or what you literally need to do to answer the six starred clues) — theme answers are missing their final parts, all of which are makes OR models of cars

Theme answers:

• KATHIE LEE GIF(FORD) (20A: *TV celebrity who has owned both a clothing line and a wine brand) 
• SOLAR P(LEXUS) (27A: *Never center in the abdomen that's strongly affected by a punch)
• "HELP ME R(HONDA)" (30A: *1965 #1 Beach Boys hit)
• BELON(G TO) (37A: *Have membership in)
• STRING T(RIO) (42A: *Classical ensemble)
• ANNO DO(MINI) (44A: *In the year of our Lord)

Word of the Day: HOLI (58A: Hindu festival of colors) —

Holi (pronunciation: /ˈhoʊliː/; Sanskrit: होली Holī) is a spring festival, also known as the festival of colours or the festival of love. It is an ancient Hindu religious festival which has become popular with non-Hindus in many parts of South Asia, as well as people of other communities outside Asia. // It is primarily observed in India, Nepal, and other regions of the world with significant populations of Hindus or people of Indian origin. In recent years the festival has spread to parts of Europe and North America as a spring celebration of love, frolic, and colours.

• • •

Gibberish in the grid is never Great, but this could've been a pretty decent puzzle if the theme execution had been consistent. All makes, no models—that's what it should've been. I was like "Oh, OK, Ford, Lexus, Honda, interesting ... and then ... GTO? Rio? What?" I was also like "EELED? What?" But that was a different kind of consternation. Concept is intriguing, but the execution just felt off because of the two models mixed in with all the makes. Also, all theme answers are weirdly crammed toward center of the grid, with all themers (except the revealer) appearing between the 5th and 10th row, inclusive. This isn't a flaw, exactly, but it seems like maybe a different grid design could've allowed some breathing room. Oddly, some of the cruddiest fill in the grid appears down where the theme pressures *aren't* that tight. ECARD alongside NOYES? ETES / ENTS / ASSES? ILE crossing HOLI? Probably should've been cleaner down there.


KATHIE LEE GIF(FORD) was tough for me, as the spelling of KATHIE is odd and I just ... don't think about her at all any more. I was thinking maybe Kathy Ireland or Katherine Heigl or something at first. I see now that the "wine" part of the clue was supposed to tip me off, but ... it didn't. Also not registering: EMILIO Barzini (24D: ___ Barzini, 'The Godfather" don). That could've been any Italian name. Is that character famous? Verdict: no. Here's how I know. Start googling EMILIO and check out the predictive searches. Here, allow me:

It's not til you get to [emilio barz...] that google offers up the right one. That's bananas. The only EMILIO I recognize on that entire list (above) is Estevez. EMILIO Aguinaldo was a Filipino revolutionary and first president of the Philippines. EMILIO Bonifacio is a utility infielder, most recently with the Chicago White Sox. EMILIO Barbarigo is a character in the Assassin's Creed video game universe. Thus concludes today's EMILIO lesson. I liked the (tough) clue on TOPIARY (5D: Clip art?). There wasn't much else I really Liked. I did learn the word [Sigmatism] (LISP), and I like knowing it, but I'm promptly going to forget it. I know me—I just will.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. Hey, check out the minor media coverage of that terrible, stupid clue on MEN yesterday. Both Jezebel and Mashable went after it (as did many, many solvers on Twitter). I have no expectation that the NYT is listening or cares, but I'm happy anytime these issues make it into the wider press.

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

Read more...

Actor Sheridan / WED 11-18-15 / Nazi cipher machine broken by allies / Close-up magician's prop / Rwandan president Paul Kagame's ethnicity / Math term usually followed by a subscript number / Former Obama adviser David

Constructor: Zachary Spitz

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (slow for me)

THEME: it's wonderful — [It's ___!] clues are transformed from idiomatic / colloquial to literal

Theme answers:

• LIGHTNING BOLT (20A: It's strking!)
• BALD-FACED LIE (33A: It's unbelievable!)
• ASTHMA ATTACK (43A: It's breathtaking!)
• DRY ERASE BOARD (59A: It's remarkable!) 

Word of the Day: TYE Sheridan (48A: Actor Sheridan) —

Tye Kayle Sheridan (born November 11, 1996) is an American actor.^[1][2][3] Sheridan made his feature film debut in Terrence Malick's experimental drama film The Tree of Life (2011) and had his first leading role in the coming-of-age film Mud (2012). He co-starred in the drama Joe (2013). In 2015, he starred in the drama The Stanford Prison Experiment. Sheridan will play the role of the young Cyclops in the 2016 film X-Men: Apocalypse. (wikipedia)

• • •

This theme is cute. Slight and forgettable, but cute. Tight enough. Fine. Maybe it's because I just woke up after a long, long sleep, but I had all kinds of problems filling this grid in correctly. Started with wanting AIR-something for 1D: A 747 has two of them (AISLES) and then got especially bad in the middle of the grid, where I wrote in DDAY at 35D: When the Battle of Normandy started, but then tore it out for the [Actor Sheridan], which I was sure was ANN. I then changed DDAY to DAWN (!?), but then kept putting in LOATHE and taking out LOATHE etc.  (34D: Can't stomach). The problem was clearly [Actor Sheridan]. What other actor Sheridan is there. When I was finally done, I had the letters T and Y and E there ... and apparently that is some kid who just turned 19 and is in movies I haven't seen. OK. Great. Star in all the movies you want, kid, TYE is never going to be good fill, and you will never be ANN Sheridan! Also never good: LOD, which didn't even get its own clue (it was cross-referenced with TEL AVIV in a way that gave no specific geographical info about either place). So the whole LOD / TYE area, coupled with my inability to come up with whatever ATTACK was happening in the middle, slowed me down.

["Got a cigarette?"]
Also slowing me down: the clue on TARO (47A: ___ cake (Chinese New Year delicacy)). Baffling. I associate TARO with the Pacific Islands, so ... I was like "TACO cake? Do the Chinese like that for some reason? What *is* that?" But overall, the fill on this one is OK. I mean, yes, "EEK, it's ESME!" but most areas are pretty clean. The one thing that really marred the puzzle, though, was that clue on MEN (71A: Exasperated comment from a feminist). Sigh. OK, as someone who has spent his entire life surrounded by feminists, let me say, resoundingly, no. You are confusing feminists with decidedly NOT-feminist sitcom ladies who grouse about their shlubby husbands. Also, you are confusing feminism with anti-man sentiment (a common, pernicious mistake). "MEN!" is not something an exasperated feminist says. "MEN!" is something someone who believes in the essential *in*equality of the sexes says, someone who believes all that Mars/Venus crap, and is just mad that her husband bought her the wrong kind of birthday gift or got soup on his tie or won't stop watching football and clean out the gutters. Not. Feminist. Not not not. This is another (another!) tin-eared clumsy clue that highlights how puzzle makers are a monoculture of (mostly) white (mostly) men. "Sure, baby, we'll let 'feminist' in to the puzzle, but here's the deal: you gotta look pretty and make a funny face into the camera and go 'MEN!' and roll your eyes like 'whaddyagonnado?', OK? OK. That's a good girl."

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. a feminist is someone who doesn't blink at writing in a woman's name for the clue [Actor Sheridan].

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

Read more...