Seaonal migrant worker from Mexico / THU 11-29-18 / Fourth US state capital alphabetically / Minerals also known as egg stones / Old channel that showed Hee Haw / President in 2009 film Invictus / Become angelic figuratively / Something found in rush / Hand name used for some prank calls / Command following countdown

Constructor: Herre Schouwerwou

Relative difficulty: Challenging (well, for me, because I use AcrossLite, so there was a "Note" with mine, and I never ever read "Notes" because I think it's cheating, but this one (which I read after finishing) was like "certain visual elements could not be reproduced blah blah blah" so ugh—they should stop offering the puzzle in AcrossLite format if this is gonna keep happening ... anyway, I don't know what "visual elements" you all had, but I did not have them) (11-something minutes!?!?)

THEME: IN A ROUNDABOUT WAY (28D: Indirectly ... or how some of this puzzle's answers should be entered?) — the middle of the grid is supposed to be a traffic (?) "roundabout" ... so answers enter it and then kinda go around and then head out in a different direction, at a ninety degree angle to where they entered:

Theme answers:

• RALLYING CRY (14D: *"Vive la France!" or "Free Tibet!")
• POWER OUTAGE (37A: *Reason for resetting a digital clock)
• I NEED A BREAK (46D: *"Whew, that's enough for now!")
• SPROUT WINGS (33A: *Become angelic, figuratively)

Word of the Day: BRACERO (54A: Seasonal migrant worker from Mexico) —

noun

1. a Mexican laborer allowed into the US for a limited time as a seasonal agricultural worker. (google)

Holy cow, you all got arrows and circles and *&%$!????

Wow. Must've been nice. Solving without it was a nightmare. Even when I was done, I didn't know exactly what was going on. I thought the black square in the center (which you'll see, in my grid, is an actual black square—no circle) was where the connecting "roundabout" letters disappeared ... but then eventually I noticed that no, they're right there in the corners (?) of the so-called roundabout, which, honestly, makes the whole thing even *less* like an actual roundabout somehow. The Whole Point of a roundabout is smooth, rounded transitions—no sharp angles. A crossword grid is perhaps the worst possible medium for representing a roundabout. The idea that you enter and then do three quick 90-degree jogs—absurd. I have to say, though, that the arrows on the grid from the app are very stupid and have nothing to do with a roundabout. They are extra, confusing information. I see that they indicate the direction in which the "theme" answer is headed, but still ... those arrows have no traffic meaning, and so ... well, you tell me, but they seem confusing rather than elucidating. Great ambition here, but it just doesn't work as well as it thinks it does.

If I've seen BRACERO before, I totally forgot it, and that was a rough answer to forget, because TYE (?) was a total unknown (51A: Actor Sheridan of "X-Men: Apocalypse"), and so I had to work that area right down to NYC in order to make any sense of it. Also hard: ANITA Hand. Also hard: SALADS, which ... I guess I eat some pretty substantial salads, because the clue was not at all resonant for me (42D: Some light bites). I had NOSHES (and NAPA Valley instead of SIMI). LACKWIT made me laugh (23D: Blockhead). Do you all have that word? And by "you all" I mean "you people who don't teach Early English Literature for a living." Actually, I'm not sure I've ever seen the word in the stuff I teach. It just sounds very 17th/18th-century to me. Sounds like a character in an allegory, like a morality play or Pilgrim's Progress or something. ABREEZE also kneed me pretty hard. Not looking for that indefinite article, no siree. And TEA LADY ... I'll just take your word for it that that is a thing. Thought maybe TEA LAD(LE) and ... the puzzle was some kind of rebus? Dunno. OOLITES was also a mystery but the egg thing made "OO" gettable.


NATASHA Lyonne solves crosswords so she'll undoubtedly be delighted to see her name here (60A: Actress Lyonne of "Orange Is the New Black"). LYONNE seems like it could be useful fill as well.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]