Onetime name for China / SUN 4-18-21 / Google Photos precursor / Bridal adornment at Indian weddings / 1976 greatest hits album with palindromic title / Block where Sesame Street can be found

Theme answers:

• MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE (25A: Popular action film franchise ... or what trying to find the item in this puzzle can be described as)
• "IT'S A LOST CAUSE" (29A: "There's no use" ... like trying to find the item in this puzzle?)
• GRASPING / AT STRAWS (50D: With 44-Down, making futile attempts ... and an extra hint to this puzzle's theme)

Word of the Day: ANGEL EYES (75D: The titular bad guy in "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly") —

Lee Van Cleef as 'Angel Eyes': The Bad, a ruthless, confident, borderline-sadistic mercenary, takes a pleasure in killing and always finishes a job for which he is paid, usually tracking and assassination. Originally, Leone wanted Enrico Maria Salerno(who had dubbed Eastwood's voice for the Italian versions of the Dollars Trilogy films) or Charles Bronson to play Angel Eyes, but the latter was already committed to playing in The Dirty Dozen (1967). Leone thought about working with Lee Van Cleef again: "I said to myself that Van Cleef had first played a romantic character in For a Few Dollars More. The idea of getting him to play a character who was the opposite of that began to appeal to me." In the original working script, Angel Eyes was named "Banjo", but is referred to as "Sentenza" (meaning "Sentence" or "Judgement") in the Italian version. Eastwood came up with the name Angel Eyes on the set, for his gaunt appearance and expert marksmanship. (wikipedia)

Wow, what a mess. This is a potentially interesting idea that was allowed to get out of control and that no one ever bothered to rein in. I'm not even sure where to begin. First, the "stack." It's awful. It's all cattywampus and contains all the grid's most awful fill: bygone place names, bygone carriages, a name that no famous person actually has, a name that only someone named HAYLEY Atwell has (??), and then SASHAYING and, lastly, shockingly, seemingly cheatingly, the "HAY" from the actual word "HAYSTACK." It's a horrid lumpy lopsided disaster. Visually repulsive and utterly unfun to solve. Then there's the basic premise, which, according to the puzzle's three (?) themers, is that it is difficult to find a needle in a haystack. A lost cause. Impossible, even. And I understand that that is what is commonly implied by the whole "needle in a haystack" concept. But here, it's so easy, there's practically a neon arrow pointing at the "NEEDLE." See all the HAY ... then see that gap in the HAY stack. Yeah, there's the NEEDLE, congratulations, Sherlock. Finding that NEEDLE is never, ever a problem. Easy. TOO EASY. It's the opposite of "impossible." So the physical expression of the theme is awful, and the concept makes no actual sense. The three themers are only barely related. Tangentially. Tenuously. And yet GRASPING / AT STRAWS is probably the best part about this theme. The wordplay there is at least clever. The rest, though, wow, light it on fire.

The grid also just looks awful. Nevermind that it's pointlessly the wrong dimensions (20x22 instead of the normal 21x21), it's also just go So Many Black Squares, and in bizarre configurations (with the bizarrest probably being those weird 9-square "U" shapes at the top and bottom of the grid). Made the whole grid look pock-marked and ragged, and made the solve feel choppy. Some of the fill was enjoyable. Weirdly liked "MM HMM," if only because it's so preposterous-looking it somehow lightened the mood (and the mood was pretty dark by that point). I also liked BONNY LASS. I had LEGAL before LEGIT (39D: Bona fide), which is my fault, and "YA FEEL ME?" before "YA HEAR ME?" which is, frankly, the puzzle's fault. I cannot say how much better (and more current) "YA FEEL ME!?" is. "YA HEAR ME!" has more of a threat quality to it. "YA FEEL ME!?" is asking for an amen, which is more in the spirit of the clue (83D: "Know what I'm talkin' about?"). Hilarious that you think I can remember a. PICASA (57D: Google Photos precursor) and b. ANGEL EYES—I've seen that movie a bunch, but still couldn't retrieve that bit of trivia (75D: The titular bad guy in "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly"). You gotta be a hardcore fan. Also, I got very thrown by the idea that ANGEL EYES was "titular" when I was staring right at the title and not seeing ANGEL EYES anywhere in it. But I get it now. He is the "Bad" of the title, "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly." This answer is hay-adjacent, so I pity it. Again, as I say, what a mess. Moving on...

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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