Some high-end headwear / MON 11-20-23 / Sci-fi film tech, for short / Computer debut of 1998 / Acronym for a quartet of entertainment awards

• TENNIS COURT (19A: Where to find singles, a match and love?)
• "PICK UP THE PHONE!" (25A: Exasperated cry you might make when being turned over to voice mail)
• MULTICULTURALISM (40A: Form of social diversity)
• PLASTIC UTENSIL (49A: Disposable bit of cutlery)

Word of the Day:

A whip is an official of a political party whose task is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. This means ensuring that members of the party vote according to the party platform, rather than according to their own individual ideology or the will of their donors or constituents. Whips are the party's "enforcers". They work to ensure that their fellow political party legislators attend voting sessions and vote according to their party's official policy. Members who vote against party policy may "lose the whip", being effectively expelled from the party. 

The term is taken from the "whipper-in" during a hunt, who tries to prevent hounds from wandering away from a hunting pack.

Additionally, the term "whip" may mean the voting instructions issued to legislators, or the status of a certain legislator in their party's parliamentary grouping. // 

The expression whip in its parliamentary context, derived from its origins in hunting terminology. The Oxford English Dictionary defines the term whipper-in as, "a huntsman's assistant who keeps the hounds from straying by driving them back with the whip into the main body of the pack". According to that dictionary, the first recorded use of the term whipper-in in the parliamentary sense occurs in 1772. (wikipedia)

Yes, my brother-in-law has a full-sized arcade game cabinet that he built a while back, and you can play all kinds of games on it. This appears to be the gaming room, in fact. There are at least three TV screens in here, and at least as many gaming systems (including crossword favorites WIIU and XBOX). An ironic room theme for me, the person who does not game, but at least the full-sized arcade game reminds me of my afternoons spent playing Donkey Kong at Round Table Pizza in the early '80s. There's a dart board in here too, maybe I'll play darts later. Anyway, currently, I'm playing this puzzle, and I gotta say, this one definitely falls in the "So Dumb It's Good" category. As those themers were coming together, I was like "How in the world is he gonna make 'I CUT' pay off!?" And then the themer arrived and ... well, I did not see that coming—and I don't know what else I can ask of a themer but for it to make me say "Well, I did not see that coming." It's true that *I* don't really connect "ICUT"—the letters just kinda ... come together that way. The puzzle connects them. But leaving aside the technicalities of the revealer clue phrasing, I think that conceptually, this one works perfectly. And it's just so weird. I respect that. Forget the tried and the true—give me the bizarre, especially on a Monday, when I need something to make up for the puzzle's extreme easiness. 

Not sure about a few of these themer clues—I mean, why are you shouting "PICK UP THE PHONE!" when it's already gone to voice? Shouldn't you be shouting it earlier? I mean, you shouldn't be shouting it at all, no one can hear you, but for your inherently ineffectual shouting to make any kind of sense, you gotta be doing it earlier. And [Form of social diversity] feels tepid and vague as a clue for MULTICULTURALISM. But the real weak spot today was the fill, which seemed, well, weaker than it should have been. Starting with AGASP got things off on a very wrong foot (1D: Audibly shocked). Like ABES (43A: $5 bills, in slang), AGASP is a word that exists only in crosswords. I would be AGASP if I saw ABES in the wild. And then TES, ITA, ISMY, two Greek letters (?) (PHIS, PSI) and then a Roman letter to top it off (??) (CEE). And what the hell are SILK HATS and how are they "high end" (15D: Some high-end headwear)? When I google [silk hats] the first thing I get is a sleep cap. The photos, though, are all of top hats, or maybe opera hats (?), which, yes, are ... "high" up on the "end" of your body (i.e. your head) ... and they're fancy, but woof, not in love with that answer. I was really expecting something ... current when I saw "high-end," which implies a pricey version of things people actually want to buy. Can you even buy a top hat any more? I'm sure you can. Still. SILK HATS? 

No troubles with the Downs-only solve today. Wanted PICK UP THE to be followed by PACE (didn't fit) or SLACK (wrong). Had a little trouble with HOUSE WHIP, since I know the term "Majority / Minority Whip" better, but I got there. Thought -SAGO would be HAS A GO, but no, it's the airplane-related IT'S A GO (34A: "We're cleared for takeoff!"). Speaking of airplanes, jet lag is taking hold of me, so I'm gonna go now. IT'S A GO. Me going. To bed. See you tomorrow.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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