Today's crossword by Gail Grabowski and Bruce Venzke includes this clue: "Running by itself." The answer is ONAUTO -- and the first word of each of the four longest answers can be placed "on auto" to form a new phrase:
TV series starter: PILOTEPISODE
Market research target: FOCUSGROUP
Gridiron pass-defense scheme: ZONECOVERAGE
Sheet for plotting in math class: GRAPHPAPER
Auto Zone, headquartered in Memphis, is a chain of more than 5,300 auto parts stores. Auto Zone is one of six brand names appearing today. There is also ALPO ("Brand for Fido"), ADOBE ("Photoshop maker"), ETRADE ("Online financial site"), ZESTA ("Keebler cracker") and DIRECTV ("Dish Network competitor"). Puzzle editors no longer forbid the use of brand names in crosswords. I foresee a day when someone will create a puzzle consisting of nothing
but brand names.
"One-named Tejano singer" is SELENA. Selena Quintanilla's hits include
Dreaming Of You and
I Could Fall In Love. Tejano is a hybrid style of music also known as Tex-Mex. Considering that Selena was born in Texas, the clue could also have been "One-named
Tejana singer." Selena was only 23 in 1995 when she was shot and killed by the founder of her fan club.
SELENA is not the only name appearing in today's puzzle. There is also IKE ("Cold War prez"), OMAR ("General Bradley"), ONO ("Tokyo-born Yoko"), DRE ("Dr. with Grammys"), LORNA ("Doone of fiction"), TRUMAN ("Author Capote"), EDISON ("Menlo Park inventor") and ESTEFAN ("
Coming Out Of The Dark singer Gloria"). I foresee a day when someone will create a puzzle consisting of nothing but people's names.
Getting back to the theme of today's puzzle, all automobiles manufactured by Tesla Motors contain hardware for self-driving capability, also known as "auto-pilot." BMW is developing a self-driving car. Google is working on a self-driving car called Waymo, which means "a new way forward in mobility." I am opposed to the development of self-driving cars. Why would I want to own a vehicle that could go someplace without me? Here is a
Guardian article outlining the pros and cons:
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/sep/13/self-driving-cars-bmw-google-2020-driving
