Sister brand of Mazola / FRI 3-31-23 / Diacritic over the 'r' in Dvorak / Show first performed during 1994's Eurovision Song Contest / Joel who once played Wyatt Earp in film / Blended numbers / Classic cars that rivaled the Ford Maverick and Plymouth Duster

Constructor: Rich Norris

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: none 

Word of the Day: PART SONGS (9D: Blended numbers) —

Strictly any song written for several vocal parts, but in practice, a comp. for male, female, or mixed vv. (usually but not necessarily unacc.) which is not contrapuntal like the madrigal but has the melody in the highest part with accompanying harmonies in the other vv. Either through‐composed (Durchkomponiert) or strophic (verse‐repeating). Is a particularly Eng. genre, developing in popularity with growth of choral socs. in early 19th cent., so there are many examples by Pearsall, Barnby, Stanford, Elgar, Delius, Warlock, and many others. But examples exist by Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Brahms, etc. (Oxford Reference)

• • •

This was not for me. In the extreme. Felt like being bludgeoned with olde-tymeiness. I was having flashbacks, seeing fill I hadn't seen in two, four, twenty-four years, and for the life of me I could not find more than a wisp of contemporary ... anything. For real, this could've come out in the late '90s, No Problem. '80s, possibly, were it not for NEVE Campbell. How long has it been since there were CHEVY NOVAS? (Not since the '80s). How long has it been since someone tried to use THEPO in a grid? [Just last year!? Wow, I blocked that out] When's the last time someone used the term POOBAHS unironically? I think I learned that term from "Happy Days," which means it was already old-timey 45 years ago. I learned CANTAB from crosswords and then promptly stopped thinking about it because constructors got better at filling grids and also got slightly less Ivy-centric in their thinking (I think of CANTAB like I think of ELIHU Yale, i.e. really, I have to know this?). I love Joel MCCREA (26D: Joel who once played Wyatt Earp in film), but then I watch more old movies than is probably healthy, and anyway, what a borrrrrrring clue for MCCREA—a charming, dreamy leading man who was the star of some of the greatest movies of the '40s, including Sullivan's Travels and one of my five favorite movies of all time, The More the Merrier (with JEAN ARTHUR, my No. 1 all-time movie crush) (OK, maybe tied with Teri Garr). Laura INNES isn't a contemporary reference any more, not since RIVERDANCE was a thing (seriously, has this puzzle been sitting in a drawer since '97?). I really liked "JUST SAY IT!" as that was the one thing that felt like it had a pulse. Puzzles should have broad frames of reference and the cluing should be alive to the language of today. This one fell short on both counts. The good stuff was not nearly good enough, or widespread enough, to offset the overall musty feel of the grid. 

What is Mazola? (10A: Sister brand of Mazola). Is that also bygone? Oh, no, just corn oil. People use that? It's weird that the puzzle wants to make ARGO and EYRE non-literary. Trying to pretend they're not literary just makes them fussier / weirder, not better. DIET PILLS are awful in real life and so awful in the grid. It's GOLDEN AGE not GOLDEN ERA (12D: Prosperous period). I have no idea what PART SONGS are. Never heard the term. Ever, not once. Is that like a round song, like "Frère Jacques"? Oof, I had PART and then no idea. Eventually I just guessed SONGS because I figured well, that's a word that means "numbers," so OK. I just read the definition of PART SONGS and honestly still don't get it. Here, you read it. I'll stipulate that PART SONGS is a *fantastic* answer and that I'm just ignorant. The puzzle really needs a win so ... sure, PART SONGS, great, congratulations. Musically, I'm more familiar with the SCHROEDER REPERTOIRE, i.e. Beethoven and ... well Beethoven. OK, more than that. Choral music was just never ever (ever) really my thing. I listen to classical music precisely so I don't have to deal with the mental clutter of words (i.e. so I can take a break from words, which I love, but omg so many words, writing and lecturing and reading and what not, sometimes I need them to stop). 

Unsurprisingly, given how before (even) my time this puzzle feels, it was a bit of a struggle for me. No idea on ARGO. Absolutely no idea on HACEK (34A: Diacritic over the "r" in "Dvorák). I thought he was an NHLER ... damn, that was Dominik HASEK, who somehow Also Has A HACEK In His Name (over the "S") ... he was big in the '90s, so he'd've fit right in to this grid. I guess EMBASSY Row is what you call the place where embassies ... are? So that's what that clue means ... I think (40D: Row house?). Apple ... INC? Really, that's your INC clue? Yeesh. PSST and AHEM before "LOOK!" (16A: Attention-getting cry). SST before TNT. SERTA before SEALY (klassic kealoa*) (15D: Company for a king or queen). I hope you all found ways to enjoy this. Maybe on a nostalgia level or something, I don't know. But I'm surprised that, with all the sizzling themeless grids that I know are being submitted and rejected, this one was deemed fit for the NYTXW. But if this was your jam, then ... OKEY-DOKEY. I'm happy for you.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld 

*kealoa = a pair of words (normally short, common answers) that can be clued identically and that share at least one letter in common (in the same position). These are answers you can't just fill in quickly because two or more answers are viable, Even With One or More Letters In Place. From the classic [Mauna ___] KEA/LOA conundrum. See also, e.g. [Heaps] ATON/ALOT, ["Git!"] "SHOO"/"SCAT," etc.

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