Family elder in El Salvador / SUN 6-22-25 / Spread the word? / Febreze competitor / Rocker Ric / Dinosaur "from our imagination" / Jack on a nonfat diet / South Pole trailblazer Amundsen / Young pigs / Community at the end of the line

Constructor: Ruth Bloomfield Margolin and Hannah Margolin

Relative difficulty: Medium



THEME: Bringing a Plus One — Theme answers are wedding-related things with one letter added, clued wackily

Theme answers:

• S(H)AVE THE DATE (23A Make a partner's beard presentable for all the photos?)
• CASH BAR(D) (25A Poet hired to write the couple's vows in flowery verse?)
• WEDDING D(U)RESS (34A Cause of many headaches while planning the big day?)
• G(R)IFT REGISTRY (54A Tool for a couple who intend to return everything and keep the money?)
  
• F(E)ATHER OF THE BRIDE (68A Fancy headpiece garment?)
• SOMETHING (B)OLD (86A Colorful sequined jacket that the groom chose to wear?)
• PAR(I)TY PLANNER (101A One ensuring that each family can invite the same number of guests?)
• BE(A)ST MAN (115A Animal's escort down the aisle?)
• MOTHER IN LAW(N) (117A Parent who foolishly wore stiletto heels to a garden event?)

Word of the Day: HADRON (1A: [Large ___ Collider (facility in Geneva, Switzerland)]) —

In particle physics, a hadron is a composite subatomic particle made of two or more quarks held together by the strong nuclear force. Pronounced /ˈhædrɒn/ ^ⓘ, the name is derived from Ancient Greek ἁδρός (hadrós) 'stout, thick'. They are analogous to molecules, which are held together by the electric force. Most of the mass of ordinary matter comes from two hadrons: the proton and the neutron, while most of the mass of the protons and neutrons is in turn due to the binding energy of their constituent quarks, due to the strong force.

• • •

Um ... hello, again. It's Rafa here blogging the Sunday puzzle. I somehow blogged the wrong puzzle last night. I'm just a silly goose like that, I guess. But hopefully it was fun to have two different write-ups? And see how the solving experience can be very alike or very different. But today you are stuck with just me. No agreeing or dissenting opinions! Just little old me on my little computer telling all of you about this puzzle.

This puzzle was ... a puzzle, for sure. We have some wedding-related puns where we add a letter to the answer. But overall the puns felt a bit forced to me. It's certainly neat that there are enough wedding-related phrases to pull this theme off, but I was hoping for some additional twist, or for the added letters to spell some meta answer that tied everything nicely. But as it was I was mostly just ... *shrug*. When I say forced, I mean things like BEAST MAN. Like, this doesn't really feel like even a semi-realistic situation at a wedding? Whereas a MOTHER-IN-LAWN felt funnier and more realistic to me. Pun puzzles in general are very hit-or-miss based on your specific type of humor, but this one didn't totally tickle my sense of whimsy.

It's a SAGO palm

I had also never heard of SOMETHING OLD, which apparently is a rhyme for what a bride should wear to bring good luck. I think I'm excused because my wedding (though currently very far from being a thing) will not feature a bride. (Eligible gentlemen in their mid-20s to mid-30s in the Bay Area -- please inquire within if you are interested in changing this situation!) ... alright, now I've shot my shot, so let's get back into the puzzle. I don't think I have much more to say about the theme. They are puns. They are about weddings. Some people might find them funny. Oh, I didn't mention the title -- "Bringing a Plus One". It's a good title, but it doesn't quite give the puzzle enough of a raison d'être IMO. Also, why is the title for Sunday puzzles so buried in the app? (You have to click the "i" icon to see it.)

Oh, also, WEDDING DURESS. Does "duress" mean "headaches"? The dictionaries I consulted define duress as "threats, violence, constraints, or other action brought to bear on someone to do something against their will or better judgment" or "forcible restraint or restriction" ... both of which are obviously *very* bad vibes when it comes to a wedding. So, that whole entry just felt ... off. Ok, I'll stop complaining about this theme. Let's go complain about something else! (Remember when I said I had nothing left to say about the theme?)

Some MELTED cheese in fondue

The fill had its ups and downs. Some icky partials in A ROW and O WOE, and things like ORANG (nobody has ever said this) and MNO (don't feel like I need to explain why this is bad) and ONER (nobody has ever said this). I've probably already mentioned this here but I became an EELER convert after reading an article in the New Yorker last year about EELERs in Maine. So, don't come for EELER. But also some great stuff here! I enjoyed: ANGOLA, COCONUT, ABUELA, LEGALESE, ALL-SEASON, KAHLUA (a "mudslide" is a cocktail), TAX FORM, I SURE DO, SASHAY. Funny how sometimes entries that might seem "boring" like the one-word COCONUT can be evocative during a solve. Speaking of things I've read, Patrick Radden Keefe's "Rogues" has a great article about WINE FRAUD that I read a few months ago. Last year I would maybe have complained that WINE FRAUD was "not a thing" but I have been enlightened in time!

This is just my cat. She is perfect. Please say hi to her.

Alright, I think that's all from me. Hope you all stay safe and happy and healthy and all the other good things. Until next time!

Bullets:

• 10D: RATED E [Like the Mario Kart games] — the new game in the franchise (Mario Kart World) just came out on the Switch 2. I haven't had a chance to play yet, but hoping to get to it eventually.
• 4D: REVEAL [Gender ___ (prebirth event)] — this cluing angle is ... a choice
• 69D: HURON [The "H" in HOMES] — You always love to see non-Erie Great Lake representation!
• 55D: TAX FORM [1099, e.g.] — I miss the days when I knew nothing about TAX FORMs. The number 1099 was just a number like any other. (Apropos of nothing, 1099 is not prime. Its prime factors are 7 and 157, which feels ... cursed somehow?!)

Signed, Rafa

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook]
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Crib for a doll / SAT 6-21-25 / "Ritorna vincitor" singer / Port WSW of Algiers / Name in the baking aisle / Old-fashioned club / Gram alternative / Black-and-yellow demarcation / Berkshire institution / Rita of the "Fifty Shades" movies / Donned quickly / QB Dawson who faced Bart Starr / First name of the "Princess of Pop"

Constructor: Christina Iverson and Doug Peterson

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: none 

Word of the Day: Two-Lane Blacktop (27D: Vehicles seen in the films "Dazed and Confused" and "Two-Lane Blacktop" = GTOS) —

["Warren Oates is GTO"]

Two-Lane Blacktop is a 1971 American road film directed and edited by Monte Hellman, from a screenplay by Rudy Wurlitzer and Will Corry. It stars musicians James Taylor and Dennis Wilson, Warren Oates, and Laurie Bird in the leading roles. The sparse, existentialist plot follows a group of street racers during a cross-country race through the American Southwest.

Universal Pictures commissioned the film in the wake of Easy Rider's monumental success. Hellman, who had previously worked in low-budget and independent films, developed the screenplay with Wurlitzer, then-known mainly as an underground writer, during an actual cross-country road trip. Filming took place in locations around the Southwest between August and October 1970.

On initial release, the film received generally positive reviews, but was not a commercial success. Over the years, it developed the reputation of a sleeper hit and a cult classic, and has been reevaluated as a major work of the New Hollywood movement. In 2012, the US Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." (wikipedia)

• • •

Despite the avalanche of trivia (eight (8!) names, and that's excluding brands, institutions, geography, etc.), I really enjoyed this one, for a few reasons. First, it was hard enough. That is, it was punching at a Saturday level. It took a good lot of fussing around before I got anything like a grip on this puzzle, which is how it should be. And which brings me to my second reason for liking the puzzle—the exact moment that I got a grip. Nothing quite so thrilling (crosswordly speaking) as finally breaking through on a tough puzzle, and when that breakthrough comes in the form of shooting, sparkling answers like BARBIE DREAM HOUSE followed immediately by SIBLING RIVALRY, well, that feels like fireworks. Magic. Seriously, it was like my grid erupted in light and color. 

Third, I liked the grid's weird, skinny shape (14x16 rather than the traditional 15x15). And then fourth, and more personally, I just liked how Of-My-Generation this puzzle was. It felt like being a kid ... or someone under 30, anyway. That is, it felt RAD. Two of my favorite movies in the same clue! (one made in the '70s, the other set in the '70s) (27D: Vehicles seen in the films "Dazed and Confused" and "Two-Lane Blacktop"). Sports legends I learned about as a kid (PISTOL PETE Maravich, LEN Dawson). Young JODIE Foster! The "Muppet Show"! The puzzle was speaking my language. Not always (LOL Frozen and Fifty Shades—still never seen either). But mostly.

So many false starts today. SUET (!?) before GHEE (23A: Kitchen alternative to tallow). DIVA before AIDA (10D: "Ritorna vincitor" singer); EKG before ORG (37D: ___ chart); "BAH!" before "GAH!" (44A: "Ugh!"); "CAN WE!?" before "CAN'T I!?" (47D: "C'mon, please?"). I almost went with RICE before ROTI, but sensed that that was probably wrong (too easy) (19D: Side order with curry). As usual, the toughest part of the puzzle was getting started. Seemed like Germany was probably good at lots of Olympic sports, so BOBSLED took some time. Parsing "I HAVE TO," yeesh, tough for me (14A: Words before ask, admit or go). I see "Berkshire," I think Massachusetts, so even though I kinda sorta wanted ETON at 6D: Berkshire institution, I didn't trust it ("Berkshire" is a "ceremonial county" in England; the Berkshires are mountains in New England). And DONG ... I must've learned this currency before, but I keep forgetting it, possibly because my brain has already slotted DONG in a different meaning category. At least a couple different categories, actually, but one ("1.") in particular. 

But after the BARBIE DREAM HOUSE / SIBLING RIVALRY explosion, the puzzle got a lot easier—though not so easy that it got boring. STOPPED ON A DIME was also a highlight, as was some of the mid-range fill (THREW ON, BOBSLED, AIR KISS, RANG OUT). And I only had to dip into my Bag Of Old Crosswordese once (for ORAN—the thing about the Bag is that it's full of ugly things that are also very helpful things) (50D: Port WSW of Algiers). Actually, SNERD is probably in the Bag as well, but I knew SNERD before I ever started doing crosswords, so I don't think of him that way (12D: Mortimer who once made a guest appearance on "The Muppet Show"). No one area of the grid really stood out as too tough or too rough, which means that the puzzle played toughish but also smoothish. 

Bullets:

• 29A: Black-and-yellow demarcation (POLICE TAPE) — another good long answer. Kinda grim, but solid.
• 34A: Foster kid in "Taxi Driver"? (JODIE) — this was a gimme, despite the attempted misdirection. Needed a more obscure young-JF vehicle. Maybe Freaky Friday, or better yet, Bugsy Malone.

• 3D: Crib for a doll (BARBIE DREAM HOUSE) — "Crib" here is just slang for "residence," which you probably knew, but just in case ... 
• 12D: Mortimer who once made a guest appearance on "The Muppet Show" (SNERD) — also just in case ... just in case it's not clear, Mortimer SNERD is a ventriloquist's dummy of mid-century renown.

• 33D: Name in the baking aisle (KARO) — I think this is ... what ... like a sweetener of some kind. A corn syrup, I think ... yup, that's it. I sometimes get it confused with KNORR, which is a brand of bouillon:

• 51D: Gram alternative (NANA) — nickname for "grandmother"; I almost wrote in NANO here (thinking "Gram" was a bygone MP3 player, maybe?)

If the puzzle had too many proper nouns for you, here are some more proper nouns you're sure to love: I'm going to see WAXAHATCHEE tonight, with M.J. LENDERMAN and (a recent and, to me, thrilling addition) HURRAY FOR THE RIFF RAFF tonight at an orchard (!) in central NY. This is my Christmas gift from my wife. Then tomorrow we're off for our annual Great Lakes vacation with my best friends. I'll blog a couple of times over the next week, but it'll mostly be my tried-and-true guest writers for a while (starting tomorrow, w/ Rafa). See you (...checks calendar...) oh, Monday. That's not so long. Until then, or whenever next time is ...

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. Oh no, due to miscommunication, Rafa did *today's* write-up. So now there are two write-ups of this puzzle LOL. So scroll down to enjoy Rafa's work (Or click here if you’re on your phone). And then also look for him tomorrow.  

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook]
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❤️ Support this blog ❤️: 

• Paypal 
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✏️ Upcoming Crossword Tournaments ✏️

• Westwords (Berkeley) (Sun., Jun. 22, 2025)
• Boswords (Boston) (Sun. July 27, 2025)
• Lollapuzzoola 18 (NYC) (Sat., Aug. 9, 2025) 
• Midwest Crossword Tournament (Chicago) (Sat., Oct. 4, 2025)

=============================
📘 My other blog 📘:

• Pop Sensation (vintage paperbacks)

Read more...