NYT Sunday Crossword of June 22: Bringing a Plus One

June 22, 2025

The New York Times Sunday Crossword Puzzle of June 22, 2025 was by Ruth Bloomfield Margolin and Hannah Margolin, who are a mother-daughter team. It was titled Bringing a Plus One.

The theme became fairly clear after considering the title and solving a few of the thematic clues. Each answer was a common wedding-related phrase, but with an added letter (“plus one”) that turned it into a pun matching the clue. Here they are:

• 23-Across: [Make a partner’s beard presentable for all the photos?]: SHAVE THE DATE (SAVE THE DATE). This was one of the first I solved, but only partially—I originally filled SHAVE THE MANE, which seemed to fit the clue, but it didn’t fit the theme like the others. With some more crosses, I cracked it.
• 25-Across: [Poet hired to write the couple’s vows in flowerly verse?]: CASH BARD (CASH BAR). One of the more difficult ones for me.
• 34-Across: [Cause of many headaches while planning the big day?]: WEDDING DURESS (WEDDING DRESS). Nice pun.
• 52-Across: [Tool for a couple who intend to return everything and keep the money?]: GRIFT REGISTRY (GIFT REGISTRY). This felt “on the tip of my tongue” for a long time. Finally, I realized I’d confused graft and grift, making for a difficult solve as I couldn’t see what the wedding phrase was.
• 68-Across: [Fancy headpiece ornament?]: FEATHER OF THE BRIDE (FATHER OF THE BRIDE). I was able to get this quickly by considering the theme, which helped for solving the rest of the puzzle as it was a long fill in the middle of the grid.
• 86-Across: [Colorful sequined jacket that the groom chose to wear?]: SOMETHING BOLD (SOMETHING OLD). This was also one of the tougher ones, as I only vaguely recalled that something old is a Western wedding tradition. The answer “something bold” also feels a bit too generic for the clue; I was expecting something about a color, a suit, shiny discs, a decision, etc.
• 101-Across: [One ensuring that each family can invite the same number of guests?]: PARITY PLANNER (PARTY PLANNER). Great one!
• 115-Across: [Animal’s escort down the aisle?]: BEAST MAN (BEST MAN).
• 117-Across: [Parent who foolishly wore stiletto heels to a garden event?]: MOTHER IN LAWN (MOTHER IN LAW). Another satisfying one to get.

A milestone, but near miss

This was the first Sunday puzzle I completed without any outside assistance, a real milestone for me.

Here are some notes:

• [Declare]: AVER. Not a super common word.
• [Piña colada vessel]: COCONUT. I don’t think I’ve actually seen this, but some tropical themed places may serve this drink in a coconut.
• [Community at the end of the line]: EXURB. New to me: a prosperous area beyond a city’s suburbs.
• [Orthodox Jewish sect]: HASIDIM, I’ve seen Hasidism and Hasidic, but not the form Hasidim. Hasidim refers to its followers, and can also refer to the sect itself.
• [The “H” in HOMES]: HURON. I hadn’t heard of this HOMES acronym. After getting the answer by way of crosses, I realized this is a mnemonic for the Great Lakes of US and Canada: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior.
• [What’s broken for a record?]: LAW. Surprisingly tough for a short fill! One who breaks the law gets a criminal record.
• [Awkwafina’s given name]: NORA. Awkwafina is an American comedian.
• [Pancake with applesauce or sour cream]: LATKE, a type of potato pancake in Jewish cuisine.
• [Rocker Ric]: OCASEK. Ric Ocasek(1944-2019) was an American musician and frontman of the Cars.
• [Like the Mario Kart games]: RATED E. This threw me off as I kept looking for something about racing or otherwise specific to Mario Kart. The US uses the ESRB rating system while Japan uses its own called CERO. The equivalent of E is CERO A（全年齢対象）, suitable for all ages.
• [Starch yielding palm]: SAGO. For Sago palm, a palm tree that produces a starchy food called sago.
• [Young pigs]: SHOATS. I feel I’ve seen this before, but couldn’t remember it.
• [Jack on a nonfat diet]: SPRATT. From a nursery rhyme called Jack Sprat.
• [Overly precious]: TWEE. British, “affectedly or excessively dainty”.

I consider that I finished the puzzle in that I produced plausible answers for the entire grid, but made two mistakes that I didn’t catch until I checked some answers (I do the puzzles on paper, so I’m never sure if all the answers are correct). First, not knowing “exurb”, I’d guessed “eburb” which produced the strange looking BRAY LAB in its cross. I looked up “bray lab” and came up empty. Going through the letters in my head, I finally found EXURB and X-RAY LAB. Disappointing that I didn’t figure this out before checking. A lesson learned to not give up!

Second, I had put AWOKE for [Responded to an alarm], creating the incorrect fills AVEW and OCAKEK in its crosses, which were unfamiliar but plausibly words or people I didn’t know. I looked up “avew” and found it was not a word, and then was able to correct these mistakes with AROSE, resulting in the correct AVER and OCASEK.

Final thoughts

Despite a couple mistakes, it was still incredibly satisfying to finish the puzzle without outside help. One thing that helped was that I’d watched a YouTube video of someone solving a previous puzzle, and seeing how they approached the puzzle.

Still, there’s work ahead of me to get a fully solved puzzle with no assistance.