RSVP S'il Vous Plaît

I tend to exist in the plane between introvert and extrovert. While I “charge my battery” from alone time like a true introvert, I am also a Yes Man, taking in as many experiences and opportunities as I can until I eventually burn out and retreat into the latest 5-year-old 60+ hour video game for a month or so. It’s a balancing act, or, in a more approachably scientific analogy, it’s a sine wave of sorts… Maybe more of a triangle wave. But when someone asks me to RSVP, I almost always say yes. And even if I’m at the bottom of the wave, I rarely regret it. Such is the duality of (introverted Yes) man.

This week’s puzzle is an event of a sort - one with a little trickery mixed with silly clues and references. Enjoy :)

Discussion (and spoilers!) below the break.

Play

RSVP S'il Vous Plaît by Brandon Cathcart

Discussion

I’d been thinking about doing a numbers-based theme for some time, and this one fit the bill nicely. It was the idea of “inviting” theme answers to the grid that ultimately sold me! I think that’s such fun imagery. Makes me feel like Bob Ross lmao. I don’t come up with theme answers and write them in… I invite them to take part, and they accept.

Finally, an excuse to listen to Simon & Garfunkel! Every time I listen to them, I feel like I should do it more. Here’s my reminder (and yours).

Today’s Theme

Today is a play on words, or should I say, play on numbers, theme. With our theme clues italicized, our revealer 46-Across, [With 47-Across, what I offered the theme answers when I invited them to this puzzle]. Solving this gives PLUS ONE, a common inclusion on an event invite and our instructions on how to solve the puzzle.

Each theme answer has a number in it, so we need to give them a PLUS ONE to make them fit:

It takes TWO THREE TO TANGO

Bliss is achieved on CLOUD NINE TEN

A glasses-wearer might be called FOUR FIVE EYES

and Harry Styles was, of course, part of ONE TWO DIRECTION

Behind the Clues

12A. [Class for a bunch of posers?] is a fun poke at YOGA class attendees. It’s only a question mark clue if it’s a class of real yogis, though - once everyone in class is just there to be performative, it stops being as clever.

25A. I tried for a while to get another rhyme in [One putting their John Hancock on a doc], but I couldn’t find a synonym for writing/signing that had that “ock” slant. Still turned out fun, but if you find a better rhyming clue for SIGNER, send it to me and it might make it into the reprint 👀

43A. I know the [Bee-based liquor] MEAD well. During a trip to Vernon, BC, we stopped at Planet Bee, where we tried a bunch of different honeys, met some nice bees, and did a little sampling of some flavoured meads. Why don’t we drink mead anymore? It was good stuff.

1D. ["Oh this? It's the Flip-O-___ 5000. Say goodbye to flipping things manually!"] is a silly throwaway clue. When asked to imagine the first ___-o-matic thing, my head said “flip” and I said “OK.” Though I was probably inspired by some sort of deep-seated cartoon memory…

9D. Listen, I know we’ve got some people on this newsletter that work at breweries. ["___ Than Life" (My pitch for a craft brew name)], come on. LAGER Than Life?? I know the craft beer industry is overrun with punny beer names, but certainly there’s room for one more?

27D. Okay, really though. [They're like butterflies but much less loved] is MOTHS and though I, too, feel it, it doesn’t make much sense to me. Is it that moths are less beautiful? Is it because they’re less graceful flying through the air? Is it because they have stockier, furrier bodies? I feel like maybe moths are getting a bad rap here for no good reason. Or maybe we need to be less okay with butterflies.

I hope you enjoyed this puzzle!

Until next week,

Brandon