Small stretches, perhaps / FRI 1-3-25 / Woody's crush in "Toy Story" / Motif in 1995's "Se7en" / Simple question on a high schooler's hand-drawn poster / Subpar dining hall food / Common nap times, in brief / Much-sought-after commodity in "Dune" / Dutch constituent in the Caribbean / Area between the ribs and the round

The teenage rite of passage known as prom (short for promenade meaning "a ceremonious opening of a formal ball consisting of a grand march of all the guests") began in the late 1800's as a formal dinner held by American colleges and universities in the northeast to teach the graduating class etiquette before students set off into the world. Some high schools began to adopt the tradition around the turn of the century, and by 1950 it was the norm in American high schools. These days the prom has become somewhat of a competitive sport with students and even schools competing to have the best venue, attire, transportation, and, in recent years, the best invitation. // Asking someone to prom is almost as old as prom itself, but as the act of asking grows more and more elaborate the phrase "asking someone to prom" is no longer sufficient. The portmanteau from prom and proposal is a fairly recent creation apparently only dating back to 2011, and it's a fun new word used to refer to the surprising ways people are asking dates to prom. [...] So what makes asking someone to prom a promposal? You can ask someone to prom by presenting them with flowers and saying "Will you go to prom with me?" but a promposal often involves a little something more, and usually includes a special or elaborate act or presentation that took some thought and time to prepare. A promposal can be as simple as giving your intended date a giant cookie that reads "Prom?" or as over-the-top as jumping out of a plane holding a sign that reads "I'm Falling 4 U, PROM?" (merriam hyphen webster dot com)

Actually, my finish today was marred by tragedy, but it wasn't the puzzle's fault. Not exactly. I had gotten sloppy on the way down and ended up leaving an obviously wrong letter in one of the squares (one of the hardest squares in the puzzle, I think). I went past 45A: Small stretches, perhaps when I had only --BS because I had no idea. When I picked up the "I" (for "-IBS"), rather than relooking at the "-IBS" clue, I went by memory ... and misremembered it as a different clue that asked for a part (or "stretch"???) of the body ... so I wrote in RIBS. Turns out, I was thinking of the LOIN clue (22A: Area between the ribs and round). Which, I see now, actually has "RIBS" in it (!?!?! editor / test-solver / proofreader should've caught that). Anyway, I was just SLOPpy. Or GLOPpy. One of those. Thankfully, RISTS is not a word, and so my mistake was easy to find (45D: Hitmakers? = FISTS). Crossing that very deceptive FIBS clue with a "?" clue made that single square oddly treacherous, at least to me. But there was nothing treacherous at all about the rest of the grid. Breezy Friday, on the whole.

Still, there were a few slow points. Weird that so many A- words fit the clue at 1A: Out of whack. Well, there's ASKEW and AMISS. There's also AWRY, though that "fits" only at the level of sense (not letter count). That wasn't a slow point, actually, just a bumpy point. I got slowed down significantly only in trying to get in and out of the middle. Specifically, I couldn't fill out the phrase "DON'T ___" at 8D: Command to stay. Without the second part of that answer, I had no access to the center. "DON'T" is contained entirely in that upper-left quadrant. One more letter would've given me at least a little light. But nope. "LEAVE" seems straightforward now, but my only thought was "BUDGE," and when that didn't work ... stuckness. I got at the center from the west, using "SAY CHEESE" to pry my way in, but it didn't help much with the center, and also left me with the same word-break problem at LOGIC PUZZLE that I had with "DON'T LEAVE," i.e. I got the first word and had no idea about the second. LOGIC .... shrug. I work off crosses from start to finish when I solve, jumping around *only* when that method breaks down. It was in danger of breaking down today, but then, from just "-ECI-" I got PRECISELY, and I was back in business. PRECISELY to PERCH to LOGIC PUZZLE took care of the SW, and PRECISELY to REV to LEAVE to PRANK CALL took care of the middle and got me access to the east. No problems after that.

Bullets:

• 5D: Challenge to an intruder ("WHO GOES THERE?") — if you're the watchman in Hamlet, sure. Actually, I have misremembered this—the opening question of Hamlet is "Who's there?" I blame The Brady Bunch (Peter played a watchman in a play (maybe Hamlet??) and he had only one line, as I remember):

• 10A: What a bodybuilder builds during a bulk cycle (MASS) — "This meeting could've been an email" is how I think of clues like this, only what I mean is "This long clue could've been reduced to just one of the words in the clue": Today, [Bulk]. Just "bulk." That would do it.
• 20A: Basis of some admissions (GUILT) — tricky. Sounds like it wants something to do with college admissions (to my ears, anyway)
• 23A: Heaps of dressing? (LAUNDRY) — When I had "DON'T BUDGE" in place (at 8D: Command to stay), I wanted this to be BEDDING. So close!
• 47A: Much-sought-after commodity in "Dune" (SPICE)— since our last Dune clue a month ago ([Spice planet in the "Dune" universe] => ARRAKIS), I have watched a Dune—the first part of the newer Dune starring Timothée Chaladune and Dunedaya. I also watched the first half hour or so of David Lynch's Dune, which I really should finish, as I prefer its Lynchian bizarreness to the slick humorless spectacle of NuDune. Anyway, you don't have to watch much of any version of Dune to know SPICE is involved. It's the first order of business and main topic.
• 54D: Motif in 1995's "Se7en" (SIN) — true enough, though "motif" makes it sound almost ... decorative. Which it's not. Unless you decorate in gore. By the way, happy 30th birthday to this movie. I wish I could give the movie a present, just so the movie could ask me...

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

We're down to the last of the Holiday Pet Pics (no more please!)

Here's Curly. He came with the name "Squirrel" but then one day he chased a squirrel in the park and his owner was shouting "squirrel!" and it was all a little too ridiculous

[Thanks, Karl]

Millie Bean and Tula will do anything (apparently) for Christmas treats...

[Thanks, Patrick]

Knope seems unsure what the fuss is all about. "Is this bed?" That's really the only question that matters, and if you're a cat, the answer is always "yup."

[Thanks, Allison]

This is Bulldog. He's actually a standard poodle working undercover. Here he is in one of his many disguises, posing as a harmless family pet named "Santa Baby"

[Thanks, Karen and Joe]

Finally today we have Casey, who always loved stocking time. RIP, Casey, what a good dog.

[Thanks, Tom]

See you next time.