Friday, Jun 12th, 2026 ~ Emma Oxford

 ANTI-FACTERIAL DISPUNSER

This is my fourth Emma Oxford crossword - the last one was the memorial to my friend Greg and our mutual enjoyment of playing poker puzzle.  I breezed through this Friday fill-in, with only a typo slowing me down.  Today we have five themers, no reveal, totaling 51 squares, that are a punny play on common phrases, redefined as types of ( mostly ) popular bars of soap.  A standard grid, no circles, a three-knight "dog" (🙄), eleven 3LWs, a handful of names, a ridiculous number of abbreviations and/or acronyms - but - was missing just the F & J for a pangram~!

17. Soap that's easy to conceal?: POCKET DIAL - Not the "politically incorrect" butt-dial, this soap -

23. Soap that could use a friend?: LONESOME DOVE - Not the town from the 1986 Pulitzer-prize winning book ( and TV series ), but a solitary bar from this collection - 

37. Soap that's super popular?: HOT LAVA - Not the exercise we used to 'play' in Phys Ed., but this - 

Check out this "soap" artwork on Artsy

49. Soap that's falling apart?: BREAKING DAWN - Not the early rising sun, but the outlier, as this is more dish detergent soap - "Dawn is breaking everywhere . . . " lyric @ 0:30

Refreshing Rain scent is the one on my kitchen sink, and I buy the gallon refill at BJs

61. Soap that's perfect for adding color to a shower routine?: ORANGE ZEST - not the 'shaved' skin of the fruit, but this cleansing product - 

This racing version was a NASCAR promo

But Wash, There's More~!

ACROSS:

1. Easter month, often: APRIL - It can be March - the convoluted way it's calculated; the first Sunday after the Paschal full moon after the Spring equinox 🙏

6. Apple resource with curated guides: MAPS - I am Android, so it's Google's version

10. Bygone handhelds, for short: PDAs - Personal Digital Assistan - it could be either, as in 'holding hands' being a bygone Public Display of Affection - either way, it's abbr/acr #1

14. Lift a finger?: POINT - 👉

15. Landed: ALIT

16. Reply to "I'm sure they'll be fine without you," perhaps: "OUCH." - Harsh, man . . . 

19. Low-carb diet: KETO - My friend Jay was a "keto" dieter; I missed his B-day last month, so I reached out via text a week late; he responded with "it's OK - btw, I met the love of my life, quit my job, sold my house, moved to North Carolina - oh, and had triple by-pass surgery in November . . . '  - and he's younger than me.  Sheesh.  Reminded me of this song

Billy Joel, My Life

20. Hunk: SLAB

21. Setting of the graphic novel "Persepolis": IRAN - filled via perps, Geo name #1

22. Arrive: GET IN

26. Estimate from a contractor: QUOTE - I tried PRICE first; Bzzzzt~!

28. "Me too": SAME - I wanted SO AM I, then AS ME - which was close, but, wrong

29. Relish: GUSTO - the noun, usu. in the prepositional phrase "with gusto" - you're welcome.

30. Big name in gaming monitors: ACER - filled via perps, crossword staple, name(ish)

32. Dec. holiday: XMAS - abbr/acr #2 - only 194 shopping days til . . . the countdown clock

36. Goal: AIM - Still have the same goal / aim / desire / intent to produce my board games - and now I have a fourth one to promote, too; I ran off a simplified version of the board on paper so I could work out the play details

40. Computer file suffix: EXE - for adding programs to PCs / Windows, "executable" - abbr/acr #3

41. School gps.: PTAs - PDAs and PTAs - abbr/acr #4

43. Root vegetable related to Swiss chard: BEET - I had the "EE" from my Down fills

44. SF NFLer: NINER - AND - 52D. SF MLBer: GIANT - five-letter San Fransisco major league teams, football and baseball respectively

46. Astronomical light show: NOVA - meh.  Technically, yes, but I think aurora is a better match

48. Birthplace of K-pop: SEOUL - Geo name #2

54. Signs on for another tour: RE-UPS

55. Pop diva Celine: DION - name #3 - the hot dogs go on . . . 

Peter May, comedian

56. American white __: Gulf Coast bird: IBIS - mostly perps

60. Org. with sponsored Medicare plans: AARP - American Association of Retired Persons - you can actually join at the age of 18 - but I doubt you've 'retired'.  I got my letter from UPS last month, saying I was now eligible for my retirement, having turned 55 in February this year - I think it's a whopping $337/mo., but I'll take it~! abbr/acr #5

63. Pop sensation: IDOL

64. Have too little of: WANT

65. Bowie's role in "The Prestige": TESLA - name #4, I had T _ _ _ A, but not having seen the movie . . . IMDb

66. Where Anheuser-Busch is BUD: NYSE - the New York Stock Exchange listing = BUDweiser beer - abbr/acr #6

67. Some specialist MDs: ENTs - Ears, Nose, Throat - abbr/acr #7

68. Autumn bloom: ASTER

DOWN:

1. Starters, casually: APPS - I was in sport mode, so I tried "ACES" - but this is the meals version "appetizers" - abbr/acr #8

2. Combine: POOL - I 64A. wanted MELD

3. Costa __: RICA - Geo name #5

4. Test pattern?: INKBLOT - the Rorshach inkblot test - I see Bigfoot from under a sheet of ice at #4

5. 5G precursor: LTE - a good WAG on my part, Long-Term Evolution - smartphone tech, abbr/acr #9

6. Spanish parent: MADRE - and another good WAG, 'mother' in Español

7. Cover name: ALIAS - my new board game involves spies

8. Support for a key player?: PIANO SEAT - cute, but meh.  I wanted BENCH or STOOL . . .

Hey, I found some good-looking legs on a piano CHAIR 🙄

9. Mo. town: STL - St. Louis, MissOuri - abbr/acr #10

10. Progress tracker for one trying to "catch 'em all": POKEDEX - I figured it was something like this, but waited on perps - the index of the Pokémon universe - more here

11. Caused by: DUE TO

12. When the fate of Ophelia is revealed: ACT IV - been doing crosswords long enough to know that this type of clue is looking for "ACT _ _", so it was either II or IV, possibly other Roman numerals

13. Sparkled: SHONE - ha~!  Nailed it

18. Prong: TINE

22. Jewel: GEM

24. Letters of equivocation: OTOH - On the Other Hand . . . I just read George Carlin's book, 'How to Rid Yourself of Doubt - or, Should You~?' abbr/acr #11

25. Harry's accomplice in "Home Alone": MARV - I did not know this name, #6

26. Walk out: QUIT - Dah~! Not EXit, but 50% correct

27. Home of the NCAA's Black Knights: USMA - knights #1, abbr/acr #12 - wait - 

there's a whole team of them~?

Uh, no - the United States Military Academy - the West Point football squad

29. Word with age or wage: GAP

30. Took off right after dinner: ATE AND RAN - Cool fill, and a nine-letter Thwurd

31. Rock & Roll HoF city: CLEveland, abbr/acr #13

33. Grubhub link: MENU

34. Rink leap: AXEL

35. Title for a knight in Westeros: SER - I am ashamed to say, I have not seen Game of Thrones

knight #2 - Ser Duncan, in the prequel

38. Short "Duh": OBVI - 21st century-speak for "obviously" - abbr/acr #14

39. Over again: ANEW

42. Maker of Trop-a-Rocka tea: SNAPPLE - Ah.  I didn't see this fill until I did the blog, and I was today-years-old when I learned that this was a flavor "invented" by the band Poison's frontman Bret Michaels for The Apprentice, though I did know he was a diabetic

45. Charges, in a way: IONIZES - WARNING~!  Science content

47. Gives a thumbs-up: OKs - 👍

48. Performed in a choir: SANG

49. Scarecrow's desire: BRAIN - ooops; I put in HEART, but that was the Tin Man - no, Oz never did give nuthin' to him - and an Easter ( see 1A) Egg chorus lyric at 1:11

America - Tin Man

50. Good to go: READY

51. Money in Monaco: EUROS - I didn't take the 'plural' into account, but I did think EURO - and I also learned today that this place is a "microstate", not a 'city' in France . . . Huh 

You can just see my "other" house up on the left, overlooking the Frawnche Riviera . . . 

53. Taboos: DON'Ts - I had "NO-NOs", 60% correct

57. One-up: BEST - the 'Canes are one-up on the LV Knights - knight #3, and my musical pun

58. Tropical spot: ISLE - I'd prefer a trip to Europe over any tropical vacation

59. Movie lead: STAR

61. Be in arrears: OWE - "I know the rent is in arrears" - see the themer link at 49A., lyric @ 3:30

62. GPS prediction: ETA - Estim . . . oh , never mind, it's another abbr/acr, #15

. . . and here's the missing F, J 

Splynter

Grid Flow 29.2