google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Wednesday, June 16, 2021, Dana Wilson

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Jun 16, 2021

Wednesday, June 16, 2021, Dana Wilson

Theme: CHEERS!

Melissa here. And isn't this an interesting puzzle? Rather than the typical set of related theme answers, today we have instead four sets of circled letters that spell out a variety of wine: SHIRAZ, MUSCAT, MERLOT, AND MALBEC.

 The reveal at 52A: Party drink option, no corkscrew required ... and what's in each set of circles. BOXED WINE. This theme would be next to impossible to figure out without the circles.

 

Across:

1. One working with dishes: CHEF.

5. They change on birthdays: AGES.

9. Vegan, e.g.: DIET.

13. Reviewer's "10": RAVE.

14. Absolut rival, familiarly: STOLI. A soviet brand of vodka, short for Stolichnaya, but as the clue suggests, most refer to it as simply STOLI.

15. First name in jazz singing: ELLA.

16. "Excuse me ... ": AHEM.

17. What golfers hit, with "the": LINKS.

18. Send for delivery: SHIP.

19. Traditional flowers used in Indian weddings: MARIGOLDS. Closely related to calendula, which has many medicinal qualities.

21. Fad: CRAZE.

22. Just learning about: NEW TO. Speaking of which, this appears to be Dana's LA Times debut.

23. Justice Kagan et al.: ELENA'S.

24. Another time: AGAIN.

27. Flood stopper: LEVEE. I first read that as "Food stopper." D'oh.

29. Dishevels, as hair: MUSSES.

31. Tel __: AVIV.

32. Baseball bounce: HOP.

35. Marsh plant: CAT TAIL. More botany. Plant of a thousand uses.

37. Strauss opera based on a Sophocles tragedy: ELEKTRA.

39. __-fi: SCI.

40. Creepy look: LEER.

42. "Ghostbusters" ghost: SLIMER. "I've been slimed!"


43. "Casablanca" star, informally: BOGIE. Humphrey Bogart.


44. Divvy up: ALLOT.

45. Come into view: EMERGE.

48. Turn it down: SAY NO.

51. Asia's __ Peninsula: MALAY. The area contains Peninsular Malaysia, Southern Thailand, and the southernmost tip of Myanmar (Kawthaung), as well as the city-state of Singapore, historically inhabited by the Malays, an Austronesian people.


 
56. "Odelay" musician: BECK. The title is a phonetic English rendering of the Mexican slang interjection "órale", which translates roughly to "listen up" or "what's up?" The phrase "odelay" is repeated in the lyrics during the outro of the song "Lord Only Knows." According to Stephen Malkmus, the title is a pun on Oh Delay, since the album took very long to record. The album's cover is a photo of a Komondor, a rare Hungarian breed of dog with a heavy, corded coat. 
 

57. "Queen of Salsa" Cruz: CELIA. Cuban American singer. How Celia Cruz became the 'Queen of Salsa.'

58. __ rug: AREA.

59. Wilcox daughter in "Howards End": EVIE. Played by Vanessa Redgrave in the 1992 film.

60. Relish the taste of: SAVOR.

61. Social sensitivity: TACT.

62. Cabs, say: REDS. Bonus!

63. Shopping cart unit: ITEM.

64. Disapproving sounds: TSKS.

Down:

1. Pull an all-nighter: CRAM. Slang for study - for a test.

2. "LOL!": HAHA.

3. At any time: EVER.

4. Certain equality advocate: FEMINIST.

5. Lopsided: ATILT. Tricky.

6. Aspen transport: GONDOLA. In Venice, it is a flat-bottomed boat used in the canals. In Aspen,
an enclosed car suspended from a cable and used for transporting passengers, as a ski lift.

 7. Group with lodges: ELKS.

8. Member of the fam: SIS. The shortened 'fam' indicates it woudn't be mom or dad.

9. "You Gotta Be" singer: DES'REE. English pop recording artist.

10. Minnesota's __ Omar: ILHAN. U.S. Representative.

11. "Tru Calling" actress Dushku: ELIZA. Faith in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

12. Masking and others: TAPES. Sneaky.

14. Like lento music: SLOW.

20. Family tree subject: GENEALOGY. I usually try to spell it GENEOLOGY.

21. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame city: CLEVELAND.

23. Bad things: EVILS.

24. Gremlin and Pacer: AMCS. Automobile models.

25. Avocado dip, for short: GUAC.

26. Vino venue: ASTI. More wine!

28. First lady: EVE.

30. Long battle: SIEGE.

32. Browser standard: HTML.

33. Black-and-white treat: OREO.

34. Hair line: PART. Funny how styles change. Middle parts for women seem to be in again.

36. Luau accessory: LEI.

38. Electric bill unit: KILOWATT.

41. Settle: RESOLVE.

43. They're depressed by drivers: BRAKES. Not pedals.

45. Old flame?: EMBER. Great clue.

46. Author Binchy: MAEVE. Irish novelist.

47. Spanish folk hero: EL CID. Became well known for his service in the armies of both Christian and Muslim rulers.

49. Truism: AXIOM.

50. Once around the sun: YEAR.

52. Rhythm: BEAT.

53. Portfolio options, for short: IRAS. Individual Retirement Accounts.

54. Place for a figurative pain: NECK.

55. Dines: EATS.

57. CBS series with multiple spin-offs: CSI. Crime Scene Investigation.


69 comments:

OwenKL said...

Got my second jab yesterday. I got a text message, an e-mail, and saw a story in the newspaper, that there was a $100 incentive for anyone here in New Mexico who got their last shot between Monday and Thursday of this week. First I'd heard of it. Strange, because to qualify you'd have to have gotten your first shot a month ago, before (SFAIK) the bonus was announced. Or settle for the J&J vax, which may be what they are trying to push.

In CLEVELAND there once was a beaver,
Who at rail-splitting was an over-achiever!
He'd go with the grain,
Split logs once, then AGAIN,
He was known as Beaver the Cleaver!

For a CHEF, to DIET is heck!
Food tastes, he never can check!
His signature flavor
He no longer may SAVOR,
Nor let WINE trickle down thru his NECK!

{B, B.}

Anonymous said...

This seemed to be 7 minutes and 7 seconds of proper names. Was the payoff worth it? No, and it usually isn't when there's circles involved in a crossword puzzle.

I had no idea on "Elektra", but the crosses were fair.
"Desree" next to "Ilhan" and "Maeve" crossing "Evie" - someone is slipping.

Owen, nice job getting the C-note.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Had the circles. Forgot to look at 'em. But when I did, MALBEC? Wha??? Be calm, d-o. Hand up for two Os in GENEALOGY. Fixed. Also tried SILKS for LINKS. Also fixed. Nice debut, Dana. Enjoyed your expo, Melissa Bee.

MALAY: Spent several months there in the early '80s. I'd left home in early summer for a 5-day trip to the UAE. Got diverted to Singapore (island at the tip of the MALAY peninsula) and barely made it home for Thanksgiving. Dw (who was not dw at the time) claimed that leaving my '82 Celica in her care for such an extended period meant that it was now hers.

KILOWATT: ERCOT, the power regulators here in TX, are begging folks to go easy on electrical usage through Friday. Can't rely on the grid when it's cold; can't rely on the grid when it's hot. Bottom line: can't rely on the grid. BTW, shouldn't the "unit" on the utility bill be a KILOWATT-Hour?

KS said...

Agreed!

Jinx in Norfolk said...

Yes, DO, for most of us it should be KWH, not KW. But there may be an out. IIRC, when I lived in Phoenix, part of the power bill was maximum usage for the month (KW, not KWH, which were billed separately). I absolutely remember that I had a power controller that limited peak power consumption by turning off nonessentials (clothes drier and/or AC compressor, etc) when the preset max would be exceeded.

I've heard of pain in the NECK, but my vocabulary tends toward a three-letter version. Which is odd, because I tend to prefer four-letter words.

I thought this one was a thumper. Maybe Rich got the LAT stack confused with the People Magazine stack. To me, the SW corner was loathsome.

I drank a lot of boxed wine back in the day, but I've never seen a box of MALBEC. Or a bottle of MALBEC, for that matter. I'm in my 6th year without alcohol, so maybe I just forgot.

Big Easy said...

Once AGAIN it was a DNF for me. Even after the BOXED WINE EMERGEd after seeing MUSCAT & MERLOT the SW corner got me. I've heard of MALBEC (I don't drink wine) but didn't know how to spell it. I'd never heard or either BECK or "Odelay". No letter made sense for the unknown MAEVE and the unknown EVIE could have been ELIE.

GENEALOGY- I also spelled it 'geneology' but CATTOIL just looked wrong so I changed O to A.
ILHAN- you get what you vote for. Buyers remorse. But it let me complete the NE- SHIRAZ is a wine I'd never heard of along with the unknown ELIZA Dushku, DES'REE and his/her song and were unknowns. Thank you WAG & perps.

PART- my wide part is ear to ear. Don't need a comb.

ELEKTRA- Perps with a German spelling. Remember the Buick ELECTRA 225? I remember people calling it a "Deuce and a quarter". DW's bicycle is an ELECTRA Townie.

Anon@6:06-""Desree" next to "Ilhan" and "Maeve" crossing "Evie" - someone is slipping." I AGREE 100%.

Jinx- love your "People Magazine" comment. Too many proper names of obscure people.

Yellowrocks said...

Many proper nouns, but perps made it easy.
Maeve Binchy is one of my favorite authors.
The very controversial ILHAN is in the news almost daily.
I solved going down the west coast first. MUSCAT appear early and I suspected the theme was types of wine. MALBEK confirmed it. Just the O in resolve gave me BOXED and then AXIOM.
Place for a figurative pain. I pulled a muscle two or three weeks ago. It is literally a PIA. Bending over to pick something off the floor, sitting on a hard chair or even too long on a soft chair and going up and down stairs are painful. I didn't reconstruct my lost post yesterday because I didn't want to sit that long.
Happy Bloomsday, Misty.
Bloomsday
Bloomsday was featured in an interesting novel I just read, but Ulysses is not my cuppa tea.

Wilbur Charles said...

I immediately see my FIW in SW. Not only did I not know either Natick:MEADE,BECK but the wine is unknown too(MALBEC). Perfect xword for C-Moe to write up.

Oops, I see it's EVIE not Edie so MAEVE *(Binchy). It's as if the xword honchos saw the P&P complaints and said "They ain't seen nuttin "(Hi Emile)

I managed to perp the P's in the NE since they paralleled. Even ILHAN is only vaguely familiar

Owen, big W on Beaver the Cleaver. The Ray's are offering two free tix for a vaccine. They're not drawing flies despite best MLB record. Hello Montreal.

D-O, my sister gave me back my Baracuda when I got back from 'Nam. She didn't know the 'Celica ' rule.

Jinx, congrats on 6 years

WC

Wilbur Charles said...

* If the clue was Irish novelist I'd have had a chance at MAEVE

Yellowrocks said...

I spelled MALBEC properly on the grid, but wrote the typo, MALBEK, which looks strange, in my post.
For years, every few weeks a Microsoft pretender (possibly many of them) threatens to terminate our square dance email at midnight. It never happens. Labeling the email phishing does not help, because then other addresses are used.
OKL, Beaver Cleaver A+

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

Quite a Wednesday challenge.. FIW with erroneous guesses and a forgotten empty B square: BECK x-ing EMBER plus HOP x-ing PART. 😏

Wilber Charles warned us yesterday...lots of PP...like the cryptic vertical trio of DESREE, ILHAN, & ELIZA hiding in the NE corner...CELIA Cruz? EVIE? who? 🤔

HTML is an abbrev, IMO the clue shoulda been too....🙄

GONDOLA: Didn't know there were canals in Aspen. Don't they freeze over? Had "wine" for cabs which would be against the rules if "wine" was part of another clue answer so REDS (and the obvious œnological theme 🍷 ). STOLI..(mixing vodka with wine?)🤪

Depressed by drivers... roadkill? 🤣

Hereditary study of lamp dwellers.....GENEALOGY.
Campaign slogan for an Egyptian.
god
....ELEKTRA
What Dudley Do-right does for Nell....SAVOR.
Do the math, again...RESOLVE.

Temp dropped into the 40s in the Mohawk Valley last night..up to 80 this weekend...Central NY thermometers are confused

TokenCreek said...

My, aren't we in fine fettle this morning. Jinx, you were gone too long. Almost choked on my caffeine several times reading youse guys. FIR with a few lucky-neck WAGs (isn't that redundant?) in the SW. Wilber, you warned us yesterday about the names. Here in Token Creek, we get charged by the KWH. Many in the Summer. Not so many in the Winter. Part? Mine's just one big mop. Happy Hump Day, all.

waseeley said...

Thanks Dana for a puzzle with a nice NOSE and a smooth FINISH (pretty much the extent of my oenophile vocab). Saw the circles and, as I was solving pretty much left to right, saw the theme immediately, which helped tremendously with the rest of the puzzle. And thank you Melissa for another informative review. Particularly liked the link on CATTAILS - we used to try to smoke them when we were kids.

Fav fill was 37A ELEKTRA, a gut wrenching, gruesome opera about the last bits of KARMA left over from the Trojan War. Klytämnestra and her lover, Aegisth are axed to death by her son Orest, goaded on by Elektra in revenge for Klytämnestra's killing of Elektra's and Orest's father Agamemnon on his return from the war. Of course everyone has forgotten that Agamemnon had sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia as an offering to the gods to win the Trojan War. How quickly we forget.

Just SAY NO.

Cheers,
Bill

Sherry said...

12 proper names, what's the record?
Knew 5.

Emile O'Touri said...

FIR until the natick name crossing in the SW. Why would you do this? Another dead obscure author (to me) and tv series that lasted 4 episodes that I'm supposed to remember.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-Buzz, thanks for playing Gary! It’s MAEVE not MAUDE, EVIE NOT EDIE and there is a wine called MALDEC not MALDUC. We have some lovely parting gifts!
-No hitting the LINKS today. Temps are 100+ today and tomorrow. 75 on Monday!
-We gave our granddaughter my garage door opener for when she babysat Lily. She accidentally (why do I here “on accident” so often) took it home and has to SHIP it back. Man, do I miss it!
-Bogie said, “Play it, Sam” NOT “Play it AGAIN, Sam”.
-Baeball’s most famous bad HOP ground ball hit Tony Kubek in the NECK and kept a 3-run-inning alive for the Pirates who went on the win the 1960 World Series with Bill Mazerozki hitting a famous homerun in the 9th.
-GENEAOLOGY – I knew there was an “A” in there somewhere
-KILOWATT – I sympathize with our Texas friends! A quarter mile from me is the huge pile of coal that gives us all the energy we need.
-This device allows me to hardly ever use the BRAKES unless I want to come to a full stop

Bill V. said...

Reminded me of an old TV Guide crossword, chock-full of proper names

Irish Miss said...

GoodMorning:

I may be a little grumpy due to the lack of A/C for a week, so far, but Thumper and I will plead the Fifth.

Thanks, MB, for your fine expo.

Happy Bloomsday, Misty.

Ray O, please send those cool temps our way, though, we’re enjoying more pleasant weather than we had earlier in the month. I’m grateful and hope the new A/C is installed before the heat and humidity return in full force.

Have a great day.

oc4beach said...


Not a favorite today. Too many proper names that I didn't know.

I also agree with Anon @6:06 - "Desree" next to "Ilhan" and "Maeve" crossing "Evie" - someone is slipping. A little bit of a Natick.

Ray-O: Its the same in Central PA. Lows in the 40°'s the last two nights and highs predicted to be in the 80°'s this weekend. Nice and sunny today but only a high of about 70°.

HG: A keypad garage door remote opener is handy for allowing temporary entry without having to give up your remote. The nice thing about some models is that you can put in a temporary guest PIN for them to use.

Have a great day everyone.

Husker Gary said...

Addendum: That huge pile of coal is immediately adjacent to to this five acre installation

Hungry Mother said...

The cascade of names lately has made solving no fun at all. I quit the NYT puzzle this morning at the cross of two rappers. Constructors: please, more wordplay. I might have to find another activity following SB if the creeping trivia doesn’t abate.

Yellowrocks said...

<Maeve Binchy, obscure? Wiki says "Her novels, which were translated into 37 languages, sold more than 40 million copies worldwide, and her death at age 73, announced by Vincent Browne on Irish television late on 30 July 2012, was mourned as the death of one of Ireland's best-loved and most recognisable writers." She is contemporary, having died less than 9 years ago.

CanadianEh! said...

Wednesday Workout. Thanks for the fun, Dana (congrats on your debut) and melissa bee.
I got the theme early at 52A, and went back to look at the circles and find the WINEs. We had Easter Eggs, REDS and ASTI to SAVOR (although this Canadian wanted a U). SKOLI is an outlier. CMoe may want to increase our knowledge of these WINEs, although he may not prefer them BOXED!

Hand up for an O before A in GENEALOGY. I had Cars before AMCS - what on earth is RatToil at the Marsh😮😁
YR introduced me to MAEVE Binchy in a previous CW here, and I have read and enjoyed Circle of Friends. But I entered Maude at first and was hard pressed to change Edie to EVIE after Buck changed to BECK (because I was sure of MALBEC).

But I had to resort to Google in the NE corner - looking up ELIZA ( why couldn’t she have been clued as Doolittle?) opened that corner. Oh, the Masking has nothing to do with Covid😮😁. I was debating between ELLA and Etta; this Canadian did not remember IHLAN, let alone the proper spelling. But I put ELENA into my CW memory bank long ago, so no complaints there.
WC did warn us about all the names today, and Lemonade’s link yesterday spoke about broadening the appeal and cultural, age base of clues. Our AGES may be showing with our difficulties here. But I agree that Natick name crossings are problematic.

Wishing you al a great day. Another beautiful one here.

PK said...

Hi Y'all! A shameless name dropper is our Dana Wilson. Groan! Melissa, thanks for your work.

I suspected the WINE theme early but thot I was wrong. Never heard of SHIRAZ or MALBEC. Never had BOXED WINE, but noticed the neat little BOXEs made by the circles.

NE section was Last to fill. 9, 10, & 11 downs being unknown names plus ELLA & ELANAS & CLEVELAND was overload and just cruel.

NEW TO me: ELECTRA, BECK, CELIA, EVIE, DESIREE. Knew & love MAEVE's books.

I have been doing GENEALOGY since I was 13 with Letter writing, trips, meetings with relatives & extensive research before computers.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

A special thanks to those who offered the nice comments on my yesterday's link. As Lizza said "This is a good group".

A few write-overs but got it all. Knowing we were after BOXED WINE helped to fill the NE. Had Etta before ELLA.
KILOWATT - D-O is right, the billing unit is kilowatt-hours. It is an energy unit. On larger industrial users, at least in NYS, there would also be a capacity or power (kilowatt) charge based on their peak (monthly) usage.
EMERGE - At sea, when first spotting a large vessel, say, an aircraft carrier, and in clear weather, say from 15-20 miles away, one only sees the stacks or mast or high superstructure part. This is called "hull down". As the distance closes and more of the object EMERGES, one can truly see the earth's curvature come into play.

Have a great day.

Becky said...

I didn't have trouble with theSW corner, it was the NE that almost did me in. Jeez! Didn't know any of those down names.

Since we're talking about books, Maeve is also one of my favorites, written well, and just so happy, at least at the end. I was so sad when she died. Elizabeth Goudge is also a favorite, I don't think any of her books are in print now. The Scent of Water is one of my favorites.

AND ALSO Jaqueline Winspeare. She writes about Maisie Dobbs, a psychologist and private investigator in business after nursing in WWI. There is one stand alone novel, The Care and Management of Lies. I highly recommend her novels.

Sorry for going on and on.

Becky

And one of these days I will go on and on about pizzas and those God awful stones.

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

Irish M...Oc4beach and I will turn our local wind turbines toward Troy the next time the temperature drops.😄

BTW..what does the term "thumper" and "Easter Eggs"(hidden?) refer too? 🤔

Malodorous Manatee said...

As others have noted, lots of proper nouns and that is generally not to my liking. Still, the theme was really imaginative so, speaking only for myself, I am inclined to be charitable with the names. A few semi-wags and it was FIR.

Vive le Beaver the Cleaver!

waseeley said...

YellowRocks @9:40 AM

Your earlier post on Bloomsday, "coincidentally" had this link Remembering Maeve Binchy. I have to admit that I haven't read any of her books, but I've seen several film adaptations like Anner House and the Lilac Bus. She's far from NATICK worthy.

Terry said...

Thanks for interesting note.

inanehiker said...

Very creative theme - although the wines in the boxes are the least likely to be boxed :)

I have enjoyed Maeve Binchy books for years - my introduction and probably still favorite is "Circle of Friends". Her protagonists are so relatable and flawed like we all are- still haven't gotten to Ireland but it's on my bucket list!

Thanks Melissa and Dana!

TokenCreek said...

Ray-O : THUMPER was Bambi's little rabbit friend whose mother told him "If You Can't say something nice, don't say anything at all".

AnonymousPVX said...


I had one bad cell in this Wednesday namefest. Any guesses?

Correctamundo, it was the natick…for the most of us…at 46D and 59A.

I had a “D” instead of “V”. But an alphabet run would not have helped.

Gee, I must have missed the massive TV coverage of Binchy’s passing 9 years ago on my Irish TV station…oh, wait, right, I live in America.

One should note that if the natick in question is known by you, then it’s not a natick…for you.

See you tomorrow.

Emile O'Touri said...

@YELLOWROCKS "Obscure to ME". Since you are familiar with the author it was an easy fill for you. Here in lies the trouble with PP.

AnonDon said...


Definitely a Thumper. FIW

Vidwan827 said...


For Ray-O-Subshine ..... Thanks for your daily dose of interventional vitamins and flavinoids. er, homonyms and other quirks, which we are totally addicted to by now.

Since nobody else has answered your questions, yet,
A Thumper or a non-capitalised thumper, is a mild or serious rebuke of the CW puzzle.
From a Thumper, ( a rotund rabbit, in the Bambi movie ) who says,'If you cannot say anything nice, it is better not to say anything at all.'

An An Easter Egg is more difficult concept to explain, - some sort of hidden message, beyond the theme of the puzzle. A sort of conceptual, virtual, egg hidden around for a chance discovery.

Hope this helps.
Have a nice day, all.

waseeley said...

Ray - O @10:41 AM An "Easter Egg" is a programmer term for a "hidden page" or sequence of pages invoked by an undocumented key sequence. These pages can really be anything that the programmer would like to share with "those in the know". The term "backdoor" is related, although its purpose is usually nefarious.

john28man said...

FYI: Malbac is an Argentine red wine. It sits between Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir in taste.

Ray - O - Sunshine said...


Thanks Token Creek...

So a "Thumper" would be...

"Maeve got quite Binchy during a long day of book signing"

😃

waseeley said...

AnonymousPVX @11:45 AM I don't know if it's still true to today, but after the potato famine (2nd half of the 19th Century) there were more Irish born people living in American than in Ireland. You've really got to start watching more police shows! :-)

Vidwan827 said...


Ray-O I'm surprised you were not able to suss MAEVE quite right ...

MAEVE - The first lady's putative mother, or depending upon your point of view ... Adam's rib cage or sternum ... or possibly related to Orangs, Chimps and the Great Apes ....

Yellowrocks said...

Emile, I suppose it is terminology. I don't call most things obscure when they are not in my wheelhouse or are unknown to me. Many things I learn here that are known to others are new to me, but I don't consider them obscure.
Maeve Binchy has many books in American libraries, bookstores, Penguin Books USA, and on Amazon. Her obit was in the NYT Book Review. She was at one time listed as NYT's best selling author. You don't have to be Irish or live in Ireland to know about her.
I suppose I should not be expected to know of Alfred Lord Tennyson or Cicero, because they are not from my time or place.
If constructors limited themselves to only what "everybody" knows, crosswords would be weak, indeed.

Lucina said...

Hola!

So late to add to this interesting discussion to which I must say, I loved this puzzle! As an avid reader I am familiar with the references and allusions.

And I really liked the BOXED WINES in their neatly stacked BOXES.

I also love CELIA Cruz. Netflix has a film of her life which I saw some time ago. Last year, I think.

And I love MAEVE Binchy's books of which I have some. Ray-O, her passing was noted in the U.S.A. both in print and on the air.

I also have Jacqueline Winspear's books with Maisie Dobbs and am fervently waiting for the next one which is due later this summer.

This puzzle is not among my favorites, but it was easily solved in spite of all the names which were easily sussed if I didn't know them. So thank you, Dana Wilson, for the challenge.

And thank you, Melissa, for your interesting and well illustrated commentary.

I hope your day is going well, everyone! Happy Bloomsday, Misty and all.

Lucina said...

Owen:
I loved your Beaver Cleaver!

unclefred said...

As others have mentioned, quite a few proper names, but other than that a nice CW, thanx, Dana. I even got the theme, which I rarely manage to do. FIR in 21. Only W/O was SIB:SIS. SLIMER all perps. Nothing to “wine” about with this CW. Excellent write-up, Melissa, thanx!

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

Waz

I read and re read the Easter Egg concept and am still at sea. (I only have so many working neurons.)

But more interested in your theory that the lack of potatoes in Ireland caused a rise in fertility among Irish Americans? 😄🥔🥔😄

Vid..I hope is was a sparerib that Pa Adam gave Ma Eve..for which he got an 🍎 in return.

Yellowrocks said...

Bota Box sells many kinds of wine. All of the theme boxed wines are sold by them, MERLOT MALBEC, MOSCATO and SHIRAZ. Shiraz is also known as Syrah.

Misty said...

Delightful puzzle, Dana-- enjoyed it very much. And your write-ups are always a pleasure, Melissa.

What fun to see all those WINES in this puzzle, including my favorite: MERLOT.
When I saw that the answer to the clue CABS on the bottom was REDS, I thought wait a minute, I've never seen a RED TAXICAB. Oh, wines, CABERNET. Are they RED? Looked it up and CABERNET SAUVIGNON is "more rich and robust" than my nightly MERLOT. I guess that's why my Merlots only cost $6 a bottle.

Thank you for your kind Bloomsday greetings, Irish Miss and Yellowrocks.

Have a great day, everybody.

Kelly Clark said...

Here's one way to make an Easter Egg, Ray o' Sunshine. Say you guys made a crossword puzzle about the LA Times. You could write your clues so that the initial letters spelled out a "secret" message...something like:

H A P P Y S O L V I N G F R O M Y O U R F R I E N D S A T C R O S S W O R D C O R N E R

Lizza said...

Hello everyone. I didn’t care for the names in the NE, What? And who are they? Other than that I enjoyed the boxed wine theme. Will not drink it though..
We actually enjoyed a very nice Shiraz about a month ago, affordable and highly recommended.
Hope you’re doing well. We’re enjoying perfect weather today in our neck of the woods. 77, no humidity and beautiful blue skies. Perfection for me.

waseeley said...

Ray - O @1:44 PM One last stab. It's a subroutine invoked when the user presses an undocumented key sequence. What it does is a surprise!

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

I appreciate everyone's attempt to penetrate my impervious pate.🙄

End with...A comic on SiriusXM radio said he wanted tattoos of Easter Eggs but told the tattoo artist to hide them .🤭

Ol' Man Keith said...

Lotsa peninsulas in Asia, so that slowed me a bit. As did all those names in the NE corridor.

Shoulda-knowed-better Dept.:
Filling ETTA before ELLA.
D'oh!

Yes - Happy official Bloomsday to Misty and all Joyceans out there!
Yellowrocks sez Ulysses is not her "cuppa tea." I saw the movie with Milo O'Shea, and the book continues to be my cuppa tea--a very-long, ever-lasting, begun-in-the-'60s-and-still-being-read-to-this-day cuppa!

At my death bed, they may be muttering,
"Ya think maybe he finished Ulysses?"
~ OMK

Anonymous T said...

Flight Simulator Easter Egg in Excel 97 .

FIW - ETTA and EdIE.

Play later, -T

CrossEyedDave said...

NE corner gave me agita,

forget this puzzle, I'm going to bed...

Ray-O,
You don't know Thumper?
hmm, this calls for the long link version...

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Someone mention names?

Thanks Dana for the fun theme but the names were a killer.

Thank you mb for helping salve my Wednesday wounds.

WOs: N/A
ESPs: NE and SW, more or less. CELIA, ELEKTRA
FIW: EttA (Hi Spitz) seemed fine as did EdIE (Hi WC & PVX!) xing who? //Thanks YR
Fav: Figurative pain seems apropos

{B+, A}

LOL "water" bed, CED.

D-O: I don't know what's special about Friday (re: ERCOT)... Look like it will be hot for a while. [Space City Weather].

Enjoyed commiserating with y'all today :-)

Cheers, -T

Jayce said...

I juts finished the puzzle but have not read Melissa's nor y'all's comments. I have 2 things to say. (1) Humphrey Bogart's nickname is not BOGIE, it's BOGEY. (2) Crossing proper names ELLA, ILHAN, ELIZA, DES'REE, and ELENAS all crammed together is simply brutal.

I'll write more later.

Jayce said...

Sorry, but an electric bill unit is a kilowatt-hour, not just kilowatt, which in electric consumption terms is meaningless.

I also noticed crossing MAEVE with BECK and EVIE.

*grumble grumble*

Jayce said...

Misty, a bottle of Bogle is $6? Where do you get it that cheap?

Nothing more to say today. Good wishes to you all.

waseeley said...

CED @5:37 PM That's the fairy tale version. Here's what really happened ...

Yuman said...

Ray O
An Easter egg is a message, image, or feature hidden in a video game, film, or other, usually electronic, medium.
Very common in Pixar movies, grandkids always find them.

unclefred said...

Mellissa thanx too fort the Beck picture. I never thought I see a haystack jumping hurdles!

CanadianEh! said...

Ray-o- since I was the one who used the Easter Egg term today, let me give you my definition.
I think it was Irish Miss who used the term once, and I thought it was appropriate and remembered it. To me, it means an extra CW answer that is not part of the official theme (ie. marked with an *, long answer) but can be tied into the theme if you happen to notice it and considered a treat (just like a child searching out an Easter Egg).
Melissa saw them today too (62a REDS Bonus! and 26D ASTI More wine!); she just didn’t call them Easter Eggs.
I’m not sure if the constructors are even aware of them, but they bring me a smile when I find them😁

OwenKL said...

Hadn't thought of it that before, but all the poems over on JumbleHints are really fields of easter eggs!

Misty said...

Jayce, I checked with my helper, who now does the shopping for me, to ask him about the price of Bogle. He says it's still about 6$ or 7$ because that's the price per bottle if you buy six bottles. If you buy a single one, it's likely to be between 11$ or $12.

That may not work for everyone but I only drink a few glasses of Merlot with supper and an hour or two afterwards, and so buying it by the half dozen at the lower price makes sense.

Jayce said...

Misty, that makes sense to me. Thank you.

Lucina said...

What is Bogle?

Anonymous T said...

Lucina - ILU, it's a line of WINEs.

I was thinkin' Bach @56a 'cuz I didn't know that BECK album...
So, I'm a Loser (baby, so why don't you kill me?) [3:53].

And, now, for something completely different... Anyone else hear the Sinkhole in Mexico story? [NPR].

Any theories Jayce?

Another big day tomorrow - hope I can play b/f everyone's in bed.

Cheers, -T

Anon said...

Once again proper names are extremely disliked by me. I did not know six of them. Please stop with the obscure names.