Unfiltered and unpasteurized brew / WED 9-29-21 / Mane character of classic TV / Mammal with prehensile proboscis / Like background of Wicked poster / Assistant with goofy beatboxing routine just ask / K-pop star whose hit 2012 song refrain made The Yale Book of Quotations (whatever that is)

Word of the Day: ASMARA (10D: Capital of Eritrea) —

Asmara (/æsˈmɑːrə/ əs-MAHR-ə), or Asmera, is the capital and most populous city of Eritrea, in the country's Central Region. It sits at an elevation of 2,325 metres (7,628 ft), making it the sixth highest capital in the world by altitude. The city is located at the tip of an escarpment that is both the northwestern edge of the Eritrean Highlands and the Great Rift Valley in neighbouring Ethiopia. In 2017, the city was declared as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its well-preserved modernist architecture. The site of Asmera was first settled in 800 BC with a population ranging from 100 to 1000. The city was then founded in the 12th century AD after four separate villages unified to live together peacefully after long periods of conflict. Under Italian rule the city of Asmara was made capital of Eritrea in the last years of the 19th century. (wikipedia)

SECRET has nothing to do with "opposite," so ... I'm just stunned by the irrelevance of SECRET. The main idea of the puzzle isn't SECRET. The main idea is that the circled squares reverse (*reverse*) the meaning of the Across term, turning it into its *opposite* ... so if you're going to have a revealer, it should be something that conveys that. SECRET conveys nothing. It's overgeneral and ridiculous and honestly completely useless. Extraneous. You don't need it at all. I finished this puzzle never even noticing that there *was* a revealer. I saw that the circled letters spelled out SECRET, and I thought, "well, that's interesting, but it has Nothing to do with the actual gimmick, weird." And *then* I saw that there was a revealer, which just seemed goofy and unnecessary. I mean, you must have seen what was going on with the theme before you got down there, so SECRET, at that point, would be a. wrong and b. completely anti-climactic. There is no punch in the revealer, and there's especially no punch in the *repeated* SECRET in the circled squares. In fact, there was never much of a SECRET at all, since the Down crosses give you those squares. You can see the gimmick pretty quickly. I'm genuinely astonished at how weak a revealer / spelled-out thingie SECRET is. If REVERSE had been the revealer ... maybe you've got something. Or ANTONYM. I dunno. Something. SECRET ... what a waste. Another example of a technical / architectural feat done for its own sake, with no concern for whether the concept underneath it all really makes any sense. SECRET ... wow ... still shaking my head over the fact that I saw the revealer so late and that all it did was repeat the world I could already see inside the circled letters, and that that word was (still) in no way specifically related to the actual theme concept (which, again, is meaning reversal, not SECRETs). 

Do people use DHL? I believe it exists because I do crosswords, but I want to call it DSL every time (oh, also: do people use DSL?). YODELLED with two "L"s looks nutts. If LEVELER has one "L" then YODELED should be spelled thusly, and yes, my spellcheck likes the one-L version and hates the two-L so what is even happening there? Are we yodel(l)ing on a peak in Britain? Yodel(l)ing while British. Isn't the two-L spelling typically a British thing? The extra "L makes me want to pronounce it with three syllables, the same way "learned" can be pronounced with two.

I know the title "Heather Has Two Mommies" but LESLEA, nope, that slipped out of my brain (44A: Newman who wrote "Heather Has Two Mommies"). Talk about a wordlist name—all those vowels! Speaking of wordlist names: REAL ALE (29A: Unfiltered and unpasteurized brew). That entry is just an excuse to get lots of 1-point Scrabble letters into the grid to act like glue and help you hold the grid together. I've never heard of REAL ALE, the same way I've never heard of SHAM ALE. SHAM ALE for my real friends, REAL ALE ale for my sham friends! (and LESLEA, probably). I reforgot ASMARA today, but reremembered it after a couple of crosses, so I give myself a "C" on my ASMARA-remembering test. Big "D'oh!" moment with CAROLE King. You got me there, clue (26D: King of pop). Nice one. I also wrote in TIRE (off the "E") for 49A: It's in heavy rotation on the highway (AXLE). Probably not a great idea to put USER (NAME) and USED (CDS) *and* (!!?) DISUSE in the same puzzle. That's just lazy / negligent. I need coffee now. Looking forward to tomorrow's puzzle! See you (T)HERE! Mwah!

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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