Pale pink vineyard offerings / MON 8-8-22 / Boater or bowler / Wipe out big-time / Rap's Lil __ X

Theme answers:

• BLUSH WINES (17A: Pale pink vineyard offerings) 
• SHADOW BOX (25A Practice punches with an imaginary opponent) 
• POWDER KEG (52A: Barrel of explosive stuff, or a situation that's ready to blow) 
• LINER NOTES (61A: Writings on an album sleeve or jewel case insert)

Word of the Day:SALK (40D: Vaccine pioneer Jonas)) —

Jonas Edward Salk (October 28, 1914 – June 23, 1995) was an American virologist and medical researcher who developed one of the first successful polio vaccines. He was born in New York City and attended the City College of New York and New York University School of Medicine. In 1947, Salk accepted a professorship in the School of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. It was there that he undertook a project to determine the number of different types of poliovirus, starting in 1948. For the next seven years, Salk devoted himself toward developing a vaccine against polio. (Wiki)

This was one of the easier Mondays I’ve done in a while. The MAKEUP theme was nice, and I felt I had a slight leg up as someone who does indeed wear MAKEUP. Now, the theme doesn’t entirely work because, well, I’ve only ever referred to it (or heard it referred to) as “eye shadow,” not just SHADOW, or LINER— it would be “lip liner” or “eyeliner” or something like that. I also thought the revealer was in a slightly weird place at 50D. Usually, if the theme is just a single word, it’ll be the last across or maybe the last down; but the second-to-last down? 

In all, I felt the puzzle was pleasant. The fill was a bit uninspired, but it also wasn’t bad. The solve went so quickly that I felt like I didn’t even have time to process some of the clues/answers, and it’s only when I went back that I developed both an appreciation for some answers and a meh feeling for others. On that note, I didn’t like ART I (26D) or IF I (62D). A SEC (21A) is also pretty ugly. 38D: "The way I see it," to texters could’ve been IMHO or just “imo.” There were both ODE (63D: Poem of praise) and ODD (44A: Quirky) in the puzzle. A lot of it felt crosswordese-y (crossword-easy?). There was also a strong religious current, with PRIEST (6D: One officiating at communion or hearing confession), DEACON (27D: Subordinate of a 6-Down), VESPER (34D: Evening prayer), and LOT (61D: Biblical fellow with a salty wife?) all in the puzzle. 

From a tweet, I was clued into the fact that LAPP (37D: Reindeer herder of Scandinavia) is considered a slur by some people. A Wikipedia entry says, “The Sámi have historically been known in English as Lapps or Laplanders, but these terms are regarded as offensive by the Sámi, who prefer the area's name in their own languages, e.g. Northern Sámi Sápmi. Their traditional languages are the Sámi languages, which are classified as a branch of the Uralic language family.” I couldn’t find a ton of information about this issue, but because the people seem to not want to be referred to in this way, I wish this hadn’t been in the puzzle. 

I liked SNOW SUIT (39D), POWDER KEG (52A), and AMNESIAC (42A), in particular, which just felt off the beaten path for a crossword. For 9D: Atlanta-based TV channel, I originally put TNT, which is also based in Atlanta, but when I got to 13D: Explosive stuff, in brief and knew the answer for that one was TNT, I realized I must’ve made an error at 9D. I do know TNT and TBS are related, because NBA analysts move between the sets. (And, yes, Ernie Johnson is the MVP of both.) 

Got nothing much else to say about the puzzle! I’ll be back again tomorrow, and I hope everyone has a great Monday.

Misc.:

• The only thing I could think of when I saw POWDER KEG was the line in Hamilton in the song “Right Hand Man”: “We are a powder keg about to explode.” So that song will be stuck in my head for a while now. 
• I liked seeing STIR (30A) quite close to VESPER (34D). They’re seemingly unrelated, but in “Casino Royale” Ian Fleming invented the Vesper martini, named after the main female character in the novel. So it felt fitting to have this drink right next to the Bond clue/answer about martinis at 30A, even if the placement wasn’t intentional. 
• 48A: Metrical foot in poetry as IAMB takes me back to 12th grade English class where I had to learn about poetry and rhyme schemes and write my own poems — and ugh. I did not enjoy that segment of class. 
• I wish I could’ve eaten the NAAN (16A) from our Indian food order last night, but I’m newly gluten-free because it seems I have a gluten allergy that’s been affecting my breathing😞😞😞 Oh, well.

Signed, Clare Carroll, someone who knows Liverpool is going to finish at the top of the table this season

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