Joan known for his "dream paintings" / THU 8-6-26 / Alternate nickname for the "Hollywood of the South" / Chà giò, on a Vietnamese menu / Northern Italian city known for its cheese

Constructor: Dena R. Verkuil and John Kugelman

Relative difficulty: Easy (closer to a Wednesday time, and that's with rebus squares)

THEME: JAM PACKED — The puzzle contains three rebus squares that contain the word "JAM." The down entries for these squares is a food that can contain jam, with the rebus square breaking it apart in the center.

Word of the Day: ELENA (33A: ___ Ferrante, author of the "Neapolitan Novels") —

Elena Ferrante (Italian pronunciation: [ˈɛːlena ferˈrante]) is a pseudonymous Italian novelist. Ferrante's books, originally published in Italian, have been translated into many languages. Her four-book series of Neapolitan Novels are her most widely known works.^[1][2] Time magazine called Ferrante one of the 100 most influential people in 2016.^[3]

Ferrante has kept her identity secret since her 1992 debut, stating that anonymity is key to her writing process and that "books, once they are written, have no need of their authors". Speculation and several theories as to her true identity, based on information Ferrante has given in interviews as well as analysis drawn from the content of her novels, have been put forth, and routinely denied.

• • •

Hello again, it's Eli back after our regular Malaika MWednesday. I always enjoy reading her posts, and I hope you do to. We've got a pretty simple rebus today, so after a puzzle yesterday that maybe felt more like a Thursday, today we have a Wednesday puzzle with a Thursday style gimmick.

No jammie dodger today?

Theme answers:

• [JAM]AICAN RUM / TA[JAM]RT (17A: Spirit of the Caribeean / 1D: Fruity pastry)
• LEBRON [JAM]ES / DOUG[JAM]HNUT (23A: Four-time N.B.A. M.V.P. / 11D: Temptation for Homer Simpson)
• PA[JAM]A PARTY / SAND[JAM]WICH (46A: Pillow fight setting / 34D: Brown-bag item)
• JAM PACKED (60A: Chock-full ... like three squares (and foods) in this puzzle)

I picked up that this was a rebus pretty quickly. I was already on alert since it's a Thursday, and then it became pretty obvious that 17A should be Jamaican Rum (I'm also always on alert for good Jamaican rum... mmmmm, Appleton), and since that wouldn't fit, I figured out the jam gimmick from crosses and was off to the races.  Solid theme; I appreciated that the jam was exactly in the middle of all of the down answers, and a tight revealer - good! I find the down answers/foods less visually appealing because they make nonsense words at face value, but that's a me problem. If you imagine a dollop of a nice strawberry jam on those squares for the down answers it works just fine. I could quibble that if you packed me just a "Jam Sandwich" (34D) for a brown bag lunch I'd ask where the peanut butter was, but I could see myself having it at a high tea (should I ever find myself at high tea). It was probably too simple to truly wow me, but the puzzle didn't make me want to say, "EAT ME" (26D: Tempting words on a Wonderland cake), so I'm pretty happy.

Speaking of high tea...

Pretty much the opposite of 26D, and a good representation of 11D. Mmmmm, forbidden donut.

Only a couple of spots where I slowed down a bit today. My brain always wants "Enervate" to mean "Energize" (which is exactly wrong), so DRAIN (10D: Enervate) took me a second to get right. I also feel like AH I GOTCHA (36D: "OK, that makes sense") is more "words you might hear" than "valid, common phrase." It's not a huge problem, but it took a lot of crosses to parse it correctly.

Not sure what is going on with the two White Lotus clues. I adore AIMEE (49D: "The White Lotus" acress ___ Lou Wood) but there's no reason that ETNA has to be clued to the show (66A: Volcano seen on HBO's "The White Lotus") without there being a specific cross-reference. It's also interesting that Aimee Lou Wood is not in the season of the show with Mount Etna. And why did they specify it was an HBO show in one of the clues but not the other? Interesting editorial choices there. For more HBO content in today's puzzle, you can watch My Brilliant Friend, the adaptation of Elena (33A) Ferrante's Neapolitan Trilogy. 

Mein 39D

I did enjoy a couple of trivia pieces in the clues today. I know Greek mythology is all over the zeitgeist these days, so no surprise to see HERA, but I liked the wordplay in the clue (64A: Goddess whose name is an anagram of her mother's). Her mother is Rhea, if you were curious. And 32A (Kind of seeds found in a basket in King Tutankhamen's tomb) is a fun angle for SESAME. I wonder if Howard Carter was tempted to make Tutahini with those seeds (sorry).

The only way I'd clue "Sesame"

Stray Thoughts:

• 50D: Arabia Felix, now (YEMEN) — I probably haven't watched an episode of Friends in decades, but my first thought when I hear Yemen is still that Chandler lied about moving to in order to get away from Janice. I even remember the fake address he gave her (15 Yemen Road, Yemen). Memory is weird.
• 21D: Not accept an outrade, say (PROTEST) — Like posting about a subject you find objectionable when you substitute on a crossword blog on Tuesday, maybe?
• 65A: Feelings of getting older (ACHES) — I turn 44 in a couple of weeks, and I'm definitely starting to feel this one.

Thanks for reading! I'll be back again for one more spin this weekend. See you then!

Signed, Eli Selzer, False Dauphin of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
=============================
❤️ Support this blog ❤️: 

• Venmo (@MichaelDavidSharp)]

=============================
✏️Upcoming Crossword Tournaments✏️:

• Midwest Crossword Tournament (Chicago, IL, Sat., Oct. 3, 2026)

=============================
📘 My other blog 📘:

• Pop Sensation (vintage paperbacks)