16A. This is an evocative clue! [Blissful stretch] makes me think of a happy cat. The “stretch” in question is a span of time that lasts a while, if you’re lucky: It’s the HONEYMOON PERIOD.
On-air challenge: This is a phonetic puzzle. If I asked you to say a letter of the alphabet before one of the gifts of the Three Wise Men to get a boy's name, you'd put L before MYRRH to get ELMER.