You are quite correct FS.
But I did not say that you said that wings play no part in ........ (let's not go there it will get very boring).
But if you look at the post made by Tuba Mirum at 1702 on the 16th, it is quite clear that this is how he/she was interpreting your comments. Because this interpretation misses the whole point of area ruling, I felt that it needed to be corrected.
In many aircraft designs, the arrival of the wings in the hole in our vertical slice of air represents the greatest and most abrupt single change of cross sectional area. The benefits of area ruling will therefore be greatest if we take this fact into account when designing the overall shape of our aircraft.
WOK, The Buccaneer was indeed a good example of area ruling. I believe that it was also another example of an aircraft where the drag was lower with the external (slipper) tanks fitted than without.