Onetime reality show with Whitney Houston / TUE 4-19-11 / Biographer Leon / 1997 Jennifer Lopez biopic / Medieval treasure chest

Constructor: Randall J. Hartman

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: BBB (33D: Grp. that battles consumer fraud ... or a hint to some much-repeated letters in this puzzle) — puzzle has a lot of Bs in it. It sure does.


Word of the Day: Leon EDEL (16A: Biographer Leon) —

Joseph Leon Edel (9 September 1907 – 5 September 1997) was a North American literary critic and biographer. He was the elder brother of North American philosopher Abraham Edel. // The Encyclopædia Britannica calls Edel "the foremost 20th-century authority on the life and works of Henry James." His work on James won him both a National Book Award and a Pulitzer Prize. (wikipedia)

• • •

Very easy and somewhat entertaining because of a few of the longer answers (most notably BAN THE BOMB, BEER BARREL, and especially "BEING BOBBY BROWN"). Wish the theme had been tighter: BBB isn't a hint to anything, really. It's just 3 Bs. It's no more a hint to the puzzle's theme than B AND B (AND B AND B AND B etc.). Thought briefly, as I was solving (very quickly) that there were three Bs in every long answer, and possibly that every long answer was a three-B-word phrase (a lot to ask), but no. And no. Just Bs. All over the place. To the long answers' credit, all words in those answers begin with B, so that's something, consistency-wise, I guess. There are an unfortunate number of repeated letter strings: BARB and BARBARA; BOB and BOBBY; ABA and BABA and ABABA and BABAR; etc. I was going too fast to be bothered much by any of these repetitions. ARCA (15A: Medieval treasure chest) and EDEL are irksome crosswordese, but all in all, despite having kind of a non-theme, this one bounced enough to be moderately enjoyable.


Long answers:

• 17A: Relaxing soak (BUBBLE BATH)
  
• 23A: First lady who wrote "Millie's Book" (BARBARA BUSH)
  
• 38A: Onetime reality show with Whitney Houston ("BEING BOBBY BROWN")
  
• 47A: Louisville Slugger, e.g. (BASEBALL BAT)
  
• 10D: Brewery container (BEER BARREL)
  
• 29D: Anti-nuke slogan (BAN THE BOMB)
  

Hardly a hesitation today. The [Dumb cluck] clues could've been just about anything (lots of applicable 4-letter words), so I had to wait for crosses there, but otherwise I didn't blink, not even at EDEL (a gimme to me now, after being a !?!?! to me a couple years back) and BRYCE (no idea why I know this Canyon, but I do). Went so fast I didn't even see the clues for BENES or ALEPH (13D: Letter before Beth). The ampersandwich is really making a comeback of late—two RANDRs, a DANDD, and now a BANDB (47D: Hardly a chain hotel, informally). A welcome trend, I would say, were it not for the sizable uptick in desperate emails that I receive every time one of these answers shows up ("I don't understand"). See also any clue referencing a letter string via a telephone keypad (e.g. [6 letters]=>MNO). Man, those baffle people for some reason. Can you still "POKE" people on Facebook? I'm on Facebook every day, but have never POKED or been POKED (to my knowledge—so, if you've been poking me ... you're doing it wrong) (67A: Contacted on Facebook, in a way).



Bullets:

• 46A: 1997 Jennifer Lopez biopic ("SELENA") — Look, Jennifer Lopez is indeed "beautiful," but "Most Beautiful Woman in the World?" If she weren't on "Idol," would "People" really be saying that? Also, am I really spending 30 some-odd seconds typing these questions as if they are meaningful? (answer, sadly = yes)
  
• 24D: Dubai denizens (ARABS) — ARAB here crosses the ARAB in BARBARA BUSH. I know, I shouldn't notice these things, but I do.
  
• 37D: 1987 album later rereleased as "The Celts" ("ENYA") — "ENYA" as album title = nice entry into the "How the Hell Do I Clue ENYA This Time?" sweepstakes.
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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P.S. Crossword constructor and constant commenter Andrea Carla Michaels gets fan mail. I know this because much of it is sent to me. Just a taste...

I like the part where I'm an afterthought ... :)

Creepy 1981 Lauren Bacall film / TUE 1-25-11 / Jazz saxophonist Coltrane / 60 Minutes correspondent Logan / MGM mogul Marcus

Constructor: Randall J. Hartman

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: City palindromes — four 15-letter palindromic nonsense phrases (actually, three complete sentences, one phrase) that start with city names


Word of the Day: RAVI Coltrane (11D: Jazz saxophonist Coltrane) —

Ravi Coltrane (b. August 6, 1965 in Long Island, New York) is an American post-bop jazz saxophonist. Co-owner of the record label RKM Music, he has produced artists such as pianist Luis Perdomo, guitarist David Gilmore and trumpeter Ralph Alessi. // Ravi Coltrane is the son of the legendary tenor saxophonist John Coltrane and jazz pianist Alice Coltrane. He is also cousin to experimental music producer Steven Ellison aka Flying Lotus. He was raised in Los Angeles, California, and was named after sitar player Ravi Shankar. (wikipedia)

• • •

Good morning. Tuesdays and Thursdays are going to be tight from now through May, as the reality of my existence has come crashing back upon me, i.e. the new semester has started. Today, in fact. In under three hours, in fact. Somehow I ended up teaching at 8:30am this term. What the ...? I'm a morning person, but by "morning person" I mean someone who gets up early and putters around the house A Lot and is normally still in pajamas and watching DVR'd late-night TV at 8:30am and doesn't really get cracking until 10 or so. Those days are gone. Or at least they're gone Tuesdays and Thursdays. Anyway, I'll have to get to sleep pretty early and squeeze in a puzzle write-up first thing in the morning on those days. Just so you know.

I enjoyed today's puzzle. Felt very easy, but I ended up with a pretty normal time because my brain can process palindromes only so quickly (which is to say, "Slowly"). So I'd type the front end fast and then peck ... at ... the ... keyboard to get the rest. WARSAW NUN WAS RAW was the hardest because I had WARSAW and its mirror in place but no hint to the middle but "sister" and what the hell is "THE FAN?" I thought that was a Wesley Snipes movie? Robert DeNiro? Anyone? I missed the 1981 "THE FAN" (6D: Creepy 1981 Lauren Bacall film). Had "THE FA-" written in and didn't dare fill in that last letter on a guess. Thankfully, UMIAK was familiar to me (29D: Eskimo boat), and so NUN leapt forth. Everything else very easy, except RAVI, whom I can't remember ever seeing before. His parents and his namesake are, of course, very famous.



Theme answers:

• 17A: Spanish moray still exists (SEVILLE EEL LIVES)
  
• 26A: Polish sister showed her inexperience (WARSAW NUN WAS RAW)
  
• 43A: Silver State boogie band autopsy expert (RENO ROCK CORONER) — that clue makes no sense, and since this one's a phrase and not a sentence, it is By Far the weakest of the bunch. Further, "boogie band?" What year is it?
  
• 56A: Red Sox fans mourned tearlessly (BOSTON DID NOT SOB)
  

Bullets:

• 16A: "60 Minutes" correspondent Logan (LARA) — she's part of a rising crossword class. Get to know her.
  
• 36A: W.W. II pinup features (GAMS) — one of the all-time great slang words.
  
• 41A: "Pet" that's a plant (CHIA) — apparently CHIA is not just a brand name but a real plant. My mom says she eats CHIA seeds on her oatmeal every morning. They're supposed to be high in Omega-3s.
  
• 5D: Teen loiterer (MALLRAT) — I haven't heard this term since Kevin Smith's mid-90s movie "MALLRATS" starring Shannen Doherty, but I still got it quickly.
  
• 37A: Fleet members (SHIPS) — I initially had SNIT for 24D: Sassy sort (SNIP), so my first answer here was ... puzzling.
  
• 49D: Sacred bird of Egypt (IBIS) — "Sacred bird" or "bird" + "Egypt" in four letters is IBIS as sure as virtually any rapper in four letters on a Tuesday is ICE-T (2D: "Rhyme Pays" rapper).
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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