Older brother of Malcolm on Malcom in Middle / FRI 11-16-18 / Von Trapp father in Sound of Music / Rexha pop singer with 2017 #2 hit Meant to Be / Jellylike organism once classified as fungus / Young prey for bobcat

Constructor: Kyle Dolan

Relative difficulty: Easy (4:34, and I was only half-awake)

THEME: none

Word of the Day: Elizabeth ARDEN (40A: Who said "There's only one Elizabeth like me, and that's the queen") —

Florence Nightingale Graham (December 31, 1878 – October 18, 1966), who went by the business name Elizabeth Arden, was a Canadian American businesswoman who founded what is now Elizabeth Arden, Inc., and built a cosmetics empire in the United States. By 1929 she owned 150 upscale salons across the United States and Europe. Her 1000 products were found in the luxury market in 22 countries. She was the sole owner, and at the peak of her career, she was one of the wealthiest women in the world. (wikipedia)

• • •

Always dicey embarking on a Friday puzzle just after rolling out of bed in the morning, but after an initial misstep (LEVER for SNOOP at 1D: Pry), I was off and running, and very little of substance ever stood in my way. HEIDI was an extreme gimme (2D: Heitkamp of North Dakota politics) and then ODE got me out of that 1D mistake and whoosh, goodbye. Made it all the way to the very last section (SE) before I encountered the only truly terrifying square in the puzzle: the crossing of BEBE (56D: ___ Rexha, pop singer with the 2017 #2 hit "Meant to Be") (who?) and ADELAIDE. Now, I know ADELAIDE very well. Or, rather, I know of its existence. I've never been there, or anywhere in Australia, despite having been to New Zealand four times (my wife grew up in Dunedin, NZ) (Note to wife: honey, next time, we really got get across the pond or whatever you people call that water between NZ and AUS). Anyway, I know ADELAIDE exists, but that vowel at AD-LAIDE ... oh, no, I was not at all confident about that. And BABE Rexha seemed very, very plausible. But in the end ADELAIDE just looked / felt right, and it seemed much more likely that you'd go to a marginal proper noun for BEBE than for BABE, so I guessed "E," which was right. Still, if I'd been the constructor, I think I would've done anything to avoid that cross (or I would've clued BEBE in a much more gettable manner).

[this whole album is phenomenal just fyi]

Five things:

• 10D: Big name in men's deodorant (AXE) — well of course, but "name" had me wanting an actual person's name, so even at A-E I was like "... ACE? Is that a guy's name?"
• 40A: Who said "There's only one Elizabeth like me, and that's the queen" (ARDEN) — Wow, turns out I didn't really know who she was. I'm a fan of old movies and I appear to have slightly confused Elizabeth with Eve:

• 37D: Spiced holiday drink (WASSAIL) — I thought that was just something you said for a toast, like SKOAL! or SALUT! or whatever. Interesting.
• 13D: Jellylike organism once classified as a fungus (SLIME MOLD) — I'll just take your word for it that this is a thing. I think I remember it from my D&D Monster's Manual ... or maybe I'm confusing it with Gelatinous Cube ...
• 43D: Period of great climate change (EOCENE) — another semi-treacherous moment, as I had ITALIA at first for 58A: Neighbor of Suisse (ITALIE), and therefore sincerely thought the "period of great climate change" might be ICE AGE

[Agreed]

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]