Will Shortz again

Will Shortz, giving the answer to last week’s puzzle on NPR this morning: “Ma Rainey, as in the movie Ma Rainey’s Blues.” There was no correction from Lulu Garcia-Navarro.

The title of the play and movie is of course Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, a title taken from the song of that name. I wonder whether Blues was a genuine mistake or a way to skirt bawdy language.

See also “Cool jazz pioneer”, nepenthe, NOLIKEY, and Will Shortz on poetry and meter.