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LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

Title: “The × Factor”
Prompt: This week’s contest answer is a book once selected for Oprah’s Book Club.
Answer: A MILLION LITTLE PIECES by James Frey
Correct entries: 571, of which 545 were solo solves

More correct answers than Week 1! Can’t remember the last time that happened…

Two theme entries, both books in an “abridged version”:

16-A: [Bestselling novel of 2011] = SHADES OF GREY. That’s the numberless version of E.L. James’s 50 Shades of Grey.
36-A: [With 46-Across, bestselling novel of 1871] = LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA. That’s the numberless version of the great Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Then we’ve got the title, which is referenced by the central clue for TIMES at 28-A, which is simply [×]. That’s the times sign, not the letter X, so let’s multiply our 50 and our 20,000 and — we’ve got a cool million on our hands! Indicating James Frey’s infamous besteller A Million Little Pieces. You either remembered the controversy surrounding that book (TL;DR — the juiciest parts were totally made up, and Oprah was not pleased about it) or just Googled your way to success.

OK, so we’ve had two Week 1’s this month. Guess that means Week 3 should be a little tougher, right? We’ll see…

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

This week’s contest answer is a noted historical figure.

NOTE: Due to the late post, the deadline for this meta will be Thursday, April 27th at noon ET.

Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.