Noted speaker of more than 20 languages / FRI 2-12-21 / Beast vanquished by Oedipus / Company whose most famous product once claimed it does what Nintendon't

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Started badly and ended badly and wasn't that great in between. Thinks it's much cuter than it is, tries to be slangy but just sounds dated, and tries to cover up mediocrity with some "XXX" dazzle camouflage. There wasn't one point at which I was enjoying myself. OH, TO have a good Friday puzzle again! I need light, bouncy, playful—full of crackle and originality, and spot-on with the cluing. This was nowhere near the mark. Lost me at 1-Across, to be honest (1A: Star Bucks, say?). Good example of someone being so enamored of their wordplay clue that they don't care whether it's a very *good* clue or not. I get it, Starbucks is a company, so "Star Bucks," very clever. But even knowing it was going to be basketball-related, that pile-up of initials was still hard to get because two Bucks can't be MVP at the same time. You would never "say" anything about "Star Bucks" who were NBAMVPS. Or, rather, since there have only ever been two (early-'70s Kareem and reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo), "Star Bucks" (meaning NBAMVPS) could only ever refer to them. That's it. It's those two. So, the casual "say" in the clue, ugh. It's so misleading. "Say" implies it might be any number of Bucks, as opposed to two and only two, the minimum number it takes to make a plural. NBAMVPS isn't a terrible delightful 1-Across to begin with, and then we get a clue that has a pretty tortured relationship to accuracy. All because someone thought "Star Bucks" was a good pun. And then to have that answer cross a word that can be a racial slur at 1-Down ... well, I was pretty much out at that point. Would've stopped, but I've got a job to do, so ...

And the ending, blargh. Imagine capping off your solve by having to change ONE EURO to THE (!?!?!) EURO (25D: It's usually around 9/10 pound). Your clue is dealing in numbers ("9/10") so I just assumed you would stay in the realm of numbers, but no ... a definite article instead. Unlikeable! I like ED ASNER as an actor, but he's exceedingly crossword-common, and that whole SE corner, for various reasons, just doesn't cut it. Including RSVPED after you've already subjected me to NBAMVPS just feels bludgeony. I have no idea which IVAN did anything, frankly, so I had to infer the Roman numeral "I" (40A: Russian prince nicknamed "Moneybag"). Had trouble with the cross (37D: Dreaded fate for a samurai) because I figured that "samurai" meant I was in for something samurai-specific, something Japanese, a particular concept ... but no, just plain old English DISHONOR. Kind of ironic that MANSPLAIN appears in a puzzle that includes no women in the grid and only* Gal Gadot in the clues (she's the ISRAELI). This is a puzzle that wants you to believe it's against dudes talking condescendingly to women, but the actual nuts and bolts of the puzzle belie the t-shirt feminism of MANSPLAIN. Less showing that you know the terminology of anti-sexism, more actually being anti-sexist, please and thanks. IT'S A BOY, indeed.

*do not @ me about the Lewis Carroll character, please

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