Ryan and Brian Do Crosswords

It took me an hour and 14 minutes but I did no-google this Friday puzzle constructed by Mike Nothnagel, Penpal Extraordinaire and Constructor of the Friday Puzzle.  I got everything but the bottom left in about a half-hour but that last corner took another 45 minutes of staring.

Here’s what I did have in that corner:

19D. “That’s enough out of you!” (PUTASOCKINIT).  This was one of several “in-the-language” phrases appearing in the puzzle.  It’s beyond me how Mike fits these phrases into his grids.

45D. Pass (ENACT).  This one came after a struggle with variations of ELIDE and THROW.

43D. Rice product (NOVEL).  Another clever clue.  Sure looked like it was going to be PILAF.  Does anybody out there Geocache?  I’d love to get together with people to do some really nerdy geocaching.  The reason I bring it up is last time I was in Philly there was a city-sponsored geocaching event that coincided with the King Tut exhibit.  One of the caches was hidden inside an Anne Rice book in the library.  Which was about the coolest thing ever.

That’s all I had in the bottom left corner so for the 3 big acrosses I was left with:

51A. “No way, no how” (_ _ _ _N_ _A_E)

55A. Like some nonvoters (_ _ _ _I_ _C_L)

57A. Sorry souls (_ _ _ _ T_ _T_)

And that’s why it took me 45 minutes.  Luckily, for the crosses I did have, I was almost positive they were correct.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have any idea what the other downs in that area could possibly be.  The clue that finally cracked it was 51D. Go out for a bit? (NAP).  Don’t know how that suddenly came to me but after I typed it in I got the rest of the grid solved in about 2 minutes.  I did have to go back to correct two errors:

26D. Protest music pioneer (PETESEEGER).  I had PETESEEGAR which gave me MADE for 56A. Ancient dweller in present-day Kurdistan (MEDE).  PETE SEEGER is one of those answers that comes from a sorely neglected part of my brain.  I don’t know who he is, couldn’t tell you one song he sings and definitely couldn’t pick him out of a crowd.  Yet his name jumped up and it was right.  I want to know what else I’m storing in that part of my head.  Witty remarks to use at parties?  Locations of lost treasure?  Snappy answers to stupid questions?  I must figure out how to tap into this underused resource.

5A. Way around in comic books (BATMOBILE).  Inexplicably, I had CATMOBILE here.  Catmobile?  Seriously?  Who drives a catmobile?  Ok, here is a batmobile (although I don’t know who the heck is driving it as it sure isn’t Adam West or Burt Ward):

And here is a catmobile:

That is truly horrific.  Let’s never speak of it again.

As usual, this Nothnagel puzzle was filled with great clues and answers.

15A. Succumbs to interrogation, perhaps (NAMESNAMES)

34A. Looking forward to being docked? (SEASICK). Viewers of our podcast will know that I am prone to nausea.

36A. Nail holder (TOE).  This one grosses me out.

44A. Providers of many openings? (SKELETONKEYS).  Good stuff.

50A. One whose motto is “The only easy day was yesterday” (NAVYSEAL).  For some reason I had ARMY SEAL at first which, more or less, makes no sense.

1D. Component of morning dress (ASCOT).  For who?  My morning dress consists of a t-shirt, lounging pants and my slippys.

2D. They’re blown up and thrown up (BEACHBALLS).  This is my favorite clue in the puzzle.  Lots of fun and could have been anything.

10D. Contents of some arms (BABES).  Wait, maybe this is my favorite.  This is one of the goofiest clues I’ve seen in a while.

15D. “Mulholland Falls” actor, 1996 (NOLTE).  I recall this movie not being very good although it does have a couple of almost Whoopi-worthy taglines:

• This isn’t America, this is Los Angeles
• The power of love vs. the love of power

19D. “That’s enough out of you!” (PUTASOCKINIT).  Another great one.

Once again, a superb offering from Mike Nothnagel.

Next stop, Saturday.