Ryan and Brian Do Crosswords

Is it Saturday today?  It can’t be.  I wouldn’t be sitting at work on a Saturday.  Well, somebody’s got their days screwed up because there’s a Saturday puzzle in the New York Times today.  Good God!  I’ve been at it for 3 and half hours and I still don’t have even half the grid filled.  I have the entire bottom solved and that epic feat pretty much drained my brain of what little solving abilities resided there.

Oh, Barry C. Silk, Friend and Confidante of Doug Peterson, Crossword Gentleman and Man About Town, why must you torment me so.

The key to the bottom for me was 49D. Deconstruct? (RAZE).  That Z helped me with 58A. Dish named for the queen consort of Italy’s Umberto I (PIZZAMARGHERITA).  I was also able to get the one right above it, 55A. Film about an aristocrat captured by the Sioux (AMANCALLEDHORSE).

Others I’m relatively sure about:

59A. Ready for the bad news (STEELED).  I had SITTING here first which I think is also a good answer.

60A. It’s a square (SIXTEEN).  Pretty easy once I had the X from 57D. Curse (HEX).

44D. Leader who said “There is no god higher than the truth” (GANDHI).  I had the G from 44A. Basis of some discrimination (GENDER) but it took me a couple of tries to figure out where the H went.

36D. Was shy (OWED).  That took a while.  It’s right next to 37D. Was shy which I think is RANSHORT but I’m not sure.

I have a few at the top:

19A. Xbox 360 competitor (WII).

21. Actress Suvari (MENA).  Wasn’t she the one covered in roses in American Beauty?

6D. Generates (SPAWNS).

And that’s really it.  I’ve got 11 no-googles in a row so I’m going to keep at it for a while.  Here are a few I absolutely don’t know:

15A. King’s honor.  A 15-letter answer.  I have one letter.  It’s a P and provides no help.

17A. Where moles may try to dig?.  This one I think has to do with spies.  Like the moles that are constantly infiltrating CTU on 24.  So I’m thinking CLASSIFIED FILES or something of that nature.  Again, it’s a 15-letter answer and I have one letter.  This time it’s an A and is as useless as the P.

1D. Clear conclusion? I think this is ANCE but I can’t get any crosses to work so I’m starting to have my doubts.

2D. Sweat. WORK?  Maybe?

3D. Like many of Shakespeare’s rhymes.  I think this is either AABB or ABAB or some variation of that.

Could King’s honor start with NOBLE?

18A. Hamburger’s course? I am completely baffled by this.  Are we talking about a hamburger as in the food?  Isn’t Hamburger also city in Germany?  Maybe there’s a guy named Hamburger.  Is he a teacher?  What does he teach?  Ok, ok, wait.  Is it the river that runs through Hamburger?  The ELBE, maybe?

Ok, Sweat is TOIL.  And the mole thing starts with CIA.

5D. Ithaque, e.g. I have _E_.  Could it be a type of EEL?  Could I be desperately grasping at straws?

8A. Shout after a knock.  This could be WHOISIT or LETMEIN or something totally different.

I’ve now been at this about 4 hours longer than Dan Feyer, Winner of the C Division.  I don’t have any idea how I’m going to finish this.  I don’t know who the U.S. Treasurer was in 1984 was or any locations in Nederland or any books about the Babylonian captivity.  But I’ll give it my best shot.

Before I get back to the puzzle I do need to mention that my beloved Dodgers are the 2008 National League Western Division Champions.  It’s been 20 years since they last won a postseason series.  So, here’s hoping.

Next stop, Saturday.

Hello, everyone.  Quick update.  It’s now been four hours since I typed the preceding and I just no-googled the puzzle.  A mere 8 hours after I opened it up.  I was right, the mole thing did start with CIA.  I later figured out it ended with HEADQUARTERS.  I was close with King’s honor as it turned out to be NOBELPEACEPRIZE.  One thing that tripped me up for a while was putting BEHEMOTH instead of VEHEMENT for Very strong.  Oh, I also had ELTON instead of ASTIN for John of “Freaky Friday”.  I thought maybe it was a song he wrote.

Great puzzle.  Nothing like a nice brain crusher to start the weekend.