Ryan and Brian Do Crosswords

Why am I up so late?  I never have a very good answer for that.  Tonight, though, I’ve been doing a lot of laundry.  I’m getting new headshots taken in the afternoon and I’ve got to bring quite a variety of clothes.  I had to dig quite deep into my closet to find that variety as I tend to wear basically the same thing everyday.  Anyway, the pics will be online at some point next week and I’ll post the link here.  I’d love your opinions.

Today’s puzzle was by Joe Krozel, Rhymes With Puzzle.  I would say this was a bit on the easy side both for a Saturday and for a Krozel offering.  Of course, I say that but looking over the clues I really have no idea how I figured out most of this stuff.

I’ll start with what I did know:

20A. Watching Letterman or Conan, say (UP LATE).  Hey, that’s what I am right now.  I was pretty excited about Conan on the Tonight Show.  As it turned out, I only made it through 2 or 3 shows before I lost interest.  I don’t know, there’s something so artificial about the format.  I just can’t get into it.

25A. ___ clue (GET A).  Ok, I got it.

45A. Baseballer Fernando Valenzuela’s nickname (EL TORO).  Fernando and Fernandomania were just slightly before my time so I only had a vague notion that this was his nickname.  To me, he’s always just been Fernando.  I would guess that he and Koufax are the most beloved still-living former Dodgers.  The Dodgers have this silly rule that they won’t retire the number of a player who is not in the Hall of Fame.  They really need to change that.  Even though, unofficially, no Dodger will ever wear 34 again they really should make it official.  The fans would love it.

49A. It turns over before it runs (ENGINE).  Clever.  But not too clever for me.

I guess that’s about all I knew through my first pass.  Looking at it now, that’s pretty paltry.  And it only took me the next 3 hours of alternately solving the puzzle and watching the Dodgers get blown out by the Astros of all teams before I no-googled it.

Highlights:

6A. Jurist who wrote “A Matter of Interpretation,” 1997 (SCALIA).  I thought a jurist was someone on a jury.  As someone who works in a law firm I know shockingly little about law.  One L!

18A. Writer of “Commentarii de Bello Gallico” (CAESAR).  I cannot wait to see his palace when we go to Italy.

21A. Medical inspiration? (INHALANT).  Great clue.  Really, really, really great clue.

42A. “Dig in!” (HAVE AT IT).  I got this mostly through crosses and when I finally got it all in I thought, “Have a tit?  What does that mean?”

50A. Job woe (STRESS).  Well, I have to say, for all the things that I do feel at my job, STRESS is certainly not one of them.

4D. Like a foundling (FORSAKEN).  You know, I really didn’t know what a foundling was before I started this puzzle.  I honestly thought it was a baby tree.

11D. One may act for an actor (AGENT).  C’mon headshots, do your magic!

13D. Theologian Kierkegaard (SOREN).  Oh wait, I knew this on the first pass as well.  As a matter of fact, the only thing I do know about Kierkegaard is that his first name is SOREN.

15D. Before coming out? (PRENATAL).  Two of our very good friends just had a baby.  Welcome to the world, Piper Rose Hirsch!

27D. Star treks? (EGO TRIPS).  I put ELLIPSES first which I still think is a very fine answer.

37D. Charlie of swing (BARNET).  I thought this was PARKER?  Who is Charlie BARNET?  While you’re answering that, could you also tell me who Charlie PARKER is?

Great puzzle today, Joe.

Next stop, Sunday.