Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday Saturday Stumper, by Erik Agard and Wyna Liu, felt more difficult at first than it turned out to be. I got 6-D, four letters, “It can be a lot,” which gave me 15-A, six letters, “Rather sour.” Then I dropped down to 43-A, three letters, “Non-PC,” and 45-A, eight letters, “Bar babble.” The babble yielded a few more answers, the most helpful of which was for 41-D, seven letters, “Italian who mentored Beethoven.” And then I was happy to see 58-A, six letters, “Their work might drive them up the wall.” Yes, been there, done that, at least for a summer with my dad. After getting those answers, I wandered around for quite a while looking for doors marked ENTER. Here and there, I found them.

So many clues in this puzzle had a wonderful dash of indirection or vagueness. Some that I especially liked: 5-D, seven letters, “Draw on the floor.” 16-A, eight letters, “Getting captured.” 18-A, eight letters, “Poster selection.” No, BLACKLIGHT doesn’t fit. And 30-D, nine letters, “Match box of pro sports.” (What?)

No spoilers: the answers are in the comments.