Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday Saturday Stumper has a Lester Ruff byline (“less rough”), but it’s another puzzle that I’d credit to Maura. Or maybe to one of the other Ruff siblings: Mo? Riley? I staggered around for forty minutes before finishing. Is that 60-A, ten letters, “Epic!”? No, not really. But the ten-letter answer for that clue fits, at least sort of.

Some clues I liked:

16-A, ten letters, “Overposter’s affliction.”

19-A, “Capital southwest of Timbuktu.” Thanks, Roswell Rudd and Toumani Diabaté.

24-D, four letters, “Only Oscar winner/Nobelist before Dylan.” Think about it for a bit and you might say, “Oh, yeah, of course.”

31-D, nine letters, “Dreamlike and distorted.” This clue drove me bonkers, because I never think about what’s in the answer. I just don’t care. But maybe I should think about what’s in the answer when I do crosswords.

36-A, three letters, “Something set to keep things in line.”

40-A, eight letters, “Didn’t charge.” Also drove me bonkers. (WENTDEAD? No.)

52-D, five letters, “Simmer or steal.”

One awkward clue with an awkward answer: 42-D, seven letters, “E-tailer’s count.” E-tail seems hopelessly corny to me. The answer is corny too.

No spoilers: the answers, corny and non-, are in the comments.