Today’s Saturday Stumper

My philosophy of crosswords: If I can finish a puzzle, the puzzle is at least pretty good. If I cannot finish a puzzle, there’s something wrong with it. (Solipsism 101.) I had to look up two answers to finish today’s Newsday Saturday Stumper. So I regret to say that there’s something wrong with Steve Mossberg’s puzzle. Kidding aside, I think most crossword doers with find today’s Stumper ultra-difficult.

Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:

1-A, nine letters, “Sharp-turn roller coaster.” Whaddaya know — I’ve passed one many times. But I had to look up the answer.

4-D, three letters, “Something sold in a snap case.” I was sure it was PEA, until I realized there was a less obvious possibility.

12-D, ten letters, “Collegiate quarters.” My first guess was UNIVERSITY — after all, a university can be home to a college. But there’s a trickier answer.

18-A, five letters, “One of Africa’s Big Five.” I thought it had to be GHANA. This one, too, I had to look up.

29-D, ten letters, “Summer academic workshop.” NEHSEMINAR? Uh, no.

46-D, five letters, “Old-school kind of guy.” Neither BUB nor MAC fits.

58-A, nine letters, “One seen in seasonal snaps.” I had a hunch, and it proved correct.

60-A, nine letters, “Crown jewel.” Dang clever.

My favorite in this puzzle: 15-A, nine letters, “Break for biscuits.”

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.

[The Newsday puzzle still won’t load from the Newsday website, at least not on my Mac. Brains Only and The Washington Post have the puzzle for online solving on the day of publication. A printable puzzle can be found the night before publication at creators.com. I wish Newsday would offer a separate subscription for its crossword. The price for a digital subscription to the newspaper — $99 a year — makes no sense for a non-Long Islander.]