1. a. doug lists all the reasons for killing ralph underhill, yet which reason does he say is
the most potent ?

Ralph never supported the friendship. Ralph  never cared for Doug as much as Doug cared for him.

Explanation:

What else? Is that the list?

"No. One final thing, more terrible than all the rest.

In all the years you went to Ralph's house to toss up small bits of gravel on his  Fourth of July six-in-the-morning fresh dewy window or to call him forth for the arrival  of dawn circuses in the cold fresh blue railroad stations in late June or late August, in all  those years, never once did Ralph run to your house.  Never once in all the years did he, or anyone else, prove their friendship by  coming by. The door never knocked. The window of your bedroom never faintly  clattered and belled with a high-tossed confetti of small dusts and rocks.  And you always knew that the day you stopped going to Ralph's house, calling up  in the morn, that would be the day your friendship ended."

so you want me to do this crossword i’m good with crossword puzzles just don’t got the time yo, maybe later this week