Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday Saturday Stumper, by Lester Ruff, broke into four pieces for me: two easier (top-right and bottom-left), two more difficult. The easy pieces each had a fairly blatant giveaway: 17-A, nine letters, “World’s highest paid actress in 2017”; 59-A, eight letters, “Notable who cofounded Cynicism.” A more difficult name, which I’ve heard but don’t think I’ve ever seen in print: 27-D, seven letters, “Axel’s cousin.”

Clue and answer pairs that I especially liked: 32-D, nine letters, “Swell to the max.” 33-D, nine letters, “Mediterranean Diet fare.” 12-D, five letters, “p as in Portsmouth or Plymouth.” Especially nice, that last one.

A clue I consider ill-considered: 14-A, nine letters, “Minor bump in the road.” No, not necessarily, not at all.

And a clue that taught me something: 28-A, fourteen letters, “Billionaires, collectively.” I suppose that clue is a giveaway if you’re a billionaire. Not that billionaires need a giveaway.

No giveaways here for anyone: the answers are in the comments.