Today’s Newsday Saturday

Today’s Newsday  Saturday crossword, by Matthew Sewell, is no Stumper, but it’s still plenty challenging. I got a quick start filling in the upper left corner (5-D, three letters, “‘___ man can tether time or tide’: Burns”), floundered about elsewhere, and finally found much of the puzzle falling into place after getting 4-D, fifteen letters, “It’s sticky to raise.”

Some clue-and-answer pairs I especially liked:

7-D, seven letters, “Make-up artist.” Good punning.

11-D, fifteen letters, “Receiving-line delivery.” I was thinking the answer must have to do warehouses. Nah.

14-A, six letters, “Deep hostilities.” Better punning.

15-A, eight letters, “‘I spy’ occasion.” Been there, done that.

25-D, six letters, “Possible cause of smearing.” TREMOR? No, nothing to do with make-up or an unsteady hand.

38-D, seven letters, “Move like a squirrel.” Poor squirrels — you just show up and they drop what they’re doing. How do they ever relax?

47-A, four letters, “Table material.” A nice example of a clue adding value to an answer. Sad but true: my first thought was DEAL, from Marcel’s deal table in In Search of Lost Time.

58-D, three letters, “Opening remark.” Another value-added answer.

61-A, seven letters, “Hard to dismiss.” Still true, largely, with appropriate and inappropriate exceptions.

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.