Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday Saturday crossword is a Stumper. The Stumper is back, or at least will be back, on occasion, as editor Stan Newman said in January. Today’s puzzle is by Steve Mossberg, a name I’ve never seen on a Newsday Saturday. It’s a good puzzle, one that had me scanning the grid for something, anything, to fill in. The clue that finally helped: 26-D, five letters, “Language of Sri Lanka.” Every other answer in the puzzle came by way of 26-D.

Is there a word for doing a puzzle in that way, with every answer coming by way of a cross with a previous answer? Chain-solving? Cross-stitching?

Some clue-and-answer pairs I especially liked:

1-A, seven letters, “Put together, as two shots.” I imagined the construction of a lethal cocktail.

3-D, five letters, “Not spread around.” See 56-D.

10-D, four letters, “One of eleven in Macbeth.” Sneaky.

13-D, four letters, “Where the River Po rises.” I was trying to think of a Italian city.

17-A, six letters, “Out of service.” My first thought was DEMOBBED. Too much T. S. Eliot in my past.

27-A, eleven letters, “’70s fad on wheels.” Good grief, that was a thing.

37-A, fifteen letters, “Pygmalion genre.” The first answer I got by way of 26-D. Is it the giveaway I think it is?

41-A, four letters, and 58-D, three letters, “Take care of by needling.” I like seeing a clue repurposed in this way.

56-D, four letters, “Spread around.” See 3-D.

60-A, eight letters, “Fruity, bubbly brand.” For me, forever associated with Frasier.

65-A, seven letters, “Frost or ice, for example.” I thought the answer must be some bit of slang.

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.