Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday Saturday Stumper, by “Anna Stiga” (“Stan Again,” Stan Newman, the puzzle’s editor), is the fifth Stumper in a row, which makes me hope that the Stumper is back for keeps. “Anna Stiga” is a pseudonym that goes on easier Stumpers of the Newman’s creation, but I found this puzzle challenging — twenty-two minutes’ worth of challenging — with the top half relatively easy, the bottom half much tougher. The puzzle’s distinctive feature: top and bottom stacks of thirteen-, fourteen-, and fifteen-letter answers.

Some clue-and-answer pairs I especially liked:

1-A, thirteen letters, “Mutable sci-fi skill.” The answer is a gerund. The answer makes 38-D, eight letters, “Prone to pallor, 1 Across, etc,” a bit tricky, for a reason I can reveal only in the comments.

1-D, six letters, “Really bad.” I’m a kid in Brooklyn again. This answer opened up much of the puzzle for me.

10-D, five letters, “Rapper named for his Florida capital home and his early hardships.” I wonder if he’s appeared in a puzzle before. (Yes, he has.)

16-A, fifteen letters, “Lingual clue for Sly’s surname.” My first thought was “Sly”? As in “Stone”? Surprising to see this answer in a puzzle.

40-A, eight letters, “Faux glow.” Faux indeed.

59-A, fifteen letters, “Family-friendly, furry friend.” I sometimes aspire to share their outlook on things.

64-A, thirteen letters, “Titular adventure of a ’68 film.” Notice: titular. This one threw me a bit.

My favorite clue in this puzzle, and what must be one of the great clues of all time: 23-D, seven letters, “Pink elephants, perhaps.”

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.

[Twenty-two minutes: As in “You give us twenty-two minutes, we’ll give you the world,” the WINS-AM all-news mantra.]