Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday  Saturday Stumper is by Steve Mossberg, whose name I’ve seen just once before on a Newsday Saturday. Today’s puzzle is a true Stumper. I started with a gimme — 10-A, five letters, “Start of three California county names” — but I sometimes thought I’d have to sound a 1-A, nine letters, “Lament of defeat.” But that would have called attention to me in the café of the performing-arts building where I was solving. So I had to finish this puzzle.

Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:

11-D, eight letters, “Understood!”

19-A, eight letters, “They’re grounded.” My first thoughts were of appliances and punishments.

24-A, four letters, “Really smart.” A nice way to redeem a familiar answer.

24-D, five letters, “Word from Gothic for ‘patience.’” No, not really. (The OED will confirm.)

25-D, five letters, “Music that sounds loud.” Respect the pun.

33-A, nine letters, “Rhythm associated with autumn.” A bit improbable, but the answer’s improbability makes it at least slightly delightful.

39-A, nine letters, “They may mean ‘Welcome home!’” Ick.

49-D, five letters, “Whom Woz once worked for.” Not the giveaway you might think.

52-A, eight letters, “Convenient for eating while walking.” Be careful.

45-A, four letters, “”Understood.” Now you can see the difference that the exclamation point makes in the clue for 11-D.

One clue that makes me want to say no, just no: 53-D, four letters, “Number often seen right after AK.” No, not now, and not ever. There are so many better ways to clue this answer. One Stumpery way: “It’s Felliniesque.”

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.

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Steve Mossberg responded to a comment I left at Crossword Fiend about “Number often seen right after AK”: “53-Down was indeed an awful cluing angle that wasn’t meant to go to print. My sincerest apologies for its inclusion.”