Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday  Saturday Stumper is by “Anna Stiga” — Stan Again, Stan Newman, the puzzle’s editor. This pseudonym, like “Lester Ruff,” is meant to signal an easier Stumper. But I found today’s Stumper exceedingly difficult — forty-three minutes of difficult, beginning last night and ending this morning. Two triple stacks of nine-letter answers, two triple columns of nine-letter answers, and one fifteen-letter answer sandwiched between eleven-letter answers. My head hurts. But it’s a good hurt.

Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:

1-A, nine letters, “One playing video games all day.” Misdirection right off the bat.

11-D, four letters, “Short ‘Speaking of changing the subject . . . .’” This one I’d quibble with. It’s not really a matter of changing the subject.

12-D, nine letters, “bubblyprofessor.com subject.” The answer seems a little strained. I struggled with the northeast corner.

13-D, nine letters, “High science.” Yes, I struggled with the northeast corner.

14-D, nine letters, “Even now.” Yes, I, &c.

16-A, five letters, “What may end a turn.” I kept thinking of board games, just as Anna Stiga wanted me to.

17-A, nine letters, “Theo van Gogh’s occupation.” I highly recommend the correspondence.

27-A, three letters, “M.’s analog.” Even the short fill in this puzzle is puzzling.

33-A, eleven letters, “Bonus for boldness.” Just a cool answer.

38-A, fifteen letters, “Expression of uncertainty.” Apt for much of the solving.

48-D, five letters, “Latin for ‘is wanting.’” I did not know that.

49-A, three letters, “Household brand spelled with two (not three) dots.” I thought of circles and wanted OXO, because it looks like a tic-tac-toe line.

50-D, five letters, “Noisy no more, maybe.” MUTED, right? Wrong.

59-A, nine letters, “‘Yesterday,’ as first performed.” Odd to think of it this way.

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.