Today’s Saturday Stumper

The byline says Lester Ruff, but I found today’s Newsday  Saturday Stumper not especially easy. Where to start? 13-D, four letters, “Conversation starter.” And look: 16-A, three letters, “‘Special’ projects.” But then it was all the way down to 47-D, four letters, “Do laps, perhaps,” followed by hops, skips, and jumps from one region of the puzzle to another. But I got it.

Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:

3-D, four letters, “On-screen collection.” I think I understand the answer correctly.

11-A, three letters, “One’s luck.” Thank you, Thomas Hardy.

12-D, ten letters, “It’s used for pie preparation piercing.” We just talked about buying one, couldn’t find one in the store, and decided to stay with the implements already on hand.

17-A, five letters, “Pocket Fisherman purveyor.” Remembrance of things past.

26-A, fifteen letters, “What’s made for Jeopardy! contestants.” And Batman? Such an unusual answer.

27-A, seven letters, “What Groucho called himself, re his timidity.” Groan.

28-D, ten letters, “Food storage device.” My guess is that the term is disappearing along with the device so named.

37-D, eight letters, “Travel guide eponym.” I think of modernism.

40-D, seven letters, “Devalued, these days.” Yeah, but it’s made a comeback.

42-A, fifteen letters, “What’s made for Wheel contestants.” As with 26-A, an unusual answer. If there’s a theme that joins more than 26-A and 42-A, I’ve misseed it.

48-D, four letters, “Billionaire Barbadian, to her fans.” Wait — she’s a billionaire?!

My favorite clue in this puzzle: 14-A, five letters, “It fell from a horse long ago.”

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.

[“Lester Ruff”: pen name of Stan Newman, the puzzle’s editor, used with easier Stumpers of his making.]