Today’s Saturday Stumper

For me the name Stella signifies in several ways: Sir Philip Sidney, Jonathan Swift, a noisy Marlon Brando, the painter Frank, the breadsticks and cookies D’Oro, guitars, “by Starlight,” and, most recently, tough crosswords. The constructor Stella Zawistowski is known for difficulty. (Her website: Tough As Nails.) Yet her Newsday  Saturday Stumper today was on the easy side. 5-D, four letters, “Bearing”? That was a start. And then 20-A, four letters, “Game’s ‘warm.’” Got it. The grid resembles last Saturday’s: two triple-stacks (ten letters, not nine), two triple-columns (eight letters, not nine).

Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:

1-A, ten letters, “Often-furry fan favorite.” My first thought was that it had to do with cosplay, which I know nothing about.

3-D, six letters, “Where the Cajuns came from.” Flashback to eighth-grade English.

7-D, five letters, “Morsel or cancel.” I like the -el noun–verb combination.

13-D, eight letters, “Hand-held devices.” It can’t be something to do with phones, can it?

28-A, five letters, “One with a suit to press.” Nice misdirection.

30-A, eight letters, “Certain company men.” Unexpected.

32-A, twelve letters, “Entry in a genetic terms glossary.” Timely.

41-A, twelve letters, “Old-timey chair protector.” This was the clue that broke the puzzle open for me.

45-A, eight letters, “Court surface.” Hi Mom!

52-D, five letters, “Brooklyn congressman who had a plan.” I had no idea.

56-D, four letters, “Brass, but not bronze.” Clever.

61-A, ten letters, “Later, elongated.” I kept thinking that there was a trick, but the only trick is in hearing “Later” correctly.

62-D, three letters, “1 1/2 millennia before Adaptation.” The clue redeems, sort of, an awkward answer.

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.