Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday  Saturday Stumper is by Matthew Sewell, his second Stumper this month. I found it exceedingly difficult — opacity and misdirection afoot — which means I enjoyed it immensely. I began with 19-A, eight letters, “Pianist’s flourish.” And that gave me 8-D, four letters, Macbeth excerpt. (I’m wise to that trick.) And then I struggled. I worked out the northeast corner first; the southeast, last. Oh, that southeast corner.

Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:

1-A, nine letters, “De-stress.” The hyphen may be meant to help, but I doubt it.

9-D, five letters, “They’re not square.” OWERS? No.

10-D, nine letters, “The Rock and Hulk Hogan.” They’re not persons!

13-A, ten letters, “Woolgathering.” A beautiful answer.

25-A, six letters, “Stateless?” A bit strained.

26-A, five letters, “Snaps.” The answer makes me think of the New York Daily News. Got a cigaret?

31-A, nine letters, “The Wizard of Oz, for one.” I can think of others.

36-A, three letters, “Pater Noster pronoun.” Did anyone else think the answer would be in Latin?

38-D, eight letters, “Loire Valley wine.” The big snag in the southeast. Is this name common knowledge?

40-A, ten letters, “Hot dipping sauce.” I think the clue is meant to misdirect, but I may be wrong.

50-D, five letters, “City in Germany.” Really sneaky.

59-D, three letters, “Funny.” So you think funny is an adjective?

63-A, nine letters, “Packing slip reviewers.” I overthought slip.

My favorites in this puzzle:

7-D, three letters, “Dose folks.” I missed its cleverness while solving, having gotten the answer on crosses.

54-A, letters, “Minimizer in music.” The clue suggests at least two other plausible answers and freshens a familiar crossword answer.

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.