Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday  Saturday Stumper, by Matthew Sewell, is a Stumper indeed. Difficult to work through, satisfying to finish, and filled with unusual stuff. And the northwest corner — difficult indeed.

Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:

5-D, nine letters, “Forecaster without favor.” Of course. But my first thought was of impartial election predictions.

12-D, ten letters, “Rolling over for dinner.” A bit of a stretch.

14-A, eleven letters, “Green first course.” So there really is such a thing.

17-A, eleven letters, “Hits the beach, perhaps.” Okay, but from which direction?

23-A, six letters, “Have undone.” My first (and plausible) thought was REPEAL.

26-D, five letters, “40%-silent soldiers.” Defamiliarizing.

28-D, ten letters, “Chain store?” The question mark is deserved.

36-D, nine letters, “Swift, notably.” SATIRIST — nope. IRISHMAN — nope. Needs another letter.

41-D, seven letters, “Corny Disneyland debut of the ’60s.” Another great gift to modern life. Who knew?

58-A, eleven letters, “Handheld virtual reality sensor.” Nicely novel.

62-A, eleven letters, “Much more than pleased.” Delightful. I laughed when I figured it out.

64-A, ten letters, “Crystalline cleaner for cookware.” Another novel clue-and-answer. Those last three clues are great stuff.

My favorite clue in this puzzle, for its sheer weirdness: 49-D, five letters, “Casablanca bilateral lyrical equivalence.” Say what?

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.