Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday  Saturday Stumper, by Matthew Sewell, is a tough one. Consider the southeast corner: 54-D, four letters, “Only Oscar role for a French performance”; 60-A, four letters, “‘Pan-’ antonym”; 62-A, four letters, “School-____”; 64-A, four letters, “It means ‘focused gathering.’” Yeow, and yeow again.

Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:

1-D, six letters, “Generous gifts from the Czars.” Did they really give them away? My guess turned out to be correct.

3-D, eleven letters, “How ghosts do their thing.” I kept thinking of trick-or-treating.

5-A, ten letters, “Provided bonus footage.” Good misdirection.

8-D, five letters, “Flyer’s announcement.” Also misdirectional.

18-A, ten letters, “They don’t care for customs.” Clever.

27-D, eleven letters, “Miss one’s conviction.” Inaptly phrased, I’d say. Neither miss nor conviction fits the answer well.

28-D, eleven letters, “Indie pubs.” Nicely phrased, but the answer feels a bit dated. See 63-A: are these pubs, too, old-timey?

47-A, five letters, “Part of the bottling process.” I was ready to quibble with the clue until I rethought part.

53-A, five letters, “‘Thrice happy he whose name has been well ____’: Byron.” From Don Juan.

55-A, ten letters, “Within reach for searchers.” The answer feels preposterous, but it’s in use.

63-A, ten letters, “Old-timey exhibitions with carousels.” I thought of STATEFAIRS. Old-timey, really?

My favorite in this puzzle, because it’s just so weird: 56-D, three letters, “Silence, perhaps.”

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.