Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday  Saturday Stumper is by Matthew Sewell. At some points I’d say that I 54-A, nine letters, “Dispreferred” it. There’s some pretty strained cluing. At other points, I was tempted to utter a 52-A, eight letters, “Declaration of frustration.” But if one 34-A, fifteen letters, “Weighs carefully,” one might find that one 20-D, twelve letters, “Concludes deliberations” — and successfully so. Which I did. I started in two corners with 1-A, four letters, “Sheet used by Greek bakers”and 46-A, seven letters, “Bonus numbers.” Those corners came together easily. The rest of the puzzle was considerably tougher.

Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:

1-D, five letters, “Measure named for an Einstein idol.” Because I can’t believe I knew it.

7-D, four letters, “They’re there to stay” and 24-D, five letters, “It’s there to stay.” Strained, strained.

10-D, nine letters, “Aboriginal rite of passage.” It helps to watch movies.

11-D, four letters, “Round tab.” This one baffled me until it didn’t.

16-A, nine letters, “Significant change.” Yes, it’s a Stumper.

19-A, eight letters, “Many people call on them.” I was thinking of classrooms and pleas to the gods.

28-A, three letters, “Got behind.” Oy.

36-D, six letters, “Literary adjustment from past narratives.” I just like knowing what this word means.

40-A, four letters, “Smaller size treats.” I was thinking of a brand name.

49-D, five letters, “Etymology sharer with ‘sire.’ ” Now it seems obvious.

50-A, six letters, “Squeaky clean.” Clever, and not that easy to see.

55-A, five letters, “Divisive device in the theater.” Solvers might divide over whether this clue is unnecessarily strained.

57-A, four letters, “Prefix meaning ‘song.’ ” Thank you, Ezra Pound.

My favorite: 58-A, four letters, “Soft hail,” making a bit of crosswordese live anew.

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.