Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday  Saturday Stumper is by Matthew Sewell. For me, it was a Stumper that seemed impossible at first but gave up its secrets in nineteen minutes.¹ I started with 4-D, four letters, “Marcel’s mighty,” 5-D, three letters, “Evidence of unhappiness,” and 16-A, ten letters, “It holds drafts all year.” And then I drew blanks for clue after clue. What finally gave me a genuine start on solving: 48-D, four letters, “Bite on the trail.” Toss in 51-A, four letters, “Regard inappropriately,” and I was on my way.

Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:

2-D, five letters, “Transcend.” A playful clash of diction registers.

7-D, fifteen letters, “Nursery rhyme singers’ evocations.” I love this.

11-D, nine letters, “Summarized, say.” I can’t believe I got it without crosses.

13-A, ten letters, “More than a little.” The answer feels dowdy to me. Do people say that?

15-D, five letters, “Middle name of Breyer’s successor.” I didn’t realize that it’s considered a middle name.

20-D, eight letters, “Stock market purchase.” Groan.

23-A, four letters, “Going quietly.” Going Stumpery.

24-A, twelve letters, “Deals with, after delaying.” Nicely colloquial.

24-D, three letters, “Bert alternative.” Given that the clue is in a Stumper, I thought we were playing Cheese Nicknames.

32-A, fifteen letters, “Excellent reception.” Football? Wi-Fi? I first though that the answer — which is not STANDINGOVATION — is just awkward, but no, it’s tricky.

43-A, five letters, “Legacy of a sort.” I saw what you did there.

55-A, ten letters, “Steepness warning.”I think that steep rules out anything appearing on a road sign.

Clue that most filled me with admiration for its fiendishness: 1-D, five letters, “Scale model.”

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.

¹ For some reason, my Stumper time is often nineteen minutes and change.