Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday  Saturday Stumper is by the puzzle’s editor, Stan Newman, constructing as himself. So the puzzle is not Lester Ruff, nor is it Ova Lee Ruff. Yes, Ova is a girl’s name. The puzzle looks daunting, with stacks top and bottom, fourteen–fourteen–fifteen, fifteen–fourteen–fourteen. But the daunt is less than I imagined. No, daunt is not really a noun.

Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:

1-A, fourteen letters, “Late fourth-quarter flora.” My first thought was “something ending in PLANT.” What do I know?

7-D, seven letters, “Mental bloc.” Heh.

15-A, fourteen letters, “What ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ begins.” I love it.

16-A, fiften letters, “Common interview settings.” At least it’s not HOTELROOMS, the at least semi-creepy settings for MLA interviews of yore.

18-A, seven letters, “Cause to ride on the wrong carousel.” A quietly clever clue. Film noirs made me imagine someone saying “Sorry, pal, I’m getting off this merry-go-round.”

22-A, five letters, “What fills some dumplings.” See 44-D.

28-A, eight letters, “They raise sunken objects.” So that’s what they do?

30-A, three letters, “‘He who slings ___ loses ground’: Adlai Stevenson.” Would it were so.

32-D, eight letters, “Current event.” Maybe a familiar clue for the answer, but new to me.

35-D, six letters, “Oil source for thousands of years.” No drilling allowed.

44-D, five letters, “Source of tones shaped like 22 Across.” Another quietly clever clue.

46-A, four letters, “Andy Griffith played one on his sitcom.” The middle letters make this one tricky.

52-D, three letters, “Two-time connector.” Pretty Stumpery.

A quibble: 11-D, three letters, “Where an applause meter starts.” No, I say.

A quarrel: 12-D, six letters, “Topper back in style circa 2007.” Back? It’s never gone out of style. Ask Elaine.

An enigma: 29-D, three letters, “Private property.” I have no idea what the answer means.

My favorite in this puzzle: 51-A, fifteen letters, “What ‘My Girl’ is sung with.”

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.