Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday  Saturday Stumper, by Stella Zawisktowski, is sometimes easy. Try 1-A, five letters, “Muchacha.” It’s sometimes obscure. Try 44-A, four letters, “Branta sandivicensis.” It’s sometimes even more obscure. Try 52-A, ten letters, “Bit of cosmic rays.” I made it almost to the finish line without looking up an answer — 50-D, four letters, “Ford part, familiarly.” OLDS? No.

Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:

2-D, four letters, “Decoration candidate.” My first thought was DOOR.

6-D, eleven letters, “Shout-out.” HIMOM doesn’t work.

11-D, four letters, “Service period.” A nifty clue.

14-D, five letters, “Lead role of two recent Netflix films.” That’s a stretch.

16-A, ten letters, “Ersatz ice pack.” Yes, more than once.

23-D, eleven letters, “Bryant-Denny stadium team.” Ought to be obvious to most solvers, but there is no I in team, or in sports.

24-A, fifteen letters, “French lobster partner (despite the name).” Never heard of it, but easy enough to see with a few crosses.

32-A, three letters, “Water tower.” Clever.

34-D, eight letters, “Odysseus and family.” They rule.

39-A, fifteen letters, “They’re ready for their closeups.” The other fifteener in the puzzle. NORMADESMONDS doesn’t fit.

41-D, five letters, “Breaks into a vault.” I was sure this had to be LOOTS.

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.