Today’s Saturday Stumper

Stella Zawistowski is known for tough puzzles, but her Newsday Saturday Stumpers are often relatively easy. Today’s Stumper is her first since last October, and I found it easy indeed — under nineteen minutes from start to finish. I began with one lucky guess and one giveaway: 34-A, nine letters, “It’s about an hour’s drive from Oberlin” and 41-A, eight letters, “NATO headquarters.” And whole swaths of the puzzle began to fall into place.

Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:

2-D, ten letters, “What many tourists hope to take in.” At least if they’re wise tourists.

5-D, six letters, “Party leaders.” Bye, Ronna.

8-D, three letters, “Cement user’s designation.” I thought at first that the answer had to do with some system for grading varieties of cement.

9-D, twelve letters, “Urban asset.” I recall one or two moments when having 9-D came in handy.

18-A, ten letters, “Loopy pastime.” I am delighted to know that you can be six and be great at it.

21-D, twelve letters, “Breakfast serving.” Not in my house. No way.

32-D, four letters, “Dull finish.” Uh, MATT?

33-A, five letters, “Something to run for.” See what a nice puzzle this is?

40-A, five letters, “They'll give you a hand.” Even when this puzzle is being tricky, it’s kind.

42-D, six letters, “Sleeps in emperor tents, say.” I knew what the answer had to be, but now I need to find out what an emperor tent is.

61-A, four letters, “Torts taker.” Clever.

My favorite in this puzzle: 44-A, three letters, “Iceberg’s destination, sometimes.” Nicely witty.

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.

*

SZ also created today’s Los Angeles Times crossword, which I do at The Washington Post. It’s less difficult than today’s Stumper — for me, about three minutes less difficult.