Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday  Saturday Stumper is by Stella Zawistowski. I started with 13-D, seven letters, “Ceres’ Greek analog” and began shopping around. It was a tough puzzle.

Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:

2-D, six letters, “Sequenced.” CUEDUP? Nope.

9-D, eight letters, “Bostonian’s rubber bands.” Never heard of the term, but I’m assured that it’s real. When I lived in Boston, I used binder clips, paper clips, and staples to keep things together.

12-D, seven letters, “Term in environmental law.” I was tempted to guess early on but didn’t. Coming next to 13-D, my guess would have helped a lot.

14-A, ten letters, “Certain baker’s dozen.” I’m in.

17-A, ten letters, “Digressive.” The answer needs to be more in the news.

36-D, seven letters, “Ironmonger?” Groan.

37-D, seven letters, “Thundering.” Fun with the parts of speech.

46-A, five letters, “Americas’ ‘mother culture.’” I don’t think I’ve ever seen the answer in a crossword.

47-A, four letters, “Huron, Ohio’s county (no kidding!).” In other words, the Ohio county that the city of Huron is in. Wacky geography.

48-D, five letters, “Where Beowulf begins.” Oddly and some might say ridiculously specific.

49-A, four letters, “Pedal pusher’s apparatus.” I thought I was reading a tricky clue about the piano, but I wasn’t.

55-A, ten letters, “Was all over the place.” A wild and crazy clue.

56-D, three letters, “Unheard howl.” Clever.

My favorite in this puzzle: 18-A, four letters, “Gym ball.”

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.