Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday  Saturday Stumper is, I believe, Kate Chin Park’s third Stumper. Her first prompted me to write “Please, more KCP Stumpers.” Her second prompted me to say, once again, “Please, more KCP Stumpers.” And I’ll say it now again, “Please, more KCP Stumpers.” Today’s puzzle is a terrific challenge, filled with surprising, tricky stuff. I bounced around looking for a place to start and found one at 32-D, letters, “Obstetric eponym.” Ah, memories.

Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:

1-A, eight letters, “Asset from the Greek for ‘favor.’” Good to know.

4-D, nine letters, “Insurance for fair play.” Something to do with poker and antes? No.

9-A, six letters, “Descriptor for some couples.” This one had me fooled at first.

9-D, eleven letters, “Reflection of a skeptic.” Fun to see.

14-D, four letters, “Base pay?” It’s a wonderful thing when a constructor can render the most familiar words strange.

18-A, six letters, “Back up.” A nice example of this puzzle’s trickiness.

23-D, eleven letters, “Documentary procedure.” Parse every word of the clue.

37-D, nine letters, “Beat it.” I wrote in an answer, no crosses, but sure it was right. It was.

38-A, fifteen letters, “Solving skill.” Especially apt in a crossword.

42-A, three letters, “Digest, say.” See 18-A.

57-D, four letters, “New Looney Tune ____ Go Bugs.” A fun (loony) way to clue a familiar crossword answer.

61-A, eight letters, “Much-anticipated global decline?” Yes, but so what? I’ve never understood the fascination.

My favorite in this puzzle: 3-D, four letters, “Folkie from Charlotte.” Because I only understood the answer several hours after finishing the puzzle. Oh! — that’s what it means.

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.