Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday  Saturday Stumper, by Doug Peterson, was for me a highly unusual solving experience. I began with 8-D, four letters, “He lets Louis win at roulette” and 52-D, four letters, “Conversación starter.” Pretty obvious, I know, but any port in a storm. And then I bounced around, from corner to corner, side to side. And then, with three or four widely spaced letters already in place, I saw 33-A, fourteen letters, “Guide for gardening.” And like that, the rest of the puzzle fell into place. Ta-da. Or less commonly, Merriam-Webster says, ta-dah.

Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:

1-A, seven letters, “Chiefs’ group.” I’m not sure if this clue is a giveaway or something to trick someone who knows as little about it as I do.

1-D, six letters, “Bore.” Noun? Verb? Tense? On edge?

2-D, ten letters, “Opposite of ‘remote.’” Having just read Alison Bechdel’s The Secret to Superhuman Strength, I thought “Getting up to change channels?”

[From The Secret to Superhuman Strength (2021). Click for a larger view.]

10-D, eleven letters, “Navigation device.” I have a friend who designed them.

29-D, four letters, “Wind, ding, or sting.” Having some idea how these things go, my first thought was NOUN.

31-D, ten letters, “Napoleon’s place.” Wonderful.

37-A, seven letters, “Teacher of Beethoven and Schubert.” News to me, but when I saw the last letter, I thought it had to be he. Or him.

38-A, seven letters, “Literally, ‘prompt answer.’” Learning etymology on the fly.

39-A, fourteen letters, “Wishful thinker’s phrase.” I do a lot of wishful thinking these days.

47-D, five letters, “Original head writer of SCTV.” I didn’t know that.

53-D, four letters, “Very little opening.” Sneaky.

55-A, seven letters, “In type.” Stumper-y.

61-A, seven letters, “1972 Match of the Century loser.” Weirdly timed.

My favorite in this puzzle: 33-A. See above.

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.