Today’s Saturday Stumper

We stayed up very late last night to watch local television as huge storms accompanied by tornado warnings moved toward and passed through our “neck of the woods,” as Al Roker would call it. We switched between CBS and NBC affiliates, each of which had suspended regular programming for non-stop weather coverage. As we neared 12:00 CT, I wondered if the Newsday Saturday Stumper might now come online at 12:00 ET. And there it was. So I began working on today’s Newsday  Saturday Stumper somewhere between 12:00 and 1:00 this morning.

Today’s puzzle is by Kate Chin Park, and its difficulty might be partly a matter of trying to solve with a dangerous storm as a background. But storm or no, it’s a tough puzzle. I woke up this morning thinking that I had finally figured out the answer to 1-A: RISEANDSHINE. But when I went back to the puzzle, 1-A still needed an eight-letter answer.

Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:

1-D, three letters, “Brief boundary.” Oy.

12-D, ten letters, “Trope used by Twain.” As a trained literary professional, I got stuck here by thinking of trope in its original meaning. SYNECDOCHE?!

15-A, eight letters, “Unflattering admission.” How one might feel after trying to see the answer for 1-D.

21-D, seven letters, “Z’s.” McCoy Tyner spoke of them to my dad when he was doing tile work in the pianist’s house.

25-A, six letters, “Originally, a herder’s hut.” Huh.

27-A, eleven letters, “What allies make.” Timely.

29-D, ten letters, “12-Down device?” A nice twist on the meaning of the other answer.

30-D, seven letters, “Terry and kin.” Oof.

36-D, nine letters, “Gamer’s ultimate opponent.” I am learning all the time.

45-A, three letters, “Close to perfection.” Heh.

46-A, eleven letters, “Federal crime of misappropriating medals.” I knew this striking phrase, but not as the name of a crime.

54-A, four letters, “Spade aid.” Didn’t fool me.

64-A, eight letters, “Crafty ploy originated by a Lithuanian NBAer (1989).” See 36-D.

My favorite in this puzzle: 1-A, eight letters, “Way to throw shade on pouty types.” Yow! Especially clever because there’s an insult that might seem to fit — but it makes 1-D impossible to see.

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.