Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday  Saturday Stumper is by Anna Stiga, Stan Again, Stan Newman, the puzzle’s editor, and it’s a solid sender. At the center, rows of twelve, fifteen, and twelve. The toughest section of the puzzle for me: the northwest, where 13-A, eight letters, “Baja Fresh, for instance” and 13-D, five letters, “Seatless transportation” made everything difficult to see.

Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:

1-A, seven letters, “Stranded swabbers.” I recalled the illustration from my kid version of Treasure Island, marooned mutineers pleading not to be abandoned.

2-D, six letters, “Zony or zorse.” I kept thinking it had something to do with typos.

3-D, three letters, “Less than half a day.” Stumper-y.

12-D, eight letters, “Rousseau’s big coward.” That seems right.

19-A, five letters, “Round for a course.” Groan.

32-A, twelve letters, “Drop collectors.” Seeing the word that’s the answer makes me inexplicably happy.

33-D, five letters, “Spontaneous.” Tricky, as another name would be perfect here.

37-A, fifteen letters, “Teddy Roosevelt established 150 of them.” And God knows what’s going to become of them.

38-D, eight letters, “Big name in brewing.” I felt certain enough to guess.

39-D, eight letters, “Big name in brewing.” I haven’t thought of this name in years.

40-A, twelve letters, “Feature of each of the nine Star Wars films.” Easy to see the answer even if you’ve seen only two.

50-D, five letters, “Anthill stratum.” Could it be? Really? Yes.

53-A, four letters, “Epilogue writer of Malcolm’s autobiography.” Have it. Have read it.

54-A, eight letters, “Robin Hood emulator of British lit.” Huh.

65-A, five letters, “Gallo brand name.” I remember the jingle.

My favorite in this puzzle: 49-A, five letters, “Faced left.” Because I saw it right away.

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.