Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday  Saturday Stumper, by Winston Emmons, started so well for me, and in the northwest corner no less. I began with 17-A, six letters, “Descartes start.” A “Large number” (19-Across, five letters) of the answers seemed “Self-evident, these days” (7-A, four letters). But I ran into difficulty elsewhere and had to look up 59-A, six letters, “Sister of Helios,” which I should have known. And then I ended up looking up answers I was certain were correct (they were) because they seemed so utterly improbable.

Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:

7-D, fifteen letters, “Slots.” I kept thinking of schedules and appointments.

29-D, six letters, “Joint holder.” I so wanted STONER here.

33-A, eight letters, “American benchmark.” Thoughtfully clued.

54-A, eight letters, “Pushback against parents.” Been there, done that.

Clue-and-answer pairs that bugged me:

10-D, four letters, “‘Flat-out fun’ hardware.” Search for “flat-out fun” and all you find are crossword references. I think that’s a sign of a dubious clue. I had the answer but looked it up to check find out what it was about. My answer was wrong. Blame it on 7-A. Explanation in the comments.

11-D, three letters, “Line 11 of IRS Form 1040.” Ah, yes, good old line 11. As with 10-D, the answer is gettable from crosses, but this clue is pretty ridic. Here too I looked up the answer to find out what it was about.

35-D, five letters, “Garnishing gadget.” True, but its name signifies its primary use, which is not to make garnishes.

45-D, five letters, “Last word of Antony and Cleopatra.” It kinda depends. But whatever the answer, it’s pretty arbitrary, not specific to this play.

My favorite in this puzzle: 37-A, fifteen letters, “Aloha, for instance.”

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.