Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday  Saturday Stumper, is by Anna Stiga, or Stan Again, Stan Newman, the puzzle’s editor. This puzzle though might have been the work of Lester Ruff — it was a fairly easy Stumper.

Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:

4-D, three letters, “Rocket rival, reduced.” I got it but had to look it up to understand. I was thinking mortgages?

7-D, four letters, “Inferential intro.” I remember when I first saw this word, in what might have been the lone issue of an underground “newspaper” put out by students at my high school. 7-D seemed immensely sophisticated to me. The writer was probably a senior.

12-D, six letters, “Make better, as a mandolin.” Okay, but I’m not sure that any musician would think of it as making an instrument better.

18-A, three letters, “Runner who ran the London Olympics.” I like the pun, and I like that I knew the name. How? From an episode of Desert Island Discs for which 18-A was the guest.

32-A, fifteen letters, “Data sharing protocol.” A first glance might suggest an answer having to do with bytes and networks.

40-A, six letters, “Aquafina alternative.” Yuck.

41-A, eight letters, “Ball storage areas for Rockies and Diamondbacks.” Who knew?

42-D, six letters, “Call from above.” Nice.

50-A, four letters, “What might hold your notice.” Heh.

63-A, seven letters, “Shipped before settlement.” To my surprise, it’s still possible.

My favorite in this puzzle: 27-D, eight letters, “With rather high frequency.”

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.