Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday  Saturday Stumper, by Byron Walden, looked more or less impossible. I know, I know, impossible is an absolute adjective, so how can a puzzle be more or less so? All I know that this puzzle was. I started on paper, made little progress, and prepared to quit, but then I decided to try the puzzle in its (free) online version. And to my disbelief, everything fell into place, no reveals required.

Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:

1-D, six letters, “Betty’s makeup.” Yeesh.

4-D, five letters, “Photofloods and ginger jars.” Obscure, to say the least, I’d say.

14-A, eight letters, “Cutthroat school.” Cutthroat, like this puzzle.

15-D, thirteen letters, “Indulge yourself.” Getting letters in the middle first makes this answer difficult to see.

17-A, fifteen letters, “Max competition.” I thought it had to be something like a decathalon.

30-A, fifteen letters, “Fashion inspired by WWII uniforms.” Easy to see with some crosses at the end.

30-D, eight letters, “Major Novo Testamento writer.” Seriously? This is how to clue the answer?

31-D, eight letters, “Writer of the Magna Carta.” Nice one.

39-D, six letters, “Sandwich shop purchase.” Sneaky.

46-A, five letters, “Volkswagen US debuts of ’69.” AMFMS?

47-A, fifteen letters, “2025’s A4 46-Across, for instance.” Can you see why this puzzle gave me trouble?

51-A, eight letters, “Consumer of shells.” PASTAFAN?

My favorite in this puzzle: 7-D, eight letters, “Refreshers over ice.” Because it tricked me good.

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.