Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday  Saturday Stumper is by Lars G. Doubleday, or Doug Peterson and Brad Wilber. (The alias is an anagram of the names Bradley and Douglas.) I started this puzzle late last night and got about halfway through before giving up at about 12:30. When I went back to it this morning, everything that stumped me last night fell into place. I thought of a line from The Wire that has long stuck in my head: “Fresh eyes, Jimmy,” spoken as McNulty and another detective (Bunk, I think) reexamine a crime scene and, of course, figure out where a bullet came from — or something. Fresh eyes FTW.

Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:

1-A, six letters, “Job successor.” Well, it ain’t Tim Coo.

1-D, six letters, “‘Avoid fertilizer,’ from Angler Magazine.” I can’t claim to understand the connection between avoiding fertilizer and fishing, but I knew what the answer had to be.

2-D, ten letters, “Save-yourself saw.” Pleasingly clued.

31-D, ten letters, “Page with privacy notices.” We all read them, yes?

32-D, three letters, “Poesy’s ‘foster-child of silence.’” And slow time. But why not just say poetry?

33-A, fourteen letters, “Displays loyalty.” I associate the answer with fambly, not oaths or tests.

36-D, four letters, “What ‘from’ is often amended to.” I have no idea why from might be changed to this four-letter word.

[Now there’s an explanation in the comments. But it’s not a good one.]

38-A, seven letters, “Legend in their own mind.” I like the novelty of this answer.

53-A, four letters, “Charismatic confidence.” Thank goodness the answer isn’t RIZZ.

55-A, seven letters, “Hotel Bossa Nova neighborhood.” Wait, there’s a Hotel Bossa Nova?!

57-A, seven letters, “Booze brand adjectivized in ads.” The clue was split between columns in the online print version of the puzzle. All I read before writing in an answer was “Booze brand.” Lucky guess.

My favorite in this puzzle: 39-A, fourteeen letters, “Guard against bachelorette party mix-ups.” I have never attended a bachelorette party, but I knew this answer right away thanks my friends Jim and Luanne.

Thanks, Jim and Lu!

*

And one more, whose cleverness registered with me only after I read the Crossword Fiend write-up of the puzzle: 54-D, four letters, “Ultimately silent smashing success.”

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.