Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday  Saturday Stumper is David P. Williams’s fourth Stumper in the last four months. It has lots of the good stuff — and two crossings that left me at a loss.

Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:

1-A, five letters, “Unreal.” I think first of the word’s slang application: Oh man, that’s crazy. The answer is a slight surprise.

6-D, ten letters, “Your bag.” I dig.

14-A, five letters, “Most easily tied.” Stumper-y.

17-A, ten letters, “Pyramid schemes.” I am happy to have caught on right away.

26-A, thirteen letters, “Give it up.” THROWINTHETOWEL doesn’t fit. How about THROWINATOWEL?

29-D, ten letters, “Brits who get gin on their birthday.” Of course! See 36-D for more Anglophile flavor.

33-D, four letters, “Trail in good order.” I was thinking of a tidily swept path through the woods. I didn’t catch the point of the clue before typing that sentence.

34-D, four letters, “Turns quickly.” ZIGS? ZAGS? ROTS? Stumper-y.

36-D, eight letters, “‘Disorderly’ dessert served at a Harrow cricket match.” See 29-D.

46-D, six letters, “Subject of the literary analysis Angels and Wild Things.” Maybe a giveaway, maybe not.

55-D, four letters, “She’s name-checked in Wonder’s Ellington tribute.” A wonderful way to clue her oft-appearing name.

My stumbling points: the crossings of 38-D, five letters, “Oral”; 42-A, five letters, “Capital of Algeria”; and 50-A, five letters, “Rapdom’s close relative.” “Oral” seems to me a dubious clue. As for 50-A, I think there’s only one in music.

And a quarrel: 49-D, five letters, “Beethoven’s Fifth soloist.” Elaine assures me that there’s no such soloist in the symphony or the piano concerto. I’m waiting to find out if I’ve missed something tricky in the clue.

My favorite in this puzzle: 45-A, thirteen letters, “Bunk.” Such an uncoarse way of putting it.

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.