Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday  Saturday Stumper is by S.N., Stan Newman, the puzzle’s editor. If I can be said to have a wheelhouse, this puzzle was right in it. The one sticky wicket (if a wheelhouse can contain a wicket) was the northeast corner, where an unexpected answer and an unfamiliar answer had me hung up for a bit (if a sticky wicket can hang someone up in a wheelhouse). Enough hijinks.

Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:

4-D, nine letters, “Billboard biggest young-male group, 1987-2012.” Now how do you spell that again?

13-D, eight letters, “Mac partner.” The unxpected answer in the northeast.

14-D, eight letters, “Where Alda shouts ‘I’ve eaten a river of liver.’” A amusingly specific way to clue the answer. (But is it really Alda who says it?)

15-A, nine letters, “Cameo role in eight 007 films.” I think I can name one of them.

21-A, six letters, “Reading on concert hall walls.” My first thought was of the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, whose backstage hallways bear the signatures of countless guest artists. “Viva a música,” Yamanadu Costa wrote there.” But I know that the clue wasn’t looking for that.

24-A, seven letters, “Form-fitting fabric.” The unfamiliar answer in the northeast.

27-A, four letters, “Special disposal.” I always enjoy seeing a common word made Stumper-y.

31-A, four letters, “End of seven UN member names.” Heh.

31-D, nine letters, “STORM + GALE weathery anagram.” Not the only cryptic-style clue in the puzzle.

32-A, fifteen letters, “Major turning point.” Even with the first two letters in place, I think the answer is not easy to see.

34-D, eight letters, “Parting suggestion.” I always like hearing or saying these words.

37-A, four letters, “Guy embodied by nonchalance.” I was not fooled.

38-A, threeletters, “Flat tip.” I was ready to say that I didn’t understand the answer when I suddenly understood it.

44-A, six letters, “Grammy category first won by Black Uhuru (1985).” Anyone remember “Chill out, chill out, chill out, New York”?

49-A, six letters, “Recipe’s kick addition.” Oblique, but not unfair.

50-D, four letters, “Hook model.” I never realized that.

My favorite in this puzzle: 55-D, three letters, “Spring summer.” See 27-A. So simple, but so Stumper-y.

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.