Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday  Saturday Stumper is by Matthew Sewell. For me, a half-hour’s worth of Stumper, difficult but do-able.

Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:

1-A, six letters, “Hollywood power player?” Didn’t fool me.

3-D, fourteen letters, “Supporter of Notre Dame’s reconstruction.” Just wow. There’ll be a lot marked French flavor in this puzzle.

4-D, six letters, “1890s inventor out to ‘out-Eiffel Eiffel.’” Why do I know this?

7-D, fifteen letters, “They’re not particular.” More difficult than it might appear.

13-A, eight letters, “Work through, as baggage.” I was hung up on this clue, and didn’t see the relatively obvious 9-D, five letters, “Cheereful-sounding sobriquet” for some time.

31-A, fifteen letters, “Portraitist’s preface.” Well, maybe.

39-A, five letters, “Oaf’s handlers.” I was thinking of bouncers and tough guys.

42-D, six letters, “Word from the Greek for ‘ship.’” The online Merriam-Webster and the OED disagree about the source. Webster’s Third and the OED agree.

44-A, ten letters, “Big cheeses.” A nice clash of diction between clue and answer.

47-A, five letters, “It replaced all its STOP signs with PRIORITE A DROITE.” Un fait amusante.

51-A, six letters, “Wedgwood or Spode.” Sneaky.

My favorite in this puzzle: 14-D, fourteen letters, “Impenitent pronouncement.”

*

And on that got away because I missed it on my marked up screenshot of the completed puzzle: 30-D, five letters, “Floor show specialist.”

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.