Today’s Saturday Stumper

I like the idea of doing a crossword with one starting point, so that every word falls into place via a previous word. I almost succeeded with Trip Payne’s Newsday  Saturday Stumper today. I started with 12-D, five letters, “Emulate Douglass or Demosthenes” but got stuck in the top left corner and had to add 1-A, four letters, “Indulgent destinations.” And I had to look up one answer that I should have known: 25-D, four letters, “’70s Ginsburg employer.” Oh well.

Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:

3-D, nine letters, “Perfectly timed.” Just surprising to see this answer.

16-A, ten letters, “Spaced out.” In a manner of speaking.

19-A, nine letters, “Legislation increasing the power of Canadian MPs (2014).” Not trivial if you’re Canadian, but I’m going to say it now: there’s too much proper-name trivia in this puzzle.

20-D, four letters, “He’s seen repeatedly on Antarctic maps.” Well, it’s his name that’s seen. But see also 19-A.

22-A, six letters, “Oscar nominee as a colonel, teacher, director and king (twice).” Interesting to know, but see 19-A and 20-D.

24-A, five letters, “One of three pieces that’s a pair.” Riddle-y.

32-D, four letters, “Asian major pistachio exporter.” Strange to think of it in this way now.

36-D, eight letters, and 38-D, seven letters, “Three-time ocean-themed interleague opponents of [38-Down/36-Down] in 2025.” See 19-A, 20-D, and 22-A.

38-A, eleven letters, “Certain silent-era films.” Kinda puzzling: the answer appears to be an early name for a motion picture, in which case any silent might be considered a 38-A.

40-A, four letters, “Bow taker on a stage.” I was not fooled.

53-D, three letters, “Dictionary entry abbr.” Oddly enough, the new Collegiate doesn’t include this one in its list of abbreviations used in the dictionary.

57-A, ten letters, “Attention-getting post.” Uh, you mean like this one?

My favorite in this puzzle: 31-D, nine letters, “Low volume.”

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.