I was happy to be on my way to finishing today’s Newsday Saturday Stumper, by Matthew Sewell, when I found myself flummoxed in the lower right and had to resort to checking three letters in the online puzzle. Alas.
Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:
5-D, twelve letters, “High-profile research center.” A reminder to read all clues carefully.
11-D, five letters, “Advanced, or far from advanced.” A nice play on words.
22-D, twelve letters, “Brando, thanks to Streetcar.” Okay, but I hate when people call it Streetcar. Then again, I appear on neither screen nor stage, so who am I to have a say?
23-A, seven letters, “Modest proposals.” Not of the Swiftian sort.
27-D, five letters, “Side in a sleeve.” I knew it, I knew it, I knew it.
30-A, nine letters, “Delightful little things.” I think this clue might be tongue-in-cheek.
31-D, nine letters, “Metaphorical straggler.” I haven’t though of this quaint expression for years.
37-A, three letters, “Co-producer of the 2021 docuseries Get Back.” That’s a new way to clue the name. (But did that series really air five years ago? Time flieth.)
46-A, letters, “About whom Phyllis Diller said ‘He may never be topped as a monologist.’” I don’t think I’d agree. How about Jean Shepherd? Or from another part of the dial, Spalding Gray?
59-A, five letters, “Regal assortment.” It took me a while to figure out why the answer isn’t a noun.
My difficulties with the lower-right corner:
41-D, seven letters, “What Toto can be a sobriquet for.” Just too obscure. I’ll offer an alternative in the comments.
51-A, five letters, “Depend on.” The fit seems off, as the answer establishes the connection that the clue already establishes.
My favorite in this puzzle: 20-A, twelve letters, “Forward-facing bunk?”
No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.
Saturday, April 11, 2026
Today’s Saturday Stumper
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SPACESTATION. EARLY. BREAKOUTSTAR.
FEELERS. FRIES. BRICABRAC. ROTTENEGG.
ONO. JOHNNYCARSON. LARGE. (An anagram.)
ANTOINE. How about “Fats, formally,” referencing Fats (Antoine) Domino?
TIETO. TECHNOBABBLE.
This is ACPT weekend so as usual Stan makes it tougher to give attendees more of a challenge. I had two long entries that were close but not quite so it took a while to convince myself even though many letters aligned. BROADWAY STAR instead of BREAKOUT STAR and GEORGE CARLIN instead of JOHNNY CARSON. And boo to those sneaky cryptic-style clues for the first Down and the last Across.
Instead of Antoine how about “They’re big on their feet, we hear”?
I had BROADWAY first, saw ESS right away, but struggled with REGAL. That’s not a noun, I said, and I even went to the OED before catching on. (It is a noun but not one that means “assortment.”)
Toe, toe! Props for “hear.” Which reminds me of another Fats — Waller, and “Your Feet’s Too Big.”
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