Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday  Saturday Stumper, by Matthew Sewell, was for me pretty joyless — difficult in ways that sparked no delight. If you had told me I’d be able to finish it, I would have pointed to 24-A, eleven letters, “Disbeliever’s hyperbole.” But I did finish, and I didn’t say 24-A.

Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:

1-D, three letters, “Venerable entertainment threesome.” EMI? NBC? RCA? I took a guess, and it worked.

3-D, nine letters, “Provincial accumulation.” Good grief. I thought of something like TOWNTAXES.

20-A, seven letters, “Chops, these days.” Does the clue mean that “chops” has replaced this seven-letter word? Or that this seven-letter word has replaced “chops”? I can’t decide, because I think chops have been and always will be chops. (I’m writing as a musician with fairly decent chops.)

31-D, nine letters, “Tiki bar cocktail served in a wooden container.” I have shared one tiki bar cocktail in my lifetime — a scorpion bowl, aptly named.

32-D, nine letters, “Key catalyst in America's westward expansion.” Nice misdirection. My first thought was CONESTOGA.

38-A, eight letters, “French restaurant supplier.” Bon sang!

40-A, five letters, “Give in to.” Kinda forced.

42-D, six letters, “Spade topper.” Nice.

52-A, four letters, “She’s featured in Fun in Acapulco.” Okay, but there is a movie of that name, and she’s not in it.

53-A, ten letters, “British brass band mainstays.” Uh, ELGARTUNES?

A low point: 13-D, five letters, “Who succeeded Bob as Sentate Majority Leader (2001).” There’s no reason to have this [redacted] racist’s name in a crossword. Another clue, please.

My favorite in this puzzle: 11-D, five letters, “Not much to add.”

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.