Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday  Saturday Stumper, by Matthew Sewell, is for me just right — not too easy, not too difficult. I started with an educated guess: 54-A, four letters, “Pickford contemporary.” That must be a woman of the silents, no? And then 50-D, “Delhi dairy drink.” The toughest parts of the puzzle: the the northeast corner and the central south. Ken Paxton and Susan Collins had trouble up and down there too.

Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:

1-D, five letters, “Word from the Spanish for ‘courtyard.’” A giveaway, perhaps, but I learned something.

6-D, ten letters, “Concern of some codes.” There’s great variety in this puzzle’s answers, and here’s one example.

11-D, nine letters, “A number of legislators.” From the northeast corner. I had to reread the answer to make sense of it, and then reread the clue to make sense of it.

14-A, ten letters, “Heroic posture.” See 6-D. This answer is out of the way and slightly startling.

17-A, ten letters, “Experience the real physical world.”Important!

21-D, three letters, “Driller designation.” I wonder how many other solvers thought DDS.

22-A, seven letters, “Where Faulkner went, and was once postmaster.” And it went as you might expect.

34-D, eight letters, “Cheeky monkey!” Does anyone ever say this?

36-A, five letters, “Support for many a retirement.” I took a guess, correctly.

37-D, four letters, “Tenor touring since 1957.” And he still has it.

43-A, eight letters, “Top artisan.” I had to convince myself that the clue fits the answer. It does.

56-A, ten letters, “Evinces indecision.” From the central south. One answer fits; one doesn’t.

My favorites in this puzzle: 52-D, four letters, “Not-quite-last exam” and 53-D, four letters, “Color of piecrust.”

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.