Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday  Saturday Stumper is by Kate Chin Park, each of whose previous Stumpers has prompted me to write, “Please, more KCP Stumpers.” Today’s puzzle is a doozy, a lulu, a sockdolager if you will, full of variety and challenges. Please, more KCP Stumpers.

Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:

6-D, seven letters, “Rampart part.” Nicely phrased. I think I have the answer in my head from reading Steven Millhauser.

8-D, three letters, “Literature scholars’ org.” In what feels like a previous lifetime, I belonged.

9-D, four letters, “Stepmom to Mary, Elizabeth and Edward.” You’d expect a first name, wouldn’t you?

14-A, five letters, “Surname meaning ‘priest.’” This answer broke the puzzle open for me.

20-D, seven letters, “Freshen, as one’s study.” Pretty ambitious. I’d think that clearing some papers from the floor might be enough.

21-A, six letters, “How to respond to ‘I didn’t get it.’” ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

31-A, fifteen letters, “Communication challenge.” Funny how the clue immediately suggests, at least to me, a technology glitch.

33-D, nine letters, “It pairs well with patés.” Who needs paté?

38-A, thirteen letters, “Uninvolved associate.” I wondered whether this clue is accurate. It is.

48-A, three letters, “Zuo Zongtang’s much-seen alias.” Funny.

50-D, four letters, “London lip-lock.” A word that has always sounded filthy to my ears.

58-A, nine letters, “Yup.” I don’t know anyone who says “Yup,” but the answer has some currency in my world.

My favorite in this puzzle: 10-D, ten letters, “The majority of corkscrews and chopsticks.” RSTRNTWARE?!

Please, more KCP Stumpers.

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.

Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday  Saturday Stumper is, I believe, Kate Chin Park’s third Stumper. Her first prompted me to write “Please, more KCP Stumpers.” Her second prompted me to say, once again, “Please, more KCP Stumpers.” And I’ll say it now again, “Please, more KCP Stumpers.” Today’s puzzle is a terrific challenge, filled with surprising, tricky stuff. I bounced around looking for a place to start and found one at 32-D, letters, “Obstetric eponym.” Ah, memories.

Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:

1-A, eight letters, “Asset from the Greek for ‘favor.’” Good to know.

4-D, nine letters, “Insurance for fair play.” Something to do with poker and antes? No.

9-A, six letters, “Descriptor for some couples.” This one had me fooled at first.

9-D, eleven letters, “Reflection of a skeptic.” Fun to see.

14-D, four letters, “Base pay?” It’s a wonderful thing when a constructor can render the most familiar words strange.

18-A, six letters, “Back up.” A nice example of this puzzle’s trickiness.

23-D, eleven letters, “Documentary procedure.” Parse every word of the clue.

37-D, nine letters, “Beat it.” I wrote in an answer, no crosses, but sure it was right. It was.

38-A, fifteen letters, “Solving skill.” Especially apt in a crossword.

42-A, three letters, “Digest, say.” See 18-A.

57-D, four letters, “New Looney Tune ____ Go Bugs.” A fun (loony) way to clue a familiar crossword answer.

61-A, eight letters, “Much-anticipated global decline?” Yes, but so what? I’ve never understood the fascination.

My favorite in this puzzle: 3-D, four letters, “Folkie from Charlotte.” Because I only understood the answer several hours after finishing the puzzle. Oh! — that’s what it means.

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.

Today's Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday  Saturday Stumper is by Kate Chin Park, whose last (and first?) Stumper appeared on April 6, and prompted me to write “Please, more KCP Stumpers.” And now that I’m quoting myself, I’ll add that this puzzle, like that one, is “a solid sender, difficult, misdirective, punny, and blessedly free of trivia and strain.” I looked around for a place to start and hit on 45-D, five letters, “Mes después de Navidad .” And then jumped around, here and there. 1-A, which felt like an impediment to any chance of succeeding with the puzzle, was the last answer I filled in.

Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:

1-D, four letters, “Malfunction message.” A recent puzzle helped here.

5-D, six letters, “Bowls, for instance.” Nicely misdirective.

9-D, eight letters, “Ultimately plain?” NOFRILLS fits but isn’t it.

14-A, nine letters, “Campus coveralls?” An answer that I didn’t understand even after finishing the puzzle. My only excuse is that I’d call them something else. Elaine explained it to me.

23-D, eleven letters, “Deactivating but preserving.” A wild answer.

24-D, seven letters, “Candy striper?” The ones I thought of appeared in young-adult novels.

35-A, fifteen letters, “Cap wearer’s sassy slogan.” I thought first of what might be written atop a mortarboard. Highly unexpected.

43-A, five letters, “Puzz to crack.” An easy anse.

47-D, five letters, “Storms with precipitation.” It’s a trick.

49-D, four letters, “It’s from the Greek for ‘pie.’” I did not know that.

57-A, five letters, “Be a bumbler?” Groan.

58-A, nine letters, “Waiting periods.” The answer made me smile out loud.

My favorite in this puzzle is that initial impediment: 1-A, eight letters, “Outpay, but not outearn.”

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.

Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday  Saturday Stumper, by Kate Chin Park, a maker of crosswords and furniture, is a solid sender, difficult, misdirective, punny, and blessedly free of trivia and strain. Please, more KCP Stumpers.

I began with 22-A, four letters, “Be crawling” (easy, I think) and 37-A, thirteen letters, “Paradoxical ‘I know,’” which I knew had to be the answer I was writing in. And was.

Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:

4-D, ten letters, “Not actually.” More difficult to see than one might think, I think.

9-A, six letters, “What some pie crusts are.” Uh, FLAKEY? LARDED?

11-D, four letters, “Unit of outer space.” A good example of the puzzle’s unstrained misdirection.

17-A, eight letters, “Comes back.” See 11-D.

23-A, six letters, “Prime directives, sometimes.” I tried to think of an answer related to interest rates.

30-A, four letters, “Preceder of body work.” My first thought was DENT.

30-D, ten letters, “Players’ positions.” See 17-A.

31-A, thirteen letters, “It holds a lot at the dinner table.” Really clever.

32-D, five letters, “Refuse passage.” My first thought was of a someone thrown off a bus or train.

40-D, three letters, “Silence, possibly.” Brilliant, and for just three letters.

48-D, five letters, “Small club.” Having seen a similar clue a week or two ago, I was not fooled.

53-D, three letters, “Shortened yardstick.” The clue redeems the answer.

58-A, six letters, “Crown molding?” I laughed, loudly.

61-A, eight letters, “Many happy returns.” Yet another example of the puzzle’s unstrained misdirection.

My favorite in this puzzle: I know it has to be 37-A.

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.