Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday Saturday Stumper is by Rafael Musa. It’s his first. It’s a fine puzzle, leaning more toward ambiguity and indirection — e.g., 4-D, four letters, “Bed makeup,” 40-D, seven letters, “What may have multiple levels” — than trickery.

Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:

6-D, nine letters, “Layered indulgence.” I was thinking of a cake.

8-D, seven letters, “Varsity Tutors offering.” My starting point. Only one possible answer, thought I.

9-D, ten letters, “Silver accessories.” Hah.

12-D, three letters, “What might precede a ceiling.” An inventive way to clue these three letters. But to pick a nit: they should really be four.

13-A, nine letters, “All-encompassing space fiction concept.” New to me, but then I don’t know space fiction.

17-A, nine letters, “Modern missive.” Everything old is new again.

19-A, thirteen letters, “Focus time.” Having the last four letters via down answers made the rest of the answer obvious.

30-A, nine letters, “Raising expenses.” No question mark?

33-D, nine letters, “Many Helsinki ferry patrons.” I think I’ve seen these travelers in a previous puzzle, but I did not see them making their way to the boat here.

34-A, five letters, “Ring to reach.” Clever. My first thought was BRASS.

43-A, six letters, “Whom many a doctor charges.” As they probably should, at least in some cases.

50-D, five letters, “Put up or in.” A great clue redeems a familiar answer.

52-A, thirteen letters, “Succeed through the straight and narrow.” A nice way of twisting the answer’s usual meaning.

53-D, four letters, “Lacking a charge.” Okay, here’s some misdirection.

57-A, nine letters, “Gifts with bells and whistles.” A wonderful clue.

59-A, nine letters, “Focus times.” A callback with a difference.

60-A, five letters, “Illustration introduction.” My one quarrel with this puzzle. The answer is really about something else.

My favorite in this puzzle: 24-A, nine letters, “Drill bits?”

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.