Puzzle 58 – “Understood”

puz here / pdf here / solution here

What’s this?!? Not a themeless? Nope. Here’s a pretty traditional early-week-difficulty, wordplay-based themed puzzle. I made this one a few months back and considered sending it out… until I learned that the specific wordplay move of the theme here had previously appeared in a WSJ puzzle from a few years back. So, I’m not submitting it anywhere (especially since two of four theme answers here overlap with the earlier published puzzle), but I thought solvers here might still enjoy it, with a tip of the hat from me to the earlier crossword and its constructor.

Favorite clues here: 52-Across and 49-Down, obviously. Also have a soft spot for 11-Down.

As always, yall, comments welcome. Hope you enjoy. Happy solving!