1  President until 1981

 6  Acronym: Central Processing Unit

 9  Robbe-Grillet 1981 novel named after supernatural creature

11 Kansas, in a hurry

13 Van Allsburg's 1986 "Express"

15 Paladin's Richard "Have this, will travel" Boone died in 1981

16 A "pen" for those with allergic reactions

17 Acronym: Dead On Arrival

19 Morrison's "well-liked" 1987 character

21 MacLachlan's 1986 "Plain and Tall" woman

23 What Thomas did against the dying of the light

25 Not far

28 Shakespeare made much of this about nothing

29 Coffee on an island?

30 The Shah of this country died in 1980

33 Updike's 1981 character was "Rich," and won Pulitzer

36 Coincidental; unexpected;

37 García Márquez's 1981 story of a "Death Foretold"

40 Very small Alaska native?

43 Acronym: Out of Town

44 Ironically, we use the Bible to do this

45 Letters that slope to the right

49 Louise Erdrich's 1984 use for "Love"

51 Who did this to 1988 Roger Rabbit?

53 McMurtry's 1985 mourning "Dove"?

54 A poem; or, "old" if you have a cold

55 Robert B. Parker tried "Taming" this kind of "Horse" in 1986

56 Not daughter

 1  By 1980, this music machine was neon nostalgia

 2  Folder from the Philippines?

 3  García Márquez's "Love" was in this "Time"

 4  How to operate a book

 5  Reading; abbrev.

 6  Cincinnati, in a hurry

 7  Acronym: Promissory Note

 8  In 1984, Kundera's "Lightness of Being" problem

10 Van Allsburg's 1982 scary story title combined "jungle" and "magic"

12 Going "this" was 1981 comedy; earlier, we had dealt with a planetful of them

14 Eco's 1980 search for a "Name" for this

18 Acronym: Attitude Anomaly Detector

20 1989 Jack Lemmon "parental" movie

22 1987 Burt Reynolds movie that could be about Arizona weather

24 Mild British epithet, not to be confused with Al

26 Acronym: Audio-Visual

27 Atwood tells her 1985 "Tale"

30 William Kennedy's 1983 tough plant?

31 Acronym: reverse osmosis

32 Nickel, on the Periodic Table

34 The main blood vessel in the heart

35 Wolfe made one for these 1987 "Vanities"

37 What one does when inventing a phrase

38 John Irving's 1981 place in "New Hampshire"

39 Sagan told us in 1980 it held billions and billions of stars

40 Acronym: Grams per Square Metre, the term used to specify the weight of paper

41 Oxford English Dictionary

42 Acronym: Easily Recognizable Code

46 Acronym: Long Filenames

47 Acronym: Certificate of Advanced Study

48 East of "here" was remade for TV in 1981

50 Miracle on "this" was 1980 US hockey win

52 Music that "emotes"