15-Across – Aces, with “the”:  2 words.  “Aces” is slang and so is the answer.   Or what some people hear every time they open a can of tuna.

17-Across – One getting poked in the eye?:  Not, not the eye on a face or a potato.  And the answer is the poker not the pokee

4-Down  – “The Hippopotamus” writer:  IONESCO fits, but he wrote Rhinoceros, not hippo.  2 inits, then the last name.

33-Across – Completely covers: I wanted BLANKETS but this isn’t a Thursday where you squeeze multiple letters into a single square.  Think of bombing runs or living rooms.

47-Across – Put on the line:  I wanted WAGERED, but that’s too short.  Turns out it’s not about betting at all, although it might involve betting on the weather.

30-Across – IRS settlement:  I don’t know if it’s a settlement exactly.  Guess so.  This way of “settling” can be very painful to some, but not to the IRS.

46-Across – Film hero chasing a motorcycle gang:  2 words…And who would have thought he knew how to speak Aramaic???

53-Across – Target of thrown bricks, in early comics:  What, they didn’t appreciate his singing?  No, they didn’t.  Guess he wasn’t the 15-Across.