Constructor: Joe Deeney
Relative difficulty: Easy
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THEME: is that a theme? let's say "no"
Word of the Day: LIANE Moriarty (51A: Moriarty who wrote "Nine Perfect Strangers") —
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Well this was a huge miss on two levels. The only flashy long answers were the paired answers, up top and below, and those pairs look like a very bad attempt at a mini-theme. An actor and his movie, and then a musician and her ... album? How ... why? Because each pair consists of cross-referenced answers, it really really looks like the puzzle wants you to see a parallel, but it's a wonky, clanky, just plain off parallel, made more confusing by the fact that JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE is also (like ALANIS MORISSETTE) a singer ... If "JAGGED LITTLE PILL" had been [some movie starring Alanis], that would've been interesting, or at least ... parallel. I don't know what this is. It's also just straightforward trivia—nothing interesting at all about the way those answers are clued. "THE SOCIAL NETWORK" clue (15A: 2010 biodrama co-starring 18-Across) is much much vaguer than the very obvious "JAGGED LITTLE PILL" clue (56A: 1995 alternative rock album by 59-Across that is one of the best-selling albums of all time), but still, they're both basic, plain-old, no-frills, ordinary facts-based clues. Ho-hum. So ... take the four marquee answers, try to get cute, and wreck the whole thing, that seems to have been the plan here. The grid is 16 wide, so those longer answers at least give you *more* puzzle, I guess, if you're into that. I just don't get it. Don't get why this attempt at thematically parallel stacks was deemed interesting at all. Hit your mark or just don't do the thing.
Relative difficulty: Easy
Word of the Day: LIANE Moriarty (51A: Moriarty who wrote "Nine Perfect Strangers") —
Liane Moriarty (born 15 November 1966) is an Australian author. She has written nine novels, including the New York Times best sellers Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers, which were adapted into television series for HBO and Hulu, respectively. (wikipedia)
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The second, much more unbelievable level on which this puzzle missed is in duping "TRY." That is the worst, most flagrantly negligent dupe I've seen ... well, I don't know, I don't actually keep track, but it was stunning. I had "I TRY" (that fake-humble answer that just won't go away) (10D: "Just doing my job") and so when I wandered down to the bottom of the grid and saw -TRY at the end of an answer, I thought "well that must be something like VESTRY or TAPESTRY or CIRCUITRY or CARPENTRY or RE-ENTRY..." but no. No. There is "I TRY" up top, and then there is "NICE TRY" down below (40D: "It was worth a shot"). This is a new level of editorial "I Don't Give A ****." It's not like either answer is so good. Maybe if the answers were longer, and absolutely sizzling, you could get away with this. Also, you can dupe little words like prepositions and articles and prepositions and get away with it. No one's gonna notice that stuff too much. But a verb. And not a linking verb, either—a regular verb. And not even a different form or tense of the verb. Just "TRY" and ... "TRY." I've had grids sent back for revision because of dupes that were far, far less egregious than this one. Every constructor has had the experience of building a grid and completely missing that they have a dupe. You've got a grid that works, you're happy with it, and then after you've had some sleep, you come back to it and realize, "damn, I've got CHEESE in there twice" (an extreme hypothetical, admittedly). And they you *fix it*. The fact that it got left in and the editors test-solvers etc. were like "meh, sure," that is Disappointing. That second TRY ... well, it belies the sentiments of the first TRY, I'll tell you that much. I do not believe that this puzzle, in fact, tried.
I liked "TO A MOUSE" (12D: Burns poem that opens "Wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim'rous beastie") and I liked that it crossed LOUSY, since Burns also wrote "TO A LOUSE" (more specifically, "To a Louse, On Seeing one on a Lady's Bonnet at Church"). There were no tough parts today except for names, and those weren't that hard. LIANE and LESLEA (only semi-familiar) both had simple crosses. I had a couple of hesitations were initial letters looked wrong. CNT- up front on 16D: Tallest free-standing structure in the Western Hemisphere (CN TOWER) and EON- up front on 38A: Big source of entertainment news (E-ONLINE). Parsing those was mildly fun. Wrote in CREAMY before realizing that was the the same as, not an "alternative to" smooth (where peanut butter is concerned) (2D: Alternative to smooth, at the grocery = CHUNKY). Couldn't remember the final vowel on EL MISTI so just waited for the cross to help me out (8D: Active volcano near Peru's dormant Pichu Pichu). Had SKEEVY before SKEEZY (14D: Morally repulsive, in slang), which, crossing FONZ (25A: 1970s-'80s TV character to whom the phrase "jumped the shark" originally referred), was maybe my favorite part of the grid. The FONZwas a little SKEEZY, in retrospect, much as I loved him as a kid. He snaps and women run obediently to his side? His "office" is a diner bathroom? I dunno. Something not right there. Oh no, I just noticed that in addition to TRY, the puzzle duped SEE as well (SEES FIT, SEE YA!) so I have to stop before I notice other unpleasant things. Oh, one last thing, I had HOO- at 34D: Ruffian and wrote in HOODLUM ... but it wouldn't fit, which I found baffling. "How many HOO- words for tough guys can there b- ... oh" (HOOLIGAN).