Old-style hacker / THU 8-24-17 / D in emoticon / Cartoonist who popularized Uncle Sam / British Invasion band that launched Van Morrison's career

Constructor: Neil Patrick Harris and David Steinberg

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging? (solved it upon waking, got weirdly, possibly uniquely lost...)

 [Now you see him] 

[... now you don't]

[this is the only version in which the Downs all make sense]

THEME: HARRY HOUDINI (58A: Subject of this puzzle (who has himself done a 39-Across)) — Houdini, an ESCAPE ARTIST (20A: 58-Across, notably), has done a DISAPPEARING ACT (39A: Part of a magic show), both in real life and (importantly) in this puzzle (you have to take him *out* of the grid at 58-Across for all of the Down crosses to make sense.

Word of the Day: THEM (36A: British Invasion band that launched Van Morrison's career) —

Them were a Northern Irish band formed in Belfast in April 1964, most prominently known for the garage rock standard "Gloria" and launching singer Van Morrison's musical career. The original five member band consisted of Morrison, Alan Henderson, Ronnie Milling, Billy Harrison and Eric Wrixon. The group was marketed in the United States as part of the British Invasion. (emph mine, just to highlight the wiki-cluing—which is when your clue lifts language directly from a wikipedia article, usually from the first paragraph) (wikipedia)

• • •

This was pretty fun to solve but it's Really fun to look at after the fact. I only just noticed that if you put HARRY HOUDINI into the grid, while the Down clues won't work, all the Downs are real, viable crossword answers. A very belated "wow" on that one. Didn't affect the solving experience, but that is some pretty Next Level stuff right there. Beyond that, this is a variation on the disappearing answer trick (I've seen it a few times before), executed in a very simple but ultimately impressive way. The non-theme stuff is OK. There are some weak patches, but (especially toward the bottom of the grid, where the requirements of the theme are very taxing) they're pretty forgivable. I don't know how anyone is supposed to remember the weird name of a single character from an only moderately popular movie from 30+ years ago, but OK, sure, EDWINA (61A: Lily Tomlin's role in "All of Me"). Beyond that, there wasn't much obscurity, and the gunky short stuff (ETS, ECOL / SCI, RSA, INS, APOP etc.) was not oppressive.


Bullets:

• THEM (36A: British Invasion band that launched Van Morrison's career) — whaaat is this? This was, strangely, the toughest thing in the grid for me, both because I have never heard of this band, and because OAT fits at 37D: Part of a stable diet? (HAY). I got your little "stable" trick there, but ... no, apparently I didn't get it. THEM! THE "M"? To me, THEM is a pronoun, or a movie about giant, radioactive ants.  
• STEAL UP (46A: Approach furtively), with "on") — did you know CREEP UP and SNEAK UP both fit here? Yeah, you probably knew that.
• PHREAK (5D: Old-style hacker) — I *just* learnead what this is this past weekend, so that was a lucky coincidence. Phreaking involves (involved?) hacking phone systems (most notably to bypass charges and long-distance fees, back in the day when those were things). 
• PAN (17A: Film technique — or a bad thing for it to get?) — this clue is a flop, and a bad one. First, you pan a film, not a "film technique" (?), i.e. not the specific camera action, the PAN. Pronoun "it" must refer to "technique" here, and so ... no. Second, whether it's the film itself or the "technique," it gets PANNED. The idea that the "technique" "gets" a (single, discrete) "PAN" is ridiculous. One other irksome clue: LANAI (26D: Hawaii's ___ City, on an island of the same name). So ... really, [Hawaiian island] is the clue you want here. Just [Hawaiian island]. All the rest is ridiculous. If the place were sufficiently famous, then you wouldn't need the post-comma bit, which itself obviates the need for the pre-comma bit. Come on, editors.
• OMAN (53D: Country whose national anthem is "Nashid As-Salaam as-Sultani") — this was the only theme-affected Down answer that had a plausible +1-letter equivalent. This is to say, I had YEMEN in here at one point.
• ADORBS (19A: Like, so cute!) — I like this answer a lot. Very contemporary. Also, it's directly under HEGOAT, and I imagine a HE GOAT (esp. a baby one) could be pretty ADORBS. I also like SEX TAPE, which is directly under OILED ... so that's nice.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. I can't believe this is still unclear, but I'm getting mail, so here's my response to that mail: "I know what "to PAN" means, both in film and in criticism. But you would never PAN a PAN shot. The "it" in the clue must refer to "technique" and you would not PAN the technique of panning. You would PAN the "film" itself."

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