Longtime CBS News host Charles / FRI 12-18-20 / Target of 1972 ban / Stereotypical cry from a sailor / Mike Piazza beginning in 2006

Constructor: Damon Gulczynski

Relative difficulty: Easyish (well under 7, and that was a. going slowly, b. taking screenshots along the way)

THEME: none 

Word of the Day: Demi LOVATO (52A: Demi of pop) —

Demetria Devonne Lovato (/ləˈvɑːtoʊ/ lə-VAH-toh; born August 20, 1992) is an American singer and actress. After appearing in the children's television series Barney & Friends (2002–2004), she rose to prominence for her role as Mitchie Torres in the Disney Channelmusical television film Camp Rock (2008) and its sequel Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam (2010), as well as the titular character on Sonny with a Chance (2009–2011). The former film's soundtrack included "This Is Me", Lovato's duet with Joe Jonas, which peaked in the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100. After signing with Hollywood Records, Lovato released her pop rock debut album, Don't Forget (2008), which charted at number two on the Billboard 200. Its follow-up, Here We Go Again (2009), debuted at number one in the US and was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). [...] As of 2017, Billboard reported that Lovato has sold over two million albums and 20 million singles in the US. Her accolades include an MTV Video Music Award, 14 Teen Choice Awards, five People's Choice Awards, two Latin American Music Awards, and one Guinness World Record. Lovato was also included on the Time 100 list in 2017. Aside from music, Lovato served as a judge and mentor on The X Factor USA for two seasons, appeared as a recurring character on Glee (2013–2014) and on the sitcom Will & Grace (2020), and voiced Smurfette in the Sony Pictures Animation film Smurfs: The Lost Village (2017). (wikipedia)

• • •

Happy second snow day (US Northeast Only)! We broke records here in Binghamton so the street-clearing fleet is overwhelmed so my wife gets a second actual Day Off (doesn't even have to Zoom teach! legit Snow Day!). The cats are happy. They like me fine but they live for the lady. And for food. And for sleeping atop the radiators. And for ASHLAR (I actually have no idea what ASHLAR is—I assume the cats would like it, they're pretty amenable) (10D: Square-cut masonry). Speaking of ASHLAR, that was the only thing in this grid that made me go ???????? The rest was a typical Friday delight (Friday being the only day about which I can say it is typically delightful). The 3x3 interlacing of 15-letter answers provides the base structure for this thing, and when your base is solid, good things follow. Also, having so many grid-spanners made helped give the puzzle flow (that all-important but somewhat ineffable feature of a good puzzle). Lots of room to move, few places to get truly stuck. My only issue with the 15s was, in the case of two of them, figuring out the right phrasing. Wanted something like BETTER GET A MOVE ON instead of BETTER GET MOVING at 3D: "Let's go!" and BECAUSE IT WAS THERE instead of the oddly informal / contracted "BECAUSE IT (apostrophe) S THERE" at 11D: George Mallory's famous response to "Why did you want to climb Mount Everest?" I thought Sir Edmund Hillary climbed Mount Everest. Who is George Mallory? Anyway, I expect vintage mountaineers to spurn contractions! IT'S indeed! I say! EGAD! 

Had a tiny bit of trouble starting off, as the NW (the weakest little nook in this puzzle, fill-wise) was a bit eely. Wanted maybe AURA at 1A: Vague sense (VIBE) and wanted nothing and/or RIMA (?!) for 1D: Mezza ___ (VOCE). Dante wrote the Divine Comedy in terza rima. Annnnyway, IPAD got me going and soon after, Bam! We're off:

17A: Using any means necessary

After that, I went whooshing around, easily knocking out most of the short fill, pausing briefly to stare at the mysterious ASHLAR, about which I eventually just crossed my fingers and moved on. The next, and only other, trouble spot in the puzzle came in the east, specifically the patch beneath the word CRIME in what would become SCENE OF THE CRIME (37A: Setting for forensic investigations):

As you can see, I hadn't worked out the exact wording of the Everest quote, and then none of the other answers for which I had letters in place wanted to show their faces. Couldn't think of an "R" word for 40D: Path except ROUTE. No idea what 39D: Censure starting with "C" was. Thought [Sacked] at 43A was referring to being fired, and no way I was going to get from the very vague [Rank] to NASTY at 48A, "Rank" having many meanings and NASTY being an exceedingly general and non-smell-specific synonym of "Rank." But again given how free-flowing and interconnected the whole grid was, it wasn't necessary to get bogged down in that patch of eastern thorniness. I just moved over to the center and then the west and worked my way back. 

What else?:

• 5A: Nick ___, football coach who led both L.S.U. and Alabama to national championships (SABAN) — gave up paying any attention to college sports fairly recently, since the NCAA is exploitative of athlete labor, and I especially don't care about good ol' boy / CTE-promoting culture of football. But I was paying attention when SABAN became famous, so, from a solving perspective, lucky me.
• 52A: Demi of pop (LOVATO) — couldn't tell you a thing she has done, but she is Very famous. I had the -ATO when I got to her clue and thought, "Oh, yeah, this is good—nice to be inclusive of genuinely famous people, especially younger people, especially women, who aren't necessarily popular with the typical NYTXW solver demographic. Yes, I certainly am pleased to see Demi [types in name] NOVATO" (turns out NOVATO is a town in northern Marin County, where my aunt lives; sorry Demi).
• 20A: Supermodel Wek (ALEK) — I wish I had a handy way for you to remember this very crosswordesey name. Her name parts rhyme? Kinda. I am having fun saying "wek-a-lek" right now, so maybe that will help you.
• 41A: Bit of needle work (TAT) — OK so the funny (not haha but "hmmm" funny) thing here is I wrote this right in ... assuming it was about *lace-making* (which also, I believe, counts as "needle work," since "tatting needles" are a thing). In the olden days, i.e. the early '90s, before TAT was a universally-known abbr. for "tattoo," TAT got clued almost exclusively via its lace-making meaning (which I wouldn't even know if I hadn't learned it from crosswords). "Tatting is a technique for handcrafting a particularly durable lace from a series of knots and loops" (wikipedia). But with lace, TAT is a verb, so this clue must be referring to the TAT that is a noun, i.e. a tattoo. 
• 61D: One of the Beastie Boys (MCA) — all the Beastie Boys have great-for-crossword names, but you're probably never gonna see AD-ROCK or MIKE D in your grid, so if you aren't a fan, the best thing to do is try to remember MCA, aka Adam Yauch (R.I.P.). 

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]