Opened my eyes this morning but really started moving when I decided to play Sugar Ray on YouTube Music. The resulting automatically generated playlist contains 311, Third Eye Blind, Vertical Horizon, Smash Mouth, and Incubus. I could scroll down more, but I won’t right now.

I pulled out 9D One who didn’t make it to the office: ALSORAN because huuuuge election in Georgia going on right now. And then tomorrow is the counting of the Electoral College votes. It’s almost like they put this in today’s puzzle intentionally. I see you, Will Shortz.

I figured out the key to this puzzle early on.

16A Singer Benatar feels blue: PATSDOWN. Pat Benatar but also something I went through plenty before I got TSA Precheck. Later I got Global Entry. I don’t recommend getting either because I like the line to be as short as possible. I am selfish.
20A Author Grafton has arrived for dinner: SUESOVER. Sue Grafton but also litigiousness. There’s never enough litigation in this country.
26A Actress Wells has just entered the scene: DAWNSON. Dawn Wells but also I just got why this answer makes sense. OK, I got it a long time ago, but the prior sentence fit better in context.
37A Actor Nicholson will bat next: JACKSUP. Jack Nicholson and what I did to 59A before finally figuring that one out.
48A Baseball’s Boggs has agreed to join us: WADESIN. Wade Boggs but also venturing into consecutive clues referencing America’s pastime? I like baseball as much as the next guy, but this seems a little sloppy. How about Actor Nicholson has the lead for 37A?
53A Actor Norris got tagged: CHUCKSIT. Chuck Norris, but I wouldn’t want to try to tag him for fear of getting a roundhouse kick to the face.
59A TV father Cleaver has just left the starting line: WARDSOFF. I actually had a little trouble with this one. I had put WALLSOFF, but that was wrong because 49D Cool cat: DADDYO is clearly that and not DADLYO. Though, now that I think about it, it could be a combination of dad and dealio. What’s the dadlyo? could be an inquiry about someone’s father. We should start that.

Finished this one in 14:10.

My woodworking blog drops in a little more than an hour. It’s the first in the chair series.