"Social Networking," by Mike McHugh

Constructor's Comments

With this, my debut piece, I'd like to say that I'm happy to be counted as a contributor to the Puzzle Society Crossword, and I'd like to thank David for his suggestions along the way in putting this together.  If I remember correctly, LION'S SHARE was the seed of this theme idea, and I wondered what other common phrases I might be able to come up with that could be interpreted as Facebook activities.  I had LIKE, COMMENT, and TAG as my other Facebook words; thanks to David for suggesting REACTION.

On the long downs, David gets credit for HUNG JURIES.  I came up with IT ISN'T A TOY out of brainstorming possible phrases to fit three crossing letters.  I don't know how many folks have heard their parents use that one phrase, but mine sure did.  The way I used to get into things, I heard it plenty of times!

Editor's Comments

Some solvers complain that crossword puzzles skew old, so I always appreciate seeing a theme with a 21st-century twist.  Mike found four clever phrases that could be "reclued" in Facebook-related ways.  He's also much too kind to give me so much credit for HUNG JURIES.  The real gem in the fill is IT ISN'T A TOY—after quickly checking my word list, the only other options I came up with were the considerably less interesting IMMINENTLY and INSINUAT(ES/ED/OR).  Amazing that Mike was able to find such a lively, in-the-language phrase for an ultra-constrained slot, let alone one that (to my knowledge) has never appeared in a crossword grid!