Brad is one of my favorite people in the crossworld, an erudite savant who edits the Chronicle of Higher Education crossword. (Don't worry, I had to look up "erudite" and "savant" too.) He goes by the clever moniker, "Bewilbered," so the clue for OTTER as a bewhiskered animal bemused me. My solving enjoyment always goes up when treated to these insider nods.

Strong work in disguising items that are commonly in a PURSE. I did catch on to the theme early, after just LICENSE and KEYS, but I stopped to admire how different the meanings are, in the crossword as opposed to the purse. That's some DRAMATIC LICENSE right there!
Most purses might as well be Hermione's charmed handbag for all I know, the varied and multitudinous contents bewildering. A driver's LICENSE, set of KEYS, sure. Spare CHANGE ... people still use cash? So 20th century!
The one that made me hitch was CHARGER. I do carry a phone CHARGER with me, but I'll have to ask around to determine if this is indeed an oft-bepursed item.
Loved the TONYS clue, too. How appropriate for Tony Shalhoub to win a TONY. I'd say I'd one day hope to win a Jeffy, but that stupid "Family Circus" kid ruined the name forever.
A ton of CHEERY mid-length fill, like SHOO-IN, ANYHOW, GO DEEP, OFF DAY, even EEYORE bepleasanting the experience.
I wasn't hot on a couple of blips though: ANON crossing AGOAT, some ATILT / ALIT, and SLUE potentially befuddling to newer solvers. Some glue is expected given the quantity of strong mid-length fill, but it's not a trade-off I would have made for a Monday grid. I much prefer erring toward the side of smoothness, not color, for an introductory solve.
The more I thought about it, the more I liked Brad's themer choices. What else is often found in PURSEs and easily disguisable? WIPES, perhaps, hidden in STAR WIPES? Maybe. A PHONE … as in PURSEPHONE!
Drat it, that's Persephone. So close, yet so far.