Love the visual, a PINATA filled with CANDY. So cool how the black squares also form the string that hangs the PINATA from the ceiling! Beautiful concept.

I didn't understand the notepad at first, but then it became clear that C and Y weren't present in the rest of the grid. Huh.
Why include this extra layer, instead of leaving it be simply with CANDY in the PINATA, I wondered? I suppose there ought to be some extra way of figuring out what's in the PINATA, since CANDY doesn't have any crossing answers. But this felt like an inelegant way to do it. Would have been incredible to increase the center of the PINATA to three rows, for instance, filling it with NERDS, ROLOS, PEZ, etc. Maybe not possible, but fun to think about.
(I love discussing puzzles with Jim — fascinating to hear him explain why he found the C AND Y gimmick so satisfying! Puzzles are subjective, no doubt.)
The grid art applies so many constraints that Joe was forced to fill themeless-esque big swaths of white space. Nice work in the NW, EQUITABLE / MULTIPLEX / TOTEM POLE making for a strong triple-stack. I TEN (I-10) isn't great, nor is INS, but those aren't that bad.
The only section I thought suffered was the south, with RKO, KTEL, OEDS (plural?). Again, none of these are terrible, but all three clumped up shines a spotlight on them. Not a surprise though, given that PINATA constrains it on the right and AMBER ALE on the left, making for a construction challenge in that biggish section.
GO JUMP IN THE LAKE, ULTIMATE FRISBEE (although it's technically just called Ultimate now), TRIVIA GAMES, GET GOING (although a minor dupe in GO / GOING) = great stuff to keep solvers entertained. Overall, a reasonable balance between snazziness and cleanliness.
Fantastic concept, great visual. If CANDY had been hinted at in a way I found to be more clever, and this ran on a Tuesday or Wednesday with adjusted clues (anyone else feel frustrated with the incredibly difficult cluing for all those short words?), it would have been an easy POW! pick for me.