FOOD ENGINEERING

Erik Agard, 26, became the crossword editor of USA Today in December, the youngest in the paper's history. He's also a former national crossword champion and a three-day champion on "Jeopardy!"

Last year Erik had 21 crosswords published in The Times, the most of any contributor.

I made a bit of a tactical error in building this grid around 62-Down. I construct most of my themed puzzles this way, starting with a seed answer that intersects one or more of the theme answers. I try for that answer to be something that makes people who don't see themselves enough in crosswords feel seen. The NYT puzzle is a big platform, so it feels like a wasted opportunity to not do that. Finding the right seed answer can be very time-consuming, but since clues (like 89-Down, which was originally [Orji of "Insecure"]) and even shorter answers (like 79-Down, which was the record label TDE) often get changed in editing, it's necessary. So that's what I tried to do here, except it didn't occur to me that the Beyoncé song at 62-Down could be reclued with a more general meaning. (In the words of the great Tiffany Pollard: "Beyoncé, sweetie, I'm so sorry.")

As an editor, I understand the impulse to make things accessible to as many people as possible, and a general phrase is likely to be more widely known than a song title. Still, it's hard to imagine, say, the answer I'M A LOSER being "translated" in this way, which raises questions about who gets to be a part of the puzzle's intended audience. As a constructor, it hurts to have such an essential thing negated - but I'll take it as a reminder to always be as precise as possible in my efforts until the day I don't have to be.

Here are the foods that can be formed:

• JEANS BEANS
• FLIES FRIES
• GRAPHS GRAPES
• CURRENTS CURRANTS
• STEAL STEAK
• CAMBAGE CABBAGE
• BOOTH BROTH
• POPPER PEPPER
• PASTE PASTA
• VANISH DANISH

Final answer: BREAK BREAD.

I sadly took way too long to figure out this list, and even more sadly, had a couple of errors. Robots eat STEEL! I love me some Pirate's BOOTY. PESTO is as much a thing as PASTA — never mind that it changes two letters, not one I KNEW THAT YOU DON'T HAVE TO TELL ME WISE GUY!

It's so hard creating a grid around a lot of short themers. People tend to think, what's the big deal, aren't ten short themers equivalent to 5 super-long ones? Not even close! The ten shorties force black square placements right off the bat, taking away flexibility. Those pesky black squares can cause all sorts of problems down the road.

I did enjoy the bonuses — GRAMMAR POLICE / PRIMARY DEBATE / PIANO SONATAS make up a brilliant trio (RING THE ALARM not as strong as "sound the alarm") — but there was an average amount of crossword glue. Perfectly passable for anyone else, and things like ABEE ALOG EER ROM are easy enough to figure out. Not as strong as a usual Agard joint, though, speaking to how hard it is to construct around so many short themers.

Fun to see a shout-out to the WNBA, Erik a huge fan. I didn't know LIZ CAMBAGE, but hers is such a useful name for this theme.

Sunday puzzles involving a single hidden meta-answer can be memorable if said meta-answer interrobangs the concept. BREAK BREAD was more of a period or a footnote for me.

ADDED NOTE: Joel Fagliano pointed out that there's an additional meta-layer to this solve, the fact that BREAK can be changed into BREAD by the same one-letter substitution methodology. That's fun!