New York Times, Monday, February 13, 2023

I can't recall the exact moment that sparked this puzzle, but I do remember being excited when I couldn't find any hits for WELLROUNDEDDIET in the crossword databases I checked. Most of the time you will find a potential revealer has already been taken years ago.

So if you are reading this from the future thinking you might have the perfect idea for a WELL-ROUNDED DIET puzzle, sorry for the disappointing news.

I've kept a version history of the puzzles I've submitted to The Times on the off-chance that I'd ever have to write about one, and the themers that made it to the final puzzle were already in place (albeit in a different order) in the first working version. I tried another possibility with the revealer in Row 13 and SWEDISHMEATBALL in Row 3, and also tinkered with ONIONRINGS, CHEESEBALLS, and LIMEWHEELS as themers.

You might notice this puzzle has a pretty high theme-density, so there are actually 5 words that cross three themers. This puts some strain on the grid, but the letters in the themers were luckily flexible enough to allow for some serviceable long bonuses.

A big thanks to my friend Travis for his help with test solving, and to the puzzle editing team for their valuable feedback.

When Tess was three, my wife wanted to try serving dessert on the dinner plate, saying that nutritionists had advocated for letting kids make smart choices. They'll eat a balanced diet on their own accord!

After a week of Tess eating the round sugar cookie and then saying she was done, we put a stop to it. Well, well, nutritionists, what do you have to say about that WELL-ROUNDED DIET?

Talk about IN DENIAL.

Such an amusing concept, funny to imagine a literalist like Drax the Destroyer following the directive to eat healthier by ingesting only round foods. He'd have quite a different physique eating only FROOT LOOPS and such.

My French friends file a grievance against CHEESE WHEEL included in this theme. It's hard to argue against the onslaught of research studies showing harmful effects of dairy, but there are some benefits. Much more so than with FROOT LOOPS, for instance.

WELL-ROUNDED construction. HEAVENS NO, IN DENIAL, and TWINKIE shine, and it's not every day that a Monday crossword has longer vocab like BETRAYAL and RANCHING. Strong use of mid-length slots in PEORIA, and GROW UP, too.

Any five-themer crossword can and should contain at least two great bonuses and clean short fill, and this is a great example. In a debut, too!

WELL-ROUNDED DIET doesn't get nearly as many news hits as "well-balanced diet," but that's of course a much different crossword concept. Although I hitched for a long time as I tried to balance BALANCED into only seven squares, thinking about Drax eating his way through crème eggs, frozen pizzas, and glazed donuts made my Monday.