New York Times, Monday, June 28, 2021

"Reviews of Mom's Cooking," my first submission as a new pandemic-inspired constructor, grew from the seed phrase STEAK ACCLAIM, a mis-hearing when someone advised me to stake a claim — I believe to that bottle of cab I was eyeing at our school fundraiser (I'm a high school teacher; wine is important to us). Version 1 also included LEEK DETECTION ("Mom! You promised there wouldn't be onions in this soup. Why do I taste onions?"). The Times editorial team, though amused, noted that ‘steak acclaim' rendered the trick differently, which is true, and "leak detection" as a phrase wasn't strongly enough in the language, which is not true if you lived in my house where I had — no lie — 3 major leaks in 3 years.

Turning to the awesome Facebook Crossword Puzzle Collaboration group for advice, I was lucky to find Mentor Extraordinaire Rich Proulx, who helped me brainstorm new themers. Rich suggested SOLE SEARCHING, which led me to MUSSEL MEMORY. He cheerled and tsk-tsk'd me through myriad fill attempts, frowning upon anything that sniffed of glue. Version 2 had both fish entries (entrees), which the team had initially signed off on, but then they decided what they really wanted was a complete meal. Could I try again with a dessert? They even suggested one, TORTE CLAIM — so kind! I countered with MOUSSE CALL, got the thumbs up, and finally, taking pity on me no doubt, they gave this version the nod. Many thanks to Rich and the NYT team!

I wish I'd read the HOME CHEF clue more carefully, because there's a cool idea that didn't receive enough emphasis. As I solved, I figured this was yet another homophones puzzle. Having seen a ton of MOUSSE / MOOSE and MUSSEL / MUSCLE plays, too, there's no way another one would catch my attention.

However, re-read [… or the mother of the food critic featured in this puzzle?]. I didn't notice that some of the themer clues referred to mom … thus making the food critic a picky eater. Now, that's something I know a thing or two about!

Last night, my daughter decided that she didn't like mac ‘n cheese anymore. Mac and cheese! What's next, white bread? Water? Emphasizing these tragicomic parental feelings could have made this puzzle stand out more — having each themer clue refer to mom would have been perfect.

For example, ROLL REVERSAL = ["Mooooooom! I don't like white bread any more!"] would have given me a smile. And a tear. And what is art, if it doesn't elicit emotions?

A few spots slowed me down. I paused at ADOBO, because I associate it with Filipino cuisine, not Mexican. I should have remembered about Spanish colonization, of course.

SERGE crossing SERA tripped me up for a hot minute, and I get confused by words like SPOOR and SPUMES. They look like things I should know right off the top, but they more fall into the category of "things for which I make up my own definitions."

A bit of RETIE REFILE, too — generally, if you have to include something called out on editors' spec sheets, do everything possible to avoid including another entry of the same type.

Overall, though, a fun debut. It could have been a standout if the clues had exhibited more spume.

P.S. Seconded, that Rich Proulx is a great guy. I appreciate so much how helpful he is!