New York Times, Monday, July 9, 2018

Australian Psychologist Alan Richardson took a group of basketball players, divided them into 3 groups and tested each player's ability to make free throws. The first group would practice 20 minutes every day. The second would only visualize themselves making free throws, but no real practice was allowed. The third group would not practice or visualize. The results were astounding. There was significant improvement on the group that only visualized; they were almost as good as those who actually practiced!

In a similar experiment, solvers of today's NY Times puzzle showed nearly the same increase in muscle tone as those gym rats who spent their time working out and getting all hot and sweaty! Those who solved puzzles from other venues actually showed a slight decrease in muscle tone except for the hand that held the pencil or pen. Researcher I. Mosley Guest attributes the phenomenon to that same power of visualization as in the free throw study. Apparently, just the very thought of doing curls and lifts and a twist as you write in the answers is enough exercise for the day, with the bonus of not needing to shower afterward.

We in the cruciverbal industry have long known that crosswords do make us smarter. For today at least, and with the final theme answer notwithstanding, they can make us physically fit as well.

If exercise were only like today's theme! I love doing me some FORK LIFTS when bread pudding is involved. Heck, I'll do some CHEESE CURLS, curling some brie right up to my mouth.

That probably wouldn't be the healthiest lifestyle.

It's tough to come up with a playful Monday theme that's accessible to most every solver, but this one does a good job. My only hesitation was that a TWIST wasn't as familiar (in terms of being an exercise rep) as a CURL or a SQUAT.

Okay, not the only hesitation. It would have been better to have consistent singular/pluralization. Since no one ever eats a single CHEESE CURL (damn you and your tasty yellowy goodness!), it would have been better to make everything plural. Anyway, multiple reps are good for you, amiright?

The revealer, DIDDLY SQUAT, didn't do much for me. On most Mondays, I think there needs to be a revealer to make a theme obvious to everyone. DIDDLY SQUAT actually muddied things up. Why is it worth DIDDLY SQUAT if you do some CURLS with a big ol' wedge of CHEESE as a weight, for instance?

Removing the revealer would have also allowed for better quality fill that was more appropriate for a newer solver. I can imagine newbs looking at TRURO SEDGE HASP IVES and wondering what kind of durned trivia contest they got themselves into.

Working with five longish themers can be so difficult.

Overall, a fine, playful idea. But I would have liked a few more rounds of revision and improvement.