New York Times, Wednesday, August 5, 2020

I toyed with this idea for a couple of years, but it always stalled out at poppy. The theme doesn't work without it, but I struggled to come up with a suitable themer. Eventually, 17-Across came to me, and as bland as the entry may be, it was the spark that finally brought this puzzle to life.

The other key breakthrough was discovering that I could cross the main themer symmetrically with two other themers running down in the northeast and southwest, versus the usual approach of having all the theme answers running across. That created a lot more breathing room in the grid and allowed for some bonus fill that I hope enhanced your solve.

Other random musings:

• Do you consider this to be a tight theme set? There are other options for sure, but these seem like the Big 4 to me.
• Yes, I just wrote "the Big 4" about bagel seasonings. What can I say, I lead an exciting life.
• The list of moons that I would allow in a puzzle is short, but as the largest in the solar system, 42-Across makes the cut.
• I've been devoting a larger proportion of my constructing time to clue-writing lately, and I see that Will and team kept about two-thirds of my clues on this one which is encouraging.
• This is now my second consecutive puzzle based on food, which clearly means that for creative purposes, I need to start eating more.

I'd like to dedicate today's puzzle to two special ladies in my life — my wife Tara who celebrates a birthday on August 9, and my daughter Daphne who turned 3 months old on July 30. I'd also like to give a shout-out to all the first responders out there for their tireless efforts to keep us safe — and in particular to Engine 6 and Ladder 3 of the Elizabeth Fire Department. This one's for you.

I have an unfortunate quality (here's where the smart-asses (accurately) ask, just one?): I'm unable to forget prior art. Upon uncovering ONION and SESAME, my mind flew to Andrea Carla Michaels. Hadn't she done a puzzle similar to this a few years ago? Turns out, it was almost a decade ago!

Imagine what I could achieve if my brain used its memory units more wisely.

I enjoyed the gridwork, goodies like CLOWN CAR and GANYMEDE tickling me. I admire the audacity, too, taking on a lower-word count challenge, accomplishing it well, with only a bit of PREV. Impressive result, done with such care. The west and east regions are particularly difficult; no surprise that that's where PREV showed up.

The mismatch of easy theme and tougher grid created a dissonance, though. It's like writing a kids' picture book about three-dimensional Newtonian motion. You struggle to understand the vectors and units associated with gravity and translational/rotational movement … only to find out that Jack and Jill rolled down the hill. It's a lot of work to plug through, with not as much payoff as you deserve.

There's nothing wrong with doing a similar theme, especially almost a decade later, but I'd have enjoyed this more if the grid had been dialed back, and the puzzle run on a Monday. Still, I did enjoy the colorful theme phrases — hard to argue with OPEN SESAME, and I'm a big Roald Dahl / VERUCA SALT fan — and the lovely bonus entries.