New York Times, Monday, November 5, 2018

This puzzle has an unusual history. It was first constructed in August 2017. In October Will et al. said that they liked the theme, but that one of the themers was too obscure. After settling on a replacement, I was given the challenge of coming up with a polished Monday fill.

I ran into a snag in the W and NW. After several attempts, I couldn't come up with a grid that didn't have either trite short fill or longer answers that were inappropriate for a Monday puzzle, or both. Finally, Sam Ezersky stepped in and fixed it. I suggested we share construction credit, but Sam declined. The puzzle was accepted for publication almost exactly a year ago.

Editors have made significant changes to my grids twice. Both times I learned a valuable lesson. In this case, I learned that when you paint yourself into a corner, as I did here, you have to go back far enough to revisit key decisions made earlier in the fill. Often, a less preferred option for a word slot ends up opening up the grid later on, resulting in a more successful fill overall.

There's something wickedly clever about SOUND BITES imagined as "foods with a sound in their name." CAPN CRUNCH and GINGER SNAP are just perfect — not only do they fit that description, but the noise in their name is exactly the noise they make. I can just hear the cereal crunch crunch crunch in my teeth, and the cookies snap snap snap in my hands.

TOOTSIE POP didn't work as well for me since it doesn't actually make a popping sound. It's more of a lick lick crack munch CRUUUNCH OOOOOOWWWW MY FILLING BROKE!

I think I'm eating it wrong.

POP ROCKS would have been better for me, since there's that distinctive POPping sound as they melt the lining of your mouth.

I used to enjoy candy so much. Sigh.

Of course, POP ROCKS (8) and SOUND BITES (10) don't match lengths. Bah! Though, it would have been possible to use mirror symmetry in a 16x15 grid, with POP ROCKS and SOUND BITES horizontal, CAPN CRUNCH / GINGER SNAP vertical.

With just four themers of length = 10, I'd expect a jazzy, smooth grid. I love that Roland worked in a bunch of long downs — ON THE DL, PAPER CUT, CAROUSEL, BAD SIDE check off that first criterion. The second was close, but a bit too much poeticality in ANON / ETERNE / ERE. You cheeky ROUE, Roland! It's an acceptable quantity of crossword glue, but it would have been better if it all hadn't all been drawn from the same well.

Fun theme idea that came close to super-cleverosity. If only TOOTSIE POPs actually popped! False advertising, that.