Roaring Twenties wrap / TUE 2-14-23 / Fitness weight with a handle / Corn dough used for tortillas / bass percussive technique in jazz / Shade of unbleached linen / Psychoactive component of marijuana for short / Fabled tortoise competitor / Secluded place in a chapel

Constructor: Ella Dershowitz

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: SQUARE MEAL (62A: Nutritiously balanced plateful ... or a what 17-, 24-, 40- and 51-Across may constitute?) — square foods

Theme answers:

• STARBURSTS (17A: Colorful chewable candies)
• KRAFT SINGLES (24A: Individually wrapped sandwich slices)
• SALTINE CRACKERS (40A: Snacks packed in stacks)
• KLONDIKE BARS (51A: Chocolate-coated ice cream treats)

Word of the Day: DASHI (9D: Umami broth, in Japanese cuisine) —

Dashi (出汁, だし) is a family of stocks used in Japanese cuisine. Dashi forms the base for miso soup, clear broth soup, noodle broth soup, and many simmering liquids to accentuate the savory flavor known as umami. Dashi is also mixed into the flour base of some grilled foods like okonomiyaki and takoyaki. // The most common form of dashi is a simple broth made by heating water containing kombu (edible kelp) and kezurikatsuo(shavings of katsuobushi – preserved, fermented skipjack tuna or bonito) to near-boiling, then straining the resultant liquid; dried anchovies or sardines may be substituted. The element of umami, one of the five basic tastes, is introduced into dashi from the use of katsuobushi and kombu. Katsuobushi is especially high in sodium inosinate and kombu is especially high in glutamic acids; both combined create a synergy of umami.  // Granulated or liquid instant dashi largely replaced the homemade product in the second half of the 20th century. Homemade dashi is less popular today, even in Japan. (wikipedia)

• • •

Well, if you missed how dull yesterday's puzzle was, I give you ... today's puzzle. Ta da. Sigh. I can't believe the Monday and Tuesday constructor got together and planned a two-day food-shape extravaganza, so this must be the editor's idea of cleverness. This feels like a cutesy attempt to burn off two so-so puzzles in a manner that looks intentional and clever. But it's just round foods (Monday) ... followed by square foods (today). All this puzzle does is highlight how (slightly) off both yesterday's and today's revealers feel. I don't think I've heard the term SQUARE MEAL much on its own. I see that it has singular origins in the 19th century, but I know it as part of the phrase "three SQUARE MEALs"—if you're getting three square meals a day as part of your room and board, well, you're gonna be well fed. It's got an olde-timey vibe to it, which is fine, but I think the Platonic ideal of this theme would have THREE SQUARE MEALS (16) as a revealer and would feature, as its theme answers, well, three "SQUARE MEALs." As for yesterday's "WELL-ROUNDED DIET," well, see, with regard to "diet," the term is "well-balanced." "Well-rounded" is for ... other things. Here, let me prove it. "Hey google! ... google something for me!"

[googling "well balanced"...]

[... and googling "well rounded"]

People are well-rounded. Education is well-rounded. Meals? Only if you're trying to force a "joke" into your crossword. Sorry to talk about yesterday's puzzle today, but today kind of asked for it. Anyway, it's a semi-corny joke made fully corny today by repetition. You've got the continuing irony that *none* of the actual answers would be anyone's idea of a well-balanced diet ... and that is probably the only thing I actually kind of like about the theme—the absolute inaptness of the food. Otherwise, this is just an exercise of running a joke into the ground, a joke that was only mediocre to begin with. We needed a better twist than "the shape is different!" There's just not enough happening here.

Further, STARBURSTS with an S-plural feels odd to me. The product is in the singular, and I assure you that you definitely "eat some Starburst"—it's a non-"S" plural. It's not that you can't put an "S" on the end, or that people never do, it's that Starburst serves just fine as the name for *multiple* pieces of the individually-wrapped candy. The pluraling here feels gratuitous, and of course ... it is. You gotta arrange those theme answers symmetrically, so in order to complement its symmetrical counterpart (SQUARE MEAL) ... on with the "S"! Bah. 

This puzzle offered no resistance except a single name I didn't know (6D: Tony-winning actress Benanti => LAURA) and a food term I knew but kinda sorta half-forgot (DASHI). I also wasn't sure if it was ERIC or ERIK (41D: "Black Panther" supervillain), and I (weirdly?) needed a bunch of crosses to get WOODS (13D: Grove). I go to the WOODS all the time—they are nothing like a "Grove," which I think of as more finite and ... orderly? Cultivated? The WOODS laugh at a mere grove, is what I'm saying. Loved seeing THE CURE (25D: "Friday I'm in Love" band, 1992), and KETTLEBELL is a snazzy long answer (I'm guessing most MALE MODELS know their way around a KETTLEBELL—they're a gym staple). The fill today is actually quite solid overall—much nicer than yesterday's, and so it's a shame this puzzle had to come second in the shape sequence. It's got the better revealer and its more polished overall. But it's still just a slight variation on a dad-joke theme that's already been done. Literally, yesterday, done. See you tomorrow, where, maybe, we will finally get a "well-balanced" meal ... though I confess I don't know what that would look like, crossword-wise. Someone else figure it out and get back to me. Happy Valentine's!

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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