"K Rations," by Stu Ockman

Constructor's Comments

My inspiration for this grid was a sign on the wall at a Jewish deli—an award-winning deli at that:

Quoting Philadelphia Magazine, "Sure, they've got the best Jewish deli sandwiches and free pickle bowl around.  And don't miss the humongous crinkle-cut steak fries.  But what cinches the deal are the free-with-an-eat-in-lunch fresh chocolate chip cookies. . . . "  I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.  But I digress.

I originally had K WORDS as the revealer.  David suggested using KOSHER instead, a big improvement.  DELI MENU was thrown into the mix—also by David.  Then, I put them in KOSHER DELI MENU order and finished filling the grid.

I had a lot of fun working with David on this one.  Hope you had just as much fun solving it.  And don't forget to stop by a deli near you to try each of these (you may have to make more than one trip).  Mmm.

Editor's Comments

I'm a huge fan of Jewish food, so this puzzle's theme hit close to home for me!  When I first saw Stu's original submission (which, as he mentions, had K WORDS in the lower left), KOSHER jumped to my mind.  A common abbreviation for Kosher on food labels is K, so KOSHER seemed like just the right revealer.  Fortunately, Stu was on board with changing K WORDS to KOSHER.  He even did some extra polishing on those wide-open upper right and lower left corners to keep things easy for newer solvers.  All in all, it was a pleasure working with Stu on this one, and I hope you enjoy sinking your teeth into it!