Nah, I agree with you. I followed this game's development and it has been an issue since the start. I find a game that limits how long you can play it for not very enjoyable - puts a hard limit to how much I can play a game for.
When I know that there's a limit to where skill can get me to, I no longer want to replay the game.
The meta strategy for this game is also unfortunately to keep going around in circles and only leave when you need to. It takes advantage of the bomb spawning code not spawning near you. Hitting your own body deducts more time than bombs do.
I also don't like how the snake turns, because you can u-turn into yourself due to how slippery the snake is. I do like how it moves because of that too, but I think there has to be some level of friction.
Overall, the game is okay, but the visuals are great.
I agree with the explosions! Just like you said, throughout the development process the explosions and the unavoidability of it (due to it being snake) has been something I've tried to manage (However it seems to limited avail)!
For the circling strategy! The increasing length of the snake is meant to tackle that along with the smaller spawn buffer around the snake segments! To encourage players to go out of their way to collect stars. As for movement, I believe I have implemented a smooth U-turn such that you won't collide with yourself, however I will improve upon it more in the future!