New York Times, Saturday, November 26, 2022

My summer was spent between making this puzzle and watching Love Island (UK) season 8 (apologies to my dissertation committee—I am back to it now), so it was only natural that the show tried to make an appearance. Sadly, my reference to one Italian contestant's profession of love, "Ti [AMO] e ti voglio per me" did not survive in the clues. I do like what the editors wrote, though, "Ti __" (bit of Romance language romance language). The double romance gets to the spirit of things.

I constructed the puzzle as part of the New York Times Diverse Crossword Constructor Fellowship. So I want to give a shout-out to the Games team for organizing the fellowship. To the editors, for the constructing workshops (and for keeping most of the other clues I was partial to). To Wyna Liu, especially, for her counsel and her enthusiasm at my postcolonial literature marquees. And the biggest shout out to my mentor Tracy Bennett for her kindness, generosity, and intelligence, for encouraging my decision to try a themeless, and for working through different ideas and hurdles with me, even after the fellowship was over.

Congrats to Kanyin! It's neat to see another puzzle bloom out of the Diverse Crossword Constructor Fellowship program. I'm a big fan of mini-themed themelesses, so kudos for the neat link between two books written in response to other books. Mini-themes help make themelesses memorable, especially for those of us long-time solvers.

For certain types of themeless puzzles, so much of the solving experiences gets back to one's personal history. I loved THINGS FALL APART when I read it back in college, so plunking it in after reading [Chinua Achebe novel …] thrilled me. And I had no idea it was a response to "Heart of Darkness"! I wish I'd picked up on that during American Lit classes, but my study habits did fall apart back in that delightful period of my life. Fascinating to read about the novel's background.

On the other hand, WIDE SARGASSO SEA didn't elate me since I haven't read it (and I shamefully can't get through "Jane Eyre," no matter how many times I've forced myself).

Bracing myself for the brouhaha from die-hard fans …

I also appreciated how Kanyin furthered the mini-theme with COEHLO's "The Alchemist" and cluing UNDERWORLD to Dante. All in all, an ILLUMINATI feel.

Too heavy a literary focus might make for a HIT OR MISS experience for some solvers, so it was great to get some FAKE TAN, BARTEND, THAT SO?, for those of us who are TOO SLOW on the highbrow uptake. Great to include a modern term, too, in RIDE OR DIE.

I learned about WIDE SARGASSO SEA from an old crossword and then a more recent one, but I didn't give the book a second thought. Today's mini-theme prompted me to think about the book in a new way, encouraging me to add it to my to-be-read pile. Such power in that mini-theme!