Adesina O. Koiki author page

Ade! One of my favorite people to hang out with, back when I was going to the ACPT regularly. So much laughter, so little negativity. He does a great job with his Crossword Fiend reviews; his "Sports Will Make You Smarter" always engaging. It's neat to hear someone talk about something they care so deeply about.

Perfect Ade theme today, the famous TENNIS COURT surfaces disguised at the starts of themers. These might not be apparent to sportsball haters, but they're (mostly) familiar, even to us peripheral tennis fans — the GRASS courts of Wimbledon, the CLAY courts of the French Open, the … other one.

You know, the cement ones?

Would you believe ... asphalt?

They call them HARD courts? Man, that's oddly hard to figure out.

So many great bonuses in the grid today! K STATE (Kansas State) might be tough for early-week solvers to figure out, but it's so in line with Ade's work. Same with NEON clued as NEON Deion.

I also enjoyed the colloquial clues for DEPENDS and OK THEN — reminded me of hanging out with crossword friends in person. Someday once again.

Early-week puzzles typically break up a grid's sides into three chunks — top, middle, and bottom. Ade mostly did that today, although he eschewed a black square at the L of AIRLINES, shooting for the stars. I'd rather have the more standard approach since HATTON is a tough way to kick off a puzzle, and INSP looks odd.

In the opposite corner, there's BACNE — "back acne." Not the prettiest grid entry, and that's not even mentioning the visuals it evokes. A more standard approach to four themers could have massaged out the ORMAN / REE crossing and some LDS ESTES KPS EXO too.

Overall, though, I appreciated how this puzzle reminded me of someone who's so much fun to be around. Great to get some individualized touches like an MLK reference to RIOTS, ROC as the classic Charles S. Dutton show, and of course, all the sports references. There's a reason Jeanette LEE is called "The Black Widow."

Ade! Back when I was going to the ACPT (in the pre-kid era), I always looked forward to hanging out with Ade. So much fun to be around, always with a big smile on his face. Great guy, and super interesting. He's interviewed a lot of sports celebs, and his crossword reviews at Crossword Fiend are among my favorite. He always ends them with a "Sports Will Make You Smarter" segment, and indeed, it consistently does!

Knowing him made today's (debut!) solve extra fun. I didn't know the OHIO PLAYERS, but what a perfect revealer to explain the theme: Cincinnati BENGAL, Cleveland BROWN, Cincinnati RED, Cleveland INDIAN, covering most of the major OHIO sports teams. It's not complete without the Cavs, but something like CAVALIER ATTITUDE could have sounded contrived and possibly given away the game.

There's BLUE JACKET and CREW, but I bet even sports fans wouldn't know these NHL and MLS teams as readily as the ones Ade included.

It's not a perfect grid, with some AMAIN, O SOLE, ITE, SHA, SRS, DSL, but there was nothing keeping me from a victorious solve. I'd have liked more bonuses, too, perhaps by opening up a corner — perhaps taking out the black square between ALIAS and EEL.

I did appreciate some nice touches, like the fun Electric SLIDE, cluing SHAFT to the classic movie, and a funny NACHO ("not your") cheese dad joke. And gridsmanship comes with time and practice. Practice?

I'm hoping that Ade will continue to make us smarter with future crossword offerings!