New York Times, Tuesday, February 2, 2021

Every daily crossword this week, Monday to Saturday, is made by an African-American contributor. Adesina O. Koiki is a sports journalist in Queens. This is his second crossword for The Times.

It's always a pleasure to be published, no matter the venue, but being a part of Black Constructors' Week — and highlighting the visibility of Black crossword makers and enthusiasts in hopes that racial diversity among solvers and creators is much more reality than just aspiration — is special, yet necessary. As for the grid, a lot of my time at the beginning of the pandemic was spent watching reruns of classic tennis matches, and that's where the idea first came about making a grid dealing with the three main tennis surfaces.

My initial doubts about its feasibility soon dissipated when realizing that a good number of crossword solvers who a) aren't big sports fans or b) view the major American sports as anathema don't usually get turned off when it comes to tennis and may appreciate it. Definitely helps that the stars of the sport over the past 20 years have been transcendental with their play on the court and/or their activism and generosity off the court. (e.g. Serena, Venus, Federer, Nadal, Osaka, et al.) What I also wanted to do was have more long entries in the non-themed fill than my first foray (Aug. 12, 2020). The GRASSHOPPER entry was initially a nod to the "James and the Giant Peach" grandfatherly figure in Roald Dahl's book, and RENT FREE had a reference to online trolls and how they believe they exist in people's minds. (Taking that clue out might have been for the better, now that I think about it!)

More than happy that the clue for LEE remained, as one of my earliest memories of having cable television in the late 1990s was watching Jeanette Lee and Allison Fisher, a.k.a. the "Duchess of Doom," go at it time and again in billiards matches that aired at the time I was coming from school! Oh, and the RIOTS clue will continue to stick with me given that I spent a few days in the middle of protests and demonstrations calling out social injustice last summer.

Thank you so much for the time, and I hope you found the solve enjoyable. Have a great rest of your day!

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."