Adesina O. Koiki author page
2 puzzles by Adesina O. Koiki
with Constructor comments
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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!
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Hey there everyone! So thrilled to make my debut in the New York Times and on XWord Info!
Crosswords started becoming a passion of mine in high school when my science teacher would take a look at the newspaper I brought to class, and we would solve the crossword (she would do the heavy lifting while I helped out with the sports clues). Crossword puzzle tournaments the past decade have been magical experiences, and I've had the honor of being able to share my thoughts on various crosswords at crosswordfiend.com since 2014.
I had thought about today's puzzle theme for at least four years, seeing OHIO PLAYERS displayed on my iPhone screen any time a song of their played. Initially, I wanted to see if CAV or CAVALIER could also be part of the theme as well but thought that would just slow me down even further. After dragging my feet on buying crossword constructing software and forcing myself to start this process for the first time for a 15 x15 puzzle, I finally put the final touches on this grid in April.
The goal was to make sure a sports-related theme was accessible to everyone, especially given the somewhat polarizing nature to the genre in crosswords. Initially, I wanted to have no clues in the entire grid with a sports reference outside of the gimmick itself. Was pretty close to that, but that darn ELGIN got in the way! Only a few edits on entries were made to the original submission, but I did want one other clue to reference sports afterward, as my ACE clue was [Many a winning shot by Serena Williams].
Speaking of Serena and Elgin, getting in a lot of Black figures was paramount in this first-ever submission, from ELGIN to SUN RA to SHAFT to the OHIO PLAYERS ensemble.
And if you're wondering, I wholeheartedly believe the Cleveland baseball team should change its name, and there was no way I was going to refer to INDIAN as the misnomer used for indigenous tribes of the Americas. Even in a small way, I hope this continues to a discussion about representation and the uses of identities in sports that are offensive and the need to rectify it.
Alright, got to check in to see if my old high school science teacher has tried solving my puzzle! Take care, everyone!