Kanyin Ajayi author page
1 puzzle by Kanyin Ajayi
with Constructor comments
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| A | M | O | L | I | E | N | C | O | E | L | H | O | ||
| B | A | R | T | E | N | D | T | O | O | S | L | O | W | |
| O | N | L | I | N | E | C | H | A | N | U | N | E | ||
| R | I | D | E | O | R | D | I | E | E | L | M | E | R | |
| A | L | T | E | R | S | R | O | I | ||||||
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| T | H | A | T | S | O | M | A | R | I | N | A |
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.