Explanation: Eight symmetrically placed entries use the letters I, N, O, and T in some order. This hints that the person in question will have a name comprised of those same four letters, and that gives us TONI, the most common permutation not present. An inference is probably correct here, but a search does confirm that Toni Morrison won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993 (numeric tie-in), and she is the answer to our meta.
I have only read two Toni Morrison novels thus far: "The Bluest Eye" and "Beloved," and I loved them both. In no particular order, "Song of Solomon," "Sula," and "Tar Baby" would be on my TBR (to-be-read list). As you probably infer, I try to put at least one bookish reference in every puzzle if possible!
Berto 2s · 2024-05-11T18:00:42.291Z
Wasn’t familiar with the book, but all makes sense now!
Nice and easy...well when I eliminated the 1923 winner JacINTO Benavente. NOw if you had included "Brown Eyed Girl" somewhere I would have had it in a heartbeat.
Steve M 15:09 · 2024-05-12T00:50:28.748Z
Thanks, Mikey! Fun one!
HeadinHome 🤓1:16 · 2024-05-12T02:12:57.981Z
Didn’t even notice the downs! The 4 across ones got me there. Love her.
Qmark 4s · 2024-05-12T04:12:51.573Z
Enjoyed it...thanks for another great meta, Mikey!
Lol. Toni, of course! I don't know why I Googled Otin, but I found a couple of interesting authors that way! haha
syoustra 🤓3:56 · 2024-05-17T03:22:39.834Z
Ugh. Junior year HS American Lit teacher would be ashamed of how long it took me to notice this. At least I saw it pretty immediately when I picked the puzzle back up this last time? eye roll
Meta World Peace 3s · 2024-05-18T00:20:39.087Z
After solving this week, and playing off the name of a bygone soul/R&B group (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony!_Toni!_Ton%C3%A9!), I would have loved to hear a song of theirs celebrating a romp to victory after regulation had run out... titled: TONI ON IT IN OT
Bird Lives 4s · 2024-05-18T14:43:47.882Z
I figured that one-fourth of all the entries using the same four letters must be significant in some way. Now I have to go read at least one of those novels.
Eric H 🤓3:49 · 2024-05-22T00:44:22.771Z
This is the first of your metas that I have solved, though I have attempted a few others.