Proust in the New York Times crossword puzzle

[Welcome, syndicated-Times puzzlers!]

In today's puzzle, 36-Down, seven letters:

"Love is reciprocal       ": Marcel Proust

The answer is TORTURE (all caps, the crossword convention). The passage:

To be loved, one need not be sincere, nor even good at lying. By love, I mean here a kind of mutual torture.

The Prisoner, translated by Carol Clark (London: Penguin, 2003), 96

Yet another passage that won't soon appear on a Proust gift tag or note card.

My favorite clue in today's puzzle is 23-Across, "Field with bases" (four letters). Highlight the empty space between the colon and period if you want to see the answer: MATH.

Related reading
All Proust posts (Pinboard)