Is the universe 15.5 Gyr old with time-dependent dark energy and galaxy formation at redshift 14?

On the basis of their redshift and Lyman-$\alpha$ measurements, the DESI Collaboration suggest that dark energy varies with the scale factor $a$ as $ \rho_{de}(a)={} \, a^{-3(1 + w_0 + w_a)} e^{-3 w_a (1-a)}\rho_{de,0} $ in which $w_0 = - 0.752 \pm 0.057$ and $w_a ={} - 0.86^{+0.23}_{-0.20} $. A DESI universe would then be 15.5 Gyr old and would have been older than a $\Lambda$CDM universe at $z=8$ and $z=14$ by 132 and 61 Myr respectively. These age differences make a DESI universe slightly more compatible than a $\Lambda$CDM universe with JWST observations of bright and well-formed galaxies in the very early universe.