This was a fun one. I think at least one baseball meta a year is a given from me, haha.
KayW 10:20 · 2022-07-16T20:08:54.832Z
Great puzzle! Can't BELIEVE that Kay, queen of the non-sportsing people, didn't need google to solve this. In fact, at first I found twelve entries before I went back and counted (SON/SOX, tho I realize that one would be ambiguous. Or should I say ambichromal)
Ooh, yeah, that is a bit Naticky, since 57A does not immediately give you the fact that the word ends in "-S" based on how its worded. I think when creating I quickly saw SERVES instead of SEVRES, since that did make me raise an eyebrow when I saw it again. Thanks for your kind words, nonetheless!
Cindy Heisler 3s · 2022-07-17T17:22:35.686Z
This was a fun one even for someone who really isn't into baseball. But at least I know the team names. Thanks, Mikey!
You bet! Gotta love this time of year! I've just gotten into baseball myself over the past 5 - 10 years or so.
woozy 22:59 · 2022-07-17T22:42:59.192Z
Gadzooks. I said to myself CUBS have to look for a cubs substitute in the grid and looked and looked..... Gadzooks. Well, maybe the astros of the royals or.....
I did get CUBS in the grid; sadly, I also had to get METS in (I respect the Mets but am supposed to hold a grudge for '69, haha.)
woozy 22:59 · 2022-07-20T05:29:28.207Z
I know. I was joking about how I could look for cubs and not see it. Even when I know the U was required in that tiny corner of the grid I even briefly thought it was SON/SUN before seeing the CUBS.
How did you know that you had to look for CUBS (CABS)?
DIS 🤓6:36 · 2022-07-18T15:15:45.189Z
You get straight A's for this one!
ReB 1:15 · 2022-07-19T04:02:59.895Z
Spotting TRIOLES (which got my attention as a rather obscure answer) as one letter off from ORIOLES in conjunction with a sports-themed title broke open the meta for me. Then it was just a search for 10 more baseball teams. Fortunately the replacement letters spelled out an appropriate phrase. Nicely done to squeeze in all these words.
This is definitely something that would get my spidey senses up if I'm looking at a grid, and I see TRIOLES randomly there! Glad that helped break open the meta, and it was fun trying to work getting the teams to spell out what I could!
Laura M 🤓24:21 · 2022-07-19T04:47:41.944Z
Thought I'd see how many of the 11 I could get without Google... Five. Five is how many I could think of on my own. Nice puzzle, despite my sports ignorance!
fun meta...and I always love your clues...thanks for the puzzles.
Bird Lives 6s · 2022-07-19T12:43:10.891Z
When I got to PILATES, I thought: If the mechanism is not what I think it is, then I'm going to do a puzzle using it. Yours was better than what I could have done, and perfect timing for the All Star break.
I probably need to start a journal of things I think metas are and, if they aren't, file that mechanism away for later! Still mulling over yours on the MMM - and thanks for the kind words! Watching the All-Star game as of this exact comment!
I like the Padres too! They're playing with a lot of heart, especially in absence of Tatis, who I hope heals soon! I also remember when they weren't that good, and so I've been able to watch their arc. They also were the team that faced the Cubs the last time I was at Wrigley (back in '19), and I could feel them on the precipice of greatness. May they continue to have victory in future years!
Carolyn 3s · 2022-07-23T00:01:09.855Z
Thanks! My son lives across the street from Wrigley so we're also Cubs fans.
I K Snamhcok 1s · 2022-07-21T21:01:47.388Z
Much fun for this lifelong baseball fan. Thanks, Mikey!
Some fitness regimen, I guess (my exercise is running...my mouth)
16A
African nation whose capital anagrams to OH SAID GUM
17A
Assent at sea
18A
Rogers and others
20A
Whistleblowers, perhaps
21A
The mathematicians who couldn't agree on the definition of even numbers were at ___
23A
Recycles, like bad puns (I would know)
25A
Largest OH airport
26A
Tease
27A
Member of the inn crowd LOL
28A
The planets after Pluto was banished but before it was begrudgingly reaccepted, I guess (When I heard that, I was out of orbit)
30A
Encores
32A
Third monastic hour (anagram of a Greek island)
34A
Acrimonious altercations
36A
Some proxy votes, for example
40A
I read a book on the history of these workbench clamps - boy was it gripping
42A
The packaging from the cloth mice I bought for Ginger but not the actual mice itself, apparently
43A
"Many the ___" (Sara Bareilles song)
46A
Part of an IOU?
48A
My daughter gets up early, but eventually, my ___ also rises
49A
Spanish article
50A
Vice president born in Oakland, California
52A
They're picking up!
53A
Satirist Mort
55A
Gets in the pool?
56A
Succor
57A
Musical triplet of notes
59A
Risks
63A
Actor who claimed that he could divide by zero in a 2006 "Time" magazine article
64A
It contains the line "With glowing hearts we see thee rise"
65A
Weird Al sang about a giant ball of one in Minnesota
66A
Indian spice blends
Down
1D
In
2D
Nice friend
3D
You can pick vegetables here
4D
Influences
5D
"Sorry I'm ___, I Didn't Want to Come" (2019 Jessica Pan memoir)
6D
Before, either way you look at it
7D
Singer of 1994's uplifting "You Gotta Be"
8D
Totally descriptive name (not really) for one of LBJ's beagles
9D
Petri dish stuff that I've seen more often in crosswords than in actual Petri dishes, though I've never looked into Petri dishes (just seeing how many times I can fit "Petri dish" into a clue)
10D
Prime
11D
Knickknack
12D
How some furniture might be sold
14D
"You can't ___!" (unless you don't win)
16D
The "S" in "NES"
19D
Get rid of
21D
Round figures
22D
"You think those gardeners are so nice? I've got the ___ on them!"
23D
Subterfuges
24D
Type of media
27D
Card game that might have you hooked
29D
Boston basketballer, briefly
31D
"___ la France!"
33D
Dashes but not hyphens
35D
City in Paris known for its porcelain
37D
"If I watch TV with you now, you want to play cards later?" "___!"
38D
Neophyte, slangily
39D
Dict. entries
41D
Ilk
43D
"I ___!" (Line I don't remember the Cookie Monster ever using when trying to resist the last snickerdoodle)