Okay yes I’m up way past my bedtime AND doing a sportsing-themed crossword. It’s NEARLY April fools day… that makes sense. (Learned that there are numbers associated with all the field positions… I had no idea. Huh. ). Never ever would have known what to do without the clue for 10A, which I had no idea what it meant so I looked it up. (F6?? what the…??)
Very nice! I wanted to W.A.G. HOME at first but it was only 4 letters and there were obviously 6 things. I thought about perhaps a POPFLY to LEFTFIELD and then a throwing pattern for the sacrifice, but going to the Pitcher then First made no sense. "Hey wait a minute, why did Chris force the position on the POPFLY, that would give me 5 numbers...." AHA!!!
Not the baseball fan I used to be (when I live in Philly and Detroit of course) but still know enough to get Home.
Thank you for the puzzle (and I was sure PAPYRUS was originally intended to be PAPPYVW!)
Luckily, it was a just short stop between completing the grid and solving the meta. You knocked it out of the park, Chris, thanks! Also looking forward to what should be an interesting Phillies season.
Cindy Heisler 2s · 11 giorni fa
I had no idea that each position had a scoring number. My WAG was bases, but I didn't submit because I couldn't backsolve. I finally asked for a nudge and after looking up the numbers, I realized that I had actually guessed correctly. Thanks, Chris!
Clever idea, with F6 (clue to 10A/68A) tipping me off to use the position numbers for the other five themers to prove what I was expecting to be the answer.
whimsy 11:15 · 10 giorni fa
Once I let go of the idea of using the second and/or third letter of each themer ("scoring position" -- but nothing made any sense in either grid order or position order) I got the right idea. Thanks, Chris -- a winner!
lbray53 2s · 10 giorni fa
Second spaces would be an alternative inferred answer.
Needed all the nudges... I've never heard of this thing! But nicely crafted. So if shortstop is 6, can someone explain what is "F6"? (I don't know what POPFLY is either, but I'll save that for another day...) Thanks for the puzzle!
Sharkicicles 3s · 8 giorni fa
A pop fly is a ball that, when hit, instead of traveling out towards the field takes a more leisurely path, going up in the air in a large arc, then coming back down. This usually makes for an easily caught ball for an out, as opposed to a line drive, which takes an almost flat arc from home to the outfield.
So F6 just means a pop (f)ly that didn’t travel too far out of the infield (if at all) and was caught by the shortstop.
Sharkicicles 3s · 8 giorni fa
When I was a kid I would get the scorecard and the little golf pencil and score the games at wrigley and comiskey. Haven’t done it decades… maybe I’ll give it a shot again next time! Thanks Chris!