"Where" to Retire

Four of these guys actually played in “new jerseys” before they retired.

Solution: The answers to the starred clues are names of nine Hall of Fame football players whose jersey numbers have been retired by their respective teams. Suggested by 12D (the homophone of "where"), the puzzle title becomes "wear" to retire and hints that you need to know the numbers of the retired uniforms (most likely a Google search - sorry!).

Whew. Lots of googling for a game day. Thanks Darth.

I tried doing something with each player's first and last name and the team's name, city, and state, but of course that went nowhere. What other piece of identifying information could there be for a football player?! I started looking up jersey numbers and it wasn't til I got three or four of them that I realized how the concept "retired" was relevant! Fun puzzle, Darth, even for this non-sports fan; thanks!

Got it without any nudges. But it was... if it's not this clever mechanism I just thought of I'm utterly stuck.

Creative idea.

That was a good one. We started by focusing on the retirement dates, but that obviously led to nowhere.

Lifelong football watcher, but thank you google for getting to J. Sunday off to a great SSStart thanks to Darth kickin the winning field goal right down the middle as time expired. Now Fly EAGLES Fly!

Nifty idea for a puzzle --- retired jersey numbers. I only had to look up four of them (though I checked the ones I knew just to make sure). Nice trip down down memory lane (or into the memory huddle).

I WAGged the answer which thankfully helped me avoid the Googlefest. But very clever metanism. Thanks Darth! (Now retiring to the couch…)

Tried so, so many different things, but needed a lot of help from a friendly Muggle to put me on the right path. Whew. Thanks for the puzzle, Darth!

I saw “wear” so I figured we need uniform numbers. I knew them all except Seau. I put the numbers in the order of the clues and was stuck. I did not think to go top to bottom in the grid. It’s so obvious in retrospect! A friendly muggle gave me a push. Good puzzle to do while watching football. I live an hour from Buffalo - so I’m getting ready for the Bills game. I’m nervous!!! Thanks for the Sunday fun Darth.

Glad it wasn't the colors as they crossed my mind before: "No, it's got to be numbers!" Then as I started to decipher, I could see the answer coming at me for several miles down I-95. Very nice, Darth! Thanks!

Like Jayden, a commanding performance.

Oh my this was a great one. From the title to the final pun to the mechanism, just a flawless execution.

Does the Garden State live up to its name in retirement?

Welp… I now know the Alma Mater (15A) of all these guys (thinking surely that was the other clue you referenced), and also now know the name of the teams of those schools and their locations, city and state, in case the “where” mattered more than the name of the team which would determine what LETTER — and what color of letter — they would wear on their chests - thank you 42A (the OTHER other clue I figured you were referencing). It wasn’t until I just kept saying the title repeatedly .. and had noticed that WEAR and ISWEAR were oddly similar and then it clicked. This really was fun, even after all that googling and even if I’m no big sports fan (unless there are wings and nachos… then I am there for it). The answer made me chuckle.. so clever!

I wasn't getting it, but then I took another look at the picture of Brady wearing his number.

No nudges needed, though I had a few false starts trying to do WHERE they played (State, City), WHERE they retired (Team, City, State) and then it hit me when I was looking up Walter Payton and Derrick Thomas because they "retired" from their teams and I saw that their Jerseys had been retired and that gave me a number....well VERY CLEVER! Had a bit of a heart attack because Google gave me 18 for PAYTON because it thought I meant PEYTON (Oh, and for a minute I thought I was going to get PAYTON MANNING FAVORITE PLACE = OMAHA) but I am old enough and football smart enough to remember Walter Payton did not wear 18, indeed could not have worn 18 because he was not a quarterback, punter or placekicker, and I have watched him play. (actually I have watched ALL of those people play, but I never saw anyone run like Jim Brown ever.)

Totally satisfying meta with great fill, great internal cohesiveness and a "banner" hint. Enjoyed it immensely. Oh, and 53A should have been clued "Quarterback's dilemma, ___ in sight"

Nifty. Just getting to it now as I was out of town and then traveling yesterday, but solved sans nudges in about 5 minutes (I started out thinking it would be the first letters of the cities, until I remembered that CLE was actually in one of the clues, but I finished the list just in case ). Convenient that there's a wiki page with all the retired numbers. :) I can see how this might play a little trickier for non-sports types that might be unfamiliar with the custom, but very fun for me. :) Thanks.