#600 - "Umpire State of Mind"

[TMart]

The bad news is, I didn't get the answer. The good news is, I am now an expert at converting pitch counts to base-8 numbers. So I got that going for me, which is nice.

[Al Sisti]

...so I got that going for me, which is nice.

Laughed out loud at that callback!

[Jacksull]

I should have gotten this one with the counts written next to the entries. But I just couldn’t make the connection. Not surprising since I’m only batting .143 on weeks 4 and 5 — well below the Mendoza line.

Since we’re talking baseball, can ball four be anything but a “called” ball four? Sounds like a three base triple.

[Al Sisti]

I should have gotten this one with the counts written next to the entries. But I just couldn’t make the connection. Not surprising since I’m only batting .143 on weeks 4 and 5 — well below the Mendoza line.

Since we’re talking baseball, can ball four be anything but a “called” ball four? Sounds like a three base triple.

... or "inning-ending triple play." Sounds like something Joe Buck would say... Well... hmm... now you've got me thinking. Wouldn't an intentional pass on, say, a 3-0 count, not count as a called ball?

[Laura M]

Wow. Not a baseball fan, but I did manage to Google enough to figure out the ball/strike counts after each pitch (I wanted to confirm that it ended up as 3 and 2), so I should have been able to make the leap. I had no idea what to do with the missing A, it distracted me more than anything. Very cool!

[hcbirker]

Never would have gotten this one. I knew the ending count, didn't think to do them in order. I went with missing letters from baseball names, like Mays for mas.

[jakeorjacob]

My biggest issue with the puzzle is that there *are* As present directly near CCESS and LIKE, which made the "this A is a shared letter in the blank space" a little tough to see, at least for me. Otherwise, a fun one that I felt *really* close on (though that ended up not being super true).

[BrianMac]

My biggest issue with the puzzle is that there *are* As present directly near CCESS and LIKE, which made the "this A is a shared letter in the blank space" a little tough to see, at least for me. Otherwise, a fun one that I felt *really* close on (though that ended up not being super true).

I was also too focused on those "A"s and the shapes they made. I thought they might represent pitches like a curve ball or a slider. Couldn't find any others, but still couldn't let that go. Had the counts written next to each theme entry, but never got past that.

[Streroto]

Let’s make that three of us. I could not get around the single “black” A. I ended up guessing “painting the black”, for a called strike three. Of course, I went down in flames, unlike this batter who was able to make it on base!! Hope he scored, unlike me. My brief streaks resets, alas!

[BarbaraK]

Given seven pitch clues and looking for the eighth, I was strongly expecting the there to be some sequence that the theme would continue or a set that it would complete. So I spent a lot of time looking for anything there were 8 of and trying to find ways to tie 7 of them to the theme answers. I found lots of the first part, the most tantalizing, because of that missing A, being the exactly 8 three letter grid words that started with A. But, no.

I did look at the other words on the theme lines, because "high C" and "three G" work; "E hit" seems plausible in the E-everything era; and spelling out the letters gives "tippy" and "befouled". But couldn't do anything with the last two.

From my remedial baseball readings, I did manage to figure out that there were 3 balls and 2 strikes, but I didn't know anything about the umpire giving a count after every pitch, so I never got close to the correct path.

Clever puzzle though, and congratulations to everyone who got it.

[Al Sisti]

And the winner is... Meg!!

[Meg]

And the winner is... Meg!!

And the winner is Meg AND a bunch of smart, helpful people!

[Bird Lives]

Congratulations to Meg. I'm super impressed. I didn't come close. I would never have thought of the ball-strike count.
I had no idea what to do with the hidden A. I also spent too much time with the idea that BAR NONE must be the eighth theme word, since it completes the symmetry of the other seven.

This is the first Week 5 I've tried. If 4s and 5s are all like this, I'll just pack it in now. (Last week was my first 4, and I solved it without too much difficulty. But from what I hear it was unusually easy for a 4.)

[BarbaraK]

Congratulations, Meg!!