XWord Muggles Forum

I believe that those that got it will agree the answer is "cram".

The title of Squeeze Play implies a baseball theme, and this puzzle certainly had tons of baseball references "squeezed" into it.

Roger Maris hit 61 home runs in '61. The clue at 48D hints at a good place to start, but where? Answer: box 61. Draw a BASEBALL DIAMOND with square 61 as home plate, and you'll find that the basepath comprises four MLB teams: CUBS, ROYALS, ANGELS, METS. C-R-A-M, and as noted, this puzzle had tons of baseball references squeezed/crammed into it.

I agree with DBMiller's writeup. (as does Laura at crosswordfiend)
My advice to those searching for answers in the future:

For Matt Gaffney puzzles, google something or look at the clues.
For Mike Shenk puzzles, look at the grid (some more)

From the PDF for Monday's puzzle:

The contest answer is CRAM. The grid contains a BASEBALL DIAMOND (36-Across) that starts in the box numbered 61 (as hinted at in 48-Down) consisting of four Major League teams: CUBS, ROYALS, ANGELS and METS. The initial letters of these teams spell the contest answer.

DBMiller wrote: ↑Mon Sep 09, 2019 12:00 am I believe that those that got it will agree the answer is "cram".

The title of Squeeze Play implies a baseball theme, and this puzzle certainly had tons of baseball references "squeezed" into it.

Roger Maris hit 61 home runs in '61. The clue at 48D hints at a good place to start, but where? Answer: box 61. Draw a BASEBALL DIAMOND with square 61 as home plate, and you'll find that the basepath comprises four MLB teams: CUBS, ROYALS, ANGELS, METS. C-R-A-M, and as noted, this puzzle had tons of baseball references squeezed/crammed into it.

Trying hard not to be a sore loser but this kind of meta is really difficult if you’re solving on a phone.

Very nice baseball diamond indeed, filled with all those teams.
Very good instincts on my part to skip this puzzle

Mike left a pretty big hint at 48 down. I wanted to point it out, but didn't want to post a spoiler. (Heidi)

Interestingly, this is one that I was not fooled on (I did indeed get it).

I wanted 'bunt' to be the answer, but 48D was enough to dissuade me from that.

I read 48D differently at first - I thought 48D itself was the place to start, but the lack of symmetry convinced me otherwise.

2 nsec after I started walking around the house staring at 61A, my wife 'went yard' on it and that was that. Some weeks it's amazing how we complement each other's thinking.

A while back there was another baseball-themed puzzle that I mis-solved by 'mining diamonds' from the grid - I'm happy that approach paid off this time.

Congrats to all who solved it - have a good week,

I feel silly for not even noticing the helpful clue! Pretty sure my husband, who found the actual diamond, didn't either.

I was so sure when I saw ASTO and MARNER that I was on the right track. The only good thing to come of that was that I then looked up all the teams and wrote them down, so now I'm all ready for another baseball puzzle. When squeezing in an extra letter didn't work anywhere else, I squeezed some out of METALS, REDOES, and ASS. Three teams there. I could not get off the idea of team names, but I still didn't see the diagonal ones.

I squeezed OREL and RIO together and got Oriole, out of order, plus a letter. Spent another ten years looking at other combinations.

I abandoned baseball and tried looking for plays. Found STEM squeezed with PEST gives Tempest with an extra letter. Googled every play ever made. Really wanted to find Damn Yankees in there.

That's when my husband came into the kitchen and asked me to name a famous George Thorogood song. I said "Bad to the Bone?" He said no, "Who Do You Love?" Then he flipped over his tablet where he had outlined the diamond and found CRAM. After I realized George Thorogood had nothing to do with the answer, I told him I loved him.

Sorry if this post is too rambling. It's 2 a.m. and I just woke up and thought I'd make sure CRAM was right. I woke up when I heard my husband whisper "Someone's in the driveway." I whispered back "What?" And then I remembered my husband is out of town. So something tells me I'm not getting back to sleep any time soon.

This is pricelessly good in sooooo many ways, Frankie!

Let’s all of us who didn’t get the diamond shape angle do a collective wall headbutt. Sounds like you old timers have seen this method before- now we’re all into it too. Like most, I tried every possible meta trick except that one. The RH I couldn’t leave was switching one letter in a grid word for an AL team- redoes/Red Sox, glades/angels, USCG/Cubs. Close, but no more cigars. (Or Tigers). I saw lots of you in that RH.Gotta love Mike’s brain.

This one ended my winning streak. I was hopelessly lost at sea...or is it left on base?

I’m so impressed by the creativity of the meta here. Being still fairly new to solving meta puzzles, I will definitely file this one away!

That's a brilliant meta, and I'm sorry I missed it. Congrats to the many solvers!
I thought I was Cool For Cats after I squeezed BASEBALL DIAMOND into BAND.
Alas, just Another Nail in My Heart. Looking for more Black Coffee in Bed presently.

The official solution grid is neater than mine. I had ROYALS in a straight line. Thought it a bit odd that there was a gap in the diamond, but figured maybe that was all Mike could do with different team name lengths, or for all I know about baseball, there could be something like that in an actual baseball diamond. Never noticed that that gap had an R in it - the same letter I went outside to get.

It took me way way to long to realize that the instructions in the clues meant to start at square number 61, not with MARIS in the grid.

I got CRAM but the reservation I had was

The title is a baseball term
There were 11 clues and answers that had to do with baseball
There was the baseball diamond in the middle
There were the four baseball teams forming the diamond

yet - the answer had nothing at all to do with baseball

Doh!!! Classic KAS4 for me. I saw the "good place to start" and considered both 48D and square 61. At one point I even noticed CUBS on the diagonal but just didn't follow it through to the round trip. In hindsight wondering why not???? especially since I was looking at that square for possible starting points. As someone said earlier, if you see it you see it, if you don't you don't.

What a beautiful construction and meta. Kudos to Mike and to all who solved.

Bob cruise director wrote: ↑Mon Sep 09, 2019 7:42 am I got CRAM but the reservation I had was

The title is a baseball term
There were 11 clues and answers that had to do with baseball
There was the baseball diamond in the middle
There were the four baseball teams forming the diamond

yet - the answer had nothing at all to do with baseball

OK, I know nothing at all about baseball, but out of curiosity I googled CRAM and BASEBALL to see if it was some kind of baseball term I had never heard of. Turns out that Jerry Cram was a baseball player who played for both the Royals and the Mets. So that’s something I guess!

Ouch, ouch, ouch, and ouch!
Very nice meta and a learning experience for me.
As a supply chain consultant and engineer, I would love WSJ to make a short video documentary on the process Mike and Matt take to create such a puzzle.

Bob cruise director wrote: ↑Mon Sep 09, 2019 7:42 am I got CRAM but the reservation I had was

The title is a baseball term
There were 11 clues and answers that had to do with baseball
There was the baseball diamond in the middle
There were the four baseball teams forming the diamond

yet - the answer had nothing at all to do with baseball

I certainly understand your reservation. Any time any little thing seems out of place in a solve I worry about a pageant. But since the construction and title related to baseball and the answer related to SQUEEZE in the title, it all came together beautifully for me. Easy for me to say since I didn't have to worry about submitting the wrong answer. I had an epic fail this week but I still appreciate Mike's brilliance.

I found the “helpful hint” at 48D very ambiguous, causing me lots of flailing around! Should I start with Maris, home runs, or grid square 61??? Spent a lot of time researching HOME towns and teams for Maris, Matsui, Hershiser, and Teheran. Then reviewing all of the abbreviations like HR used in 14A aBOX scores, 15A ERR, 30D ERA. Another start was seeing CRESCENT (wrench) which could squeeze something as it’s tightened, and SLEDGE (hammer), giving me a W and H, but couldn’t find any more tools. On a different tack, noticed the I squeezed out of MARINER 16A, and the R from ASTRO 68A.

Friday night, rewatching Guardians of the Galaxy II with plenty of Merlot, helped my brain shake off all of the above nonsense! Noticed CUBS on the diagonal from square 61. A fresh look Saturday morning revealed the other teams in the diamond! Still did my due diligence to check the team cities and field names, where they PLAY, to avoid a PAGEANT situation. Nope, it must be CRAM.

Embarrassing how long it took me to scour the diagonals, since that’s something I routinely do when flailing about for a meta!