MEOW #112: Slide, You Blockhead! Slide!

[Ergcat]

Cat is out!

[benchen71]

Here's the second batch of solvers, with nudges to follow...

Mr Tex
dplass
BarbaraK
rjy
Johnny Luau
Dave C
LindaPRmaven
MatthewL
lbray53
Will
KayW
Matt A
markhr
Darrell
Ergcat
Pair O Ducks

That brings us up to 30!

[benchen71]

Nudges, in order of increasing blatancy:

1. The puzzle title is your main hint.

2. Did you notice how many black squares come between 36 and 37 across?

3. An alternate title for this puzzle is "A Pitch Right Down the Middle"; another is "A Hit Right Up the Middle". But it really needed to be a combination of both which wouldn't have made any sense at all as far as baseball is concerned.

4. Now I think about it, "slide into the middle" would have been even better as far as the meta is concerned, but that's even less applicable to baseball!

[whimsy]

Nudge #2 got me to where I knew I wanted to be from the start.

Thanks for a puzzle I could sink my EPEE into, Ben!

[Dow Jones]

Cat has been nudged out of the bag. Fun grid and meta, Ben.

[ReB]

Took way too long following the nudges, but a fresh look today triggered that AHA spark. The cat is out of the bag and looking shocked.

[ajk]

I have solved the problem I had for the first two puzzles last week of needing the nudges to get me to properly execute what I was already doing. The key is to not have a clue what to do in the first place.

Unfortunately I have taken this technique a bit too far, as I still don't have a clue even after the nudges.

[benchen71]

Here's the last batch of solvers before the answer reveal...

MisterDJ
whimsy
Dow Jones
JM
Carolyn
CPJohnson
ReB

We only got to 37. Given that the puzzle was completed by 209 people, that's rather low!

[benchen71]

Here's the solution to "Slide, You Blockhead! Slide!":

My thanks to DrTom for testing an early version of this puzzle and pushing me to make it better!

Note that the grid entries HOME RUNS go around the DIAMOND just like the batter has to go around the diamond to complete a home run. I hoped that these two entries would have drawn your attention to that big black space in the centre of the grid!

If you need a bright moment, then check out this stunning slide into home:

[Al Sisti]

I had the basic idea but I was trying to make a word out of the last letter of those words (circle the *bases*).

[Al Sisti]

...but loved the "halfway across the world" shout out!!