XWord Muggles Forum

Hopefully off the couch. Wishfully in the stands for the first pitch. Let’s go O’s!

Several more OTC - - now 43 solvers in total. Last update before the "reveal" tomorrow afternoon!

FKelly
NaptownKid
MaineMarg
MamaE
BarbaraK
Marich
eagle1279
Alvibu67

Off the couch with much effort! Fun puzzle!

I’ve received permission to bound OTC.
Who, me?? Comfy right where I am, waiting for MGWCC, thank you.
This was great fun!! THANK YOU

Ok, drum roll, uh, well, not really. I think most of you trying to solve actually got through to the end, but I'm guessing that many of you did not see the mechanism which would have enabled you to submit an answer with 100% certainty - - so here goes!

The answers to the four theme clues were: ONBASE, TROTTED, FIELDER, LINEUP. The answer to 37A, TWO OUT, was a hint to take two letters out from each theme answer. Doing so yields BA-TT-ER-UP, or BATTER UP. Nearly 50 solvers got the correct answer. But, other than coming up with a phrase that made sense, how to know that you took out the "right" two letters and submitted the "right" answer?

Taking the four theme answers in order, and removing the two letters used for the solution, leaves letters that, when anagrammed, match other entries on the grid. Therefore, if you were able to anagram each set of remaining letters to match another entry, that provided a 100% confirmation of your answer.

ONSE - - > EONS (58D)
TROED - - > DOTER (73A)
FIELD - - > FILED (5A)
LINE - - > NILE (12D)

While I'm still not that optimistic about the entire season, the Phillies are 2-0, and you know what they say about hope. . . .

AHA! I puzzled long and hard as to why that phrase, which just seemed to be right, was the right one. Clever way to confirm, though I have to say that I probably would not have done that.

Hey maybe the Phillies should bring Schmidt out of retirement? That was pretty much the last time I was watching Phillies Baseball.

Nice touch with the anagramming of the leftover letters.

It's a shame that the batter didn't get to swing at a pitch because his teammate on first base didn't succeed at 48A (it being a 37A situation, of course)