#628 - "A League of Their Own"

[oldjudge]

I can’t reveal that, but I can tell you that knowing what a piano keyboard looks like is not required.

[Schep]

Is extensive sports knowledge necessary to solve?

[Edit by Brian: Please only answer this by PM. Thanks!]

Whoops apologies-didn’t mean to open the door for spoilers! That was just my first thought after I read the prompt

[Schep]

I can’t reveal that, but I can tell you that knowing what a piano keyboard looks like is not required.

Ha-thank goodness. Although I think a piano layout stuck in my brain forever now! Maybe it’ll make for a cool bar trick one day....

[hcbirker]

Sports and number themes always make me nervous, but beam me up! Feel better Matt!

[Cindy]

Solved finally. After a really long afternoon. Someone thought it would be a good idea to roll into the passenger side of my car and smash it. Collision center, insurance companies.....so much fun.

[Hector]

Solved finally. After a really long afternoon. Someone thought it would be a good idea to roll into the passenger side of my car and smash it. Collision center, insurance companies.....so much fun.

Ugh. Here, have a ... whatever we're supposed to metaphor for MGWCC.

[oldjudge]

Thank goodness it wasn’t the driver’s side. This sounds like scotch time.

[BarbaraK]

Solved finally. After a really long afternoon. Someone thought it would be a good idea to roll into the passenger side of my car and smash it. Collision center, insurance companies.....so much fun.

Oh no!

I’m glad anyway that “a trip to the hospital” wasn’t also on that list.

[BarbaraK]

I was away from the internet this afternoon. Have a super cheap cellphone service with very limited data since I usually just use whatever WiFi I can find when I’m not home.

So at noon, I turned on data to download the puzzle. Did the grid and planned to wait til I was back in WiFi land to google for the meta. Because — sports. But much to my surprise, I actually figured it out.

So just googled to check that what I thought I knew actually made sense and then called for beam up.

[Rad26]

On the board. Some consolation after being one of the people who jumped at Three of a Kind last week and ignored the other pair.

Another extremely clever puzzle.

[hcbirker]

Solved finally. After a really long afternoon. Someone thought it would be a good idea to roll into the passenger side of my car and smash it. Collision center, insurance companies.....so much fun.

Hope you’re okay! Sorry that happened to you!

[dudeski]

Beam me up.

[Joe]

Got it (fairly) quickly and I am always extremely nervous when metas get sportsy. But I always remember some meta advice I got a long time ago: These are word puzzles, not trivia contests.

[Streroto]

Well that was dumb. I posted what I was reasonably confident was right and it was not. Had tossed the grid so refilled a new one and realized my mistake right away. Oh well it was a one weeks streak so no great loss. I will post my alternate solution on Tuesday.

Stay well all and get better Matt!!!!

[BrianMac]

I was ready to go right as it posted determined to make a non-scroll ranking on this one. I filled in the long clues first, had those done in just minutes. And nothing. Filled in the rest of the grid, and nothing.

LOL, this is exactly what happened to me. Even had xwordcontest.com open and my username and email already filled out, so I just had to drop in the answer.

27 hours later, I finally figured it out.

[ky-mike]

After a quick nudge to refocus my solving technique, I am finally on shore and in awe of the construction of this one.

[BarbaraK]

It’s fascinating to think how Matt must look at the world to notice things to come up with some of these metas.

[MajordomoTom]

on the ship with both metas this weekend, plenty of time for drinking remaining

[oldjudge]

BTW, I don’t think it is a spoiler to say that there is a second answer if defunct teams are allowed. Make that two more.

[scottydoesntknow]

Hi folks! Recent Gaffney subscriber, and I am completely stumped this week. Looking for a small nudge if anyone is willing. Thanks in advance!