WSJ (Contest) Grid: 20 minutes; Meta: a day 
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Mike Shenk’s Wall Street Journal contest crossword, “Position Statement” — Conrad’s writeup
This week we’re looking for an appropriate place. I spotted some long horizontal entries that I thought were themers but some of them weren’t. Mike Shenk is famously literal (but it’s hard to know which direction that will take you). I ran though the most obvious (and doomed) rabbit hole first. Here’s a taste:
- STARBOAR(D): Right (letter) [D]
- ROCKE(F)ELLER: Center (letter) [F]
- (E)MPTYNESTER: Left (letter) [E]
That idea seemed quite Shenkian but it fizzed out quickly. I noticed that right, center, and left were the final words of those three clues. Then I spotted second and third. I caught a glimmer of a light.
I’m a member of SABR, and this puzzle still took me a day to solve. I have sympathy for the non-sports solvers (and especially our international solvers). Normally sport-themed metas are easily Google-able, but this one was a deeper cut. I know that third base is position 5, mainly because my brother played third base in high school and jokingly called himself “E5.” I never progressed beyond farm league so I have no stone to throw on that front.
These numbers make no sense
Every baseball position has a number and the order is not logical to my brain. Why is shortstop #6? That makes no sense. My son played baseball on Peaks Island when he was a kid and his coach would scream “throw it to three!” None of the kids had any idea WTF he was talking about and usually threw the ball in a random direction. Hilarity ensued.
There were nine theme entries with clues that ended with the nine baseball positions, and many of those clues were oddly worded. I wrote BCGDTCERS (baseball position order) in my notes, generating noise. Putting them in grid order made it worse. I slept on it.
I noticed that the theme entries got increasingly longer and finally spotted the rabbit. Use the first letter BEER (its clue ended with position #1/pitcher), the second latter for CAT (#2, catcher), etc:
WSJ Contest – 07.27.2025
1 (B)EER: Contents of a tavern pitcher
2 C(A)T: Mouse catcher
3 GO(L)D: Medal for first
4 DUE(L): Activity requiring a second
5 TWEL(F)TH: Quarter of a third
6 CURTA(I)LED: Cut short
7 EMPTYN(E)STER: Parent whose children have all left
8 ROCKEFE(L)LER: Namesake of a Manhattan center
9 STARBOAR(D): When yachting, what’s right
The position letters spell our contest solution BALLFIELD. My condolences to non-sportsball fans. Solvers: please share your thoughts. I tried to find a thematic song, and The Colourfield thematically came to mind. But I can’t hear Terry Hall without hearing his version of Our Lips are Sealed (which he co-wrote with Jane Wiedlin).
Puzzle: WSJ (Contest); Rating: 4 stars
I also saw the right, center and left clues early on, but got nowhere after that. This past evening, I happened to be watching ESPN Sunday Night Baseball, and while watching, decided to make one last-ditch effort at the meta. Talk about serendipity, watching a baseball game while solving was exactly the poke I needed.
Puzzle: WSJ (Contest); Rating: 5 stars
In a word, Brilliant!
I know the baseball positions, but only saw right, center and left and got no further, having attempted to treat them as cryptic clues. Was derailed by L(EAST) and A(WEST)RUCK, among others.
I didn’t see the “tavern pitcher”clue and thought that the clues mentioned every position *except* pitcher. So I figured “pitcher” was the next step, and since that’s not a “place,” I submitted “mound.” I also commented here on Friday that I thought the meta was pretty easy (while offering the caveat that I could have it wrong).
The actual mechanism strikes me as overly esoteric for a mainstream publication. Brilliant construction, though.
My journey to the solution was almost identical to yours. Took me all weekend, finally making it to shore Sunday night at around 10:30. Mike Shenk is a next-level genius!! I am in awe of this construction!!
Never in a million…
I thought it was a nautical theme. So many boating terms sprinkled throughout. And I was sure THE LAKERS was a key. Saw KEEL in Rockefeller. Remove the F etc. Should have picked up on MARINERS.
Submitted ON DECK. Don’t ask me why. Ironic that that is also a baseball phrase.
Fun grid to fill out in any case.
Puzzle: WSJ (Contest); Rating: 4 stars
Got left, right, center, first. second, third., thinking the indexing was simply a position within the entry directly. It spelled DEFLEGU. Gibberish.
Thought there might be an NBA “17” nudge toward basketball. Alas never made the baseball leap.
Neat mechanism.
I never picked up on the baseball theme, was distracted by all the nautical references of either ‘position on a vessel’, or ‘position’, as in ‘on some body of water’ in both the grid and the clues: starboard, stern, seas, cove, yacht, boat, lake, mariner, Pacific. These, of course, led nowhere.
Puzzle: WSJ (Contest); Rating: 4 stars
Well played, well played.
The online version had LEROY hinted as “Satchel Paige’s real first name” though, which might mess up things.
All I can say is this was absolutely incredible. To not only get the nine clues hidden, but to place them in the correct order as he did was wonderful. The place, or final answer was in keeping with the meta as well. Hats off on this one Mike. Great job.
Puzzle: WSJ (Contest); Rating: 1 star
Give me a break. Can’t wait for the next meta that incorporates cricket plays or calvinball rules. In the meantime, I’ll be sure to brush up on my water polo knowledge.
Puzzle: WSJ (Contest); Rating: 4.5 stars
I didn’t see anything with the “themers,” so I put it down for a day or so. When I picked it back up, I thought to look at the clues (something to do when other things aren’t working) and found the player positions. I knew their order, being a baseball fan, so the rest went fairly smoothly. So, the question is: is it “ball field” or “ballfield?” (Autocorrect wants it to be “ball field,” but I bet both will be accepted. (There were also five clues that relate to baseball as well.)
Puzzle: WSJ (Contest); Rating: 5 stars
As a lifelong baseball junkie, former SABR member, and one of those fans who not only brings his glove but keeps a scorecard (which is why the positions are numbered) when I go to games, all I can say is, bravo with a standing O for this one. Never came within a whiff of solving the meta, but hey, some days you win, some days you lose, and some days it rains. Prolly not a coincidence that yesterday was the annual induction ceremony for new members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.