WSJ (Contest) Grid: untimed; Meta: an hour or so 
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Mike Shenk’s Wall Street Journal contest crossword, “Pitch In” — Conrad’s writeup
This week we’re looking for a 10-letter sports term. There were a lot of World Cup/Football themed entries in the grid, matching pitch in the title. Two long symmetric entries stood out:
WSJ Contest – 07.19.2026
- SHOOTOUT: Soccer tiebreaker, sometimes
- WORLDCUP: Quadrennial sports event
I noticed a lot of O’s in the grid, which gave me the right idea, but put me on the wrong track. I finally noticed that there were also too many K’s in the grid, with four in each corner. That unlocked the meta for me: there were four corner K’s (spanning each corner to a K diagonally three squares away).
That leads to our contest solution CORNER KICK. Solvers: please share your thoughts.
thank you for posting the answer here. I submitted the correct one, but I always like to check it. Now that the Wall Street Journal has messed up its online puzzle system it no longer shows the answer to the prior puzzle
Print, and check show solution to yesterday’s puzzle, on Monday.
Puzzle: WSJ (Contest); Rating: 4.5 stars
I always liked seeing who had won the coveted mug from the prior week, but apparently that’s not available any more.
I’ll bet it will be at the top of the comments on the Pitch In puzzle soon, as it was on the Let’s Trade Places puzzle last week. Takes them a while to confirm with the winner, I think. So look there tomorrow or Wednesday.
Puzzle: WSJ (Contest); Rating: 4.5 stars
Yeah, I really dislike the way it works now.
I went with baseball because of the K’s and PITCH. I sent in STRIKEOUTS. I thought “term” implied a one-word answer.
With the four Ks in the corners, and the other six Ks strewn throughout the grid, I seriously considered STRIKE ZONE.
Then I saw that four of the inner Ks connected with the corners, et voila!
Puzzle: WSJ (Contest); Rating: 4.5 stars
Fun and clever puzzle thank you to our puzzlemaster Mr Shenk.
Puzzle: WSJ (Contest); Rating: 4.5 stars
I was a bit chagrined at how long it took me to notice the four KICKs!
I have to ask, though, how the title Pitch In is useful, or relevant?
Pitch can mean slant or incline, like the pitch of a roof
Puzzle: WSJ (Contest); Rating: 4.5 stars
“Pitch” refers to the playing surface in soccer. “In” may refer to the fact that by reading in from each of the 4 corner K’s you’ll spy the word “kick”. The corner kick launches the ball into the pitch. So, in a way, a corner kick is a pitch in.