January 30, 2011

BP Unfiltered

BPuzzle Solutions

by Ken Funck

As promised, below you can find the answers to the crossword puzzle and cryptoquote posted Friday in honor of National Puzzle Day.  I'm not posting the solution to the BProdoku, because I suspect anyone that attempted it was able to solve it with little difficulty, and an image with 81 tiny pictures of BP contributors looks disconcertingly like the "Guess Who?" game.  Hope you enjoyed them.

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Puzzle #1: A Crossword Cross-Section of BP History

Across

1 Performance that's hard to prove (6):  CLUTCH

4 Descriptor of situational importance (8):  LEVERAGE

6 "Scout v. Stat" liquid (4):  BEER

8 The product of skill interaction at its peak (5):  SIERA

9 Dexter and overspecialized (5):  ROOGY

10 Oft-misunderstood literary catchall (9):  MONEYBALL

13 Provides analysis that's more than skin deep (9):  JAZAYERLI

14 Our Spielberg (5):  JAFFE

15 Not a member of The Tribe, though both a chief and a scout (9):  GOLDSTEIN

18 He Keeps Immobility Next to Godliness (8):  HUCKABAY

20 Or, more simply, "Young Pitchers Often Break" (9):  TINSTAAPP

21 A member of The Tribe (7):  WOOLNER

23 Sinister and overspecialized (5):  LOOGY

24 Predicted both the pros and the College (6):  SILVER

25 So smart and innovative, he gives us the shakes (9):  DAVENPORT

Down

2 Is not 17 Down (11):  CORRELATION

3 Organization we're celebrating this weekend (4):  SABR

4 BBWAA, Q&A (7):  LAURILA

5 Our Oracle, originally in Excel (6):  PECOTA

6 Stereotypical stathead lair (8):  BASEMENT

7 Annual reverse-hibernator (7):  GOLDMAN

11 Wrote Today, and still writes most days (7):  SHEEHAN

12 "Scout v. Stat" solids (5):  TACOS

16 Voros' party contribution (4):  DIPS

17 Isn't proven by 2 Down (9):  CAUSATION

19 The first to wishcast (5):  KAHRL

21 Shatner's favorite metric (4):  WARP

22 Jabberwock's favorite metric (4):  VORP

 

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Puzzle #3: A SABR-Toothed Cryptoquote, or, Maybe We Can Hunt Them To Extinction

"That is the entire difference between sabermetrics and traditional sportswriting. It isn’t the use of statistics. It isn’t the use of formulas. It is merely the habit of beginning with a question, rather than beginning with an answer."

Bill James

Ken Funck is an author of Baseball Prospectus. Follow @KenFunck
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