Okay, so I had this idea the other day. You know how Shohei Ohtani is just doing incredible things, both hitting and pitching? It’s wild. Anyway, I also enjoy doing crossword puzzles sometimes, just to unwind. So, I thought, why not combine the two? I decided to try making a crossword puzzle themed around some of Ohtani’s stats. Seemed like a fun little project.
Getting Started – Finding the Stats
First thing I did was just start looking up his stats. I hopped on my computer and browsed a few sports websites. Didn’t need anything too fancy, just the basic numbers people talk about. I jotted down things for his hitting – you know, like home runs, batting average, RBIs. Then I looked up his pitching stuff – wins, strikeouts, ERA (Earned Run Average). I wasn’t trying to get super deep into advanced analytics or anything, just the common stats.
Picking the Words
Once I had a list, I needed to pick words that would actually fit into a crossword. Some numbers are just awkward. But things like his jersey number, team names (past and present), or specific achievements worked well. I tried to get a mix:
- Hitting stuff: Home Runs, maybe a specific season’s total if it was notable. Batting Average (though writing out the number might be tricky).
- Pitching stuff: Wins, Strikeouts, ERA.
- General info: His number (Seventeen), Teams he played for (Angels, Dodgers), maybe ‘MVP’.
I aimed for words that weren’t too long or too short, trying to find a good balance for fitting them together.
Making Clues and Building the Grid
Next, I started writing the clues for each word I picked. I tried to keep them simple and direct. For example, for ‘SEVENTEEN’, the clue might be “Ohtani’s current jersey number”. For a stat like ERA, maybe “Pitcher’s key stat: Earned Run ___”. Nothing too clever, just straightforward hints.
Then came the tricky part: actually making the grid. I grabbed some graph paper first, just sketching it out. You start with one word, then try to cross another word with it, sharing a letter. It’s a bit of trial and error. You put a word down, then another, and suddenly you realize you’ve boxed yourself into a corner and nothing else fits. So, you erase and try again. I moved words around quite a bit, trying to get a decent number of intersections. It took a little while to get something that looked okay and used most of the words I wanted.
Checking and Finishing Up
After I had a grid filled out and the clues written, I took a break and came back to it later. I read through all the clues again, checked if they matched the answers correctly, and made sure the numbering in the grid lined up with the clue list. I even had my spouse try to solve it, just to see if the clues made sense to someone else and if the difficulty felt right. They found a couple of clues I needed to rephrase to be clearer.
And that was pretty much it! It was a fun way to spend an afternoon, digging into the stats of an amazing player and doing a little puzzle-making myself. Didn’t turn out perfect, probably, but it was a satisfying little project. Just a simple crossword about Ohtani’s stats, made by hand.
