OT: Baseball slugger wordsearch puzzle

[Maple Leafs]

Relatively simple puzzle game for today...

Your task is to create a wordsearch puzzle using the last name of major league baseball sluggers. You want to score as many points as possible with the names you use.

Each name is worth the same number of points as that player's highest single season home run total. So BONDS is worth 73 points, RUTH is worth 60, AARON is worth 47, etc.

Any player can only be used once. You can re-use the same name twice if it refers to different players, ie. you could use BONDS twice in the same puzzle for 73 points (Barry) and then again for 37 (Bobby).

It is up to you what size to make your wordsearch. It must be a rectangle, but beyond that you choose the size. It can be 5x5, 6x4, etc. Your call.

Your final score will be your total points, divided by the number of squares in the wordsearch.

So if you manage to squeeze 375 HRs into a 5x5 puzzle, your final score is 375/25, or 15. (Note that your 5x5 puzzle counts as 25 squares even if you don't use all of them.)

From a quick experiment, the cutoff for a "good" score seems to be about 15. The best I have so far is 16.5, although I'm sure that can be beat.

To play, just post your puzzle, along with the players you used with their HR totals and your final score.

[QuikSand]

Need a minimum size, perhaps?

B-O-N-D-S is worth 22 points on its own.

[Maple Leafs]

No, BONDS would be worth 14.6 points (73/5).

You would need to use the name twice in the puzzle to get credit for both Barry and Bobby.

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

No, BONDS would be worth 14.6 points (73/5).

You would need to use the name twice in the puzzle to get credit for both Barry and Bobby.

Sorry, I mis-read that.

[QuikSand]

I'm at 17.44, but suspect that will easily be beaten as well.

Bumped to 17.72

[Maple Leafs]

(Incidentally, SOSA would count for 16.5 -- glad to hear that won't hold up as the top score.)

[Pumpy Tudors]

I've managed a score of 10.23, and I ended up using guys like Steve Sax and Tommy Herr to do it. I think I'm too embarrassed to even post the puzzle I came up with. In my defense, I was trying to do a couple of other things while working on this.

[QuikSand]

B	E	L	L	E
O	R	T	I	Z
N	A	U	T	I
D	Y	T	T	M
S	O	S	A	H

List of sluggers:

BELLE	49
BELL 	47
BONDS	73
ORTIZ	47
MIZE	51
SOSA	66
RUTH	61
OTT	42
(JOHNNY ) RAY	7

Total Score = 443 / 25 = 17.72

[Ramzavail]

Id try to get Johnny Ray out of there.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Originally Posted by Ramzavail

Id try to get Johnny Ray out of there.

And replace him with who?

[Radii]

looks like I had the same idea as quiksand but found one more trick to use(or two for a 6x5 square):

B    E    L    L    E
O    T    T    P    S
N    A    C    E    Y
D    U    N    N    A
S    O    S    A    M

Belle - 49
Bell - 47
Dunn - 44
(Lee) May - 38
Mays - 51
(Carlos) Pena - 27
Sosa - 66
Bonds - 73
Cey - 30
Ott - 42


467 / 25 = 18.68

[QuikSand]

To replace RAY, I'd need a three-letter name that either begins or ends with R, O, or Z... or a four-letter name that fits O__R, R__O, O__Z, or Z__O. I'm game for suggestions. RAY is (pretty obviously) just the best I could do with my final unused letters, after I built the gird around the real scorers.

[QuikSand]

I think the BELLE / BELL is probably essential.

[Radii]

There's also a simple addition to make this a 6x5 square that makes the total *slightly* higher:

B    E    L    L    E    E
O    T    T    P    S    M
N    A    C    E    Y    O
D    U    N    N    A    H
S    O    S    A    M    T

Belle - 49
Bell - 47
Dunn - 44
(Lee) May - 38
Mays - 51
(Carlos) Pena - 27
Sosa - 66
Bonds - 73
Cey - 30
Ott - 42
Thome - 49
Lee - 46

562/ 30 = 18.73

[Radii]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

I think the BELLE / BELL is probably essential.

MAY/MAYS as well and if you want to go 6x then go BELLEE for Belle, Bell and (Derrek) Lee.

[QuikSand]

Hell, this grid:

B E L L E E

Seems to be worth 23.66 points, if there's no minimum size.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

Hell, this grid:

B E L L E E

Seems to be worth 23.66 points, if there's no minimum size.

yeah, a rule that the square has to be at least 2x2 is probably necessary.

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

...Seems to be worth 23.66 points

Wow... a puzzle with an answer of 23 and two-thirds... I love it!

[Huckleberry]

B E L L E E
O T T P S M
N O C E Y O
D U N N A H
S O S A M T
J M A R I S

677/36 = 18.81
If we have to be at least 2x2. Used Jones diagonally.
Belle 49
Bell 47
Dunn 44
(Lee) May 38
Mays 51
(Carlos) Pena 27
Sosa 66
Bonds 73
Cey 30
Ott 42
Thome 49
Lee 46
(Andruw) Jones 51
Maris 61
(Paul) Noce 3

[Huckleberry]

Okay, so I just noticed if you take off the Jones and Maris it goes up to 18.83

[QuikSand]

Differing from radii's only by the inclusion of NOCE?

[Huckleberry]

Unfortunately, yes. That's the result of the JONES/MARIS braincramp. However, I've improved:

B E L L E E
O T T P S M
N O C E Y O
D U N N A H
S O S A M T
J F O X X U
X K I N E R

830/42 = 19.76

Belle 49
Bell 47
Dunn 46
(Lee) May 39
Mays 52
(Carlos) Pena 27
Sosa 66
Bonds 73
(Walt) Bond 20
Cey 30
Ott 42
Thome 52
Lee 46
Ruth 60
Kiner 54
(Andruw) Jones 51
Foxx 58
(Pete) Fox 15
(Paul) Noce 3

The Fox/Foxx combo hadn't been used before.

[QuikSand]

We might be able to add in a few trivial points there using your X slots, too.

[Huckleberry]

I added back in Noce. 803/42 = 19.12

I only have one dummy slot at the far lower left corner, I think. Feel free to check because I'm not 100% sure.

[QuikSand]

Dunce == forgot you were actually using those X spots, as opposed to the other X which was a dummy.

[Huckleberry]

Mays had 52 in a season so add 1 homer to the total.

[Maple Leafs]

Originally Posted by Huckleberry

Mays had 52 in a season so add 1 homer to the total.

And Thome has 52 as well.

But as best I can tell, the "thom" from "Thome" isn't being used by any other names. So why not just take them out and swap in Ruth for a few more points?

[Huckleberry]

Walt Bond hit 20 for Houston in 1964.