Good afternoon, crossword fans — welcome to Week 167 of my contest. If you’re new to the contest and would like to enter, please see the site FAQ on the left sidebar for instructions.

LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

A new MGWCC record! 392 solvers found the CATCHER as last week’s contest answer, far surpassing our previous high of 364. Instructions asked for one of the nine baseball positions, and the four theme entries pointed right at a masked man:

BENCH PRESS

CROUCHING TIGER

HOME ON THE RANGE

MITT ROMNEY

So we have (greatest catcher of all time, it’s generally agreed) Johnny BENCH CROUCHING at HOME plate with his catcher’s MITT, making our contest answer clear.

Bruce Sutphin had no trouble with the meta:

Thanks for a nice fat pitch down the center to start the month off.

Neil Bellovin knocked it out of the park as well:

Got Mitt Romney and knew right away. Now for a change I have more time this weekend.

Tyler Hinman writes:

I spent several seconds looking at 2D wondering who the hell “Business Bart” is.



Dave Sullivan wanted a different theme entry:

Being from Boston, I would have been more partial to FISK UNIVERSITY.

And finally, Mark Ballinger found a funny idea at 10-d:

I was hoping “chichi” would be involved as an interleague games meta clue.

This week’s winner, whose name was chosen at random from the 392 correct entries received, is Mandy Scott of Rockford, Mich. Mandy has selected as her prize an autographed copy of The Pocket Idiot’s Guide to Brain Games.



YOU SAID A BAD WORD!

The entry at 20-across raised a few eyebrows last week. I normally put a “vulgarity alert” in the blog post on the rare occasions when I use a blue word in the grid, and indeed simply forgot to do so this time.

My view on using cusswords in crosswords is the same as using them in general life: sparingly and only when truly necessary…or when it would be extremely funny. Otherwise you just come across as a 20-across.

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

This week’s contest answer is a hotel on the Las Vegas Strip. E-mail it to me at crosswordcontest@gmail.com by Tuesday at noon ET. Please put the contest answer hotel in the subject line of your e-mail.

To print the puzzle out, click on the image below and hit “print” on your browser. To solve using Across Lite either solve on the applet below or download the free software here, then join the Google Group (1,547 members now!) here. To solve with friends at Team Crossword, click here.

Solve well, and be not led astray by words intended to deceive.