WEDNESDAY PUZZLE — I do not follow baseball, unless you count whatever gets absorbed via osmosis because, thanks to my partner, the Yankee channel is on in my house 24/7. Even then, most of what I hear sounds like this:

Announcer 1: “A swing and a miss!”

Announcer 2: “He doesn’t seem to have hit the ball, Announcer 1.”

Announcer 1: “His bat did not make contact with the ball at all, that’s for sure.”

Announcer 3: “Did he miss it? I was in the john.”

Announcer 1: “I believe he missed it, Announcer 3. Is that toilet paper on your shoe?”

Announcer 2: “Let’s watch him not hit the ball again, this time in slow motion, and then play it over and over again until everyone at home switches over to ‘Wheel of Fortune.’”

Please don’t send me angry emails insisting that I am an idiot. I already know that, at least when it comes to baseball. Plus, I have an inkling of what can happen when I poke lighthearted fun at a sport. You’d think I would learn, but no. That’s part of being an idiot.

It’s just that when a crossword puzzle theme involves uncommon sports terminology, I tend to struggle with it. It’s just not in my wheelhouse. Maybe that’s par for the course (yes, I know that’s a golf reference; I’m not totally hopeless) for a midweek puzzle, but I found myself furiously studying the grid after it was completed so I could come here and not embarrass myself when I explained it to you.

I’m going to do precisely that anyway, just to prove to you that even daily solvers who have been doing this for years can be thrown by a theme.

This is John Wrenholt’s second New York Times Crossword puzzle, and while I’m still debating whether I’m overthinking things, it’s a very nice one.