Making resistors thinner?

[zeello]

I am trying to jam a resistor in a ribbon-cable-connector without destroying the connector in the process.
The connector slot is very thin, thinner than any of my resistor wires. Is there a way of making the resistor wire thinner? (or flatter?)
Such as by trimming it with a knife, or by smushing it with an iron.

One idea is to use a wire instead of the resistor, and simply tie that to the resistor.
Problem is I have only 2 types of wire: hookup wire and magnet wire
The hookup wire is way too thick.
The magnet wire is too thin. (It didn't work when I tried it.. I am guessing it was too thin to achieve contact with the pins in the connector)

Here is a picture to help show what I mean:

rectangle = connector slot
circle = cross-section of resistor wire (too thick to fit inside)

For the record, here is what the connector actually looks like. There are two of them side by side:

It is the two white boxes on the left.

 

[TheProactivePikmin]

You could try carefully sanding the wire, or just smashing it flat with a hammer.

 

[zeello]

Sanding could work. Although I wonder if I'd have better luck chipping away with an exacto knife.

By the way, what about other resistor types, such as surface mount resistors? Those come in smaller sizes... maybe that will work.
I see ebay listings for them, problem is I have no idea whether they are the right size.
If only I could buy a grab bag of assorted sizes, I would do that.

edit:

That size could be good, or too small. Not sure...
Though small could work... I could always just put multiple of them in there. o.O

edit:

Does anyone have a quarter??

 

[zeello]

What about pliers? I'd squeeze my hand as hard as I can and squish the resistor wire flat.

Could that work?

 

[zeello]

lol the pliers method works brilliantly. Exceeded all expectations.
It takes a little while but this is a good thing, the resistor becomes flatter in such gradual increments that you end up at the perfect size no matter what.