Introduce Yourself

Please come in and say hello and tell us something about yourself.
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markhr
Posts: 342
Joined: Thu Apr 18, 2019 7:56 pm

#81

Post by markhr »

I am Mark from California. After doing NYT puzzles for several years, I started doing the WSJ contests about two years ago, and quickly got hooked. I also do MGWCC (as MarkR) and Fireballs. Despite about 90 WSJ submittals, and 25 MGWCC, have yet to win any prize whatsoever, not that I'm bitter about that. Others apparently have it much worse.

Good job to Brian on setting up this forum. I hope it continues to grow.
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lacangah
Posts: 184
Joined: Tue May 28, 2019 12:58 am
Location: Claremont, CA

#82

Post by lacangah »

Hi,

I'm Al from Claremont, CA. My wife and I enjoy crossword puzzles, and we've had fun meeting peers at the 'Crosswords LA' series in SoCal. The WSJ Puzzles have been fun to tackle; some weeks its very satisfying to solve, other weeks I rack up many virtual steps hiking around box canyons of my own making :-). My avatar depicts the face I'll make if/when I win a mug. Until then, good luck to all (and thanks for setting up this forum!)

Cheers,
KarenO
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri May 31, 2019 7:33 pm

#83

Post by KarenO »

Hi All! I've been out of touch with WSJ crossword for a few weeks and wondered where everyone had gone now that comments are sort of back. Thanks for setting up this forum! I'm a decent crossword solver and terrible at the meta. Can count on one hand the number of times I've gotten it right. Have lost count of the times I've looked at the solution and thought, "Now who would ever think of that?". I enjoy the crosswords and interaction nonetheless.
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Bob cruise director
Cruise Director
Posts: 4512
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 2:38 pm
Location: Any golf course within 500 miles of Littleton MA

#84

Post by Bob cruise director »

KarenO wrote: Fri May 31, 2019 7:37 pm Hi All! I've been out of touch with WSJ crossword for a few weeks and wondered where everyone had gone now that comments are sort of back. Thanks for setting up this forum! I'm a decent crossword solver and terrible at the meta. Can count on one hand the number of times I've gotten it right. Have lost count of the times I've looked at the solution and thought, "Now who would ever think of that?". I enjoy the crosswords and interaction nonetheless.
Welcome back and good luck
Bob Stevens
Cruise Director
DeeBee
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Jun 05, 2019 11:44 pm

#85

Post by DeeBee »

Hello. My name is Dixie. I live in the great state of Wyoming. We are finally getting some springlike weather. The long winter lends itself to hunkering down and enjoying a warm fire, a hot cup of whatever and enjoying the WSJ Puzzles.
I will still find time to do the puzzles because they so relaxing and great tension relievers! Agree?? It also keeps my mind from getting too mushy!
Tom Wilson
Posts: 390
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 8:07 pm
Location: South Williamsport, PA

#86

Post by Tom Wilson »

I'm Tom from northcentral Pennsylvania, fairly new to the WSJ contests ... but hoping that a longtime addiction to puzzles (including the Harper's and now-defunct Atlantic cryptics) has adequately prepped me for the challenge. Counting down four years to retirement, after spending two decades each in newspapering and collegiate public relations, and living vicariously through a 27-year-old "theater kid" in Brooklyn. Graduated in the late 70s with a journalism degree from Penn State, contemporaneous to Mike Shenk's legendary service as a constructor, and am very pleased to keep company with the fine folks on board (and, more often for them, on shore).
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Jim and Anita
Posts: 215
Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2019 2:56 pm
Location: State College, PA

#87

Post by Jim and Anita »

Ahoy! We met at Northwestern University where Jim majored in accounting and Anita in journalism. We moved to State College PA in 1976 where Jim joined the Penn State faculty and Anita worked in public relations. Now retired, Jim enjoys doing crossword puzzles every day but relies on Anita to proofread his spelling. We have enjoyed hiking in beautiful locations from Puerto Rico to Hawaii and Alaska but particularly in Colorado. Jim often calls Anita a clown and in fact she has been trained as a clown specializing in hospital and nursing home clowning and she has written two specialty books for the clowning community.
Anita was privileged to clown in India during a visit with our son Bill who worked for 10 years in Bangalore and now works and lives in Cambridge MA with his wife and their 4 year old daughter.
We treasure sharing hiking, geocaching and puzzle solving as a family. We especially thank BrianMac for setting up this muggle website and Bob cruise director for his monitoring and encouraging of all of us.
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JPMalone
Posts: 118
Joined: Fri Jun 28, 2019 9:38 am
Location: New Jersey

#88

Post by JPMalone »

Hi! I'm Josh from NJ. I've been doing the WSJ CC since it first started and I actually won a mug back in March. I rarely posted a comment online, but I usually read the comments when I was stuck, very impressed with the construction, or thought there was more than one answer. I also do the NYT Sat-Sun since I have a paper subscription, and I really enjoy the "puns and anagrams" and cryptic ones they sometimes run in the magazine. Anyway, I look forward to reading/posting comments here!
dpcoombes
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Jul 05, 2019 3:50 pm

#89

Post by dpcoombes »

Hi, fellow muggles. Dan & Renee checking in. We've been absent from the cruise for a while, but we are back. We've been playing for about 2 years, and we're in Chattanooga, TN. We even won the mug in March 2018!

When it comes time for sports discussions, we are fans of the Auburn Tigers, Atlanta Braves, Carolina Panthers, and St. Louis Blues.
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Bob cruise director
Cruise Director
Posts: 4512
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 2:38 pm
Location: Any golf course within 500 miles of Littleton MA

#90

Post by Bob cruise director »

dpcoombes wrote: Fri Jul 05, 2019 3:56 pm Hi, fellow muggles. Dan & Renee checking in. We've been absent from the cruise for a while, but we are back. We've been playing for about 2 years, and we're in Chattanooga, TN. We even won the mug in March 2018!

When it comes time for sports discussions, we are fans of the Auburn Tigers, Atlanta Braves, Carolina Panthers, and St. Louis Blues.
Congratulations to your Blues for winning the cup.
Bob Stevens
Cruise Director
AnnP
Posts: 52
Joined: Sat Jul 06, 2019 8:47 pm

#91

Post by AnnP »

Hello, I'm Ann from Long Island, NY. I am a long-time solver of WSJ puzzles, especially Saturday's grid and the variety puzzles. (But not the cryptics!) I really missed it when I was no longer able to comment because I am not a subscriber. Thanks so much for setting up this muggles forum. You are my tribe!
I have been lurking here for a few weeks trying to learn the tricks to solving the meta. Happy to join you and looking forward to my first time on shore!
jschneider
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Jul 08, 2019 1:12 pm

#92

Post by jschneider »

Hello. I and my co-worker Keith have been doing the WSJ crossword contests for some time now. I have kept our stats since Dec 2016, and we are batting just shy of an 80% solve rate. Currently on a nine-week run, which Murphy will now take from us. I like checking here to see reactions, but try not to peek for meta help. I did win a mug a while back as well (4/28/17; What's the right move?; Wiggle).

Further, I might pose the question, if it hasn't been asked already, should people send in guesses? We always felt that if we thought we knew the answer, and why, that we would send it in, but that a wild stab would be no way to win a mug.

Thanks much and glad to be here.
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Bob cruise director
Cruise Director
Posts: 4512
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 2:38 pm
Location: Any golf course within 500 miles of Littleton MA

#93

Post by Bob cruise director »

jschneider wrote: Mon Jul 08, 2019 1:17 pm Hello. I and my co-worker Keith have been doing the WSJ crossword contests for some time now. I have kept our stats since Dec 2016, and we are batting just shy of an 80% solve rate. Currently on a nine-week run, which Murphy will now take from us. I like checking here to see reactions, but try not to peek for meta help. I did win a mug a while back as well (4/28/17; What's the right move?; Wiggle).

Further, I might pose the question, if it hasn't been asked already, should people send in guesses? We always felt that if we thought we knew the answer, and why, that we would send it in, but that a wild stab would be no way to win a mug.

Thanks much and glad to be here.
Welcome. Wild stabs, hail Mary's and the like are a personal choice. I generally don't but kick myself when my wild stab was the right answer. And I never hear the end of it is my wife takes a real wild stab before I do the grid - and the couple of times she is right, I hear about it forever
Bob Stevens
Cruise Director
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Kas
Posts: 265
Joined: Thu Jul 11, 2019 9:23 pm
Location: Usually in a rabbit hole.

#94

Post by Kas »

Hi, all! I'm Kas, frequent puzzler, semi-frequent Blog Lurker, infrequent Blog poster...I'm not a terribly brilliant puzzler, but have enjoyed the Meta from the beginning, was personally Pageanted the first time, fondly remember the Maggie Cho outrage, coined the "MUGgles" nomenclature, and may have had something to do with the Kas Scale. :roll: I sort of liked the WSJ blog format...but I found that I missed all of you nuts terribly, so now I'll apologize profusely and proactively for subjecting you to myself. Again.

Uh, I'm a lawyer (sorry) in New England. One very, very patient spouse, two kids, two enormously goofy dogs. Zero mugs.
SewYoung
Posts: 726
Joined: Sun Apr 14, 2019 9:25 pm
Location: Meridian, MS

#95

Post by SewYoung »

jschneider wrote: Mon Jul 08, 2019 1:17 pm Hello. I and my co-worker Keith have been doing the WSJ crossword contests for some time now. I have kept our stats since Dec 2016, and we are batting just shy of an 80% solve rate. Currently on a nine-week run, which Murphy will now take from us. I like checking here to see reactions, but try not to peek for meta help. I did win a mug a while back as well (4/28/17; What's the right move?; Wiggle).

Further, I might pose the question, if it hasn't been asked already, should people send in guesses? We always felt that if we thought we knew the answer, and why, that we would send it in, but that a wild stab would be no way to win a mug.

Thanks much and glad to be here.
If I remember to, I will submit a wild stab right before the deadline if I have not come up with a solution that I can defend. If that wild stab should happen to be correct and by some miracle I were to win the mug; I would accept in on behalf of the times that I actually sovled past puzzles and did not win. I have my acdeptance speech written and am just waiting for the opportunity to give it.
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BarbaraK
Posts: 2592
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 2:37 pm
Location: Virginia

#96

Post by BarbaraK »

I’m generally in the no guessing camp (for myself - not telling anyone else what to do).

One time I got a right answer to MMMM without really solving it. When I saw my name on the leaderboard, I was surprised and momentarily hopeful that my half-baked theory was right and I just hadn’t found all the pieces. But my heart sank when I read the explanation and realized I didn’t have it at all. It was a huge relief that month to not win the mug as I couldn’t imagine accepting in that situation. Since then, I never send in guesses to MMMM or WSJ.

For some reason though, I will occasionally send a last minute, not serious, guess to MGWCC. No idea why. (What’s that quote - “Foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.”)
Louwers
Posts: 21
Joined: Fri Jul 19, 2019 11:27 am

#97

Post by Louwers »

Hi! Tim from the old WSJ site, but you can call me Tim...

We spend half our time in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and the other half in San Francisco.

After a lifetime of searching, I have finally found something that I truly excel at— RETIREMENT!!! My morning schedule includes the WSJ crossword, with a special fondness for the Friday meta. I have two rules: 1) I only spend an hour on it (new rule implemented after the “lost weekend”), and 2) while I admit that I have sometimes consulted Dr. G, I view it as unfair if I am FORCED to consult a source outside the meta to solve the meta (e.g., if I haven’t quite memorized the periodic table and all the atomic numbers).

After coffee and crossword, I then have to figure out what to have for lunch, so my days are understandably quite filled.
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KayW
Moderator
Posts: 3128
Joined: Wed Apr 10, 2019 12:10 am
Location: Chicago

#98

Post by KayW »

Louwers wrote: Fri Jul 19, 2019 11:47 am but you can call me Tim...
Enchanting! ;)
Contest Crosswords Combating Cancer (CCCC) is a bundle of 16 metapuzzles created to help raise money for cancer-related charities. It is available at CrosswordsForCancer.com.
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Patty
Posts: 84
Joined: Sat May 11, 2019 12:33 pm
Location: Basel

#99

Post by Patty »

Patty here. I am not much of a public poster - but I do enjoy reading what others post so here goes. I am originally from Michigan, moved multiple times in the U.S for my husband's job and then we ended up in Basel, Switzerland. Early on one of the things I missed most was reading the daily newspaper. My mom, being the softie that she was, mailed me the Friday edition of the WSJ every week so I've been solving the weekend puzzle for quite some time. After switching to the on-line version I started the meta puzzles. Not from the very beginning like some here. And I'm not nearly so meta-talented as many on the forum but I enjoy the challenge and the camaraderie.
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Bob cruise director
Cruise Director
Posts: 4512
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 2:38 pm
Location: Any golf course within 500 miles of Littleton MA

#100

Post by Bob cruise director »

Patty wrote: Sun Jul 21, 2019 7:56 am Patty here. I am not much of a public poster - but I do enjoy reading what others post so here goes. I am originally from Michigan, moved multiple times in the U.S for my husband's job and then we ended up in Basel, Switzerland. Early on one of the things I missed most was reading the daily newspaper. My mom, being the softie that she was, mailed me the Friday edition of the WSJ every week so I've been solving the weekend puzzle for quite some time. After switching to the on-line version I started the meta puzzles. Not from the very beginning like some here. And I'm not nearly so meta-talented as many on the forum but I enjoy the challenge and the camaraderie.
And we enjoy having all the muggles in the clan. Most of us get some right, almost get some, are on the wrong island on some and are stuck on the boat for some. Which is why the Kas scale came into being (Come Aboard/FAQ-Community). Never be afraid of posting how you got to your answer. We all go down the wrong rabbit holes frequently. Not only is it therapeutic but we all learn (including the creators).

Enjoy Switzerland - it is a beautiful country
Bob Stevens
Cruise Director
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