Introduce Yourself

[LadyBird]

I commented on the topic page that your avatar looks like a lilac breasted roller we saw in Africa a few years ago unless there is a similar bird somewhere.

You are right! We saw this one in Botswana. Such a beautiful bird--even my nonbirding husband was impressed with this one.

[Bob cruise director]

I commented on the topic page that your avatar looks like a lilac breasted roller we saw in Africa a few years ago unless there is a similar bird somewhere.

You are right! We saw this one in Botswana. Such a beautiful bird--even my nonbirding husband was impressed with this one.

One of my photographer friends got a picture of one catching a dragonfly (or something like it).

[Frenchy]

I am Amanda, 5th grade teacher turned stay-at-home mother of 3 boys under 5. I love life’s little joys and working the crossword with a coffee is one of my favorites. Even better than solving the puzzle is discussing and analyzing with friends and family.

[TomAndDenise]

Denise, my wife and I have been enjoying these puzzles for the past five weeks. Today we -- well, actually Denise-- cracked the first meta over coffee this morning. So much fun. I enjoyed solving the cryptic puzzle in the Toronto Globe and Mail 45 years ago when I was in high school and am just now getting back the game. We have a high school senior at home so we can imagine a day when we'll have more time for these pursuits. Who knows, I might even take up bridge again.

[Bob cruise director]

I am Amanda, 5th grade teacher turned stay-at-home mother of 3 boys under 5. I love life’s little joys and working the crossword with a coffee is one of my favorites. Even better than solving the puzzle is discussing and analyzing with friends and family.

Welcome
3 boys under 5 will keep you running all the time.

Glad to have you in the clan

[Bob cruise director]

Denise, my wife and I have been enjoying these puzzles for the past five weeks. Today we -- well, actually Denise-- cracked the first meta over coffee this morning. So much fun. I enjoyed solving the cryptic puzzle in the Toronto Globe and Mail 45 years ago when I was in high school and am just now getting back the game. We have a high school senior at home so we can imagine a day when we'll have more time for these pursuits. Who knows, I might even take up bridge again.

Welcome. Great to have another husband and wife team. It always feels good to get the first meta solved. Make sure that you look in this section for tips on how to approach them.

[Lee-Ann]

I am Lee-Ann. I am a math teacher- doing distance learning now. My son introduced me to these Meta puzzles last fall. Now I look forward to Thursday afternoons to get started on solving. I can usually only get the Meta about 25% of the time. This week I traveled down a rabbit hole, but after taking a fresh look this morning I was able to solve it. Very rewarding!

[Bob cruise director]

I am Lee-Ann. I am a math teacher- doing distance learning now. My son introduced me to these Meta puzzles last fall. Now I look forward to Thursday afternoons to get started on solving. I can usually only get the Meta about 25% of the time. This week I traveled down a rabbit hole, but after taking a fresh look this morning I was able to solve it. Very rewarding!

Welcome to the land of the muggles. First thank you for your efforts to teach using distance learning. A challenge to teach math any time but even harder now.

You will find a lot of engineer and science types here so you are in good company. Congratulations on getting your first meta with the group. You are now on the shore. In the Come Aboard/FAQ-Community there are a lot of suggestions of how to solve these things and you will find that your average will go up rapidly. They are all logical which should appeal to your math mind.

If you go to the tab WSJ Crossword Puzzle Contest, we have a topic for each week's contest. There muggles post whether they are on shore or the ship and I put out summaries on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And there is a lot of friendly banter that also goes on covering a variety of subjects each week.

Also don't forget to send in your answer to the WSJ using crosswordcontest@wsj.com

If you have any questions please feel free to ask. We are always willing to answer anything and everything.

Bob

[clayden13]

Hi all,

My name is Connor and I live in NYC (though I escaped the city a little over a month ago). I'm originally from Manhattan Beach, CA and appear to be one of the younger folk in this thread at 23.

I've gone through crossword phases and they've always seemed to come and go. With a WSJ subscription, I figured I should make use of their puzzles and crosswords. I've recently taken the Friday Crossword Contests and become so enamored with them, I wondered where a community of likeminded people exist - and found this!

Oh. And I work in advertising.

Happy to be in the forum!

Cheers

[SewYoung]

Hi all,

My name is Connor and I live in NYC (though I escaped the city a little over a month ago). I'm originally from Manhattan Beach, CA and appear to be one of the younger folk in this thread at 23.

I've gone through crossword phases and they've always seemed to come and go. With a WSJ subscription, I figured I should make use of their puzzles and crosswords. I've recently taken the Friday Crossword Contests and become so enamored with them, I wondered where a community of likeminded people exist - and found this!

Oh. And I work in advertising.

Happy to be in the forum!

Cheers

Glad you were able to get out of the city and hope that you don't have anyone close who is a victim. Also glad that you found us. Welcome to the group.

[Bob cruise director]

Hi all,

My name is Connor and I live in NYC (though I escaped the city a little over a month ago). I'm originally from Manhattan Beach, CA and appear to be one of the younger folk in this thread at 23.

I've gone through crossword phases and they've always seemed to come and go. With a WSJ subscription, I figured I should make use of their puzzles and crosswords. I've recently taken the Friday Crossword Contests and become so enamored with them, I wondered where a community of likeminded people exist - and found this!

Oh. And I work in advertising.

Happy to be in the forum!

Cheers

A year or so ago, I took an informal poll of our clan and you would have been one of the younger folk. However since then, we have been joined by a growing number of below 30 folks based on either their picture or what appears to be dates in their screen names or comments made usually indicating that things from the 70's are from the stone age.

It is great to have a diversity of age and every other parameter

[Al Sisti]

Hi all,

My name is Connor and I live in NYC (though I escaped the city a little over a month ago). I'm originally from Manhattan Beach, CA and appear to be one of the younger folk in this thread at 23.

I've gone through crossword phases and they've always seemed to come and go. With a WSJ subscription, I figured I should make use of their puzzles and crosswords. I've recently taken the Friday Crossword Contests and become so enamored with them, I wondered where a community of likeminded people exist - and found this!

Oh. And I work in advertising.

Happy to be in the forum!

Cheers

A year or so ago, I took an informal poll of our clan and you would have been one of the younger folk. However since then, we have been joined by a growing number of below 30 folks based on either their picture or what appears to be dates in their screen names or comments made usually indicating that things from the 70's are from the stone age.

It is great to have a diversity of age and every other parameter

As I recall, I had a lot of fun in the late 60s... and now I'm there again.

[EmilyW]

Hello! My name is Emily and I'm from Kansas City. I am fairly new to the WSJ Crossword Contest. After several weeks of thinking it was impossible, I finally started getting the hang of it. I just figured out the meta for the 3rd week in a row so I decided it was time to come aboard! I see there are a lot of Guinness drinkers on the forum. I'm a big fan of imperial stouts and we have plenty of great local breweries here in KC. Happy to be here, and glad to have this to look forward to every week.

[MajordomoTom]

welcome - I'm in STL and agree that the KC brewers are pretty solid.

Some of these aren't bad, some of them are very very difficult, I've been doing them myself only since last November and still struggle, but it's fun.

Later,
Tom

[K Pi]

Hi Ken Pierson (K Pi) here from Chicago. Really enjoy the puzzles. Thanks and everyone stay safe and healthy.

[Bob cruise director]

Hi Ken Pierson (K Pi) here from Chicago. Really enjoy the puzzles. Thanks and everyone stay safe and healthy.

Welcome to the group. Good luck with the contests and we look forward to your comments each week

[Bob cruise director]

Hello! My name is Emily and I'm from Kansas City. I am fairly new to the WSJ Crossword Contest. After several weeks of thinking it was impossible, I finally started getting the hang of it. I just figured out the meta for the 3rd week in a row so I decided it was time to come aboard! I see there are a lot of Guinness drinkers on the forum. I'm a big fan of imperial stouts and we have plenty of great local breweries here in KC. Happy to be here, and glad to have this to look forward to every week.

Emily
Welcome to the clan. Glad you are getting the puzzles. They take time to understand the minds of Mike and Matt

[Al Sisti]

Hello! My name is Emily and I'm from Kansas City. I am fairly new to the WSJ Crossword Contest. After several weeks of thinking it was impossible, I finally started getting the hang of it. I just figured out the meta for the 3rd week in a row so I decided it was time to come aboard! I see there are a lot of Guinness drinkers on the forum. I'm a big fan of imperial stouts and we have plenty of great local breweries here in KC. Happy to be here, and glad to have this to look forward to every week.

I have some really good friends from Kansas City -- Guinness drinkers at that. They're a band called the Elders? Do you know them?

[CPKdad]

Hello, thought I'd leave an intro since I've had a posted a couple comments already. I'm Chris, I live in suburban southwestern Ohio (north of Cincy, south of Dayton), where we've called home for about 20 years. I've done crosswords for years - I had a GAMES subscription back before they went bankrupt - and have gotten a bit more into it the last couple years as I've had less "kid-centric" stuff to do with our three kids who are now all college-aged. They seem to be getting into puzzles a bit as well and it's been fun to get their input on some of the metas.

[EmilyW]

Hello! My name is Emily and I'm from Kansas City. I am fairly new to the WSJ Crossword Contest. After several weeks of thinking it was impossible, I finally started getting the hang of it. I just figured out the meta for the 3rd week in a row so I decided it was time to come aboard! I see there are a lot of Guinness drinkers on the forum. I'm a big fan of imperial stouts and we have plenty of great local breweries here in KC. Happy to be here, and glad to have this to look forward to every week.

I have some really good friends from Kansas City -- Guinness drinkers at that. They're a band called the Elders? Do you know them?

Yes! I don't know them personally, but they are popular here in KC.