Introductory Metas for new solvers?

A place to hang out, get to know other Muggles and discuss everything under the sun.
Post Reply
User avatar
tonyrobots
Posts: 149
Joined: Sun Dec 22, 2019 1:48 pm
Location: Portland, Oregon
Contact:

Introductory Metas for new solvers?

#1

Post by tonyrobots »

Hello Muggles! I often find myself singing the praises of metas to fellow crossword solvers who have not yet heard of, or taken the plunge into, meta puzzles. I wanted to put together a small packet of 2-3 puzzles to share as a gentle introduction to the form. Any suggestions? I think I'd want to include at least one week 2 or 3 MGWCC-level entry so it's not all just the very simplest stuff.

(Apologies if this has already been covered before -- if so, will happily take pointers to past threads instead.)

Thanks in advance.
User avatar
SReh26
Posts: 763
Joined: Thu Apr 01, 2021 10:48 pm

#2

Post by SReh26 »

Thats a great idea! Like the bunny slope in skiing. As a 6 week newbie, I wouldn’t mind seeing those either.
User avatar
Cindy
Posts: 1247
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 5:39 pm
Location: Matthews

#3

Post by Cindy »

tonyrobots wrote: Wed May 26, 2021 4:14 pm Hello Muggles! I often find myself singing the praises of metas to fellow crossword solvers who have not yet heard of, or taken the plunge into, meta puzzles. I wanted to put together a small packet of 2-3 puzzles to share as a gentle introduction to the form. Any suggestions? I think I'd want to include at least one week 2 or 3 MGWCC-level entry so it's not all just the very simplest stuff.

(Apologies if this has already been covered before -- if so, will happily take pointers to past threads instead.)

Thanks in advance.
All WSJ from the beginning are available on the WSJ site. I went back and worked all of the old puzzles to learn. Then you can look at the solutions and crosswordfiend.com explanations if needed.
User avatar
tonyrobots
Posts: 149
Joined: Sun Dec 22, 2019 1:48 pm
Location: Portland, Oregon
Contact:

#4

Post by tonyrobots »

Cindy wrote: Thu May 27, 2021 6:54 am
All WSJ from the beginning are available on the WSJ site. I went back and worked all of the old puzzles to learn. Then you can look at the solutions and crosswordfiend.com explanations if needed.
Yes, of course. This isn't for me. I'm hoping to put together a few excellent puzzles that gently ramp in difficulty from easy to medium, and that this community might have a couple of favorites they wanted to share. It would seem my situation would be a pretty common one for people here, and it might be handy to have a go-to "so you're interested in seeing what a meta is all about?" packet.

Maybe will comb through things and make my own stab at this later this afternoon.
User avatar
Wendy Walker
Posts: 1700
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 7:44 pm
Location: Unionville, PA

#5

Post by Wendy Walker »

Tony, back in February (I believe it was February) the WSJ posted a month of relatively easy puzzles to serve as an introduction to metas for newcomers. You might want to take a look at them. They offered a nice cross-section of common mechanisms.
Good luck, fellow Muggles!
User avatar
tonyrobots
Posts: 149
Joined: Sun Dec 22, 2019 1:48 pm
Location: Portland, Oregon
Contact:

#6

Post by tonyrobots »

Wendy Walker wrote: Fri May 28, 2021 2:33 pm Tony, back in February (I believe it was February) the WSJ posted a month of relatively easy puzzles to serve as an introduction to metas for newcomers. You might want to take a look at them. They offered a nice cross-section of common mechanisms.
I hadn't realized those were meant to be easy! And here I thought I was just getting better ;)

Thanks for the tip, will revisit those. In the meantime, I'm combing through the archives and will share a list soon...
User avatar
Joe Ross
Moderator
Posts: 4999
Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2019 4:46 am
Location: Cincinnati

#7

Post by Joe Ross »

tonyrobots wrote: Sat May 29, 2021 1:33 pm
Wendy Walker wrote: Fri May 28, 2021 2:33 pm Tony, back in February (I believe it was February) the WSJ posted a month of relatively easy puzzles to serve as an introduction to metas for newcomers. You might want to take a look at them. They offered a nice cross-section of common mechanisms.
I hadn't realized those were meant to be easy! And here I thought I was just getting better ;)

Thanks for the tip, will revisit those. In the meantime, I'm combing through the archives and will share a list soon...
The WSJ Puzzle Team is putting together a beginners' tutorial based on the February metas. When will it be available? :::shrug:::
Whole blood, platelets, or plasma: Donate 4 in 2024

PLATELET 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝗿𝗲.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘀 ENORMOUS 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲:
𝟰𝟬% 𝗽𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰,
𝟯𝟬% 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰,
𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿 & 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘂𝗺𝗮. 𝗣𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗘 𝗦𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗘!
Post Reply