Introduce Yourself

[matty_p]

Thanks! I hope she's been able to get settled in. It must be difficult to put down roots and build up some friends when you're new to an area in the current state! Here's hoping you'll be able to travel out here and visit her soon!

[Alvibu67]

Hello! So glad to have found this group!

I've been solving NYT Sunday for over 20 years and have recently (124-day streak) started doing it daily.

Looking forward to solving metas!

Allison
(Alvibu67)

[Al Sisti]

Hello! So glad to have found this group!

I've been solving NYT Sunday for over 20 years and have recently (124-day streak) started doing it daily.

Looking forward to solving metas!

Allison
(Alvibu67)

Welcome, and it was nice meeting you last night... you fit right in with this group, with no visible lobotomy scar!

[Bob cruise director]

Hello! So glad to have found this group!

I've been solving NYT Sunday for over 20 years and have recently (124-day streak) started doing it daily.

Looking forward to solving metas!

Allison
(Alvibu67)

Welcome to the group. Great meeting you last night. Get ready for the Thursday fun. Many of us are chomping at the bit when the meta appears a little after 4 pm Thursday on the WSJ web page.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask

Bob

[Wendy Walker]

Hello! So glad to have found this group!

I've been solving NYT Sunday for over 20 years and have recently (124-day streak) started doing it daily.

Looking forward to solving metas!

Allison
(Alvibu67)

Allison, thank you for joining us! It was really nice to meet you on Tuesday evening's Zoom meetup.

[Bob cruise director]

Hello! So glad to have found this group!

I've been solving NYT Sunday for over 20 years and have recently (124-day streak) started doing it daily.

Looking forward to solving metas!

Allison
(Alvibu67)

Hi. I desperately want to count you as a muggle but I only count those who post either on the ship or the shore for one of the contests. That started when we only had the comments on the WSJ page and I have continued over the past 2+ years with the blog. That is the reason that I show 837 muggles and there are over 1100 members of the blog.

And again, welcome to the group.

[ardentgailla]

Hello everyone!

I just started doing the WSJ puzzle contest a few weeks ago. I was able to solve one (after a little hint). I'm looking forward to working through these and being able to get to shore with everyone. I've been doing various types of crosswords and logic puzzles off and on since I was a kid, but I've never seen something like these metas!

[Samantha]

Hi!
Have been lurking here since I started doing the WSJ puzzle contest at the start of the pandemic, and finally decided to register.
Big crossworder for years, but these have become my absolute favorites ever since solving my first meta with Richard III!

[Bob cruise director]

Hi!
Have been lurking here since I started doing the WSJ puzzle contest at the start of the pandemic, and finally decided to register.
Big crossworder for years, but these have become my absolute favorites ever since solving my first meta with Richard III!

Welcome to the gang

[SCtrojan95]

Hi Muggle Friends,

I'm a novice-to-medium level Crossword solver, and am looking forward to learning more about "how in the world" the Friday WSJ crossword operates. I live on the West Coast in Southern Oregon, which means many of you have already solved your metas and your grids before I've had my first cuppa. This works out well for me because I have a lot to learn here.

I love that there are tons of other nerds out there like me!

****Live long and prosper...these aren't the driods you're looking for...Yer a wizard Harry****

[Joe Ross]

Hi Muggle Friends,

I'm a novice-to-medium level Crossword solver, and am looking forward to learning more about "how in the world" the Friday WSJ crossword operates.

Welcome!

Here are two starting points for help with metas. The first provides tips & solving strategies. The second gives you every past Wall Street Journal Crossword Contest & their solutions, on which you can spend weeks to practice. :

• Hints for Solving Meta Contests

• Past WSJ Crossword Contests & Solutions
  At the top of each page, look for the link to PDFs of unsolved crossword contests.

[SewYoung]

SCtrojan95: This post on the current puzzle topic page will interest you as well...
#107Post by TNakagawaWSJ » Thu Feb 04, 2021 5:31 pm
Hello, fellow Muggles! I'm an Audience Interaction Producer at the Journal and I wanted to let you know about a project we're working on. The puzzles team is currently developing a how-to course that will slowly teach new puzzlers how to find the weekly contest's meta answer. All four of the contest puzzles from February will be included in that course, and that may be why this week's contest may seem a bit easier than usual for seasoned puzzle-contest fans. But don't worry, each week our editors will increase the contest's difficulty to ease new solvers into the world of contest puzzles. Good luck to you all and keep an eye out for the crossword contest course coming soon.

[CraCra29]

I am excited to be a part of this group. I really enjoy crossword puzzles. I have done them since I was in High School in the 1960s.

[Bob cruise director]

I am excited to be a part of this group. I really enjoy crossword puzzles. I have done them since I was in High School in the 1960s.

Great to have you hear. I don't know if you have ever done metas but they are a challenge on top of the crosswords. Very challenging and a lot of fun. The main focus of this group is the WSJ metas on Friday but if you check under other metas, there are several more that people do and comment on. Also under the Welcome aboard tab and the Acapulco lounge, there are suggestions of how to attach a meta and what to expect.

Good luck and if you have any questions please feel free to ask

[BreeZynCO]

I had never completed a crossword prior to 2020, but it has become a pandemic lunch time distraction for my husband and I. It took a couple months worth of crosswords to get our first Meta, and now a dozen or so in and I am hooked. I came across this forum when I was trying to figure out what the odds were for winning the mug. I just had to join. Looking forward to being considered a muggle!

[Al Sisti]

I had never completed a crossword prior to 2020, but it has become a pandemic lunch time distraction for my husband and I. It took a couple months worth of crosswords to get our first Meta, and now a dozen or so in and I am hooked. I came across this forum when I was trying to figure out what the odds were for winning the mug. I just had to join. Looking forward to being considered a muggle!

There is a rigorous audition:

1. Do you have a pulse?
2. Do you enjoy a potable from time to time?
3. Did you know "from morning to night" is a "time to time"?
4. Do you still have a pulse?

You're in...

[SewYoung]

I had never completed a crossword prior to 2020, but it has become a pandemic lunch time distraction for my husband and I. It took a couple months worth of crosswords to get our first Meta, and now a dozen or so in and I am hooked. I came across this forum when I was trying to figure out what the odds were for winning the mug. I just had to join. Looking forward to being considered a muggle!

There is a rigorous audition:

1. Do you have a pulse?
2. Do you enjoy a potable from time to time?
3. Did you know "from morning to night" is a "time to time"?
4. Do you still have a pulse?

You're in...

....but you don't get on the Cruise Director's spreadsheet until you post on the Contest Puzzle page that you are on the shore or still on the ship. When you do that the first time, you are officially, official. Welcome to the group. This is a great group of folks.

[Bob cruise director]

I had never completed a crossword prior to 2020, but it has become a pandemic lunch time distraction for my husband and I. It took a couple months worth of crosswords to get our first Meta, and now a dozen or so in and I am hooked. I came across this forum when I was trying to figure out what the odds were for winning the mug. I just had to join. Looking forward to being considered a muggle!

There is a rigorous audition:

1. Do you have a pulse?
2. Do you enjoy a potable from time to time?
3. Did you know "from morning to night" is a "time to time"?
4. Do you still have a pulse?

You're in...

....but you don't get on the Cruise Director's spreadsheet until you post on the Contest Puzzle page that you are on the shore or still on the ship. When you do that the first time, you are officially, official. Welcome to the group. This is a great group of folks.

She posted and she is now officially a muggle - between posting and answering Al's strict requirements.

[Limerick Savant]

A Muggle Do

I find wordplay a powerful drug
That compels with a cognitive tug
The only thing bettah
Than solving the meta’s
Displaying my mug with a mug

[iggystan]

I just recently joined the forum. I am a 63-year-old retired software engineer and have loved crosswords and variety puzzles for a long, long time. I really like the WSJ variety puzzles and just recently started doing the daily crosswords and the Friday contest crossword. It's funny that I don't always see the metas in the Friday puzzles, but I can do cryptics like there's no tomorrow. I have been getting a feel for the various constructors and hope to do better as time goes on.