Introduce Yourself

[Bob cruise director]

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.

Welcome to the gang. Great to have you

[Brandon W]

Hi everyone, been lurking on here for a while. My name is Brandon and I am 28 years old from St. Louis, Missouri. I stumbled upon this forum and have really enjoyed reading the posts and learning more about crosswords and metas. Just started the doing puzzles daily about 10 months ago and am slowly getting the hang of it. I look forward to contributing to this forum and learning as much as I can from you all, everyone truly seems very kind.

Cheers!

[DianeA]

Finally coming over from WSJ page....been reading this forum for a LONG time and enjoying it.
Retired, living the good life in North Carolina.

[Bob cruise director]

Finally coming over from WSJ page....been reading this forum for a LONG time and enjoying it.
Retired, living the good life in North Carolina.

Welcome. I check the WSJ page for those on shore or at sea several times each week and have been including you in my muggle count every week.

[claireb]

Hi, I look forward to the daily WSJ crossword, I just started doing them about a month ago but have long been a fan of the craft. I'm a 50-something corporate-employed empty nester from Minnesota.

[Orangecane]

Hi all,
I’m Shari, I’m a 54-year-old former engineer and current stay-at-home-mom from the state all the nuts roll downhill to... I do the MGWCC every week but only “get” the meta on weeks 1-2, and I occasionally do the WSJ but not very often since the phone interface doesn’t work as I’d like it to. My goal is to one day be able to get a whole month streak!!

[BarbaraK]

Hi all,
I’m Shari, I’m a 54-year-old former engineer and current stay-at-home-mom from the state all the nuts roll downhill to... I do the MGWCC every week but only “get” the meta on weeks 1-2, and I occasionally do the WSJ but not very often since the phone interface doesn’t work as I’d like it to. My goal is to one day be able to get a whole month streak!!

Hello, and welcome!

Did you know you can get the WSJ in .puz format each week at

https://tinyurl.com/mugglespuz

[Orangecane]

Hi all,
I’m Shari, I’m a 54-year-old former engineer and current stay-at-home-mom from the state all the nuts roll downhill to... I do the MGWCC every week but only “get” the meta on weeks 1-2, and I occasionally do the WSJ but not very often since the phone interface doesn’t work as I’d like it to. My goal is to one day be able to get a whole month streak!!

Hello, and welcome!

Did you know you can get the WSJ in .puz format each week at

https://tinyurl.com/mugglespuz

I did not know this - thank you so much, now I have no excuse (besides adding my brain)!

[Bob cruise director]

Hi all,
I’m Shari, I’m a 54-year-old former engineer and current stay-at-home-mom from the state all the nuts roll downhill to... I do the MGWCC every week but only “get” the meta on weeks 1-2, and I occasionally do the WSJ but not very often since the phone interface doesn’t work as I’d like it to. My goal is to one day be able to get a whole month streak!!

Welcome

First thing - when you are an engineer you are always an engineer. Same thing with muggles. And stay-at-home moms have to be engineers for all they do. They also have to be an awful lot of other things.

I do the metas on paper as I scribble in the margins and on back, highlight the long answers, circle clues that look strange, circle words that look strange and then print the whole thing out a second time.

Great to have more muggles. See Thursday -Sunday on the blog

[ChrisWill]

Hi everyone,

My name is Chris. I’m a 36 yo financial analyst from PA. I’ve been doing WSJ crosswords on and off over the last few years, but recently got back into them with some consistency, along with the Friday meta puzzles. I’m married to my beautiful wife, and we currently have a dog and a cat, with a hope that kids are on the way soon. Getting a few minutes each day to take a break from work and tackle a crossword puzzle has been both enjoyable and helpful these past few months, and I really love the added challenge of the meta-puzzles, even if I’m not always successful at solving them. Looking forward to engaging more on this forum and in the crossword-solver community.

[DannyWalter]

Hi! Danny Walter (internet nom de guerre) here. I remember helping my mother with the Sunday NY Times puzzle as a kid. Never bothered with crosswords much as an adult, maybe I would do them on a train or a plane (but I would not do them on a bus). But I recently discovered the WSJ puzzle with my subscription and have started doing them daily. Sometime the WAPO puzzle if I run through the WSJ too quickly.

It's a bit odd to me; I don't know why I am suddenly hooked. Having just turned sixty I have some vague thoughts about keeping my brain agile, maybe? Anyway, hooked I am, Sam!

I do IT for a living, played tournament chess as a kid (I have to say away from online chess, as that is MEGA addictive), have made a small second income playing poker over the years. I have always loved the language, good puns especially. IBM back in the day had a "nitpick" forum that was a lot of fun (with puns).

Glad to be here! Look forward to winning one of these mug things some day!

Danny

[Cindy]

Hi! Danny Walter (internet nom de guerre) here. I remember helping my mother with the Sunday NY Times puzzle as a kid. Never bothered with crosswords much as an adult, maybe I would do them on a train or a plane (but I would not do them on a bus). But I recently discovered the WSJ puzzle with my subscription and have started doing them daily. Sometime the WAPO puzzle if I run through the WSJ too quickly.

It's a bit odd to me; I don't know why I am suddenly hooked. Having just turned sixty I have some vague thoughts about keeping my brain agile, maybe? Anyway, hooked I am, Sam!

I do IT for a living, played tournament chess as a kid (I have to say away from online chess, as that is MEGA addictive), have made a small second income playing poker over the years. I have always loved the language, good puns especially. IBM back in the day had a "nitpick" forum that was a lot of fun (with puns).

Glad to be here! Look forward to winning one of these mug things some day!

Danny

Welcome and you should probably just buy a mug. LOL!

[ScottOBX]

I'm Scott. I've been doing the Friday puzzles for about 6 weeks and stumbled on this group. I'm an engineer with a focus on data analytics and machine learning and enjoy the challenge of the meta puzzles. This week's was a challenge for me and I thought I was going to have to ask for a clue. A thoughtful shower and conversation with the wife later and I'm pretty sure I have it.

[Bob cruise director]

I'm Scott. I've been doing the Friday puzzles for about 6 weeks and stumbled on this group. I'm an engineer with a focus on data analytics and machine learning and enjoy the challenge of the meta puzzles. This week's was a challenge for me and I thought I was going to have to ask for a clue. A thoughtful shower and conversation with the wife later and I'm pretty sure I have it.

Welcome to the group. Happy to have another engineer.

[Al Sisti]

I'm Scott. I've been doing the Friday puzzles for about 6 weeks and stumbled on this group. I'm an engineer with a focus on data analytics and machine learning and enjoy the challenge of the meta puzzles. This week's was a challenge for me and I thought I was going to have to ask for a clue. A thoughtful shower and conversation with the wife later and I'm pretty sure I have it.

When I worked at the Air Force Research Lab, the branch I ran did a lot of research in machine learning and evolutionary/bio-inspired computation. Welcome aboard!

[JetStream]

First post but second or third submission. I found this forum last week when I was stumped by the meta. I cruised through the puzzle but couldn't solve the meta for the life of me. Turns out, I forgot about all the 'double' entries in the clues and was lost without that. This week I thought 'It couldn't be that simple....' but then I read the subject again and it all clicked. Glad to say 'I'm ashore'.

[BarbaraK]

I'm Scott. I've been doing the Friday puzzles for about 6 weeks and stumbled on this group. I'm an engineer with a focus on data analytics and machine learning and enjoy the challenge of the meta puzzles. This week's was a challenge for me and I thought I was going to have to ask for a clue. A thoughtful shower and conversation with the wife later and I'm pretty sure I have it.

Is (or should it be are?) the Outer Banks home or a favorite vacation spot? Looking forward to getaways there this summer.

[BarbaraK]

First post but second or third submission. I found this forum last week when I was stumped by the meta. I cruised through the puzzle but couldn't solve the meta for the life of me. Turns out, I forgot about all the 'double' entries in the clues and was lost without that. This week I thought 'It couldn't be that simple....' but then I read the subject again and it all clicked. Glad to say 'I'm ashore'.

Welcome aboard! I

f you post that you're ashore on the board for this week's contest

https://www.xword-muggles.com/forums/vi ... ?f=5&t=846

the cruise director will be sure to count you on this week's roster.

[mikeB]

Hi, I’m Mike. I am retired from the training technology business, living in Washington State. Over the years I have worked grids but was unacquainted with “meta” puzzles. I had noticed the WSJ Crossword Contest but never tried it. Inexplicably, I studied October’s KNEE BREECHES long enough to get reeled into it, solved it, and now look forward to each week’s challenge. I dislike getting stuck, but I realize that being stuck one week (or several . . .) supplies the energy behind the marvelous satisfaction of “getting it” on a future try. Off topic, but this forum is fabulous.

[hoover]

Hi, I'm Eli. I finally responded to one of the emails I kept getting about a free WSJ subscription for students, so I've been doing the WSJ Saturday puzzles for only about a month now, but I've been a GAMES subscriber since 1980 (except for the Dark Ages when the magazine stopped publishing), so that should count for something. I found out about this forum in a comment on last Friday's puzzle.