XWord Muggles Forum

I'm San Milton, a long-time crossword addict, originally from small-town Texas but long a resident of Greenwich Village. I have looked forward to the WSJ contest puzzle each week since it was introduced a few years ago. I can crack it about three weeks out of four, but I was one of those who got "pageanted" by the famous bowl game puzzle. I just stumbled onto the Muggles Forum last week, and I now I feel intrepid enough to join, after "reaching shore" a few minutes ago. I have never won the mug, but solving the meta puzzle, when I do, is always a highlight of my week. I must say that I was surprised to learn that this group of sailors is no larger than it is. I look forward to cruising with you, and I wish you all the very best during the present crisis.

Oh what the heck, I'll say hello. Born and raised in the Tennessee Applachians, Clemson grad, Chicagoan for 16 years, currently residing in Barcelona (and going on six weeks of strict quarantine lockdown).

I have worked crossword puzzles since I was a kid. I am proud to say I inherited crossword DNA from both sides of my family - my paternal grandfather had it, as does my mom, who is also a member of this forum. After she sought my assistance a few times with solving the Friday WSJ contest puzzle, I started doing them on my own. Solving the meta has become my regular Saturday morning (afternoon, evening, midnight...) ritual, closely followed the next morning by my other ritual of working the NY Times Sunday puzzle, which I used to think of as the pinnacle of difficulty but now I know there's more to life. These days, that Sunday puzzle is now either a welcome mental respite or a boring letdown by comparison.

Hope everyone is staying safe and healthy! Happy solving!

Finally took the plunge and registered! My husband and I are happily retired from the suit and tie life. Look forward every week to this puzzle. I promise that if I ever win a mug, it will be lovingly used for morning coffee on the lanai.

Hope everyone is safe and well.

I'm Cam and my girlfriend is Sam. We both were casual crossword fans before we linked up but we started doing crosswords every day together and now we recently have gotten into metas. Looking forward to doing the WSJ Meta and MGWCC every week. Curious about how to get into start doing cryptics.

I’m Jenn from Pennsylvania. I’ve enjoyed crosswords since my youth. My WSJ subscription started in October and it took me a while to recognize that the Friday puzzle was a contest, understand what the contest was about and how it worked. Started noodling in March and am now hooked! Have gone back to old puzzles to try to get the hang of it. Have never done metas before. It’s now a routine for my Mom and I to work through. Have been ashore the last 3 weeks and have been following the forum for a bit longer. Thanks for having me!

I think I have more than 50 posts but I don't think I've (re)introduced myself here! Ain't that a nice cocktail of oversight, laziness and introversion.

My user name is my name, I used to live in Boston but now am in NYC (not proud of that decision lately). My native language is Turkish and I've been doing crosswords in Turkish since I was four (or that's what my parents tell me, I hope they're not lying). The thing with the Turkish crosswords is there is no symmetry, no wordplay, no metas... It's just trivia and synonyms/definitions. Yawn. So after being intimidated and alienated by American crosswords for years, someone taught me how to approach them (I guess I wasn't a good Googler back then) and I started doing the easy ones once in a while. I finally started doing the NYT regularly 3 years ago, I discovered WSJCC 2 years ago and well, I'm here now

burak wrote: Mon Apr 27, 2020 7:00 pm I think I have more than 50 posts but I don't think I've (re)introduced myself here! Ain't that a nice cocktail of oversight, laziness and introversion.

My user name is my name, I used to live in Boston but now am in NYC (not proud of that decision lately). My native language is Turkish and I've been doing crosswords in Turkish since I was four (or that's what my parents tell me, I hope they're not lying). The thing with the Turkish crosswords is there is no symmetry, no wordplay, no metas... It's just trivia and synonyms/definitions. Yawn. So after being intimidated and alienated by American crosswords for years, someone taught me how to approach them (I guess I wasn't a good Googler back then) and I started doing the easy ones once in a while. I finally started doing the NYT regularly 3 years ago, I discovered WSJCC 2 years ago and well, I'm here now

Nice to finally "meet" you. I briefly volunteered as an ESL tutor about eight years ago, and worked with a wonderful woman from Turkey who was here for a year. Last year they were back again for a year, and so once a week I would go over and have tea and chat with her. She was the kindest, most generous and gracious person I've ever met. I loved listening to her talk to her family in Turkish. I think it's such a beautiful language, with all those Ms and Ns at the ends of the words. My favorite word was "tamam," which she was of course always saying to her kids.

Hi, my name is Steve, posting as Scraps, a nickname given me because I’m very helpful at getting rid of leftovers.

I’m not an addict, but I have been a casual and social crossword user for many years. I was one of the last Eugene Maleska fans to acquiesce to brand names in answers. I’ve been cleaning up my neighbor’s Saturday WSJ puzzles for a while, but she got tired of that, so I recently subscribed and learned about the WSJ Friday contests. I can get the grids, but I am oh-for-four on solving the puzzle answer. Week five isn’t looking so great, either.

I live in the Tampa Bay area. I like my hobbies to pay for themselves, so I umpire high school baseball and work occasional gigs as a divemaster on scuba trips.

Jb321123 wrote: Mon Apr 27, 2020 8:16 am I’m Jenn from Pennsylvania. I’ve enjoyed crosswords since my youth. My WSJ subscription started in October and it took me a while to recognize that the Friday puzzle was a contest, understand what the contest was about and how it worked. Started noodling in March and am now hooked! Have gone back to old puzzles to try to get the hang of it. Have never done metas before. It’s now a routine for my Mom and I to work through. Have been ashore the last 3 weeks and have been following the forum for a bit longer. Thanks for having me!

Welcome to the clan. Great to have more muggles. We have a bunch from Pennsylvania - maybe one of your neighbors?

burak wrote: Mon Apr 27, 2020 7:00 pm I think I have more than 50 posts but I don't think I've (re)introduced myself here! Ain't that a nice cocktail of oversight, laziness and introversion.

My user name is my name, I used to live in Boston but now am in NYC (not proud of that decision lately). My native language is Turkish and I've been doing crosswords in Turkish since I was four (or that's what my parents tell me, I hope they're not lying). The thing with the Turkish crosswords is there is no symmetry, no wordplay, no metas... It's just trivia and synonyms/definitions. Yawn. So after being intimidated and alienated by American crosswords for years, someone taught me how to approach them (I guess I wasn't a good Googler back then) and I started doing the easy ones once in a while. I finally started doing the NYT regularly 3 years ago, I discovered WSJCC 2 years ago and well, I'm here now

I am totally impressed. I have problems with one language let alone doing crosswords in two. Great to have you. Keep up the good work.

Hope you did not defect from the Red Sox to be one of the hated Yankees fans

Scraps wrote: Thu Apr 30, 2020 9:39 pm Hi, my name is Steve, posting as Scraps, a nickname given me because I’m very helpful at getting rid of leftovers.

I’m not an addict, but I have been a casual and social crossword user for many years. I was one of the last Eugene Maleska fans to acquiesce to brand names in answers. I’ve been cleaning up my neighbor’s Saturday WSJ puzzles for a while, but she got tired of that, so I recently subscribed and learned about the WSJ Friday contests. I can get the grids, but I am oh-for-four on solving the puzzle answer. Week five isn’t looking so great, either.

I live in the Tampa Bay area. I like my hobbies to pay for themselves, so I umpire high school baseball and work occasional gigs as a divemaster on scuba trips.

Scraps - great to have you as our latest muggle. Keep plugging. They take time to get the meta. Stay save underwater and good luck umpiring. My cousin umpired high school baseball and he saw some of the strangest things that kids did - especially on the basepaths.

Happy Friday! I'm Becca from the St. Louis MO area. Just recently subscribed to WSJ and discovered this wonderful Friday Contest. I'm currently pulling previous puzzles to try to figure out how to solve these things! At least will keep me occupied until we can get back to life! Enjoying reading the posts on here so thank you for creating!

Bob cruise director wrote: Fri May 01, 2020 9:25 am

burak wrote: Mon Apr 27, 2020 7:00 pm I think I have more than 50 posts but I don't think I've (re)introduced myself here! Ain't that a nice cocktail of oversight, laziness and introversion.

My user name is my name, I used to live in Boston but now am in NYC (not proud of that decision lately). My native language is Turkish and I've been doing crosswords in Turkish since I was four (or that's what my parents tell me, I hope they're not lying). The thing with the Turkish crosswords is there is no symmetry, no wordplay, no metas... It's just trivia and synonyms/definitions. Yawn. So after being intimidated and alienated by American crosswords for years, someone taught me how to approach them (I guess I wasn't a good Googler back then) and I started doing the easy ones once in a while. I finally started doing the NYT regularly 3 years ago, I discovered WSJCC 2 years ago and well, I'm here now

I am totally impressed. I have problems with one language let alone doing crosswords in two. Great to have you. Keep up the good work.

Hope you did not defect from the Red Sox to be one of the hated Yankees fans

Wait, Director! Who hates Yankees fans?

sanmilton wrote: Sun May 03, 2020 2:39 pm

Bob cruise director wrote: Fri May 01, 2020 9:25 am

burak wrote: Mon Apr 27, 2020 7:00 pm I think I have more than 50 posts but I don't think I've (re)introduced myself here! Ain't that a nice cocktail of oversight, laziness and introversion.

My user name is my name, I used to live in Boston but now am in NYC (not proud of that decision lately). My native language is Turkish and I've been doing crosswords in Turkish since I was four (or that's what my parents tell me, I hope they're not lying). The thing with the Turkish crosswords is there is no symmetry, no wordplay, no metas... It's just trivia and synonyms/definitions. Yawn. So after being intimidated and alienated by American crosswords for years, someone taught me how to approach them (I guess I wasn't a good Googler back then) and I started doing the easy ones once in a while. I finally started doing the NYT regularly 3 years ago, I discovered WSJCC 2 years ago and well, I'm here now

I am totally impressed. I have problems with one language let alone doing crosswords in two. Great to have you. Keep up the good work.

Hope you did not defect from the Red Sox to be one of the hated Yankees fans

Wait, Director! Who hates Yankees fans?

Everyone east of the Connecticut River especially after Bucky @##$%$% Dent

so do STL Cardinals fans ...

... as the team with the second number of WS penants ...

Bucky Dent has to be a meta answer sometime.

boharr wrote: Sun May 03, 2020 6:54 pm Bucky Dent has to be a meta answer sometime.

Well, he meta few of his teammates at home plate after he "touched 'em all" (for only the fifth time that year).

Jarrod here. Lurking for awhile - Started working the WSJ Friday Puzzle at the end of 2017. I won the GRILLED HAM AND CHEESE contest a few weeks ago and feel better about calling myself a "Muggle" now!

Jarrod wrote: Mon May 04, 2020 7:31 pm Jarrod here. Lurking for awhile - Started working the WSJ Friday Puzzle at the end of 2017. I won the GRILLED HAM AND CHEESE contest a few weeks ago and feel better about calling myself a "Muggle" now!

Ummm... *some* of us don't want to hear the "G-H-A-C" word, thank you very much. But seriously, congrats.