Introduce Yourself

[KayW]

Good morning all. My name is Randy and I am a retired Fortran compiler optimizer. Now I putter.

I took a Fortran class in college in 1991. This makes me feel both very young and very old.

You are still very young. I haven't seen Fortran since high school in 1973.

I learned FORTRAN (FORTRAN IV specifically, if I remember right, on Pr1me computers) on the job in my first programming position in the late 70s. That firm used it in their legacy software at least until I left in the mid-80s.

[Bob cruise director]

Good evening friends! I am Matt, originally from Philadelphia but living in Massachusetts now. I am 29 and work in marketing at MIT. I am relatively new to the WSJ Crossword Contest -- I've done the NYT (especially Sunday) for a while now, but am new to the meta-solving scene. I find it to be such an interesting and clever way to look at crosswords (which I already love ). Happy to be a part of the crew here!

How is MIT doing the fall semester? I attend sessions with a retired group at UMass Lowell and since March, everything has been remotely and will stay that way for a while. How do you rein in 18-22 year olds who are away from home?

[LaurenB]

Hi all,

I’m Lauren from Columbus, GA. I love solving puzzles if any kind, and have since I was a little kid. I’ve never been able to solve these metas though! I thought I’d officially give it a try this week since I attended the recent Q&A sessions, which were a LOT of fun!

[Al Sisti]

Fortran in high school in late 70s, then variations in college into 80's. Remember almost none of it, except those damned punch cards & the IT majors, with boxes & linear yards of them, stacked, taking priority over my measly dozens of single cards, trying to get through a mandatory intro class, or two.

I first started with Fortran IV in 1969. I loved Fortran and was dragged kicking and screaming into the world of functional and object-oriented programming languages

[leventons]

I'm Marge from Houston, TX and I'm totally new to crossword contests although I've done all kinds of puzzles forever. I attended the 2 zoom presentations and I can fill in the grids easily. Getting to the answer is way more difficult.

[Bob cruise director]

I'm Marge from Houston, TX and I'm totally new to crossword contests although I've done all kinds of puzzles forever. I attended the 2 zoom presentations and I can fill in the grids easily. Getting to the answer is way more difficult.

Hello Marge
Welcome to the land of the muggles. We all had a learning curve going from crosswords which we call the grid to getting the contest which is called the meta.

Under Come Aboard/FAQ-Community/Solving Resources, there are a large number of resources to help you learn to solve these metas. Among them are

Hints for Solving Meta Contests - a large number of hints from muggles - many of them you heard from Matt and Mike but more lessons learned
Past WSJ Crossword Contests & Solutions - Steve Beck has posted all the old metas solutions as pdf's. They are folders for the puzzles and separate folders with the solutions in case you want to practice

Also Joe Ross uses Excel to solve the contests and several members find this very helpful in highlighting parts to look at.

Next to the last thing- very often when you get stuck, you can ask for a hint which we call a nudge. We have developed some general guidelines which are also listed here

Finally on Tuesday at 7:30 Eastern Time several of us have a Zoom call to discuss this week's contest, other meta contests or anything else that comes up. The link is under YourPalSal Muggle Meetup -no password is required

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask

Bob

[clueless_solver]

I’m Sarah from MA. When I started my job in March I got looped into a group of people who would solve crosswords on Fridays. We started off with a different puzzle but moved the WSJ because the interface was nicer. We ignored the meta for ages until someone else managed to solve one and look into how the meta worked. Generally we’ve had a tougher time with the metas despite doing it in a group. We are learning some new tricks every week but I’m still struggling with the meta today so I decided to finally try to join.

Oh, and I tried to join another time in August but I was banned within 10 minutes of registering (didn’t even post anything). So I’m typing this from my phone on cellular data because my IP address is banned. If someone could sort that out that would be swell as I used my work email to make this new account. I tried emailing the admins twice using the form but didn’t hear back. It was a huge bummer since I was really frustrated by the puzzle and wanted some nudges in the right direction.

[Bob cruise director]

I’m Sarah from MA. When I started my job in March I got looped into a group of people who would solve crosswords on Fridays. We started off with a different puzzle but moved the WSJ because the interface was nicer. We ignored the meta for ages until someone else managed to solve one and look into how the meta worked. Generally we’ve had a tougher time with the metas despite doing it in a group. We are learning some new tricks every week but I’m still struggling with the meta today so I decided to finally try to join.

Oh, and I tried to join another time in August but I was banned within 10 minutes of registering (didn’t even post anything). So I’m typing this from my phone on cellular data because my IP address is banned. If someone could sort that out that would be swell as I used my work email to make this new account. I tried emailing the admins twice using the form but didn’t hear back. It was a huge bummer since I was really frustrated by the puzzle and wanted some nudges in the right direction.

Hi Sarah from MA (which part are you in?)

Brian Mac has the controls regarding your problem. I will make sure he gets back to you.

Bob

[NDStegs]

We are Joe and Cathy from Pasadena, MD. Joe was introduced to the WSJ crossword puzzles by his mother, and then he enticed me once I realized there are a) puns involved and b) clever meta puzzles.

We have been on a 9-week streak of solving the puzzles, thought we had them licked, so we joined here...in time to not know this week's.

In addition to crossword puzzles, we love bar trivia and play in a Zoom-based trivia game every week since the bars closed.

[Bob cruise director]

We are Joe and Cathy from Pasadena, MD. Joe was introduced to the WSJ crossword puzzles by his mother, and then he enticed me once I realized there are a) puns involved and b) clever meta puzzles.

We have been on a 9-week streak of solving the puzzles, thought we had them licked, so we joined here...in time to not know this week's.

In addition to crossword puzzles, we love bar trivia and play in a Zoom-based trivia game every week since the bars closed.

Welcome - always great to have more muggles.

[Dannyvee]

Long-time Muggles lurker, finally decided to join up.
My wife and I own a small restaurant in Jamaica Plain just outside of Boston and crosswords take a lot of the little free time that allows me.

[Tom Mueller]

Hello! I am Tom Mueller from sunny and smoky California! I’m a husband, father, small business owner, amateur song writer, home chef, garage tinkerer and avid crossword fanatic. I had been battling WSJ crossword grids for years until one day I unexpectedly solved a Friday contest. I never really paid much attention to the contests as I didn’t know what meta puzzles were until an answer to one of them hit me from out of nowhere. After that I was hooked and never looked back. Thank you to all the fine folks at XWord Mugglers for letting me join. I’m thrilled to be a member. My goal is to solve more metas, learn from all of you, and regularly reach the shore before the last drinks are served. Cheers to all!

[Bob cruise director]

Long-time Muggles lurker, finally decided to join up.
My wife and I own a small restaurant in Jamaica Plain just outside of Boston and crosswords take a lot of the little free time that allows me.

JP = what restaurant? Several of us are out in the burbs. Maybe we can get together at your restaurant some time

[Dannyvee]

Long-time Muggles lurker, finally decided to join up.
My wife and I own a small restaurant in Jamaica Plain just outside of Boston and crosswords take a lot of the little free time that allows me.

JP = what restaurant? Several of us are out in the burbs. Maybe we can get together at your restaurant some time

It’s called VeeVee
https://veeveejp.com/

Serving only on our courtyard patio at this time.

Love to have you!

[whimsy]

Long-time Muggles lurker, finally decided to join up.
My wife and I own a small restaurant in Jamaica Plain just outside of Boston and crosswords take a lot of the little free time that allows me.

JP = what restaurant? Several of us are out in the burbs. Maybe we can get together at your restaurant some time

It’s called VeeVee
https://veeveejp.com/

Serving only on our courtyard patio at this time.

Love to have you!

Thanks for that!
My husband and I will be happy to have a destination for when we finally head into town again. (Not for a while though -- -- and a bit distant for take-out.)

[LizD]

It's me, LizD!

Many moons ago I was a weekly muggle contributor. Then I bought a used bookstore and all my time and energy for crosswords went poof.

Today, I found myself jonesing for a meta crossword, and that's all it took. I'm back among my friends on muggle island. Have missed this crowd. Looking forward to reconnecting!

[Mister Squawk]

I'm Ed from Boston. I just started working on these contests. For ideological balance, my other hobby is doing the Saturday NYT puzzle. Lately, I've been doing all my grids in ink -- and no scratch paper-- but for the meta, reams of foolscap.

[mbryant]

Hi, I’m Mike from Lake Martin in Alabama. Also sometimes in Louisville, KY like I am today. Started the contests back in April with “Line of Work” and was so thrilled that I solved it I was immediately hooked. My favorite so far is “King Me”. I recently retired from a long career with UPS in Atlanta. My wife enjoys watching me solve and is happiest when I solve quickly, which has only happened this week and last week! I always look forward to Thursday’s at 4pm.

[wildjed]

Hi all! Apologies, thought I submitted my intro message a few weeks back but might've forgot to hit submit or had bad internet! Anyways, Jake here! My partner B started doing the daily WSJ a few months back, and we were a bit intimidated by the Friday metas until I stumbled on this ocean community! Love the background, love the journey to the tiki bar, will try to join a Tuesday zoom call soon. Feel free to let me know if I missed a rule or commit a vocab faux, I think I read over everything but might skip up

B and I are Washingtonians currently, up in the Pacific Northwest. Fighting our way through this year one crossword at a time. Got a lynxpoint siamese cat and I'm slowly learning how to make better new York style pizza each week, always welcome to new tips.

Cheers!

[wb93]

Hi. I’m wb from Connecticut. Avid crossword fan. Have gotten into cryptic crosswords recently and then stumbled upon the WSJ Friday crossword contest. Been out to sea most weeks and arms are getting tired treading water. Hoping to learn from others and find my way to shore.