XWord Muggles Forum

I was immediately drawn to metas once I “discovered” Matt’s website 9 years ago. I’ve often wondered if there are certain “types” of people who gravitate towards metas. I sometimes get hints about what professions some fiend commenters are in, but I’m wondering if there has ever been a ”roll call/survey” of sorts to see how many vocational and/or avocational similarities are shared among the 500+ regular solvers.

I’ll start-
I’m a dentist and a music composer.

Joe

Retired crude oil trader--that's /crude oil/ trader, not /crude/ oil trader

I’m an app developer that missed the MGWCC in which the answer was “APP DEVELOPER.”

My background is software engineering, specializing in business intelligence/analytics. But now in senior leadership and haven’t been hands-on for several years.

Gastroenterologist

CPA/ tax attorney/ SVP at a Trust Company

City Planner - retired

@eckmania

From what I have seen over the years we could run a small city with the muggles we have posting. There is no absolute skills required but the key talent is thinking out of the box and the willingness to step away and come back. And the willingness to both share and learn.

At one point we took a poll on ages and the inexact results were that the men averaged about 65 and the women averaged about 55. But we have muggles of all ages.

I'm an aerospace engineer. Not retired yet, but I'd guess a lot of folks have more time for this once they are retired.
I don't think our professions have much to do with enjoying or solving these puzzles.

eckmania wrote: ↑Tue May 23, 2023 11:24 am I was immediately drawn to metas once I “discovered” Matt’s website 9 years ago. I’ve often wondered if there are certain “types” of people who gravitate towards metas. I sometimes get hints about what professions some fiend commenters are in, but I’m wondering if there has ever been a ”roll call/survey” of sorts to see how many vocational and/or avocational similarities are shared among the 500+ regular solvers.

I’ll start-
I’m a dentist and a music composer.

Joe

Joe, have you ever composed music incorporating the sound of a dental drill?

Ha! Not yet….

Joe, tell us about your music! I enjoy all sorts.

I'm in accounting/finance. Back in the pre-covid full time in the office days, we had free physical copies of the WSJ which I would grab just to do the crosswords. Some of my coworkers saw me doing this and wanted to try as well. It didn't take long for management to notice a lot of people sitting at their desks doing crossword puzzles, so we were scolded and had to stop. I was sneaky though and just started doing them on my computer, and eventually stumbled upon the Friday crossword contest and the Muggles forum.

EmilyW wrote: ↑Mon Jul 03, 2023 5:37 pm I'm in accounting/finance. Back in the pre-covid full time in the office days, we had free physical copies of the WSJ which I would grab just to do the crosswords. Some of my coworkers saw me doing this and wanted to try as well. It didn't take long for management to notice a lot of people sitting at their desks doing crossword puzzles, so we were scolded and had to stop. I was sneaky though and just started doing them on my computer, and eventually stumbled upon the Friday crossword contest and the Muggles forum.

Exactly how I started, though I would grab one of the WSJ papers and make a copy of the puzzle. And I am (was) a finance person as well.

I am an app developer, for iPhones specifically, which is notable because I managed to not solve the MGWCC where the answer was "APP DEVELOPER."

In 2010 I took a job with Stand Alone here in Chicago which made the first iPhone crossword app. I started doing crosswords to check my coding work, then went down the slippery slope to now.

(Fair disclosure: I haven't worked there since 2014 or so, I still use the Crosswords app every day and recommend it, but I get no financial gain for doing so.)

Janet wrote: ↑Sun Jul 02, 2023 3:23 pm Joe, tell us about your music! I enjoy all sorts.

Well….I like to collaborate with local high school and community programs and make custom arrangements and original compositions for their specific groups.

Here a link to some of my originals choral compositions in sheet music video form for those that like to read along.

Retired Chemical Engineer. Did the WSJ xword before there were meta's. Traveled a lot, so would do WSJ and USA Today (it was always free). Rather do it in ink on paper than on-line. Migrated here when the good folks who started this site did so (because WSJ stopped allowing comments after a certain amount of time). This is one of the few places were they actually use my name (courtesy of the migration from the WSJ site). Despite being around forever, I am a sub-average solver, but enjoy it very much. I am also a Row's Garden addict and subscribe to any that I can find. Also anything by Patrick Berry.

I'd say most people here (that I am aware of) are either technical based, literary based, or both. Just my random observation.

And shout out to all that keep this Love Boat afloat. Many people doing much work, all unpaid.

Former math teacher, currently a private tutor for middle school/high school/college students. Grew up in the UK and got introduced to their crosswords by my father; got hooked on US-style ones after moving here with my American wife.

Lawyer, though it's a career to which I'm comically unsuited.

I think there's some consensus that the profession most overrepresented in crosswords is music, with math-related things coming in second.

Musicians = people who are already good at discerning patterns on gridded paper?

Stay-at-home-mom of 5 littles. Artist (sculptor, muralist, designer).