Introduce Yourself

[Bob cruise director]

Hi all,
I’ve been on this forum for a while, originally for the WSJ meta. Eventually another Muggle mentioned the other meta puzzles, and now I try to do them all every week. As I’ve looked around more, I found this board and figured I should provide a belated introduction. I live in Boise, ID, with my wife of 25+ years, and our three kids are all living in Salt Lake City, UT - they all ended up going to University of Utah for college (wish I’d bought a fourplex in SLC!). Two have graduated and are working there now, and our youngest is in her second semester of her first year.

I am a clinical faculty member for the College of Innovation + Design at Boise State University, and I’ve worked there for 4.5 years. Before that, I had several careers working at HP in difference functions and capacities for 17+ years, and before that, I had a bunch of jobs too insignificant to mention.

In addition to doing crosswords, I enjoy running, which I usually do 5 days a week - we live very close to the Boise River Greenbelt and foothills trails, so there’s always somewhere interesting to go. Pre-covid, I used to bike commute to work, which I miss. Instead, my wife and I now go for a walk every evening no matter the weather, which I enjoy. On and off, I’ve been trying to learn photography, but I haven’t been practicing nearly enough to improve - if I come up with anything worth sharing, I’ll do so.

I really enjoy this community and all your witty and wise comments, and I am wowed by the many solvers who are SO fast and seem to be able to solve every week. I learn from you every day!

Mark
Great to meet you last Tuesday.

[MarkWoychick]

Thanks, Bob, and great to meet you as well. I look forward to seeing you again on the Tuesday meetings.
Mark

[PhantomPhan]

Bonjour! Happy to be here. My parents got me hooked on the weekly crossword contest and now we obsess. We're still breaking into them and reprogramming our brains to find the steps, but it's so satisfying when you find a lead!

35 year old wife and mom who loves musicals and will not apologize for the singing.

[SewYoung]

Bonjour! Happy to be here. My parents got me hooked on the weekly crossword contest and now we obsess. We're still breaking into them and reprogramming our brains to find the steps, but it's so satisfying when you find a lead!

35 year old wife and mom who loves musicals and will not apologize for the singing.

Never apologize for singing!

[SJMcK]

I’m Steven. I’ve only recently discovered meta puzzles and I want to solve them.

[Berto]

Hello all. I’m a Brit ex-pat living in Michigan, grew up doing Guardian cryptic crosswords with my parents, particularly love the special prize crosswords. Have been doing the weekend WSJ puzzles for some time, but only just discovered the Friday puzzle contest! Took a while, but finally On Shore!

[Bob cruise director]

Hello all. I’m a Brit ex-pat living in Michigan, grew up doing Guardian cryptic crosswords with my parents, particularly love the special prize crosswords. Have been doing the weekend WSJ puzzles for some time, but only just discovered the Friday puzzle contest! Took a while, but finally On Shore!

Berto
Welcome to the world of metas. The Friday WSJ puzzle has a location of its own where people post that they are on shore or on the ship.

Also if you are interested in metas, look under Other Meta Crossword Puzzles. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday other muggles offer their own metas for your enjoyment.

If you ever have any questions, please feel free to ask. There is a wealth of information about the group and some of the background under FAQ's Community

Bob Stevens
Cruise Director

[dot]

Hello, World!

I just discovered the wsj crosswords, and the cool meta contests! I almost gave up on this week's, but seeing everyone's encouragements and telling people to just keep staring at it... well, thank you for that! I tried again, in the light of day, and after MUCH staring, like... hours , FINALLY I figured it out - but it was really bc of everyone's encouragement that I saw on the forum - and I appreciate the care with which people didn't post any hints, just encouragement. THANK YOU!!!

I'm near Boston, Mass, and it's a bit cold!

[CdnMG]

Hello!

I have been doing cryptic crosswords for well over 10 years now and feel pretty comfortable with them. Decided to try these meta puzzles 4 weeks ago and I am batting 0.500! So rewarding when you see the answer. I live in Canada near Niagara Falls. Love reading everyone's comments.

[yodarkrutch]

Hello!

We are recent inductees to the WSJ Meta puzzles on Thursdays/Fridays. My wife ignores the extra puzzle steps and I am frustrated by them. In an effort to play along, I usually get part way on them, then decide I don't want to waste time struggling for a day or so to pursue the solution. I may actually be speaking for many of the non-solvers of these puzzles, or maybe there are just two of us. Certainly not being able to work my way through these things bugs me, and I now realize that I need an outlet.

I found your site looking for the Meta puzzle answers, thinking that dissecting solutions might lend a clue to the means to solve other ones. I did find some, but now I can't remember how I got there, so I don't even have a clue at this point how to find out what past solutions were.

Rather than try to apply the suggested solving techniques attendant to this forum, which seem to be the province of the persistent, witty and well-practiced, I thought the best application of my participation would be to present my pursuit of red herrings under the heading "In the soup." This would be as a counterpoint to the smug proclamations I am seeing of "On the Beach" or "Ashore," which I take to mean "I solved the Meta." (I hope this shows I am not a total lost cause.) I also feel that after reading several of these proclamations that solving the Metas may not be in my best interest, since many of these seem to cause an alcoholic response to getting the Meta right.

My first "In the soup" example refers to the puzzle entitled "Just Look at Yourself." There seemed to be a consistent reference to 3 and 5 in the anomalous cues, which could refer to 3-down, "glucose" and 5-down, "skin". Combining these with the clues referring to 3 and 5 in the ones with all the blanks, one would get "skin-thumping," "skin-tingling," "glucose-splitting," (hydrolysis?) "skin-watering," (sweaty) and "glucose dropping" (perhaps a serious condition). My Meta solution would therefore be "Total Wrecks." I think I should get an honorable mention for that one.

My solution for this week's puzzle would refer to the numerous listening devices distributed throughout the puzzle, and using the direction "up" from there, I discern a bunch of letters that are total gibberish. Therefore my "in the soup" answer for this week would be "alphabet" (soup).

I do have a suggestion for a future puzzle. I would entitle it "Third Base." I would suggest presenting nine clues for several organic and inorganic bases, such as "lye" "ammonium hydroxide" "Clorox" "potassium bromide" and so on. You could then take the third letter northeast, north, northwest, etc. in rotating fashion from each of these answers to spell out "I HATE ORGO."

There. I feel a lot better. Thanks for your indulgence.

Yodar

[BrianMac]

Hi @yodarkrutch,

Welcome to the forum! We are glad you're here. A few things that might help you get situated:

The thread you're looking for which contains past WSJ solutions can be found here. That thread is an invaluable resource but, in my opinion, the best way to understand solving solutions is to read the weekly puzzle threads. After the deadline, many people discuss their strategies as well as dead ends, or "rabbit holes" that didn't pan out.

Again, welcome to the forum and the world of meta puzzles. They get easier - and more fun - the more you do. And this is an extremely nice and funny group, so keep coming back!

Brian

[Bob cruise director]

Hello, World!

I just discovered the wsj crosswords, and the cool meta contests! I almost gave up on this week's, but seeing everyone's encouragements and telling people to just keep staring at it... well, thank you for that! I tried again, in the light of day, and after MUCH staring, like... hours , FINALLY I figured it out - but it was really bc of everyone's encouragement that I saw on the forum - and I appreciate the care with which people didn't post any hints, just encouragement. THANK YOU!!!

I'm near Boston, Mass, and it's a bit cold!

Dot
Welcome to the group. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

When you say "near Boston", there are several of us in the Boston area. I live in Littleton where 495 and Route 2 meet.

Bob

[MaineMarge]

Deleted

[Laura T]

Hello, My name is Laura I live just outside of Chicago. I'm desperately awaiting for spring to arrive, for real...I've been a puzzler forever and have been working towards a MUGgle for nearly 2 years. One day my entry will be selected; it's like the coveted chalice of puzzlers. Our kids are still in school (the teen years) and my husband and I eagerly await Friday's WSJ. Clearly, we need more hobbies. We do love to travel, our kids have the travel bug too. My other outlets are kickboxing, cooking and pottery.

[Bob cruise director]

Hello, My name is Laura I live just outside of Chicago. I'm desperately awaiting for spring to arrive, for real...I've been a puzzler forever and have been working towards a MUGgle for nearly 2 years. One day my entry will be selected; it's like the coveted chalice of puzzlers. Our kids are still in school (the teen years) and my husband and I eagerly await Friday's WSJ. Clearly, we need more hobbies. We do love to travel, our kids have the travel bug too. My other outlets are kickboxing, cooking and pottery.

Laura - great to have you as a muggle. We all covet the elusive mug but even more is the comradery of others that enjoy the fun and challenge. Join us on Tuesday night when you get a chance.

Bob

[ArchaicMage]

Hi all, my name's Tim, and I live in Brooklyn NY with my 6-year old daughter and 5 month old puppy. I'm a recent PhD grad in archaeology who also loves fantasy, so that's where I got my handle. I love crosswords but only recently started doing WSJ's because my university (where I still work) provides a subscription. The metas have been tough for me so far but I'm looking forward to getting better at them! Nice to meet you all.

[Cweber]

Hi everyone, nice to meet you. My name is Cliff. I’m “semi-retired”, whatever that is, and live in one of the beach towns in NJ. I’ve been trying the Friday contests for a while, and have been able to solve a few metas, but mostly chase ghosts or get part of the way and can’t seem to find the last piece of the puzzle…. Anyway, always fun (and often humbling) to try.

[atom]

Hi all! I'm Ann - I'm based in Upstate NY. I'm 23 and a barista currently, but I'm about to start a PhD in biomedical engineering this fall! Super stoked about it! I just recently got into crosswords because my dad is a fanatic for them and I thought I'd give them a try since I, too, am a puzzle lover. He introduced me to the illustrious ~Friday puzzles~ a few weeks ago and I have been able to solve all of the puzzle contests so far and I am totally hooked. Somehow stumbled upon this forum and I'm so excited to see so many people invested in the puzzles!! Nice to meet everyone!

[Emerson]

Hi there,

I'm new to this group and thought I'd introduce myself. I've been doing the WSJ contest crossword for a month, but have yet to solve the meta puzzle. I'm here to figure it out!

I have four young daughters who all share my disappointment on Monday morning when I realize I was stumped again!

-Emerson

[WFC]

Hi all. New to the world of crossword metas and
have been trying my hand at construction.
Fun. But not without sweat. Can someone
tell how to enter circles in certain grid
squares.....as seen in many WSJ puzzles
during the week? Is there a particular app
I should download? Any help much appreciated.

Bill (Nova Scotia)