It's also an anniversary of sorts: about a year ago I solved my first meta!
I'd always been quite keen on crosswords, especially themed ones. But I almost always skipped over the WSJ Friday puzzle. Why? Because they were not themed (at least, not in a way that I recognised) and I never understood what the "contest answer" was all about. Anyway, this time last year I was on the mid-year break between school terms, with some time on my hands (translation: thesis-writing avoidance!) So I sat down and with the help of the discussion on xword-muggles I looked over a couple of the recent WSJ puzzles... and fell in love! Then, the July 16th 2021 puzzle was "We're Back In Business" - and I solved it! A week later, I solved "Two For One" - and
posted for the first time. You were all incredibly welcoming -
@Meg even replied to my post asking about my favorite brand of gin!
I started creating my own metas, posting the first one in the "Other meta crosswords" forum:
"Financial Downturn" on Aug 25th. Again, you were all incredibly supportive, so I kept creating them and soon afterwards MOAT was born. Here we are, almost a year after my first meta solve, and "Math Ed" is meta number 48, if you include an MMM, two MEOWs, and one guest Gaffney spot. And there are plenty more metas to come. (Last week I constructed meta number 104!)
Check out "The MOAT MEOW Mashup Pack"
here. US$10 for 14 metas that don't always abide by the "rules" of the game: asymmetry, 2-letter words, uncrossed letters, who knows. And this time there's a mega-meta!
I'm so glad you discovered your love for metas. The MOAT gives me something fun and, more often than not, challenging to look forward to on Tuesday mornings! Keep them coming.Thank you!
