The NYT Spelling Bee Thread

I thought it might be best for a separate thread - and leave the Crossword one just for the crossword.  Let's continue the spelling bee discussion here!

I always feel dumb for missing obvious words.


jamie said:

I thought it might be best for a separate thread - and leave the Crossword one just for the crossword.  Let's continue the spelling bee discussion here!

I always feel dumb for missing obvious words.

 you’re not alone 


oots said:

jamie said:

I thought it might be best for a separate thread - and leave the Crossword one just for the crossword.  Let's continue the spelling bee discussion here!

I always feel dumb for missing obvious words.

 you’re not alone 

 I always miss "naan." Compound words also vex me.


I always get “naan.” But once I missed “lean,” I think. Duh. 


stuck at 93 points and no pangram yet. bleh

ETA: lol, and just like that, pangram.


drummerboy said:

stuck at 93 points and no pangram yet. bleh

ETA: lol, and just like that, pangram.

 I know! I stopped playing hours ago, and came back and there it was! Clear as day. I have 178 points. Don’t think I’m going for Queen Bee today. 


marylago said:

 I know! I stopped playing hours ago, and came back and there it was! Clear as day. I have 178 points. Don’t think I’m going for Queen Bee today. 

 me too...there it was in my face out of the clear blue. Today I managed to get to 45 words/215 points but no way am I getting to Queen Bee...not today, not any day from what I can see. My daily goal is to make it to Genius, which is hit or miss...most days I make it, occasionally I don't and that's good enough for me.


alha said:

marylago said:

 I know! I stopped playing hours ago, and came back and there it was! Clear as day. I have 178 points. Don’t think I’m going for Queen Bee today. 

 me too...there it was in my face out of the clear blue. Today I managed to get to 45 words/215 points but no way am I getting to Queen Bee...not today, not any day from what I can see. My daily goal is to make it to Genius, which is hit or miss...most days I make it, occasionally I don't and that's good enough for me.

 That's how I feel. A couple of days ago, I was within four or five words. I was vexed, but when I saw the words the next day, I felt okay with missing them. 


Miscellaneous ramblings…

It’s funny how this puzzle has become more prominent lately.  I’ve been doing the Crossword for years and the Bee just for the last 4-6 months - lost any real sense of time a while ago…


The leave and “Aha!” factor is interesting and entertaining.

I do the Bee first now - before the Crossword. Enjoy the initial flurry of words - the easy 4 letters and stuff that just seems obvious.  Get them out of the way.

I try for the pangram on the first word - get is some days - maybe a third of the time?  Almost put it at arms length to try to see it.

I have a personal rule not to shuffle or find out the Genius score until Amazing. Comply most days. My theory is that the initial arrangement of letters is set to clue you in to the pangram. Might be wrong…

How annoying is it to fail to see words that you get every other day? Until you do. 

It is certainly more challenging than the Crossword Monday through Wednesday. At this point the Crossword is mostly a time trial.

I like that there is no set difficulty level day-to-day.

I’ve never gotten Queen Bee. Someday… Probably not patient enough. And the odd obscure word usually prevents Queen Bee status.

I was pretty proud of “occipital” the other day. ;-)

I love and hate that there is no timer.

Hoping that doing these somehow keeps the mind sharp into old-er age.

Nothing beats a really good crossword.




I like a good crossword puzzle--I used to be pretty good at the London Times cryptic crossword--but I've always loved a good "jumble." The Bee is something that will keep me coming back several times during the day. With the crossword, I want to finish it in one shot.


Uncharacteristic of me to get this far but I've managed to recall 7 words past Genius level today. So that must mean today's is really easy. :-(

I haven't gotten Genius in over a week.


jimmurphy said:

No Nuncio?

 Nuncio? That's a new word for me and after looking it up can see why you question its exclusion.


bikefixed said:

Uncharacteristic of me to get this far but I've managed to recall 7 words past Genius level today. So that must mean today's is really easy. :-(

I haven't gotten Genius in over a week.

 I found the puzzle really easy today and am now way past Genius at 45 words/237 points


bikefixed said:

Uncharacteristic of me to get this far but I've managed to recall 7 words past Genius level today. So that must mean today's is really easy. :-(

I haven't gotten Genius in over a week.

 Same for me


I must thank everyone here for putting me on to the Spelling Bee game.  I've only been playing it for a couple of days, and can see why and how it can become addictive.


Not easy today. Got it, but took a few visits.


jimmurphy said:

Not easy today. Got it, but took a few visits.

 Stuck at amazing. :-(

ETA: Just got genius!!!


I've gotten nowhere today.


drummerboy said:

I've gotten nowhere today.

It was tough! I had a lot of sitting around waiting today, and still it took me until after 6pm.


marylago said:

drummerboy said:

I've gotten nowhere today.

It was tough! I had a lot of sitting around waiting today, and still it took me until after 6pm.

 And then, when you see the entire word list the next day, it's a 'How did I miss that?' moment!


marylago said:

jimmurphy said:

Not easy today. Got it, but took a few visits.

 Stuck at amazing. :-(

ETA: Just got genius!!!

When you get to Genius level, the challenge is still there to find more words.

I discovered that more than 51 results opens up a second page for your word list.


I barely made it to Genius today and yesterday too. Yesterday, I missed "headphone" as a pangram...a real "duh" moment for me, and I also missed a common word "deadpan". Today, I managed to squeeze out enough words to make it to 56 words/220 points. It'll be interesting to see which words I missed when I check tomorrow morning.


alha said:

I barely made it to Genius today and yesterday too. Yesterday, I missed "headphone" as a pangram...a real "duh" moment for me, and I also missed a common word "deadpan". Today, I managed to squeeze out enough words to make it to 56 words/220 points. It'll be interesting to see which words I missed when I check tomorrow morning.

 I missed 'headphone' and 'deadpan' along with a few others, as well.

56 words/220 points, eh?  I'm at 55 words/219 points - the challenge is on to find another word!

Mind you, when they don't allow the common herb 'lovage' as being too obscure (not in their word list) I wonder which word source they're referring to.

ETA:  60 words / 243 points.  Time to go and do something else lest people think I've become addicted to this game.     smile


Also feeling cranky about lovage.


What sort of word is 'gotta'?  Snort!!!


gah. I just need the pangram for 5/30, but I can't get it.


marksierra said:

 I missed 'headphone' and 'deadpan' along with a few others, as well.

56 words/220 points, eh?  I'm at 55 words/219 points - the challenge is on to find another word!

Mind you, when they don't allow the common herb 'lovage' as being too obscure (not in their word list) I wonder which word source they're referring to.

ETA:  60 words / 243 points.  Time to go and do something else lest people think I've become addicted to this game.    
smile

 Wow....that 60 word/243 total is very impressive! I missed two compound words, teetotal and telltale and a whole bunch of uncommon words that were too obscure for me.

btw, the word "lovage" is new to me; I had to look it up to see what kind of common herb it was.


drummerboy said:

gah. I just need the pangram for 5/30, but I can't get it.

 The pangram came easily to me today, and I was able to get to Genius quickly..too quickly for my liking. My only complaint today is that there were so few words...I'm currently at 20 with 92 points...that I flew through the puzzle in no time. I prefer a puzzle with a greater word bank.


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