the hardest word for me today was a common four-letter word, I just couldn’t think of it
― Dan S, Wednesday, 1 September 2021 00:20 (two years ago) link
I was surprised they accepted wiggy
― Dan S, Wednesday, 1 September 2021 00:36 (two years ago) link
got QB today too ^_^
― flopson, Wednesday, 1 September 2021 02:13 (two years ago) link
came upon wight just by accident, don’t think I’ve ever heard it used in a sentence except on Game of Thrones
― Dan S, Wednesday, 1 September 2021 03:35 (two years ago) link
Sigh, add THIGH to the list of common words I always overlook (and which was the one word I missed yesterday).
― Moz Jabroni (Leee), Wednesday, 1 September 2021 15:24 (two years ago) link
Loanwords beef: NADA is a frequent answer (and I think that we've seen FINITO before), but not HOLA (meanwhile, ALOHA is accepted).
― Moz Jabroni (Leee), Thursday, 2 September 2021 18:02 (two years ago) link
I agree with you, but it is worth noting that ALOHA is an enormously common word of a US colony, whereas HOLA is...well, not.
― Kind regards, Anus (the table is the table), Thursday, 2 September 2021 19:50 (two years ago) link
Well, Hawaii is a state, but then what about NADA and FINITO? We borrowed those straight from Spanish, and furthermore, HOLA is extremely common in several American states too.
― Moz Jabroni (Leee), Thursday, 2 September 2021 20:19 (two years ago) link
Yeah, I mean, I agree. I was just thinking about possible reasons!
― Kind regards, Anus (the table is the table), Thursday, 2 September 2021 20:26 (two years ago) link
Another note: ALOHA, NADA, and FINITO are all valid words in Scrabble. HOLA is not.
― Kind regards, Anus (the table is the table), Thursday, 2 September 2021 20:28 (two years ago) link
the pangram hasn't usually been the hardest word for me to get, but today it was
― Dan S, Friday, 3 September 2021 01:20 (two years ago) link
i have a whole ran abt this ill prob unleash itt but compound word pangrams (like today’s) are super annoying and unsatisfying
― flopson, Friday, 3 September 2021 02:05 (two years ago) link
I think I've found at least one other compound word pangram made of two 4-letter words in the last couple of weeks, but can't think of what it was at the moment. I liked expanding plane to biplane, and also discovering the suffix -ize to expand demon to demonize and demonized
― Dan S, Friday, 3 September 2021 02:17 (two years ago) link
xps
I think there is some validity to the argument that NADA and maybe even FINITO are words that an American English speaker might use as slang, without feeling like they are borrowing a word from Spanish. HOLA might be just as likely as those to be used by an English speaker, but I think said speaker would be more likely to feel like they are using a Spanish word for effect. It is admittedly a slim distinction but I think I can grasp their rationale. Not sure where ALOHA fits into that - it seems to be sort of in the middle of that scale, with the caveat that a lot of Americans might use it without even being able to identify it as being from another language (thinking it's just Hawaiian slang).
― Lavator Shemmelpennick, Friday, 3 September 2021 17:18 (two years ago) link
it feels slightly diminishing to even think along these lines and it’s a failing of the game imo. not saying i know how to fix it. the crossword has worked out a way to include proper names, foreign words, slang mottos like BALLISLIFE and more while also maintaining a famously rigorous clue style that allows for very precise solving. it’s hard to discern a personality behind spelling bee. its dead ends don’t describe the outline of anything in particular. “is it american” is one of the least interesting things i can imagine a puzzle forcing me to think about.
― Tracer Hand, Friday, 3 September 2021 20:31 (two years ago) link
i agree with all that, i guess that's why I don't think Spelling Bee is really in the same ballpark as crosswords
― Lavator Shemmelpennick, Friday, 3 September 2021 20:45 (two years ago) link
The itch that SB scratches that the crossword doesn't is that iterative variation thing where you're going through -ED or -ING words. I don't need a personality from it (though complaining about the omissions/inclusions is now part of the appeal, not to mention the culture), and the anagramming itself is extremely fulfilling -- and if I'm being pretentious (and wrong), it makes me feel like I'm Nabokov.
I will say, though, that after some days that are a slog, and seeing my score at 0 with the new day's letters feels like an endless ratrace.
― Moz Jabroni (Leee), Friday, 3 September 2021 21:55 (two years ago) link
As always with any puzzle or game of this nature the gatekeeping around what is omitted is where it falls down
It should wear this role as lightly as possible given the frankly nonsensical words it does allow through
I think that it is getting the mix badly wrong myself tbh
― fix up luke shawp (darraghmac), Friday, 3 September 2021 22:36 (two years ago) link
for the most part when the puzzle doesn't accept a word I'm content to move on. agree with Leee about the anagram aspect of it being fulfilling
― Dan S, Friday, 3 September 2021 23:25 (two years ago) link
same but how is FIEF not acceptable i ask you
― think “Gypsy-Pixie” and misspelled. (We are a white family.) (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 4 September 2021 01:50 (two years ago) link
the lack of footprints to trace back good days and bad is not a feature it's a bug
fief was accepted! I was surprised by that
― Dan S, Saturday, 4 September 2021 02:10 (two years ago) link
ALOHA, HOLA and FINITO all seem fine to me but the other day MAHATMA was the only word i was missing to get queen bee and that annoyed me
― flopson, Saturday, 4 September 2021 02:32 (two years ago) link
it didn't take fief for me!
― think “Gypsy-Pixie” and misspelled. (We are a white family.) (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 4 September 2021 03:38 (two years ago) link
My mistake, it took it.But not FIENDING?
― think “Gypsy-Pixie” and misspelled. (We are a white family.) (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 4 September 2021 06:35 (two years ago) link
I was also annoyed that it didn't take FIENDING
― Kind regards, Anus (the table is the table), Saturday, 4 September 2021 13:29 (two years ago) link
same
― flopson, Saturday, 4 September 2021 14:56 (two years ago) link
Hoo boy, the pangram today...
― Carte Blanchett (Leee), Saturday, 4 September 2021 16:50 (two years ago) link
i was gonna say, this is the first time i got genius and THEN got the pangram
― think “Gypsy-Pixie” and misspelled. (We are a white family.) (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 4 September 2021 19:07 (two years ago) link
meanwhile we're not taking NONCONJOINING, which is a perfectly common enough term that i have used when booking hotel rooms (i haven't really but let's pretend)
― think “Gypsy-Pixie” and misspelled. (We are a white family.) (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 4 September 2021 19:10 (two years ago) link
i wasn’t surprised it didn’t take GIGGING
― flopson, Saturday, 4 September 2021 19:58 (two years ago) link
https://bullyusa.com/frog-gigging.html
― think “Gypsy-Pixie” and misspelled. (We are a white family.) (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 4 September 2021 23:32 (two years ago) link
this species of bird junco and this plural of a word I had already found jinni were the ones I couldn't think of today
― Dan S, Sunday, 5 September 2021 00:59 (two years ago) link
same!
― donna rouge, Sunday, 5 September 2021 01:07 (two years ago) link
there were some words I never would have thought of today Tori, the plural of torus, and tortoni - a dessert featuring frozen sweetened condensed milk, whipped cream, coconut maroon crumbs, slivered almonds and chopped maraschino cherries?
Also torii, the gate of a Shinto shrine, I know what it stands for but haven’t ever seen the word beforelink
― Dan S, Wednesday, 8 September 2021 01:16 (two years ago) link
EFFABLE isn't accepted today (being the antonym to INEFFABLE, not something cruder), but that just makes me wonder what the threshold is for words to be accepted. I have a strong feeling that it's just what Sam arbitrarily decides (see: that one time COPE wasn't accepted).
― Carte Blanchett (Leee), Monday, 13 September 2021 20:48 (two years ago) link
here’s the autoreply they send when u email them
Thanks for solving and taking the time to offer us a word suggestion today!
Every Spelling Bee puzzle is hand-curated to focus on relatively common words, with a couple of tough ones here and there to keep it challenging. We occasionally miss words, and always appreciate our solvers letting us know. As a reminder, proper names and words that contain hyphens or apostrophes are not part of our word list.
In fairness to our wide-ranging audience, Spelling Bee generally avoids terms that are hyper-specific to any background or professional field, such as terms that might be familiar to, say, a physician or geologist, but not people outside of that area of expertise. We also do our best to ensure that any inappropriate or offensive terms will be omitted.
We welcome your feedback, and this inbox is monitored to take all relevant and appropriate suggestions into consideration, but we are unable to respond to individual inquiries.
If you have any questions unrelated to a word suggestion, want to share an experience or need assistance with any of our other puzzles, please reach out to us at our Games Care email address: nytga✧✧✧@nyti✧✧✧.c✧✧. You can also follow our editor Sam Ezersky for additional Spelling Bee updates and discussion.
Best,
The New York Times Games Team
― flopson, Monday, 13 September 2021 23:47 (two years ago) link
So HABOOB and NENE are known to non-specialists. Okay.
― Tracer Hand, Monday, 13 September 2021 23:54 (two years ago) link
:) I like the word haboob!
― Dan S, Monday, 13 September 2021 23:57 (two years ago) link
Yeah the specialist line is nonsense tbf but lookit the fun is in the try
― fix up luke shawp (darraghmac), Monday, 13 September 2021 23:59 (two years ago) link
today I was surprised that they didn't accept the word billable, tried it a couple of times to make sure, but let it go
― Dan S, Tuesday, 14 September 2021 00:05 (two years ago) link
oh wait, they did accept it! sorry
― Dan S, Tuesday, 14 September 2021 00:06 (two years ago) link
two words I couldn’t get today both ended in double vowels bailee, libelee - which is a future reminder
― Dan S, Tuesday, 14 September 2021 00:09 (two years ago) link
also surprised the puzzle today also accepted an anatomical word and two related words, one entirely linguistic and the other both anatomical and linguistic
― Dan S, Tuesday, 14 September 2021 01:08 (two years ago) link
labia, labial, bilabial link
― Dan S, Tuesday, 14 September 2021 02:31 (two years ago) link
sung to the tune of matchmaker, matchmaker
― think “Gypsy-Pixie” and misspelled. (We are a white family.) (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 14 September 2021 04:52 (two years ago) link
Okay I give, I subscribed. Questione: How do you know how many possible words there are? Does it tell you when you've found them all?
― Ima Gardener (in orbit), Tuesday, 14 September 2021 17:05 (two years ago) link
Yep
Queen bee scote also 2x the "amazing" score which you can click into to see on the app which gives you some idea
― fix up luke shawp (darraghmac), Tuesday, 14 September 2021 17:06 (two years ago) link
i use https://www.nytbee.com/ to check how close i am to QB
― flopson, Tuesday, 14 September 2021 17:12 (two years ago) link
My preferred site is https://www.shunn.net/bee/latest.
― Carte Blanchett (Leee), Tuesday, 14 September 2021 17:25 (two years ago) link
Ah, the daily ritual of Bee annoyance, what Sam will and won't include.
I love the smell of grievance in the morning
― Wine not? (Ye Mad Puffin), Sunday, 21 January 2024 19:11 (three months ago) link
Allow me to grouse about a word that is not accepted today: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/placable
― Selune Gomez (Leee), Tuesday, 13 February 2024 16:05 (two months ago) link
Last night's real words that were not accepted: BARDO and DOBRO.
― Jordan s/t (Jordan), Tuesday, 27 February 2024 20:53 (two months ago) link
accepting INEFFABLE but not EFFABLE is LAFFABLE
― Roz, Friday, 1 March 2024 13:08 (two months ago) link
came here to post the same sentiment. i mean it’s one thing to cherry pick what’s accepted and what’s not, but this is pretty ridiculous
― scanner darkly, Friday, 1 March 2024 18:30 (two months ago) link
(i haven’t finished the bee yet but opened the spoilers because i knew exactly which words you meant lol)
― scanner darkly, Friday, 1 March 2024 18:31 (two months ago) link
Just out of devil's advocacy, have you really ever said, or written, EFFABLE?
Or, like, vincible, couth, plussed, sheveled?
― alpaca lips now (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 1 March 2024 19:05 (two months ago) link
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unpaired_word#In_English
― Selune Gomez (Leee), Friday, 1 March 2024 20:22 (two months ago) link
sam is a force of nature and we mere humans can attempt to rationalize his decision making but the point of this game is precisely the lack of any rhyme or reason when it comes to what’s accepted and what’s not
― scanner darkly, Friday, 1 March 2024 21:19 (two months ago) link
ppl love knowing the name of the dude who randomly deleted some words from the list of words
― cozen itt (wins), Friday, 1 March 2024 21:37 (two months ago) link
Scanner darkly, I have said before that if anyone else curated the list, the list would be just as arbitrary (just in a different way). What is obscure, what is obscene, what is a variant spelling.
Sam is okay with pipit, pippin, tallit, cabala, and dildo. He likes the acacia and acai combo, plus cacao cocoa coca.
The game is not (and has never been) "every word." Even Scrabble isn't "every word"; it's "every word in the official dictionary," which may mean the US Scrabble dictionary or SOWPODS or whatever.
― alpaca lips now (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 1 March 2024 22:29 (two months ago) link
it’s not arbitrary at all, it’s a character study of sam ezersky in chiaroscuro
― Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Friday, 1 March 2024 22:45 (two months ago) link
^ best use of "chiaroscuro" in ilx history; thanking u
― alpaca lips now (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 1 March 2024 22:57 (two months ago) link
i doff my cap sir
anyway that's why i like the paper one, because there is a word list, but (as i have probably bored you with already on this thread) you are actively encouraged to count other words not on the list if you deem them acceptable (by whatever your own criteria are), so actually every paper spelling bee becomes a character study of YOU!
― Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Friday, 1 March 2024 23:04 (two months ago) link
Gutted that I tapped out at Amazing on Friday. Ended my 26 day Genius run. On my birthday, even!
― avoid boring people, Sunday, 10 March 2024 21:30 (one month ago) link
did sam forget to turn in his homework or
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 20 March 2024 12:02 (one month ago) link
wha happen
― Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 20 March 2024 12:10 (one month ago) link
my app refuses to update with wednesday’s
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 20 March 2024 12:21 (one month ago) link
ok sam is just plain trolling us with that pangram at this point, right
― scanner darkly, Thursday, 28 March 2024 23:58 (one month ago) link
My thoughts exactly.
― Astarion Is Born (Leee), Friday, 29 March 2024 00:28 (one month ago) link
Trolling through the tulgey wood
― Ima Gardener (in orbit), Friday, 29 March 2024 18:14 (one month ago) link
Pangram was good but they should have accepted ummagumma
― cozen itt (wins), Friday, 29 March 2024 18:21 (one month ago) link