NYT Spelling Bee

[ciao_yall]

GWP, but nowhere on LB. Great words, b4ss. Maybe I'll go to brunch and work on the old-school paper NYT Crossword Puzzle.

[ab_grp]

Finally got the dang pangram!! Two more words to go, but got to GN4L and Alpha.  Whew. 

Still getting nowhere on hard sudoku and nothing on LB yet.  And I'm in danger of falling out of the diamond leaderboard in Duo, as I apparently ended up in the group with people who engage with it all day every day.  So, lots of work yet to do.  But, at least the bee progress s a relief.

[Langue_doc]

Finally got to genius and found the pangram, which, although a familiar word, hasn't appeared on a puzzle so far. I'm not wasting any more time looking for the remaining 11 or 12 points.

The trip was to Fire Island, https://www.nps.gov/fiis/index.htm which is accessible only via water, either by boat if you have one, or by ferry, which probably doesn't run in winter. We went to a location on the island that was new to me. I've never seen so many boats of varying shapes, sizes, and presumably, cost in one location, jam-packed alongside, docked to mooring piers each of which had either a gull or cormorant perched atop. People sailed in by boat or took the ferry for day trips or for longer stays; for the latter, they have to bring in all the food and other supplies. Some of us had interesting chats with the boaters (the boats were docked along the boardwalks). People who lived there in summer rented houses and in turn, would rent out rooms to their friends as the rents run high here. I suspect that one or more of the chatters were probably under the influence. We could see an egret strutting and preening in the middle of the marsh glasswort which covered the surface of the marshes alongside the boardwalk. Then there were the herons, ospreys, and several merlins flying overhead. One of the participants saw a dolphin jump out and quickly jump back into the ocean. These shores have shoals of bunker fish which attract all kinds of ocean predators, so seeing sharks and whales is quite common. The drive back was quite long, which wasn't surprising, but I saw a fragment of a rainbow along the second half of my drive, first on one side of the parkway, and then on the other side (this is a winding parkway). It was an interesting group and an interesting trip overall.

Here is another map https://fireislandmap.com/ courtesy of Fire Island.

[ciao_yall]

QB w/ Shunn to point out a few places to make some guesses. They did have the same pangram in the paper version of the Bee, but also had an alternative spelling.

Still nowhere with LB. I did solve in 5 or 6 so there's my participation trophy but even a 3fer remains elusive. Lots of great words, b4ss.

ETA went to the LB solver site and even they didn't find a solution! So, IDK.

[ab_grp]

We each got to one word left and figured out we had team QB after counting first letters, and we each finally got to an impure QB.  I was so happy to see a "short" bee this morning given the long crossword as its counterpart, but this is one of those be careful of what you wish for moments.

I haven't gotten anywhere with LB yet, either, and it's sounding doubtful that I will from ciao_yall's report!

Langue_doc, that sounds like a nice trip.  It seems so unusual these days to find many cozy nature spots only accessible by boat.  Were a lot of the boaters there because they lived there, were visiting the beaches, etc.? It sounds as though although there is lodging there is nowhere really to eat (so bringing in food is necessary for longer trips)? It's great that you got to see so much wildlife and that there was a dolphin spotting.  Not sure I'd want to see a shark, even from a distance (knowing I'd have to get back out on the water shortly), but a whale would be interesting.  And hooray for the rainbow! That probably means good luck.

[Parasaurolophus]

Not doing so well on either puzzle today, I'm afraid. I wanted to complain about some word not being included yesterday, but now I've forgotten what it was.

[Langue_doc]

Good morning!

Found the pangram early on, but had to claw my way up to just past genius. I don't think I'll have the time or energy to continue with the bee today.

Easy two-fer, so that's it for puzzling, as the crosswords and sudokus were completed last night.

urbanized/dorky; I get resentful whenever the NYT has the same solution as mine--I know it's unreasonable on my part, but that's how it is.

ab_grp, Fire Island is one of several parks and seashores managed by the Park Service. This and some other parks were purchased by the Park Service some years ago. Governors Island was one of them--I've been meaning to look up the history of the purchases. As for the boats, the south shore of Long Island has docks along the waterfront so boats usually dock there during summer and then get taken to dry docks for the winter months. There are several restaurants on the Long Island side, so boaters who don't want to cook can sail back and forth. People can camp in their boats, or in camping/glamping sites on the island, the park portion of which is free of cars, bicycles, skateboards, and other wheeled devices. It was such a relief not to have to dodge bicyclists, scooters, and skateboards while walking. People were using collapsible carts to transport their food and other stuff to and from the ferry.

One of the participants just uploaded over 60 photos of the birds we saw yesterday--there's one of a cormorant on a pier and some of the ospreys and merlins.

Happy solving!

[cathwen]

Good morning!

I also got urbanized-dorky for yesterday's LB.  Langue_doc, I also feel a little let down when NYT has the same solution.  I guess it's the desire to be original. 

I found a 2fer without too much trouble today.

As for SB, I am at Beta with the pangram; six words to go.  Yesterday my last word was uncuff.

Was anyone up early enough this morning to notice that the NYT puzzle site was down for a while?  I got up at 4:30 because my husband had to leave early to catch a plane.  I didn't *have* to get up, but I was awake anyway, so I made breakfast so that he wouldn't have to endure an airport meal.  Then I settled down to the puzzles—except that they weren't there!  It threw off my whole morning routine.  But you will all be relieved to know that I am back on track now.

Happy puzzling!

[ciao_yall]

Morning!

QB with Shunn. Last words were cutie, ennui, untune which I got by checking the word and 2 letter counts.

LB - with help got a b4ss urbanized-donkey. Solver site kept suggesting deurbanize, deurbanized which LB wouldn't take. I guess they don't have dorky in their database.

This morning, quick pangram and LB looks more manageable.

Happy solving!

[Langue_doc]

Was anyone up early enough this morning to notice that the NYT puzzle site was down for a while?  I got up at 4:30 because my husband had to leave early to catch a plane.  I didn't *have* to get up, but I was awake anyway, so I made breakfast so that he wouldn't have to endure an airport meal.  Then I settled down to the puzzles—except that they weren't there!  It threw off my whole morning routine.  But you will all be relieved to know that I am back on track now.

cathwen, I encountered the unavailable puzzle site with only the yellow screen and a black line when I woke up just after 4. I decided that this was fortuitous as I needed more than four hours of sleep, so went back to sleep. The bee is the only puzzle that I can do without lifting my head from the pillow.

[ab_grp]

Good morning!

Three more words to QB today, and I did get GN4L and exactly to Alpha.  Nothing else is coming at the moment.  I think untune was my last word yesterday.  Not sure why they will take unhat, unhood but not untutu!

Argh, I actually had dorky last night.  I put it in as a joke because husband and I were talking with daughter about electron orbital configurations (well, the two of them were talking about it, and I was making jokey comments, though I did learn some things!).  He and I were then recapping the convo afterward and being thankful to be able to have those kinds of convos, and I said I had an appropriate word for that.  But I didn't think it would lead anywhere, so I gave up.  Congrats on the 2fers, even if they are schmofficial! Some days, those seem like they are the only solutions, so what else could you have? On other days, though, when there are multiple solutions, I definitely like to get a different one.  But most days I will just take whatever I find, if anything.  Congrats on already getting 2fers again today, Langue_doc and cathwen!

Langue_doc, thanks for the further detail about the island.  It sounds like a nice setting to not have people biking and scooting around among the walkers.  Not sure I would want to stay somewhere that I would have to sail to get food, though! But nice for a day trip.  And it's great that your one of your party uploaded a bunch of pics of the trip sightings!

Cathwen, sorry to hear that you were up early and couldn't get to the puzzles! I'm glad the site came back up and you got into the swing of things.

Happy solving!

[ab_grp]

Down to two words for the bee now and will probably be looking to Shunn soon!

But I did get a 2fer!

[cathwen]

I got to QB, but only because I went to the Shunn-like part of WordPlay for first letters and word length. 

Congratulations on your 2fer, ab_grp!  And by the way, I love the suggestion that untutu might join unhood and unhat in the list of Bee words.

[Parasaurolophus]

Struggled to genius, and I think I have half a 2fer for LB, but that's it.

[ab_grp]

We ended up comparing first letters (my two words, his three), and I got no info from him since my two were in common with two of his.  So we went to Shunn to get first letters, then went to first two letters, then length... one word I could just kick myself for because I was just talking about it at a good length a day or two ago.  The other I do not feel badly about and am not sure if I have heard of it or it's been in the puzzle before.  Congrats on your QB as well, cathwen! And thanks for the support on untutu! Sadly, we know Sam is not necessarily a strict adherent to consistency. 

Parasaurolophus, I hope you find a mate for your LB word!