NYT Spelling Bee

[Langue_doc]

Yup, that's the website, ab_grp. I usually look under wordplay as I can never remember the name of the bee forum and eventually get to the site. It took me forever to find the ep- word today, should have seen it as it's a frequent occurrence in the bee. I've been stuck since late morning, and will probably not get around to QB as I have to get the Canvas prep done, hopefully by the end of the day.

Hiking season is never over unless one is in one of the polar regions. Winter hikes here require crampons and other stuff. Needless to say, any winter walking that requires more than a good pair of hiking shoes is beyond me.

[ab_grp]

Okay, thanks, Langue_doc! I tend to use the nytbee and Shunn more because I have tabs permanently open on my phone (among the other 600000 tabs), but I might as well open that one too and see if it renders better than the others.  Good luck with Canvas prep!

I guess early July to mid-September is the official climbing season for Mt. Fuji, when there isn't supposed to be snow and facilities are open.  Maybe you are allowed to at other times but are cautioned against it? In any case, I'm with you on the self limits! I haven't hiked for so long.  The Mt. Fuji trail sounded pretty arduous at times.  Unfortunately, my friend discovered that her waterproof hiking boots and waterproof jacket were not very waterproof.  But she enjoyed the adventure despite not getting to see her sunrise.

[ciao_yall]

Hi,

Just slogging today as well through both puzzles. Into genius and with pangram but slowing down. Two "ships" in LB with a plug to connect, but no 2fer yet.

I like Shunn because I can scaffold the grid and wait to see if I need the 2 letter hints before seeing them.

Once I get to the Spelling Bee Forum comments for hints I've pretty much given up on ABM. Plus it's nice to know when others are stuck on the same word. When I come across the LB posts I try to just read the top part of the hint and see if I can get it without the definition.

[ab_grp]

The puzzles today seem more difficult than usual for some reason! Even the crossword was slower than usual.  And I am having absolutely no luck on hard sudoku.  And no real LB contenders! It is a day of labor.

Ciao_yall, I also like the ability to scaffold on Shunn and reveal what you want to reveal a step at a time. 

We are each down to the same word and have no idea at all what it is. 

[cathwen]

Argh.  The Bee today defeated me.   I finally turned to the hints on Wordplay.  All I can say is, I should have studied chemistry in college.  So, QBWATHICG.

[ab_grp]

Cathwen, I really feel like it was a difficult puzzle.  We gave up, and husband ran his program to get the final word.  Despite getting a lot of toughies today, I don't think we ever would have found the final one without just happening upon it by trying lots of combos.  I don't think either of us have even heard of it before.  Looked it up, nothing ringing a bell.  Congrats on your QB, even with help!

[Langue_doc]

ab_grp, I didn't realize that you were talking about winter hiking in Mt. Fuji.

Just spent an hour and 40 minutes chatting with a friend on the phone, so back to work.

Ships? How about a long word with a suffix?

[ab_grp]

Thanks for the hint, Langue_doc! I finally found a longer word that almost worked, which led to one that did.  Yay 2fer! Hope you enjoyed your phone chat.

[ciao_yall]

2fer.

No bloody chance for QB. I'm over it.

For now.

[Langue_doc]

Good morning!

Pangram and genius; I think that's it for today as I'm behind on things.

Missed the scientific words. I remember going to Nepenthe in Big Sur following a hike and enjoying the view, ambiance, and food--wouldn't have considered it a bee word.

foci/indubitably

It was a good chat, ab_grp, and also another long chat with another friend later in the night.

Happy solving, all!

[cathwen]

Good morning!

Genius with pangram, and like Langue_doc, I may not get back to SB because I have a full day coming up. 

Yesterday's SB just annoyed me.  I only got heptane and pentane by looking at the Wordplay hints, and googling the chemical formulas they provided.  Nepenthe?  Nope.  But my husband, who used to live in San Francisco, remembered the restaurant of that name, and reminded me that we actually ate there on the one semi-nice day of our drive up the Pacific Coast Highway!  I finally got it because a Wordplay hint mentioned that it occurs in "The Raven," so I looked that up, and got it that way. 

LB:  Yesterday I also had the schmofficial foci-indubitably.  I have a 2fer today as well. 

Here's to a less annoying puzzle day!

[ciao_yall]

Morning!

SB - Never was going to find heptane, nepenthe nor pentane without way more work than I felt like doing. Overlooked payee, and found tapa early on but forgot to put it in because I was going for GN4L at the time. Can't decide if GN4L is a good strategy for staying organized, or if it causes me to forget to put in early ones. So today, just playing straight.

LB - foci-indubitably. Yay, me! That is a tricky one!

Happy solving!

[ab_grp]

Good morning/afternoon!

Still have four words to go, not at Alpha but got to GN4L after some struggling.  I got pentane, heptane, but I never would have gotten nepenthe! Geez.  I don't remember it from The Raven but looked it up just now.  My dad used to read that poem to me a lot, but I guess I never read it for myself!

Thanks to Langue_doc, I found undoubtably, which then led to indubitably and its mate.  Indubitably reminds me of my favorite Archer episode, and now I can't stop hearing it in Archer's voice! Congrats on your 2fer today, cathwen!

I'm glad both of your chats went well, Langue_doc! It's nice to be able to catch up with friends.

Happy solving!

[ciao_yall]

SB - way into genius, missing a few words. Might need to do more digging later.

LB - 2fer b4ss and lots of 3fers. Hope something busts loose.

ETA: Got 'em done. Learned some new words for both SB and LB. Gah.

I need to ponder whether GN4L is a good strategy. Oddly enough, the crowds of little short words clogged up being able to see the fairly easy long ones that I missed. So I will continue to use GN4L as an organizing strategy. Taking it for granted that I always get Genius evenutally....

[OneMoreYear]

Didn't make it to the puzzles yesterday. But an exceedingly quick 2-fer for today. Just one of those days where it jumped out.

Into a full day of teaching, meetings, grading, and recording for my asynchronous class, so we'll see if SB happens.

Happy puzzling!