NYT Spelling Bee

[ab_grp]

Got a weirdish 2fer!

[Parasaurolophus]

Just genius today.

[Langue_doc]

Good morning!

Pangram and genius. Long day today, so won't be puzzling until later.

Yesterday I typed achoo and copay just for the heck of it, and both words were accepted. I might have seen the former in an earlier puzzle.

sculptor/riven, and then vines/sculptor

Happy solving, all!

ETA: two-fer! I should be working.

[cathwen]

Good morning!

GN4L today for the first time (!), and pangram.  Yesterday I got to QB, but my last word was a really normal one, not one of the weirdos--canyon. 

LB:  I had virulence-estop yesterday.  I have a 2fer today, too.

Off to tai chi class soon for the first time since before the pandemic!  Yay!

Happy puzzling!

[ciao_yall]

Morning!

QB - probably could have made it ABM but once I enter achoo, yahoo I start wondering what other weird words are in there and decide to hit the Forum.

LB - vines-sculptor pretty quickly.

Happy solving!

[ab_grp]

Good morning/afternoon!

I think I have 7 more words to QB, not at Alpha but did get to GN4L after finally guessing a word.  Someone forgot to push the coffee start button, so we were without coffee for the beginning of puzzles.  I will blame slowness on that! Congrats on your first GN4L, cathwen! My final word yesterday was also canyon!

I had couples-striven yesterday, surprised the latter was a word, but fine with me.  Congrats on the different solutions, and none the official one, I think! Estop is a word I know only from the crossword.  Congrats on already having 2fers today, Langue_doc and cathwen!

Have fun at your tai chi class, cathwen!

Happy solving!

[Langue_doc]

Haven't had any time to get back to the bee, but wanted to report that I can see the crescent moon and Venus through the kitchen window. The latter has been higher up for at least an hour but is going to set soon according to the web. It is also visibly getting lower and lower.

[ab_grp]

Langue_doc, that sounds like a lovely sight! We enjoy the night sky here very much, too.  I just deleted a whole longish thing about it so as not to derail too much from your report!

Finally made it to QB with help from Shunn for the final three words, but at least I did get to Alpha. 

And got a 2fer with two fairly long words, realized the second word created other possibilities, and got a second solution.  I am interested to hear what folks came up with! I could see either of the words in my first solution being part of the official one, but the second one definitely seemed more amenable to a mate.

[Langue_doc]

Good morning!

Genius, with probably two pangrams.

Locomote? WTF!!! The example sentences on the web are hilarious. Here are some: We can locomote to the next town by car, train, boat or just plain old walking. Without a car for us to use, it seems like we'll need a different means to locomote to our destination. Before the advent of modern aircraft, trains were one of the most effective ways to locomote.

opened/debauchery. I found the latter first, and then tried for a past tense verb. The latter also reminded me of ravish which one of you found not too long ago, which in turn reminded me of the bodice rippers of yore which I tried to read once, a long time ago, but had to give up because of the monotony and blather.

ab_grp, I would love to hear about your night sky!

I saw downed trees and herons in Central Park yesterday, will write about it later.

Today I will be listening to the names of the deceased being read. I usually do so if I'm home for even part of the reading as I don't have to sit in front of the TV, but just have it on.

Happy solving, all!

[cathwen]

Good morning!

QB yesterday.  I turned to the Shunn-like part of Wordplay for my last three words yesterday:  coopt (which I thought was hyphenated), collet (another new word for me), and the word with the hilarious examples, locomote. 

Today I have both pangrams, and only three words to QB (6, 8, and 9 letters). 

LB:  Yesterday, I started off with propounded, then saw debauchery.  I then realized that I could reduce propounded to pound, but it did not occur to me to reduce pound to pond for the shmofficial solution.  So, pound-debauchery.  Langue_doc, we do seem to be in bodice-ripper territory!

I found a 2fer today without too much trouble.

Ab_grp, the tai chi was very relaxing—although it is a little different from the version I studied previously.  I'll catch on, though.  Much of it was familiar.  Yesterday I went to Zumba Gold (low impact), and realized that my feet are not used to so much dancing around.  I'll stick with the low impact version for a while.

And yes, tell us about the night sky!

9/11:  Twenty years ago already.  So many memories—some crystal-clear, others fuzzy.  We moved to New York, Battery Park City, just a couple of blocks from where the Twin Towers had been, two years later.  We could walk to the World Financial Center and look down on the piles of debris.  It was gut-wrenching. 

[ciao_yall]

Morning!

QB - 1, some new words and could not guess telecom for love or money.

LB - Impressed with you all! I never did find a 2fer but did find a 2fer b4ss bayou-unparched and lots of very tight 3fers such as cheap-pub-boundary. Hmm, that one kind of hints to debauchery, yes?

Happy solving!

[ciao_yall]

9/11:  Twenty years ago already.  So many memories—some crystal-clear, others fuzzy.  We moved to New York, Battery Park City, just a couple of blocks from where the Twin Towers had been, two years later.  We could walk to the World Financial Center and look down on the piles of debris.  It was gut-wrenching.

Need to stay off FB today. Lost a few friends on 9/11 so all the reminders of that day. And it's my estranged mother's birthday, which means a lot of reminders of grief and guilt of a different kind.

Yay, puzzles.

[ab_grp]

Good morning/afternoon!

Finally got to QB after getting the first letter of my final word from husband who had gotten QBABH, and GN4L was pretty easy today.  Not too tough, but I just wasn't seeing it.  Locomote was one of my final ones yesterday.  WTH! And collet was the one I guessed that got me to GN4L.  I think comet was one of the final ones because I thought I already had it.

For LB, I had chaperoned for a long time and kept trying with it, finally got debauchery as a mate.  Realized there are probably a lot easier solutions with the latter and got opened- with it and called it good.  It would have been nice if it had taken unchaperoned-debauchery!

We are fortunate to have a very clear night sky here with many more stars than I could have imagined being able to see.  The moon is a little creepy at times, as it comes up over the mountains from nothing to fully there in about 2 minutes flat and looks very huge a lot of the time.  Definitely not used to that.  We are also able to see shooting stars most of the year.  Ironically, during the famed meteor showers, the sky is often cloudy, which is unusual! Anyway, we have spent many hours out back watching the night sky.  Need to get the patio cleaned up and be able to sit out there again.  I have a telescope from my early adulthood that we have used once or twice to see things like the Galilean moons, but we should make better use of it.  I've always loved the night sky, and it's such a gift to be able to see it better here.

Cathwen, I'm glad you enjoyed the tai chi, even if it was a different style.  And I love Zumba! Never thought I would because I get shy about group activities like that, but one of my colleagues was an instructor and had a class after work on campus, and it was so fun! Even if people did not always move in the same direction.  I just looked Zumba Gold up, and that sounds like a great activity.  Interesting that it is for seniors but says from ages 40-85! I imagine getting back into the swing of it can be tough on your feet.  The music is so fun, too!

Today is a very hard day.  Too much of it hits close to home.  There is a wonderful memorial in my old area to the community members who were lost.  It's hard to believe it's been 20 years.  Hope everyone gets through it okay.

Langue_doc, please do tell us about what you saw in Central Park!

Happy solving!

ETA: Forgot to say congrats to cathwen on the 2fer today!

[Parasaurolophus]

Easy alpha for me today.

[ciao_yall]

QB with a word that I always think of as 2 words, not one.

LB - 2fer - found the first word pretty easily, and a tiny jog from the Forum blog made me realize what I was missing in the second. I kept thinking of a word that sounded like the second word and wanted another letter.