NYT Spelling Bee

[Langue_doc]

ab_grp, it must be a relief to have the surgery scheduled, even though the recovery would be smack in the middle of Christmas. As for jury duty, I find it troubling that responsible law-abiding people have to jump through hoops instead of making just a phone call explaining the conflict. I would suggest contacting your elected official to apprise them of the situation so that you have someone on your side just in case the court people are not very competent and/or short-staffed.

I probably have just a few words left on the bee. I looked at LB, and promptly closed that tab.

[cathwen]

Good afternoon!

QB yesterday with entente as my last word.  Today I am at genius and not finding this an easy SB at all.  Langue_doc, it sounds as though you're really close to QB! 

LB:  I had flotation-numbrous.  I didn't think that was a word, but it took.  I have a 2fer today, too, which I found just as I was about to throw in the metaphoric towel.

Ab_grp, the high quality of your surgical team is very reassuring.  Having faith in your medical team makes the whole thing less stressful than it would be otherwise.

As for jury duty, I bet the Official Juror Person gets all kinds of excuses all the time, many of which are flimsy, others outright lies.  Think of all the lame excuses we as professors get from students!  Still, it is annoying to have to justify yourself when you know that (a) the situation is serious, and (b) you are telling the truth. In your case, the procedure for asking to be excused seems unnecessarily complicated. 

Now to see if I can at least get to Beta on SB.  Happy puzzling!

[Langue_doc]

Good morning!

Pangram and an uphill climb to 200 points. I don't have the energy or inclination to go chasing for more words today.

Don't recall the last word in yesterday's bee, but found several common words (patriot, portray, portrait, potato, and a few others) after I had almost given up. I think the last word was a rather innocuous one because I recall thinking that I should have seen it much earlier in the puzzle.

Happy solving!

ETA: twofer, after a dry spell.

[cathwen]

Good morning!

I never did finish the Bee yesterday.  The remaining words were papyri, partita, portrait, portray, raptor, and rattrap.  Today I am at genius, but missing the pangram. 

LB:  I was about to give up, then found the "official" unzip-photobombed.  I got a 2fer today on the first try!  That hasn't happened in a while.

I graded all exams yesterday and entered course grades in Banner.  So far, no complaints.  Now I can turn my full attention to preparing for the holidays. 

Happy puzzling!

[ab_grp]

Good morning!

I didn't get to genius yet and don't have the pangram, either! Geez.  Husband doesn't have it either.  Yesterday I think I got down to three or four words by the time we compared.  I know I was missing patio, portrait, tapir.  And we both needed Shunn and Steve G to finally guess partita.  Question: I saw that Shunn had there being one 7-letter compound starting with p.  But the only 7-letters were patriot, pitapat, portray, partita.  I guess the first three could be broken up into words, but I didn't think of them as compounds.  Am I being dumb, or does anyone know which one he might have been referring to? Or both?

Yesterday's LB looked quite difficult! Congrats, cathwen! I don't think I would have found that one.  And congrats on yours today, as well as to Langue_doc!

Just an update that I logged into the juror portal to upload the subsequent letter from the surgical group and found that the judge had excused me.  Later, I got a text and email to that effect, also indicating that I am excused for the remainder of my term (rest of December).  Hooray for that, at least.

Happy solving!

[Langue_doc]

Hope you found the pangram cathwen and ab_grp. I was immediately reminded of one of your responses to my recent complaint in a post not too long ago. This is sort of a hint, but not quite.

As for Shunn, I don't think I've ever consulted it, but I do agree that there were no 7-letter compounds in yesterday's bee. Perhaps Shunn was thinking of an earlier puzzle? The only p-initial compound was paratroop. Perhaps rattrap?

ab_grp, glad to hear that you have been excused from jury duty. You didn't need the hassle this particular week, did you?

Enjoy the holiday prep, cathwen!

[ciao_yall]

Usually I make it to Genius ABM for the Bee. But yesterday was also a slog for me and I just made it to Amazing! Finally went to the hints and realized I missed a lot of easy words, but did learn a new one partita. Seems like a lot of folks were going through that. Maybe because the last few days were so short?

And, no 2fer but a close 3fer unzip-pot-thumbed.

Today, Amazing but no pangram but I did get a quick 2fer.

Happy solving!

[ab_grp]

I made it to genius but still no pangram.  I will see if I can find or recall the post you are referring to, Langue_doc.  Anything helps!

Congrats on your 2fer today, ciao_yall! I haven't found one yet but am hopeful.

Cathwen, I meant to say congrats on finishing your school work! I hope you get to relax while holiday prepping!

Langue_doc, thanks also for easing my mind about the 7-letter compound starting with p yesterday.  I took a screenshot and it definitely listed only one compound p, and that at 7 letters.  Maybe it did mean 8, for paratroop.  There was a 7-letter r listed as well, for rattrap.

ETA: Finally got the pangram!

[Langue_doc]

Good morning!

Pangrams and just genius; there's probably another pangram or two given the number of points for getting to genius.

Made it to QB yesterday, after all. Last word was cranial. As for the pangram, I found anarchic first, and was reminded of the recent discussion on words such as tyrannic not being accepted. I tried anarchical just for fun and was surprised when it was accepted.

congruent/trivial

Off for a bird walk. It's Audubon's Christmas bird count weekend in town. It's cold today, and the walk is in a windy location, so I'm going to be overdressed for the weather, most likely.

Happy solving!

[cathwen]

Good morning!

One word shy of QB yesterday—even with help.  The missing word was arnica.  I know I've seen this before, but I just didn't see it yesterday.  Today I'm at beta with all three pangrams, but struggling.

LB: I had a less economical version of the "official" answer: convent-triangular.  I have a 2fer today, too, that is very uneconomical!  If I have time, I may search for another one.

Langue_doc, enjoy your bird walk! 

Happy puzzling!

[ab_grp]

Good morning!

Not to genius yet, and I only have two pangrams.  Yesterday we had team QB, but I was missing arnica (again!) and arcana.  Thank you, Langue_doc, for that help! It must have primed something, because the pangram appeared to me, and I was also able to give husband a similar hint, so he finally got it.

You all are some smarties.  I had no luck with LB despite having components of all the solutions.  Argh! Just couldn't put them together.    Congrats on another today as well, cathwen!

Langue_doc, I hope your bird walk goes well and that you see lots of them! And lots of different ones.  Stay warm!

Happy solving!

[ciao_yall]

Yesterday topped out at Amazing ABM, no pangram. That's two days in a row I haven't achieved Genius ABM before I finally hit the grid and hints to get QB. New word arnica.

LB covet-triangulate. Quick 3fers this morning so hope a 2fer will pop out soon.

[ab_grp]

Finally got the third pangram as a guess and got to genius. 

And I got a 2fer on my first try! Happy for that after a few days of failure.

[Langue_doc]

Good morning!

Pangram which came easily, and then quite a slog to above genius.

Yesterday I found orangutan early on because of the letter display after one of the shuffles, and then argonaut, which I remembered from reading about Jason and the Argonauts as a child. I'd always assumed that the latter was a proper noun, so was surprised to see it accepted. Didn't get around to the rest of the words after getting back, but would most likely not have seen guarantor or rotgut, despite having encountered the latter in more than one bee. There were just a few other missed words.

cubits/scholarly

There weren't too many birds for our count yesterday, but we did see a common loon flying over the water, a pair of black ducks, a few cormorants, a great blue heron flying rather low in what appeared to be a leisurely bird saunter, a pair of red-tailed hawks, a cooper's hawk, assorted other birds (blue jays, titmice, chickadees, goldfinches, gulls, and a few more), a downy woodpecker that seemed to be following us, and a red-tailed hawk (probably not the pair that was flying overhead) sitting on a tree. The other group saw an orange-crowned warbler and a kestrel, but didn't see the loon. After the walk, one of the participants was heading toward the fountain near cathwen's old stomping grounds to see the redhead duck that had been sighted there.

Happy solving!

[ciao_yall]

Not a great puzzle day for me yesterday - blaming this head cold. Only got to Amazing with one pangram ABM, then hit the hints for QB. Last word rotgut. Today at least hit GwP so maybe my brain is coming back?

LB - 2fer b4ss bush-historicaly then lots of 3fers  including chart-torus-stability and with a hint realized I could make chorus-stability.

Let's see how today goes. Happy solving!