NYT Spelling Bee

[cathwen]

Well, ab_grp, you're ahead of me.  I'm at 178, so at least I made Beta.  But I agree with ciao_yall, it's a slog.

[ab_grp]

I think we should celebrate Beta every day, but today for sure.  I just took another crack at it for 15 or so minutes straight and got nowhere.  Still something like 35 points left to QB! I was complaining that yesterday's didn't have enough interesting words, but this one's words might be too interesting for me to find.  I have no idea.  Husband and I may just end up comparing lists at the next break at this rate.

[Langue_doc]

Made it to 186. I just looked at yesterday's solution--deice? Now that I'm typing, I get it. It's still pronounced as a bisyllabic word? I kept saying it with the pronunciation for 'dice' to see if it reminded me of any words and only then did I hit on de-ice.

Tried a few words with LB, but no solutions yet.

Did anyone get the crown--QB?

ETA Congrats on your combined scores, ab_grp!

[ab_grp]

Congrats on 186, Langue_doc! We stopped when I had 185, compared, and got to 195 I think after donating back and forth (still not Alpha!).  I finally ran the program and had to supplement with answers from the answer site.  Good gravy.  We have missed some of these before but probably would not have found them.  Ugh!

Will get back to LB and hard sudoku. 

[ciao_yall]

SB - gave up when I tipped into genius (YAY!) Then got re-inspired when the WSJ crossword puzzle suggested another word. It worked, so I hit the comments board and hit 210 so Alpha. Yes, it's a tricky one today. Still won't see Queen Bee as even the super clues weren't enough to Google.

[Langue_doc]

Yesterday's SB: enhalo? agelong? galena? The Kindle keeps correcting all three.  I often miss naan, nana, gala, gaga, and gonna, so can't blame Kindle for these omissions.

Genius today with the pangram.

LB was whimper/recreation and cowcatcher/repairman. I'd been trying to find a compound with 'cow' for most of the evening--well, not quite 'most', but I did make an effort. I like my second pair as it reminds me of trains, and because I've always tried to imagine cows getting scooped up by cowcatchers.

[cathwen]

Well, I quit at 178 yesterday on SB.  I can't believe I missed naan, allele, and haggle.  But enhalo?  And, it accepted gonna, but not hella.   I kept seeing Ganelon, the evil villain of La Chanson de Roland, but of course could not use it. 

I got to genius on today's SB, but have not yet found the pangram. 

Langue_doc, I love cowcatcher/repairman!  And I've always wondered if cowcatchers did, in fact, catch cows (or were effective in coaxing them off the tracks).

My LB answer yesterday was WHOMP-PRECANTATION.  I tried precantation after getting whomp--I'd never heard the word before, and thought it was iffy--but was surprised when LB accepted it.  I found a 2-fer today that seems a lot more 'normal'.

[ciao_yall]

Yes, enhalo was the word in the WSJ puzzle that made me decide to restart.  In the end I missed gage and nonagonal. One of the hints on the comments board was essentially the Wikipedia entry for longan. I think the SB writers are kicking it up a notch.

Yesterday's LB was whimper-recreation. Not as clean as the official solution (and I love cowcatcher-repairman, Langue_doc). I need to think about more compound words when doing LB.

On to today's...
 

[ab_grp]

Good morning!

Sounds like we had a lot of similar issues with yesterday's bee.  We also missed naan, despite usually getting that one.  The program had to give me that one and gonna (argh!), the database gave me longan (argh, just missed that one recently!) and agelong (also recently missed), and the answer site gave me enhalo and edenic.  Oh well! It burns my bucket that they will take enhalo but not so many of the other en- words, let alone non- words.

Good job all around on LB yesterday, too! Lots of solutions! I was trying to make WHAMP work so I could go with my contender PRECONCEPTION. No go, and I forgot to get back to it.  Langue_doc, you made me realize I don't really know what happened to the cows that were caught with cow catchers. 

I'm at 149 on bee today, so just about at Alpha? About 17 points left, so I guess there could be another pangram and that's it, or a few words. 

[ciao_yall]

I think a cowcatcher was designed to scoop the critter off the tracks rather than have it hit by the train and block all that commerce. Not sure people were too concerned about the state of the cow as long as the trains could keep running.

Today's LB is a snarl of B4SS blocks! Managed to get a "congrats you solved in 6 words" but puh-leeze. They don't know what a fast crowd I'm running with these days.

ETA: SB wouldn't take (decided to remove it in case people don't like the fact that it might suggest other words).

[ciao_yall]

Update - genius on SB.

2fer on LB but not official as the magic system says it's not a word, even if it is a word. So I'm keeping it for now.

[ab_grp]

Congrats on genius, ciao_yall! And if you have even an unaccepted solution, you are further than I am on LB.  I have what I think is a good contender but need to find a mate.  I'll try to work on it a bit on and off tonight on my phone.

I don't know how the rest of the crowd is feeling, but I'm not feeling too fast today! We got derailed when husband had to go into work for something quick that ended up being 10+ hours, poor guy is still not home yet and won't be for a while.  I haven't looked at the bee since out of consideration for my bee buddy, so hopefully we can take a look at some point or just give up at rounded to Alpha.

Did get today's and tomorrow's sudokus done, plus some real work and chores.

[Langue_doc]

Today's puzzles are a drag. 140 points on SB and no progress on LB. It's two-fer or bust, so it's going to be a bust.

Sudokus are done; I'll deal with the crossword tomorrow.

Goodnight all, and Happy Valentine's Day tomorrow.

[ciao_yall]

Went to the cheat site for LB and... headdesk. I had the first word but not the second. Surprisingly close to my illegal 2fer.

[ab_grp]

Good morning, and Happy Valentine's Day!

Ciao_yall, it's great if you had even one of the words.  I got stuck trying to make MAHARAJA work. 

I saw a note on the crossword that it might not render well in iOS14, but I figured I could skip over to the website version if need be.  Seemed to work out similarly to husband's on Android, though I didn't understand why some of the theme stuff was done that way. 

Oh yeah, when things finally settled last night, we compared bee lists and figured we each had one word the other didn't have given # points and # words.  It ended up that we complemented each other and got to QB! Today I'm at 159, so not even at Beta yet.  One pangram so far.

My valentine may have to go into work again, in the building snowstorm, so I guess I'll do Duolingos and real work until the next sudokus come out in the afternoon.