NYT Spelling Bee

[cathwen]

Good morning! 

QB yesterday with help to find binary (which I should have seen) and briary, which I never would have. Today I am only two words away from QB.

LB:  No solution yesterday, but I have a 2fer today!

Ab_grp, I'll be eager to learn what the new bird is—it will surely return. 

Langue_doc, the whole Hyde Park visit will be wonderful. When we lived up the river, my husband and I would often spend Saturdays driving down the Hudson, visiting various sites.  The FDR Library and home are must-sees—and also the Vanderbilt Mansion!  Lunch at the CIA will be excellent. 

My cousin is a CIA grad, and it kept him out of Vietnam.  As a new inductee, he was in the mess tent stirring a big pot of stew (or something) when an officer came in and asked, "Does anyone here know how to make souffléed potatoes?"  "I do, sir," my cousin answered.  "Then come with me."  My cousin had to make them for one of the generals, who was pleased with the result.  My cousin was then hired to cook for the top brass and spent his two years in Tokyo doing just that.

Anyway...happy puzzling!

[ab_grp]

Cathwen, the other bird we were taking pics of and recording was one that is around here often.  I can tell because it's quite the loud mouth.  Cactus wren: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Cactus_Wren/id#  It says it's similar in size to a spotted towhee, and I think towhee was a bee word at one point (one I did not get), so hurrah.  This cactus wren is really loud.  I think I mentioned a loud mouth before.  When it sits above us in the tree and yammers every few seconds, it's very difficult to get any puzzling done! The other loud mouth that comes around (not as bad, though) is Gambel's quail: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Gambels_Quail/id

And that is a neat story about your cousin! He must have been a good cook.  Does he cook professionally now or still like to cook, at least? Congrats on your 2fer, and good luck on your final two bee words!

[Parasaurolophus]

I cancelled my subscription. I've been meaning to for a while, in light of their stoking the anti-trans moral panic.

But my remaining subscription will last into November. So. I may continue the games until then. We'll see.

[ciao_yall]

QBwH for militiaman. LB firth-hemophiliac.

Happy solving!

[ab_grp]

Good morning!

Got to genius with the pangram so far.  I ran out of time yesterday and had a bunch of words left.  I think militiaman was the only one we were both missing, though.

No luck again on LB.  Congrats, ciao_yall! I thought homeplate might be part of the solution since they sometimes have timely ones (opening day MLB), and then I got homeopathic and was sure that would be a hit.  Nope.

Happy solving!

[cathwen]

Good morning!

I am also at genius with the pangram, and now stuck.  Yesterday I needed a nudge to find natant, which I was sure I had put down earlier.

LB:  I had amplifier-reclothe.  I have one today as well.

Ab_grp, the cactus wren's eastern cousin, the Carolina wren, is also a loudmouth!  We have a number of them around here, and their sassy song makes me smile.  https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Carolina_wren

Happy puzzling!

[Langue_doc]

Good morning!

Pangram and genius. Made it to QB yesterday. The last word was attain--this, despite vainly trying attaint several times.

photometric/calf

cathwen, that's a lovely story about your cousin. I recall visiting the Vanderbilt museum/house years ago with ex-spouse, and also the CIA. When I walked in, I recalled the lobby, the restaurants, and also the classrooms which were exactly the way they were all those years ago. The classrooms and kitchens are worth looking at (needless to say, you can only look at the kitchens and the prep sites through the glass walls). The FDR museum was quite moving. I mentioned to my lunch mates that there was no mention of FDR's lady friend, but when I went back after lunch to see the downstairs exhibits, saw the single plaque noting that Laura Mercer was with FDR when he died and that Eleanor was quite upset because the visits were facilitated by their daughter Anna.

As for birds, I do not want to hear about the Carolina wren 😉! I hear them first thing in the morning, long before sunrise because they've taken over my neighbor's trees.

Today was a good birding day. As I was getting my things out, I came across another birding group, on its way out (they bird at 6:30 in the morning) who told me about the bittern https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Bittern/id they had seen along one of the ponds. The leader, who I know from previous walks even showed me the picture he had taken. When we meandered to that spot about a couple of hours later, the bird was still there, under a flowering cherry tree, all stretched out, facing us, and continued to stay in the same pose for quite some time. We also saw other birds including a kestrel https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Kestrel/id. More on the kestrel I saw yesterday later.

Happy solving!

[ciao_yall]

Morning!

QBwH for betook. LB - started with cot-tantalize-exhibit then got a hint for calzone-exhibit. But quick 2fer this morning.

Happy solving!

[Langue_doc]

Good morning!

Pangram (first word) and well above genius. Last word yesterday was boob.

laicize/exhibition (I think)

Happy solving!

[cathwen]

Good morning!

QBABM this morning!  Yesterday I needed help to find bootee (which has been in the Bee before), but kopek/kopeck were words I would never have gotten on my own. 

LB:  I had laicize-exhibition.  I found a 2fer rather quickly this morning also—ciao_yall, I wonder if it's the same one?  We'll find out tomorrow!

Happy puzzling!

[ab_grp]

Good morning!

One more word to go today, dangit.  Congrats, cathwen! Hopefully I'll figure mine out soon.  Yesterday we were both missing kopec(k) and would also never have gotten them.  We needed the first three letters and a bunch of guessing.

For LB I also had laicize-exhibition, but it took me a long while.  Today I also found one quickly! They could very well all be the same solution.

Regarding birds, cathwen, I am sure I have heard that Carolina wren call before, maybe from many years living in that area.  Very chatty! And Langue_doc, that's already quite a variety of birds between the bittern and kestrel! One grand, the other petite.  Sounds like the bittern found a photogenic place to stretch out, too.

Happy solving!

[ab_grp]

Yay I got QBABM! Whew.

[ciao_yall]

Congrats ab_grp!

QBwG and a word I thought I made up dimity. LB halves-skewering. Quick 2fer this morning.

Happy solving!

[Langue_doc]

Good morning!

Pangram and genius. Last word yesterday was doomy--didn't think this was a word, but who knew?

halves/skewering

Weird dreams last night. First I dreamt that I was on a bird walk, but got left behind, and then caught up with one of the leaders, walked quite a ways along what I thought was the wrong direction, and then was told that the leader was going home, and I should find my way to the rest of the group. Then as I was walking along, had to get out of the way of a large jeep full of unruly passengers driving on the sidewalk, and then finally found the train station and a train to NYC, which brought me to St. Patrick's (none of the train or bus stations are near the cathedral) where a mass was about to begin, and there was the prelate surrounded by assault-weapon toting security guards--remember thinking that this must be new and how difficult it must have been for the employees to learn how to operate these weapons.

Happy solving!

[ab_grp]

Good morning!

Got to genius with pangram so far.  Yesterday my final words were tidy, ditto.  I don't know why they were escaping me.  Thanks, ciao_yall!

For LB, I had whisker-revealing.  So I guess we didn't all have the same one! Congrats on yours, ciao_yall (and another today) and Langue_doc!

That is a weird dream, Langue_doc! It's funny to think of where all the pieces could have come from and how they all came together for this narrative.  Could you figure out the theme? The latter part reminds me of being in Rome during Holy Week and flying home on Easter, with all the airport guards and their frightening weapons.  I had never seen that before.  I don't think it was specific to the holiday. 

Husband got called into work last night, so we didn't get to bed until the wee hours.  :-( !! Certainly, what I needed was less sleep.  At least I got some brussels sprouts made and got some items checked off today's to-do list, but I am dragging.  I've also been trying a new sleep-enhancing wearable, but it doesn't seem to be working correctly, so that's on the to-do as well.

Happy solving!