NYT Spelling Bee

[ab_grp]

Got a 2fer, thanks to Langue_doc! I actually had the second word but didn't get there with the first and am not sure I would have.  Thanks again!

[cathwen]

Good morning! 

Langue_doc, enjoy your outing today!  It's a beautiful day for it.

I did not get much beyond genius in SB yesterday.  When I looked at the answers, I saw many words that I've found in previous puzzles; why they seemed invisible yesterday is one of life's mysteries, I guess.  (Looking at you, allele.)

Today, I am at Beta with the pangram, and, as is usual at this point, running out of steam.

For yesterday's LB, I got exponents-swirled.  I have a solution today, too, again with normal words.  No "cool" ones today, ciao_yall!  No archaic forms that are surprisingly accepted.  No weird alloys!

Happy puzzling!

[ab_grp]

Good morning!

Congrats on yesterday's 2fer, cathwen! I tried exponents for a while but did not get anywhere with it.  I'm glad you found a mate for it! And congrats on your 2fer today! It is weird which words suddenly can't be seen in the bee despite having seen them many times before.  I know that I get stuck in patterns sometimes depending on the letters, and it's hard to see anything outside of the patterns.  Who knows.  I was just thrilled to get colleen this time, but I missed conceal and nonlocal.  Probably should have found the former, but I don't try as hard as I should with non-s because it's so hard to know what will even be accepted.

Today's bee seems really difficult for some reason.  It took me forever to get to genius, and now I am 4 words from QB, but they are all pretty long, so I am not really even near Alpha yet!

At least no calls today, so hopefully I can get more puzzling in.

Happy solving!

[ciao_yall]

Morning!

Thanks again to Langue_doc for excellent LB hinting. I had some good words but it wasn't coming together.

Agreed, ab_grp, on a slow start to SB.

First dinner party tonight in over a year. Everything is planned. Just need to pre-potch, pick up the fancy meat, help husband clean up and relax.

[ab_grp]

Hope your dinner party goes well, ciao_yall! I'm curious about what you ended up deciding on for dinner.

I have a few contenders for LB so far that use some of the tough letters of the day but are pretty short.  Haven't gotten back to the bee yet, still working on sudokus.

[ciao_yall]

Hope your dinner party goes well, ciao_yall! I'm curious about what you ended up deciding on for dinner.

I have a few contenders for LB so far that use some of the tough letters of the day but are pretty short.  Haven't gotten back to the bee yet, still working on sudokus.

One couple is bringing bruschetta as a starter.

I am making
- fennel-orange salad
- roast veal with lemon, capers and sun-dried tomatoes
- duck fat potatoes

The other couple is bringing dessert.

Still at amazing on SB but still finding easy words so genius is nigh. A few contenders for LB but no obvious start/end letters.

[ab_grp]

Well, even if you are stuck at amazing (for now), ciao_yall, that is an apt description of your dinner party menu! So you did manage to get your hands on some veal.  Yay! What time should we be over? yuk yuk yuk

I got one more bee word after husband and I compared hashes, and he still had to give me a hint as to the word I was missing that he had.  Boy howdy.  Still three longish ones to go with no ideas.  It doesn't seem to like most of the compound words I try.

[cathwen]

Ciao_yall, your dinner menu sounds amazing!  Enjoy this special occasion! 

I have two words to go until QB--one is six letters, the other nine.  I cannot begin to imagine what they might be.  I've twisted the letters around every which way--or so it seems--and have tried a variety of questionable compounds, none of which (unsurprisingly) were accepted.  QB is probably not in my future, but at least I've come close!  I'm happy enough with that.

[ab_grp]

Cathwen, I was just coming to update that out of sheer spite I found one of my three remaining words (8 letters) due to trying things like the 9-letter word I already had, still didn't get to Alpha, and then completely guessed the 9-letter word which is (I'm guessing) the one you're missing.  I was at the point where I was just putting in words that are like other words but missing a letter, and it took that one.  I am actually very familiar with the term, but I had no idea it was spelled that way! It is in the same vein as a four-letter word not in this puzzle that is also in a particular foreign language, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised it is accepted.  If you want any hints, let me know.  I guess I have your 6-letter word, and you have my 7!

[ab_grp]

Update: we finally straggled across the finish line to QB.  We were discussing possibilities, and I said I had tried X, he had tried a variation on that theme.  I figured I'd try to spell his variation differently, and bam.  Whew!!! Now to tomorrow's medium sudoku and trying to get a 2fer.  And a complicated tax form here and there in between.  Blech.

[Parasaurolophus]

A guess took me to beta, and I think I give up now.

[Langue_doc]

Good morning!

Battement!? I have not idea what that means. However, made it to above genius today, sans pangram.

LB: lump/productivity

Dinner menu sounds elegant and fun.

Trip was worth the hassle. The drive isn't bad on weekend mornings, even in the city. Once you're out of the city, some of the stretches are along rivers, with the last one along the Hudson. The area was by the river, almost across from West Point, so you get not only clean air but also nice views of the rolling hills. I made it in just over two hours on the return trip as most of the traffic was going in the opposite direction, presumably to hiking trails in the hills. Getting up early and trying to clear my brain at that time of the day was the hard part.

Happy solving, all!

[cathwen]

Good morning!

Langue_doc, my reaction was the same:  battement?!  I also missed mentee, which is at least a word I know.

Your outing sounds lovely!  The Hudson River valley is beautiful. 

Ab_grp, congratulations on QB! 

Today, SB stands at genius with no pangram.  It's a long one today.

My LB solution yesterday was dump-proclivity, the same as the "official" one.  I found a 2fer today as well. 

It's a dreary, rainy day today, so I will probably spend most some of it tweaking the final exam.  And reading discussion postings and chiming in from time to time with my 2¢.

Ciao_yall, we want to hear about that dinner party!

[ab_grp]

Good morning!

My final three words were abetment, battement, emanant (which we were spelling incorrectly).  I just tried battement because I thought maybe I had misheard the word for some type of fortification (battlements?), but when I looked it up after it was accepted I realized it is a ballet move that I have done a thousand times in my youth.  I had no idea it was spelled that way.  Hmm! I think they also accept plie but not barre for whatever reason.

Today I'm at Alpha (274) with five words to go.  Took a while for the pangram, though, which is sort of ironic.

Congrats on the beta, Parasaurolophus.  That was a tough puzzle.

And congrats on your 2fer yesterday and today, cathwen! I could not figure it out yesterday.  Hopefully I'll have better luck today.

Sounds like a wonderful outing, Langue_doc! I've spent a fair amount of time in the Hudson River valley on hikes and at an annual conference that used to be held there (in the fall, which was beautiful!).  It's great that you avoided most of the city traffic issues.  Timing is everything.  I am with you on the early morning brain fog clearing challenges, though.  My ex and I used to have to get up pretty early to do day hiking up in NY or further out in PA or to head out for noon college football games at 4 AM. :-(  Luckily, he drove. It can definitely be worth the effort, though.  I'm so glad you enjoyed it.  And congrats on your 2fer as well!

Yes, a dinner party report would be very much of interest.

Happy solving!

[ciao_yall]

Morning!

Dinner party was fun. I'm definitely a little out of practice with my cooking skills but it all turned out fine, though I can think of things to do differently next time. Drank a lot of wine.

SB yesterday - barely tipped into genius, but lots of unfamiliar words. Abetment, ameba, amebae, battement... At genius today, with no pangram.

LB yesterday - just didn't get anywhere. Did manage to solve it in 4 but really? This morning - just solved in 4. ETA: 3fer! Hope the 2fer is nigh. It's been a while since I've gotten one.