NYT Spelling Bee

[cathwen]

Wow, ab_grp—QB already!  Congratulations!  I just got to genius. 

Still no LB solution. 

[Langue_doc]

I've always thought of tuskers as adult male elephants.

[ab_grp]

Thanks, cathwen! Good luck!

Langue_doc, that's what the online dictionary said about tuskers.  It makes sense, but I guess I just hadn't heard the term before.  But if you managed to get palapa yesterday in the bee, there are probably a lot of terms you know that I don't! And yep, we talked about maillot a few weeks ago, swimsuits often seen in teen/young adult fashion mags a few (or more) years ago.  I haven't really seen that used so frequently in recent years.

I have a good contender for LB, but it won't take any of the mates I've tried.  I guess I'll work on finding some new contenders.  Given that six was part of the schmofficial solution yesterday, I guess not fixating on long words would help, though I would guess one might find cantankerous first and then make the mate from the leftovers, rather than the other way around.

[cathwen]

Yesterday I kept seeing pili-pala, the Welsh word for butterfly.  Unfortunately, SB does not accept Welsh!

I have found some really good words in LB, but as yet, cannot do anything with the remaining letters.  This might not be my best puzzle day!

[ab_grp]

Cathwen, I would still try it.  You never know what they will accept, it seems.  Plenty of foreign words.  I was unhappy that taillamp was in there but not oillamp.  And why not lamplit when they allow daylit? I'm sure there is some distinction, but it is beyond me.

I also have a bunch more good contenders, but no luck.  I keep seeing the same couple letters in my remainders, so I guess I should work on those.  Having TH next to each other is unfortunate.  Good luck!

[cathwen]

Thanks for the pep talk, ab_grp!  I'll take another crack at SB. 

I just found a 2fer for LB—normal words.

I agree that TH on the same side is irksome.  Also OU. 

[Langue_doc]

Congrats on the QB ab_grp, and the twofer, cathwen.

Just found a twofer after finding many, many long words. Also QB.

ab_grp, I too found it frustrating that some of the lamp words weren't accepted yesterday. Today it wouldn't accept malacca; I would have made it to super QB if it had accepted Michael, Michaela, Himmel as in "Gott in Himmel", and a few other words ;).

[ab_grp]

Langue_doc, congrats on the QB+! I have thought about proposing a sort of super QB and counting other words we've found, but I didn't have a good framework for it.  I always try names, though.  My PhD advisor's last name was in one puzzle, and the full name of one of my colleagues was in another (these are all uncommon names, so I guess I couldn't really post them, but I just think it's mildly interesting)! But there are also all the not-accepted words that I think we should get credit for.  Also Heimlich today! I think that should be able to stand on its own without capitalization now, like calling a copy a xerox.

And congrats on your 2fers to you and to cathwen!

[ab_grp]

Huzzah! I finally got a 2fer after changing my approach to be a little more grounded.

[ciao_yall]

I tried heimlich as well.

Lots of tight 3fers but no 2fer... hope it appears soon.

[Langue_doc]

ab_grp, I also tried Heimlich. I even looked up the spelling, just in case.

I'm getting off the computer now as I've been in a stimulating book discussion meeting the last couple of hours.

[ciao_yall]

Finally hit the online solver. Got it! Had a bunch of great words and 3fers but alas, was not to be.

Will check in tomorrow.

[Parasaurolophus]

I'm ten short of genius but found a second pangram, which it inexplicably rejected.

[ciao_yall]

Greetings from the nightly water-bathroom-puzzles loop!

SB yesterday - new word - lamella. Means a gill, like on a bivalve or mushroom. Parasaurolophus what was your second pangram?

Genius, 2 pangrams for today.

LB yesterday - a little poke from the online solver and I got font-triumphal. I had humph and trump and a 3fer frontal-lump-phi which got pretty close. Lots of good 3fers but just didn't bring it together - hafnium-mortal-lap, flair-ruminant-tophat, morph-half-fruition.

Poked at it a bit this morning but I think I'll go back to bed. ETA: 2fer already! Very easy one.

[Langue_doc]

Good morning!

Two pangrams and slightly above genius.

Phantom/multiflora

Seems to be a very late night or early morning, ciao_yall.

Happy solving, all!