NYT Spelling Bee

[monarda]

Have any of you all ever submitted missing SB words to the indicated email (buzzwords@nyt)? A couple of days ago, I found three.
two acids (tartaric and muriatic) everyone puts cream of tartar in whipped egg whites (they're not identical I know). And muriatic acid is for sale at Home Depot.

Also urticaria, which is a not terribly esoteric skin ailment. 

I see there's a statement that they try and avoid words that aren't commonly known, but these three didn't seem out of the ordinary. In the same puzzle, citric (another acid) was accepted.

Another newbie question, how to I find the letterbox on the phone app? I can find it on my computer, but don't know where to look on the phone.

[ab_grp]

Good morning!

Tomorrow is always another day, as they say, and today is definitely different than yesterday! The crossword was excruciating but finally solved.  We each have 6 or 7 words to QB but not Alpha, did get GN4L at least.  I think henge was my final word.  That one always takes me a while.

My LB solution was gangsta-ambulatory yesterday.  I thought that might be schmofficial, but I guess not!

Monarda, I have submitted one word, which was an obvious one that they ended up getting a LOT of mail about (cope).  So go ahead and submit ones that you think should be in there! I'm sure you're not the only one, but if everyone thinks that, then no one will submit anything.  As for the app, I don't think Letter Boxed is available in the app.  I followed some easy instructions to make an icon on my phone that takes me to it, but it really just opens up in Safari (I have iOS, so this may vary).  But at least it is easy to find.  I moved the icon near my NYT games app that has the other games so I can get to it more easily.  You can scroll down to #8 here to see how: https://help.nytimes.com/hc/en-us/articles/360029050872-Word-Games-and-Logic-Puzzles  Note that it is a little out of date since it says the bee is also not available in the app.  But it gives you the general instructions for adding an icon for the bee in iOS and Android, and under that it provides the links to the other games, so you can just follow the general instructions with whichever game you choose.  I hope they do put it in the app at some point, but I hope this helps.

Happy solving!

[cathwen]

Good morning!

I got to QB-1 ABM, then had to turn to WP for the last word: hieing. I guess I never thought about how to spell the past tense of hie, but now I know.

Monarda, I also tried urticaria and tartaric.  I think I will also complain about their omission from words that count. 

Ciao_yall, we once again have the same LB solution:  sonograms-subtly. 

Today's puzzling is going very slowly.  I'm only at Amazing on SB (no pangram), and I have no 2fer for LB.  On the other hand,I found the sudokus fairly easy, so at least there's that.

Happy puzzling, everyone!

[Parasaurolophus]

Oh, duh, albums. Dagnabbit!

[ab_grp]

Sounds like you were pretty close to the solution yesterday, Parasaurolophus!

I got to one word from QB, so hopefully I can get all the way without help.  We shall see.  I am struggling a bit with hard sudoku, so that first.  I do have some good contenders for LB, but nothing yet.

[onthefringe]

Nice 2fers everyone (though I especially love that "gangsta" is a word ! Mine yesterday was gymnasts-subnormal. Inefficient, but got it done.

Monarda— Not sure if the phone app is the same as the iPad, but on the iPad I have to scroll way down to a section called "play" and then over to the right to find LB (I can only "see" QB and crosswords on the screen until I scroll over)

[ab_grp]

Onthefringe, I was happy that it took gangsta since ambulatory came right to me.  And it's neat that you can see the LB puzzle in your app on the iPad! Much more convenient!

I did make it to QBABM and finally conquered the hard sudoku.  It's amazing how coming back to puzzles after a break tends to help.  Will it help with LB? Guess we shall see.

[cathwen]

Congratulations on QBABY, ab_grp! 

I finally broke through my SB blindness and got within a few words of QB.  Then I caved and consulted Shunn/WP and got the rest. So, QBWATHICG.  The words I was missing weren't even hard ones—it's one of those days when I have trouble seeing things and just get frustrated.

Which brings me to LB.  I finally found a 2fer, but only after an outrageous amount of time spent looking for it! 

[ab_grp]

Thanks, cathwen, and congrats on your QB as well! It is so hard to see some of the words sometimes.  And congrats on your 2fer! No luck here, yet, but I did do some vacuuming at least.  I will get back to it! It's a little daunting to hear that it was so difficult!

[Langue_doc]

Evening! QB yesterday, and albums/strongly.

Just got back from a long day/trip, so haven't made any progress since the pangram and almost genius this morning.

Trip report coming up tomorrow--not as many birds as I had hoped to see, but the usual herons, egrets, ospreys, towhees, and several warbler subspecies.

[ciao_yall]

Morning!

QB with help for iambi, taiga. Two words I should have remembered from previous puzzles.

LB with help to get windbag-gumption. I had gumption in many 3fers but just couldn't see windbag. Oh well, today is a new day.

Happy solving!

[ab_grp]

Good morning/afternoon!

We are really struggling on the bee again today! Neither of us have gotten to genius because neither of us have the pangram.  So I haven't done 4-letter words yet, but even if I just did them I would be one point shy of genius.  I need either the pangram or both of my other words that aren't 4 letters in order to get to genius! Egad.  Yesterday my final one was gimme.  I'm glad I found it, because I would have been irked about that one!

Had lots of contenders yesterday but couldn't figure out how to get all the difficult letters to work together.  I salute those who got 2fers! Hopefully today is easier.

Looking forward to the outing recap, Langue_doc!

Happy solving!

[Langue_doc]

Afternoon!

Difficult bee today. I'm also struggling with the crossword but found an easy two-fer. I think I made it past genius yesterday.

Trip report coming later today, ab_grp. Breakfast first.

[cathwen]

Good afternoon!

A difficult puzzle today.  It took me eons to get to genius, and that was without the pangram.  I didn't even try GN4L because I needed every point I could get just to make it that far.

Yesterday my last words were beige (!!) and tibiae.

LB:  I also had windbag-gumption yesterday.  Were there other solutions? Although I struggled with LB yesterday, today I found a 2fer without too much trouble. 

I am also looking forward to the outing report!

Happy puzzling!

[ab_grp]

Argh, got one of the three non-4s I had remaining.  Not the pangram! So still one point to genius.  I will not give up (yet)!! Husband did get the pangram, finally, but I think he still has 3 other words left.  Maybe I can get my other non-pangram, non-4 and get to genius.  What a day.  Cathwen, I definitely understand giving up on the GN4L hunt.  I don't want to, but just one little word would get me to genius.  Waah.

Congrats on getting a 2fer today, Langue_doc and cathwen! I am also interested to hear if there were other solutions yesterday, but any solution sounds like a real victory for that group of letters.

Langue_doc, enjoy breakfast, and good luck with the crossword! We each had errors to fix but eventually found them.