NYT Spelling Bee

[ab_grp]

Good morning!

Langue_doc, I am so happy to hear that you are enjoying your outings and extending your activities to do more of the things that make you happy!! Congrats on QB yesterday! Deer are a pain when they eat everything, but better than the times of year when they end up unpredictably in the roadways.

I got to 358/67 so far today, was hoping to make it to Alpha during coffee but will try again later.  I *think* I have all six pangrams, but there are so many freaking words.  Sorry to hear about oleo, ciao_yall.  You were very close, though!! Hopefully your extra time today will help.  Definitely a loooong puzzle.  And cathwen, my final word was botnet, but I had some help as far as how long and what letter, and it still took a while.  Ugh.

For LB, I had bounder-refixation, which is a pretty dumb solution but worked.  I like cathwen's better than mine and better than the schmofficial one.  And congrats on already getting one today!

I've got today's sudokus ahead but luckily not a huge amount on the agenda compared to previous and future days. 

Happy solving!

[ciao_yall]

Finally tipped into genius. What a slog! Yes, 6 panagrams.

[ab_grp]

Congrats, ciao_yall!

I have one more danged word to QB.  Definitely relying on Shunn's help toward the end, here.

[cathwen]

Wow, ab_grp, QB-1!  You'll get there!

I have five words to go, all seven and eight letters.  Shunn has been very helpful, but although I know the first two letters of all the remaining words, they're just not coming to me.  Ugh!

[ab_grp]

Thanks, cathwen! Your support worked, and I finally figured out the final word! Whew! I hope you figure(d) yours out! There were two eight-letters in my final three.  Yuck, my nemesis word length!

Haven't found a solution on LB yet, but I feel like I'm close.

ETA: Okay, I found a nice contender that only leaves two danged, letters.  This has to work. 

[ciao_yall]

Well into genius, and a 2fer as well.

Big stack of grading and  my reward will be to go to the shunn site. Living la vida nerdy.

[Parasaurolophus]

Found 5 pangrams but am still 50 short of genius  0_o

[cathwen]

Ab_grp, I'm preparing the confetti and hiring the brass band for that ticker tape parade!  And good luck on LB!

I'm two words short of QB now, and I just can't figure them out.  They are both 8 letters, and I even know the first two letters, thanks to Shunn.  I don't think I'll be joining that parade, but at least I've gotten close, and way closer than I imagined I would.

[ciao_yall]

Still short, even with shunn and a little aided recall. More grading and then I'll go to the big guns - the Wordplay column with the reader-posted definitions.

[ciao_yall]

Still 7 points short from QB and even with hints and Google, can't figure it out. Okay, fine.

I shall bask in my very clean 2fer.

[ab_grp]

Ab_grp, I'm preparing the confetti and hiring the brass band for that ticker tape parade!  And good luck on LB!

I'm two words short of QB now, and I just can't figure them out.  They are both 8 letters, and I even know the first two letters, thanks to Shunn.  I don't think I'll be joining that parade, but at least I've gotten close, and way closer than I imagined I would.

Thanks, cathwen.  I will have to get my parade gear out and shined.  ;-) Did you enable Shunn to show # compound words? Some of the 8s are in that category, and it can show you the distribution by first letter.  If not, both my final 8s were members of a broad category of stuff, a category often featured in weird words in the bee (though what isn't?).  I guess that may not be helpful, but if you are not missing the compounds, maybe you are missing those.  Good luck and sending bee juju!

Also, thanks for the luck on LB.  I finally found a solution that is reasonably nice after adjusting my preferred word.  But I might still try to find one with the original contender, because it bugs me when so few letters are left!

Good luck to you as well, ciao_yall.   I wonder which 7-letter, or which 7 total you might need! Sending you bee juju, too! And congrats on your very clean 2fer!

Parasaurolophus, good luck getting the final pangram.   It is so many points to genius today and frustrating when finding so many pangrams doesn't necessarily get you there.  I'm sending you bee juju as well!

[Langue_doc]

Congrats on the QBs and two-fers.

Made it to past genius, and that was it, puzzle-wise.

[Parasaurolophus]

Found the sixth pangram and limped over the genius line. Oof.

Well done on those QBs!

[cathwen]

Good morning!

Parasaurolophus, congratulations on getting to genius with the six pangrams!  I think we can all relate to the frustration of getting the pangram(s) and still coming in short of genius—and how victorious it feels to get there.

Ab_grp, cue the marching music! <throws confetti>  I am in awe of your QB.  I missed two words—ocotillo and tailcoat.. I now remember having seen both of them before—so I will file them away in some recess of my brain and hope that I remember them the next time.  I did not enable the compound words on Shunn—so that's another thing to remember when the puzzle gets sticky.

LB:  I had bascule-expunging. I got expunging first, then saw bascule, which I recognized from French, and wondered if it had been borrowed into English...and yes, apparently so.

I got a 2fer today on my first try! 

Happy puzzling!

[ciao_yall]

Morning!

SB - I must have miscounted - only had 5 pangrams. Learned some new words occipital, ocotillo, pipit, tali and missed a few bee specials lipo, tailcoat, tiptop.

LB - pliable-excusing. I also found expunging but could only make a 2fer b4ss out of it with scalable-expunging.

Onward to today's - a few final classes, lots of grading and puzzles for a break.

Happy solving!

ETA: Amazing no pangram, but got a 2fer. Had a great word that almost used all the letters but alas, could only make a 3fer out of it.