NYT Spelling Bee

[cathwen]

I finally got a 2-fer for today's LB, but it took a lot of time.   I am at Alpha on SB, with two words until QB, but I don't think I'll get there.  I cannot imagine what they could be.  I'll keep trying...

[ab_grp]

Congrats on the Alpha and near Alpha, cathwen and Langue_doc! I was able to get 3 more words since last report but am still 6 or 7 points from QB.  I suspect my husband has the word I need given our point and word totals, so we are holding off but will likely have to just go ahead and compare lists a little later on.

And congrats to you both on the 2fers! No luck there on my end.  I have one contender so far. 

Still working on hard sudoku from yesterday, today's was a little too easy which meant a lot of backtracking and things I'll have to work forward on again, and the next ones will come out soon enough.  I've been stuck Duolingoing since it's Sunday funday (end of weekly tournament).  Still have some real work reading to do at some point.  I think puzzle solvers should get extra hours in their days.

[ciao_yall]

Finally gave up and went to the online solver helper. Didn't have either word, even in my contenders. Not sure if it's the official solution but whatever.

[cathwen]

Good morning, everyone!

I came close yesterday on SB—I missed biaxial (which I should have tried) and lobo, which I usually get.  QB—so near, and yet so far!  Today I'm at Beta.  It's a strange group of letters.

My LB words yesterday were  BRAVO-OUTCHARMED, official answer OUTMATCHED. (I was surprised that LB accepted outcharmed.)   It took a lot of time to find yesterday's words, but today's LB 2-fer came relatively easily, and they're normal words.

Ab_grp, did you find your remaining SB words?  And which language are you studying on Duolingo?

[Langue_doc]

Morning!

Missed bollix and bola. As for today, found the pangram and have made it to 93 points.

LB: bravado and outmatched; haven't looked at today's puzzle yet.

Happy solving, all.

[Parasaurolophus]

Easy Bee today! Now for LB.

[ciao_yall]

Quick LB today. Yesterday I thought they were doing something with the O and found ORCHARD but never found a 2fer mate on either side. Did find CHARMED, MARCHED, MATCHED... played with OUT-something but somehow my brain didn't make the connection.

SB off to a quick start. Genius.

[ab_grp]

Good morning!

Glad to hear today's LB is easy.  Maybe I'll have some luck with it.  BRAVADO was my first contender of a bunch, but no luck.  Congrats! I also tried ORCHARD, ciao_yall.  And tried CHATBOT since that seemed quirky enough for a solution.

We ended up comparing, and we were missing BOLLIX.  Stupid, since we discussed that we had both tried BOLLOX, and I had looked it up and found it to be a variant of bollocks.  But no mention of the accepted spelling.  Oh well, we were close and both got to Alpha, so fine.  Husband was also missing LAMB, which was funny because we just had some the day before.  Funny what you see or don't.  Sounds like we all did very well, considering!

Today I'm at 95, so close to Alpha but haven't really had time to do much more with it.  Congrats Parasaurolophus!

Cathwen, I'm in Spanish for Duolingo.  Do you use it, too?

[ab_grp]

Well, I got to QB kind of all of a sudden.  Guess I have more time to work on LB and perhaps solve today's hard sudoku and the one I still have hanging over my head from a couple days ago.

[cathwen]

Congratulations on QB, ab_grp!  I am one word away from QB, and it's driving me nuts trying to find that last word.  It's a one-pointer, so it must be four letters; I've tried every combination I can think of, but apparently I have to think a little harder! 

As for Duolingo, I've sent you a PM so as not to derail this thread.

[Langue_doc]

Congrats all. Am queen for today, and also found the/a two-fer. There's just one weird word in the bee. The short words are all familiar ones.

[ab_grp]

Congrats, Langue_doc, on QB and 2fer!

And congrats to you also, cathwen.   You're nearly there (if you haven't found it yet).  I agree with Langue_doc that there aren't too many (if any) really obscure words.  I might be able to guess which word you are missing.  Maybe.  There are a couple that could be tougher for different reasons.  Good luck!!  Hope the dissertation-length response to the PM is helpful.

Still no 2fer for me, though I have come up with a few reasonable contenders.

[cathwen]

Ya-hoo!  I finally made QB!  And you were right, it was a very common word that for some reason my brain failed to put together for a good while.

Thanks for your PM, ab_grp.  Your answer was very helpful.

[ab_grp]

Muchos congratulatos on your QB, cathwen! Glad to help, and as you can plainly see, I am just killing it in Spanish.  Interested to hear everyone's final words! Wow, that sounds more morbid than I intended.

No LB victory yet, though I will look at it a bit tonight.  I did manage to solve the hard sudoku today and took a different approach and solved the one I was dealing with from a few days ago.  Not using the cell the hint told me to focus on, again!

ETA: finally got a 2fer!

[Langue_doc]

ab_grp, spoiler alert below re LB.

Your duolingo made me think of the hint: the first word, plural, falls under this topic, and the second is a bird.