NYT Spelling Bee

[cathwen]

I made Genius on today's SB, but will probably not push for QB. I got both pangrams, and one word that was a lucky guess, tried in desperation as I wondered if the first part of the word I did know was a prefix.  Yes!  Apparently so. 

As for LB, the 2 word solution eludes me.  3 words, yes, but not 2.  Yet.

Crossword and sudokus are solved, too.  I used to be awful at sudoku, but thanks to the pandemic, I've gotten a lot better at it. 

[ciao_yall]

SB - hit Genius with help from my friends on the crossword puzzle comments.

LB - Got the 2-fer - someone said something on the crossword puzzle comments and I tried it. It's tricky. PM me if you want a hint.

[Langue_doc]

Two pangrams and a genius. Woohoo!

ETA: two-fer, and an easy one today.

[ciao_yall]

Okay, pressure is on, but still only on 2nd cup of coffee.

SB - two panagrams and amazing.

LB - quick 3fer, lots of nice long candidate words so hope to see the 2fer soon.

[ab_grp]

SB - hit Genius with help from my friends on the crossword puzzle comments.

LB - Got the 2-fer - someone said something on the crossword puzzle comments and I tried it. It's tricky. PM me if you want a hint.

What 2-fer did you get? I did not stray near the official solution.  I thought I had a couple good options like quince, cirque, and quininic.  The cirque was to try to get the q in the middle somewhere, which seems to have been the correct approach, but not close.  I was going to PM for a hint but was on and off the computer.  I used to read the crossword comments from top to bottom every day, because I wanted to create a puzzle to submit and wanted to see what people thought of each one.  But then I started the bee and found those hints mixed in with the comments and wanted to hold off until I had done what I could with it.  I might need to return for some help with that or LB now that I am trying at that, too.

Two pangrams and a genius. Woohoo!

ETA: two-fer, and an easy one today.

Hooray on both counts! And good to know there are two pangrams again.  I have only found one so far.

I hope today's solving goes better than yesterday.  I don't think I really had victories in any of the puzzles!

Crossword and sudokus are solved, too.  I used to be awful at sudoku, but thanks to the pandemic, I've gotten a lot better at it. 

This is good to know about the sudokus.  I have gotten good enough at easy that I try for speed, but the medium still takes me quite a while if I can even finish it out by straight reasoning.  Do you do the hard ones, too?

Just saw your post, ciao_yall.  Good luck!

[ciao_yall]

SB - hit Genius with help from my friends on the crossword puzzle comments.

LB - Got the 2-fer - someone said something on the crossword puzzle comments and I tried it. It's tricky. PM me if you want a hint.

What 2-fer did you get? I did not stray near the official solution.  I thought I had a couple good options like quince, cirque, and quininic.  The cirque was to try to get the q in the middle somewhere, which seems to have been the correct approach, but not close.  I was going to PM for a hint but was on and off the computer.  I used to read the crossword comments from top to bottom every day, because I wanted to create a puzzle to submit and wanted to see what people thought of each one.  But then I started the bee and found those hints mixed in with the comments and wanted to hold off until I had done what I could with it.  I might need to return for some help with that or LB now that I am trying at that, too.

I had "uniquely" which ate up a lot of letters, but set up a U and Y which was pretty useless. And then someone on the crossword thread mentioned "caribou" so voila! My hint was going to be something about Sarah Palin's nickname (remember Caribou Barbie?)

[Langue_doc]

LB, think weather.

Yesterday I got uniquely, but gave up after that. I wouldn't have found caribou however hard I'd tried.

Sudoku also comes with the Windows package (I could be mistaken as I installed this years ago). But here is the website, in case anyone is interested. https://www.webgamesonline.com/ I've also played "Guess the phrase" another game on this website. The page should have "Games for the Brain" at the top.

[ab_grp]

I had forgotten about Caribou Barbie!

As for LB, I have a contender that I am determined to make into a solution, and it does have to do with weather, so hopefully I'm on the right track and can find a second word.

Sudoku also comes with the Windows package (I could be mistaken as I installed this years ago). But here is the website, in case anyone is interested. https://www.webgamesonline.com/ I've also played "Guess the phrase" another game on this website. The page should have "Games for the Brain" at the top.

Also, agh! A whole other page of puzzles!! Run away! ;-)

[ciao_yall]

Got the 2fer!

[Parasaurolophus]

I've had an easy time with the Bees for the last couple days. Phew! It would be pretty demoralizing to struggle with the Bee and marking.

[cathwen]

Crossword and sudokus are solved, too.  I used to be awful at sudoku, but thanks to the pandemic, I've gotten a lot better at it. 

This is good to know about the sudokus.  I have gotten good enough at easy that I try for speed, but the medium still takes me quite a while if I can even finish it out by straight reasoning.  Do you do the hard ones, too?

Yes, I start with medium and go on to hard.  I've gotten so that I can usually (not always!) solve the hard one in about 10 minutes.  What helped me a lot was googling information on how to solve sudoku--that helped a lot because it helped me recognize patterns that hadn't been obvious to me.  That said, I haven't mastered the more esoteric patterns on those sites (with names like swordfish).  And I'm not nearly as good as my son-in-law, who truly is a whiz!

[ab_grp]

Crossword and sudokus are solved, too.  I used to be awful at sudoku, but thanks to the pandemic, I've gotten a lot better at it. 

This is good to know about the sudokus.  I have gotten good enough at easy that I try for speed, but the medium still takes me quite a while if I can even finish it out by straight reasoning.  Do you do the hard ones, too?

Yes, I start with medium and go on to hard.  I've gotten so that I can usually (not always!) solve the hard one in about 10 minutes.  What helped me a lot was googling information on how to solve sudoku--that helped a lot because it helped me recognize patterns that hadn't been obvious to me.  That said, I haven't mastered the more esoteric patterns on those sites (with names like swordfish).  And I'm not nearly as good as my son-in-law, who truly is a whiz!

Holy crow! I will have to look into this.  I think my quickest easy time is about 3:13.  I have only solved one or two mediums without guessing or checking answers, and those took 38-50 mins? And you can solve hard in 10?!! I am sincerely bowing to you and hope to improve even somewhat in that direction.  I am very quick at crosswords, but sudoku is another thing entirely. 

ETA: Okay, I have to know how fast your son-in-law is at solving!

ETA^2: Now I have a 2-fer in LB.  I had a weather-related word, but a slightly different one. Looking at the remaining letters from that initial guess, I figured out that I should try the correct word.  After adjusting, the mate of it was easy.  Thanks again for the hint, Langue_doc.

[ciao_yall]

SB - Made it to "genius" yesterday but the words I missed were so out there that I don't think I will see QB, at least until I have been playing a while and learned the words.

LB - I didn't get the official solution, but I did have a 2fer that was close.

Onward...

ETA...

SB: Wouldn't take "boytoy" this morning. Humph.

LB: Already have a 3fer so hope the 2fer comes soon.

ETA^2

LB: Got the 2fer! Not sure it's the official solution but back to SB for now.

SB: Panagram, stuck at "nice." I'd like to at least get to "amazing" before checking in with my friends at the NYT comments board.

[Langue_doc]

SB - Made it to "genius" yesterday but the words I missed were so out there that I don't think I will see QB, at least until I have been playing a while and learned the words.

LB - I didn't get the official solution, but I did have a 2fer that was close.

What were your words? Mine were the official ones.

SB wasn't too bad today; think of words ending in -y and also -y ending suffixes.

I have several long words but the two-fer still eludes me.

[ciao_yall]

SB - Made it to "genius" yesterday but the words I missed were so out there that I don't think I will see QB, at least until I have been playing a while and learned the words.

LB - I didn't get the official solution, but I did have a 2fer that was close.

What were your words? Mine were the official ones.

PIECES-SNOWFLAKE

I have several long words but the two-fer still eludes me.

PM me if you want a hint. It probably isn't the official solution but it worked.