NYT Spelling Bee

[Parasaurolophus]

I did try gabagool yesterday, which was kind of funny because we then watched an episode of The Office in which they used that word.

Haha, me too!

Boogaloo is just not a word. At all. In any dictionary except the urban one. I may just complain about it, because wtf.

[ab_grp]

I did try gabagool yesterday, which was kind of funny because we then watched an episode of The Office in which they used that word.

Haha, me too!

Boogaloo is just not a word. At all. In any dictionary except the urban one. I may just complain about it, because wtf.

Go for it! I am also driven crazy by the inconsistency in which archaic or variant spellings are allowed.  Enow? Really? Not gaol, though.  And cancan but not chacha, even though both seem to be hyphenated in their common forms.  No enema or ebola, either, from what I recall.  Maybe I just can't discern why the included ones are considered appropriate but not the excluded ones.  We finally got QB today through my husband's program.

[Langue_doc]

I did try gabagool yesterday, which was kind of funny because we then watched an episode of The Office in which they used that word.

Boogaloo is just not a word. At all. In any dictionary except the urban one. I may just complain about it, because wtf.

I might complain about boogaloo too especially since croft, which I had assumed to be a proper English word, wasn't accepated.
My apologies if the quote function malfunctions.

[fleabite]

I did try gabagool yesterday, which was kind of funny because we then watched an episode of The Office in which they used that word.

Haha, me too!

Boogaloo is just not a word. At all. In any dictionary except the urban one. I may just complain about it, because wtf.

Go for it! I am also driven crazy by the inconsistency in which archaic or variant spellings are allowed.  Enow? Really? Not gaol, though.  And cancan but not chacha, even though both seem to be hyphenated in their common forms.  No enema or ebola, either, from what I recall.  Maybe I just can't discern why the included ones are considered appropriate but not the excluded ones.  We finally got QB today through my husband's program.

I believe that the dictionary used for copyediting at the New York Times is Webster's New World College Dictionary. Therefore, those compiling the games are probably using that dictionary's spelling and hyphenation when determining whether a word is valid for the Spelling Bee. If you don't happen to have a copy, you could also try Merriam Webster's Eleventh Collegiate Dictionary, which is the dictionary of choice for Chicago style. That's what I have, and it must be relatively close to the New World College Dictionary, because my spellings tend to follow those of the Spelling Bee approved answers.

[nebo113]

I am delighted with ya'lls take on Spelling Bee, and to find that I'm definitely not the only one who goes grrrr at what is acceptable and what isn't.  Croft NO but boogaloo YES?????   NONONO

[Boomvang]

Agreed. As I wrote before in this thread, send your comments and suggestions to the NYT puzzlemasters about such issues.

[ab_grp]

Maybe we can take turns sending the complaints of the week in.  I want to add the absence of loggia the other day.  And there is a word in it today that is another WTF given that others are not included.

[Boomvang]

ab_group: I tried that too. As per previous comments, I tried "croft" as well and I was quite surprised when "cope" was not accepted. Haven't done today's yet (set them aside for the evening), so posters please don't give anything away!

[ab_grp]

Yes, I agree... I try to make only obscure references to the current day's puzzle.  If that is still too much or could be so, someone please say so, and then maybe we should hold off current day puzzle chat until the next day.  That would be fine with me if it prevents spoiling puzzle happiness!

[Langue_doc]

Here's the reply from the Spelling Bee Technical Specialist. Hu did not respond to my questions as to why words such as croft, lede, clitic, tarn were unacceptable whereas gonna, wanna, boogaloo, naan, raita were acceptable. The response earns an F.

[/quoteWelcome to Spelling Bee! Thrilled to hear that you are having enough fun solving to send us a note. In short, our word lists are curated. Here is a bit of the how and a bit of the why:

While proper names and words that contain hyphens or apostrophes are not part of our word list, every Spelling Bee puzzle is hand-curated to focus on relatively common words, with a couple of tough ones here and there to keep it challenging. Occasionally, we may miss a common word or two and will add them in, but our puzzle editors ultimately draw from an internal lexicon and make the call for what's best with that day's puzzle. Lastly, In fairness to our wide-ranging audience, Spelling Bee avoids terms that are hyper-specific to any professional field, such as terms that might be familiar to, for example, a physician, ornithologist or geologist, but not to people outside of that field of expertise.

What words has the solving community spoken up about recently? BUCCAL, CARRACK, MILT, MITOTIC, NEOTENY, INTINCTION, INFARCT, LANTANA, LUFF, ONCOGENE, PORPHYRY, TROPONIN, and PHTHALATE, among others. While these terms are certainly defined, they either do not meet the bar of commonality that this puzzle has employed since its first day in circulation or they break a rule of the puzzle.

I hope that offers you at least a bit of solace and some proper clarity here! Thank you again for taking the time to send us a note, and most of all, for solving with us.

[nebo113]

Here's the reply from the Spelling Bee Technical Specialist. Hu did not respond to my questions as to why words such as croft, lede, clitic, tarn were unacceptable whereas gonna, wanna, boogaloo, naan, raita were acceptable. The response earns an F.

[/quoteWelcome to Spelling Bee! Thrilled to hear that you are having enough fun solving to send us a note. In short, our word lists are curated. Here is a bit of the how and a bit of the why:

While proper names and words that contain hyphens or apostrophes are not part of our word list, every Spelling Bee puzzle is hand-curated to focus on relatively common words, with a couple of tough ones here and there to keep it challenging. Occasionally, we may miss a common word or two and will add them in, but our puzzle editors ultimately draw from an internal lexicon and make the call for what's best with that day's puzzle. Lastly, In fairness to our wide-ranging audience, Spelling Bee avoids terms that are hyper-specific to any professional field, such as terms that might be familiar to, for example, a physician, ornithologist or geologist, but not to people outside of that field of expertise.

What words has the solving community spoken up about recently? BUCCAL, CARRACK, MILT, MITOTIC, NEOTENY, INTINCTION, INFARCT, LANTANA, LUFF, ONCOGENE, PORPHYRY, TROPONIN, and PHTHALATE, among others. While these terms are certainly defined, they either do not meet the bar of commonality that this puzzle has employed since its first day in circulation or they break a rule of the puzzle.

I hope that offers you at least a bit of solace and some proper clarity here! Thank you again for taking the time to send us a note, and most of all, for solving with us.

Guess us academics are just dumb bunnies for not knowing that lede is really le-de.

[ciao_yall]

Or, they could just include all possible words, and to achieve genius one only needs to get 70% of them instead of 90%.

But that would make too much sense.

[Parasaurolophus]

Or, they could just include all possible words, and to achieve genius one only needs to get 70% of them instead of 90%.

But that would make too much sense.

That'd be nice.

There'd still be no *%!$/&)ing 'boogaloo', though.

[Boomvang]

A suggestion to all: It might be fun to form a Zoom or Skype group to chat about these matters and others associated with NYT puzzles. Is anyone interested? Is there a way to start one and join in a way that would not reveal who posts under which username in The Fora?

[reener06]

I've  become addicted since  April--it's  often  the bright spot in my pandemic day.

Also, I "cheat" (and enjoy the data) at: www.nytbee.com.  I don't look at the answers but I look at the common words, what words were rejected, how many   of each size word, how difficult, how many pangrams,  how many total  words.