NYT Spelling Bee

[Langue_doc]

Just popped in to say that this is my most favoritest thread ever.

[ciao_yall]

Just popped in to say that this is my most favoritest thread ever.

Awww. You are so positive.

I just popped in to say that SB won't take PHTHALATE which is about to ruin my day.

[ab_grp]

Just popped in to say that this is my most favoritest thread ever.

Totally agree!!

Ciao_yall, that is quite a word.  Sorry it wouldn't take it.

[ciao_yall]

2fer! Not sure if it's official but I'll keep it.

In the sludge of "Amazing" and finding odd little words I missed... but haven't tipped into "Genius" yet." Did find the panagram.

ETA: Genius!

[ab_grp]

Hurrah on genius and a 2fer, ciao_yall!

I found a couple more words, at 152 now (84%), but still a ways to go.  Tough one! Only one contender for LB so far, but I did get the medium sudoku done.  I have to do a bunch of Duolingos (and real work) or risk slipping out of Diamond league, which would be tough to get back into.

[Langue_doc]

Good luck with your projects, ab_grp, and congratulations on scoring 152 on a difficult puzzle. I made it to genius and 138.

Congrats on the two-fer, ciao_yall.

[ab_grp]

Thanks, Langue_doc! I hope you have good luck if you continue with the bee.  We finally gave up and compared, short of my goal, but I was totally stumped.  Husband had no words to donate, and I had to look up the answers.  We were close, but as I suspected we haven't had these letters in quite a while, so a host of words were not in my database. 

I think I have a good contender for LB but need to try to make a mate.  Still working on the hard sudoku.

[cathwen]

Just popped in to say that this is my most favoritest thread ever.

Totally agree!!

Ciao_yall, that is quite a word.  Sorry it wouldn't take it.

This is also my favorite thread!  It is so positive and encouraging--rejoicing in each other's successes.

I'm finding SB kind of difficult.  I have the pangram, and I have gone a little beyond genius with 140 points.  But apparently there are 180 possible points and 43 words, and my reaction is...are you kidding me?  But then, that is usually my reaction.  Now, if the Bee were accepting archaic verb forms in -eth, I'd be all set.  Ab_grp, I am impressed by your 152!

OK, back to work.  Hoping for inspiration!

[ab_grp]

Good luck with the bee, cathwen! I also tried all the -eths I could think of and probably invented some new ones.  I am dismayed at how close we were to the remaining words, but I guess they were not in the cards today.  I definitely know the feeling of having gotten what seems like really far and exhausted so many avenues and seeing that there are so many points or words left.  Sending bee juju to you and anyone else still working at it!

[ciao_yall]

Good luck with the bee, cathwen! I also tried all the -eths I could think of and probably invented some new ones.  I am dismayed at how close we were to the remaining words, but I guess they were not in the cards today.  I definitely know the feeling of having gotten what seems like really far and exhausted so many avenues and seeing that there are so many points or words left.  Sending bee juju to you and anyone else still working at it!

Hint for LB - it accepts both JUJUBE and BEJESUS. I sooooo wanted to have solutions that included those words the other day...

[Langue_doc]

Greetings, all.

Congrats on yall's successes yesterday.

LB: found several long words yesterday, but no second word. I wouldn't have thought of coming up with a short first word as in the official solution.

SB: above genius, but not much fun. I might look for more words.

More than halfway through the crossword, and stuck on the mini. I've always completed the mini, so this is a first for me.

Happy solving!

[cathwen]

LB today was more difficult than usual, I thought.  I finally found a 2-fer, but it took a while.  Having ER on one side and ING on the other made it quite challenging.

I'm at genius on SB, but just.  I'll probably pop in and out throughout the day to see if I can scrape together any more points. 

I missed a couple of obvious compounds yesterday.  I saw eye, and had teeth, but did not put together eyeteeth! <bonks self on head>

Good luck with the mini, Langue_doc! 

[ciao_yall]

LB yesterday - FELTS-SUBATOMIC. At first I found  a b4ss solution SUBATOMIC-CLEFT. But a little rearranging and boom.

SB - It took PHAT and HEPTATHLETE but not PHTHALATE? Oh well, I made genius so meh.

On to today's!

LB today was more difficult than usual, I thought.  I finally found a 2-fer, but it took a while.  Having ER on one side and ING on the other made it quite challenging.

And the Z and the Y? SMDH. I worship you.

[ab_grp]

Good morning!

Got to alpha today at 122 pts (~95%) but still 8 or so points from QB. 

We missed heptathlete, despite trying hepta everything.  And telehealth, despite trying telehelp, eyehealth, etc.  Heeltap is one we've missed before and will probably miss again.  Cathwen, eyeteeth is one of those I have missed before (and will probably miss again) but got yesterday out of spite. 

I also would not have thought there would be such a short mate word in LB.  I thought umbilicals might get me somewhere, but no.  So congrats on those 2fers yesterday! And congrats to cathwen for already getting one today!

Langue_doc, I usually skate through minis but have had a couple that really confounded me for some reason.  Good luck on it.

At least I have now reinstalled Windows, so hopefully I will not have to deal with all these computer issues and delays.  Fingers crossed.

Good luck!

[ciao_yall]

SB - hit genius.

LB - Not even a 3fer yet but a few candidate words that eat up a lot of letters. The one letter that keeps hanging me up is a vowel.

Why do I adore this thread?

I enjoy everyone's nerdy energy and solving strategies.

I like being the group laggard. By the time I've hit the thread in the morning you all have given me something to strive for. I get there by the afternoon.