Annie - I'm hoping you're reading this and doing well. I miss your hints and your voice! Your hints; witty, creative, thoughtful and multi-layered not only led me to the answer but also opened the door to other thoughts. Being on the East Coast, you often helped start my day with laughter. Thank you for that but you are missed.
46
@K. C.
I miss Annie Towne as well. Unfortunately, I believe she was attacked in this forum. This makes me sad. I enjoy doing the bee, and the comment section made it even more enjoyable. It’s just so disappointing to see the vicious and nasty attacks that occur on the internet. Annie Towne seems like a lovely and joyful person. Now some of that joy is missing here for me.
33
@Susan I always enjoyed Annie's comments and hints, but haven't seen her in a while. What happened?
9
@Susan
Unfortunately, I think Annie felt others were contributing too many hints, and perhaps not appreciating hers sufficiently, and got into a tussle over that. I am sure she's not here because she is angry, not because of some personal misfortune (at least I hope not!). I hope she will see her way to coming back to us.
10
Hah, what a day! Discovered this forum, discovered QB status, and attained same for first time with help of grid and two letter hints. Bee is my fave puzzle ever, and now even more so.
One question: I did the Sunday print puzzle for years and rarely reached excellence, let alone any higher sphere. Even now when I go back to old print pages I don’t do that well. Anyone else have this experience?
1
What's wrong with UNGLUING?
3
Wow LOTS of gerunds today
1
Upon reaching g. (which is where I stop), today my average word length was 7.79 (24 words), probably the highest since the Beeginning of the Bee lo these many years ago.
Wow! Finally got QBWH but only by the skin of my teeth. I was not at all familiar with the LI words related to drawing. I only stumbled on them by randomly entering series of letters. Once again, thanks to all who provide the helpful hints. ❤️🐝
1
QBWG H 2LL Thank you busy bees for the help today. Trying out the new language for me too!
Came here at QB-1. Couldn't see the pasta -- normally I miss PENNE. Had shells for dinner tonight.
QBWGH.
4
QB-1WG+2LL
The pasta hint got me there!
1
Along with the previously mentioned lignin, a middle-school bio word, I think gummi (as in edible), illumining and mumming would have been good dictionary words for today’s puzzle. (I sent along the suggestion.) It is kind of fun to see and share what didn’t make the cut.
6
@Jafawa
They won't go for Gummi, it's a brand name (at least it started as one). I did try all your others.
1
@Jafawa
Woody ever go for LIGNIN? I think not -- too science-y!
Unusual Bee today. I hit genius with no 4LWs and only gerunds, & the latter a first for me. I stopped at 24 words fitting that pattern.
Another self-set challenge is for my first seven words to start with each of the 7 letters in the game, all >4 letters. Today when I did that my first three words, one a pangram, only differed by their first letter.
5
Genius without help, and finally QB with hints. I knew the artist L words, but I’m a bad speller. As a newbie I enjoy using the clues. They add a crossword-like layer to the puzzle.
4
QB-1. I know the I-5 must be quite obvious, but I am completely stuck on it. Any hints would be appreciated!
1
@Jennifer
Think "pelvis." It's not all that obvious. There was a related adjective just the other day...
5
@Art of the fudge That did it! Thanks so much.
1
@Art of the fudge
Thanks, one of two I'm missing.
I accidentally discovered QB level sometime ago and have obsessed over trying to get it again for weeks! I can look forward to getting it just about every day with the grids!
5
I just signed up for the Spelling Bee. Although I read the Help section and the Glossary, I didn't find an answer to this question:
I 'won' the game with 25 words. Yet Isaac and Doug write that there are 38 words. And, likewise, I 'won' the game with 179 points, yet Isaac and Doug write that there are 256 points.
If there are more possible words,* why can't I keep going?
Thanks
* And there ARE more possible words! E.g., somebody in the comments down below hinted there is a word that begins with IM** that I know I didn't get.
** (Yes, I know this is a footnote to a footnote lol.) Is it bad form on this forum to actually spell out words that are in the Spelling Bee?
3
@Transley you don’t win until you get Queen Bee.
2
@Transley Getting to Genius level is a win, but going on and getting every word (which results in Queen Bee congratulations) gets you top bragging rights!* You can keep going when you get to Genius by clicking "keep playing" or whatever it says.
In the comments section here, it is generally considered bad form to post spoilers. There are other places, such as Facebook groups, where it's fine.
*Good luck!
5
@Transley
The highest level listed is Genius but there is a higher level called Queen Bee that you hit once you've found all of the words that are on the Word List - which is not the same as finding "all the possible words" because there will always be other words to find that are not in the Word List.
And yes it has always been considered bad form in the Bee community to spell out the words that are in the Word List because it spoils people who come here before finishing to look for hints.
This new Spelling Bee forum is so young that the community rules are still being worked out.
6
QBWG&2LL -no hints today!
I did spend some time learning more about the LI4 and the related LI7. I’m familiar with the 4 from previous Bees but was puzzled about the gerund. To embed it in my brain I came up with this:
“She spent the afternoon LI7 the M words as hints for the hive.”
1
UGLI, GLUGGING...?
5
Observations on today's spelling bee:
1. Lignin should be on the list of allowed words.
2. Words that weren't allowed but that arguably should have been:
Glugging: Glug is a legit verb. If you can glug, why can't you be glugging?
Liming: Lime can be a verb—"I'm liming my lawn." If you can lime, why can't you be liming?
Ungumming: Ungum is a word. If you can ungum things, why can't you be ungumming them?
Let me add that I do not have strong feelings about any of this.
14
@Transley also ungluing.
9
@Transley
And GIGGING.
10
@David S. Could I point out that mentioning an “un-“ word not on the list actually reveals a word that’s on the list?
5
QBWG! That was a zinger of a puzzle. 😃
6
@Kathleen Ellis
Please don't post spoilers in this forum.
QB with grid and 2 letter list. Took a break at QB -2. Came back after making a kale and mushroom lasagna and watching some olympic events. That gave me the last 2 li 8 (pasta) and lu 6 (an olympic event) The human mind works in strange ways.
9
@Deborah ,
Your last two were my last two! And I only got the pasta thanks to you, so muchos gracias.
Good afternoon all. Hope everyone is well.
Love that ING combo, UN not as helpful.
GN4L OTN @23/179.
Bee back later.
2
GN4L @ 25/181. Came to the forum at 32/211, pretty easy run to QB with grid and hints from @Josh di Donato and @LDurk (the pasta hint finally put me over the top).
1
I keep trying to tell myself that QB really doesn't matter but somehow since this forum started, I've managed it all 4 days. With tons of help from all the things from which one can get help.
From a selfish standpoint, I would prefer that all the Hints NOT go as replies to the initial HINTS post, because as an in-bed iPhone solver, I only see 3-4 replies per post. If I drag myself out of bed to my computer (where I can put the puzzle, the Forum, and the comments side-by-side on the screen), I can see all the comments, but I'd rather not exert myself that much on the daily!
11
@Jane I go the nytimes.com site on my phone browser so I can see all of the comments
3
[I just posted this by accident on yesterday's forum. Serves me right for looking at more than one day's discussions.]
Element 111, roentgenium, used to be called unununium as its placeholder name before it was formally named. I will grant that it is no longer the name of an element and probably no one ever heard of it in any case, so it is unsurprising that it would be omitted.
7
@Art of the fudge
U NU the periodic table would have a nod to Burmese statesmen?
TILT
Good morning all.
I'm on my way to a long delayed trip to the Aloha state for a 30th anniversary celebration, so my commenting timing may be closer to that of Doug's for a week.
I did get to GN4L@ 183/23 ABM, and since our flight is delayed by a couple of hours, I may even make QBABM which I most certainly did not do yesterday.
DHOTI? ANION?
May as well bring back CLOTBUR...
Have a great day all, and Aloha !
Peace.
9
@Dan I also enjoy Dhow for future reference, I have had nonion work in other games but not here
2
@Dan --
Have a delightful & healthy trip!
2
@cosmobull -- I've heard that some find sailing a DHOW jonesing.
But I'm more of a DHOTIng mother myself...
My first comment for my first QB🐝. Thank you Doug for the grid and to all the wonderful hint givers.
16
@Camille, Congrats!!
1
GN4L@195/25ABM. Gerund heaven.
6
Someday I will get M5 without needing a hint.
Today is not that day.
10
@Dorothy
Look at the words it’s in between
@Dorothy That is one of the few that stick in my head. That, and the L4 with two consonants at the end
5
When first found the comments on the bee a long time ago I found that the GN4L was not for me. Subsequently I bailed and found @kevinedavis on Twitter for hints. Kevin has since decided he needs to step back a bit from hinting as a full time, unpaid position. So I am back. All this to say, if you are new do not feel like you have to play the game a certain way, and those that do that is fine too. Thanks for all that supply helpful hints!
22
@Barb k Facebook group "spelling bee spoiler extravaganza" and others
1
I’m newly addicted to the bee! How do they decide which 2 letter combinations make the 2LL?
Thanks!
1
@Jeanne Hobbs it’s the first two letters of each word…
For example: there are 4 words that start with GI, 1 word that starts with GL, and 4 words that start with GU…
another example: you don’t see MN on the list, so you don’t waste time trying to find any words that start with MN
3
I thought this was worth posting from yesterday's forum in case new Hivers did not see it. Thanks, @Cheryl!
@Cheryl said, in response to @Carolyn: <>
2
@Monicat
Thanks for thinking my post worthwhile, but it's not showing up - just a couple of carets.
@Monicat
I went back and copied it:
@Carolyn
Fidelio has not been bullied, and has accepted our guidelines graciously. Please do the same.
The crossword commenters have their customs and the Beehive has its own. We have always tried to avoid posting actual words from that day's Bee. Hints are fine, or slightly veiled words (DI-6, for example). And it’s okay to discuss words that appeared in the previous day's Bee. But not today's words.
Do people slip up occasionally? Yes. But we don’t give each other the answers outright and intentionally.
5
Today’s musical moment is a lockdown performance by the Frankfurt Radio Symphony of LUIGI Boccherini’s Cello Concerto #7.
It features an unusual soloist: Sergey Malov on the violoncello da spalla:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSU6Ylxaobs
10
@RAH Thank you RAH for introducing me to the violincello da spalla! Never heard of this instrument before, and bow love the gorgeous tone. However, does not appear to be the most comfortable stringed instrument to play! (Then again, I play flute & piccolo, had only a brief time playing violin decades ago…)
5
@RAH Love that! Thanks for the link. Also loved one of the comments:
Lucas Carey 5 months ago
That violin put on some quarantine weight. No shame in that.
Don't know why, but found that hilarious.
Ugh. QB-2, both are LU7. Some days, there’s just not enough coffee!
2
@KBS Did you get them yet? One is something my trainer has me do at the gym; the other is more restful.
@Shan Hays
Thank you for your "restful" clue -- that was the one word I was missing!
Isaac and Doug, not sure if anyone has asked this, as I don't want to scroll thru the comments for hints; is there any reason why there isn't the occasional S in the Spelling Bee? Of course it would make for plurals, but you could make the same argument for ED and ING, which show up frequently. It would be fun to have an S once in a while and it seems like it would open up a lot of new possssssssibilitites in the puzzle!
9
@Sarah Amberwood I’ve been doing the Bee for a little while now and I could swear there have been puzzles with an S…but one reason I can think of is that it could turn a puzzle into a ghastly slog - imagine one of those 60- or 70-something word Bees increased by half, or *gasp* doubled
2
@Sarah Amberwood check william shunn's website. He has letter and word history
@Javafiend Definitely no S in any Bee. It's a rule.
2
Uncle.
GN4L at 26/183, but I am -2 and giving up for the time being. I think that one of the words is an IM10 and the other is an MI7, but I'm not even sure of that!
I did try IGLU = an unattractive ice house, but it was not in the list.
I thought this was worth posting from yesterday's forum in case new Hivers did not see it. Thanks, @Cheryl!
@Cheryl said, in response to @Carolyn: <>
Also from yesterday, @Leapfinger: <<@Monicat -- lol, that ain't no hint; that's a construction manual!!>> Too funny!
Good Morning, @Everyone. Bee careful out there.
9
“IM” thinking of the vaccine ;) if that helps…
13
@Laure, bless you for that superb hint!
2
GN4L isn't quite as hard this morning with so few 4L words.
Nevertheless 21 words => 183 points
Have already sent an email to buzzwords about the exclusion of MIZZLING.
Won’t bother sending an email regarding
zzznuggling - spooning
muling – making an ass of one’s self
5
@RAH
GIGGING frogs is obviously foreign to SamE as well.
18
@Mean Old Lady, I'm bitter about that too. I grew up in TX and gigging for frogs was a common activity for mostly boys of a certain age.
3
@RAH my husband and I use the word muling as a verb all the time, defined as to pack/carry something as a mule would. Example: "Would you mind muling the groceries in, hon?"
4
I am two L words away from QB (I started using the grid and 2LL at Amazing) and this one has been so fun to wake up to. Time to check the hints in the comments!
6
My first ever GN4LABM !
24
Am I being dense? I’m having a heck of a time finding this forum every day from the NYT crossword app. Basically now I Google “New York times spelling bee answers” and the date. Is there a link on debs column or somewhere else?
10
@dizzyspins Here is something that may help: All of the Spelling Bee forums are collected in a tab called Beyond the Crossword, which can be found at the top of the Wordplay page. The current forum should be at the top of that page. For your convenience, here’s the link:
https://www.nytimes.com/spotlight/beyond-the-crossword
26
@dizzyspins You can also go to the "All Puzzles" link, then scroll alllllllll the way to the bottom. From there, under the "Community" heading, click "Wordplay". Then, scroll down a bit to the "Latest" heading (man, I wish we could put screenshots in here!!!), and the latest "Spelling Bee Forum" should be at/near the top of the list.
Agreed that it should be MUCH easier to locate, rather than go through all the contortions & conniptions we currently have to.
16
@dizzyspins - Agree that there should be a direct link here every day from the Bee launch page. However, because I always do the crossword first, and then read the Wordplay column for the crossword, and the Bee next -- I just click on the "XXXDAY PUZZLE" (XXX changes depending on the day of the week) link at the beginning of every Wordplay column, which brings you to the Wordplay main page -- and voilà! There is a list of all Wordplay columns, including the Bee ones. Easy-peasy.
8
I am inexplicably stuck on two G words that are evidently so easy Josh didn’t think them worthy of the initial hints list. This bee a disaster!
1
Oh for Pete’s sake…. QB after a cup of coffee and moment of reflection to get probably the easiest two words in today’s Bee. A sting of embarrassment today..
10
@kswl I'm stuck in GI 6 I think maybe more coffee :)
@cosmobull there is no gi 6
1
How do you find this forum from the bee? Is it connected directly?
5
@Claire you have to go into Wordplay and look up Spelling Bee
@Claire yea, for some reason they can't provide a stable link (because they don't want to delete yesterday's entry -- although there are other ways of archiving things other than creating a new link every day).
2
@Susan I do that and can get to the puzzle but not the forum
Separating the Bee comments seems to have been a very savvy financial move for the Times. It is wonderful to see how many new people have joined the conversation about the puzzle, which translates into better numbers for their ad sales. The price of 7 day home delivery keeps increasing, and a bump in ad revenue through this channel may not be material but if it’s part of an overall strategy to sell more digital ads I applaud it.
8
I didn't find any words without the obvious suffix. 23 words, GN4LOTN.
1
Hello everyone
Pffiou Tough one. I had to wrap my heads around some new words.
2
MISSING WORDS
UGLI - Fruit that is a crossword staple!
GIGGING - As a standup comedian, I can tell you that comics and musicians will often refer to gigging they have been doing.
59
@Josh di Donato
Ugli is a trademarked name, I suspect that may be the reason it is not included.
I tried GIGGiNG in a totally different context. Where I grew up there is the expression gigging for frogs.
23
@Josh di Donato
With the new gig economy, I thought it would be accepted, too.
9
Also missing: ungluing
46
HINTS THREAD
REPLY TO THIS TO KEEP ALL THE HINT-RELATED POSTS IN ONE PLACE (if you wish)
I hints
Broad part of a hipbone
Helping someone’s system, like with a proven vaccine that 100 million people have taken safely, using one example
One ninth of a baseball game
M hints
MI
Factory, or hang about
Hanging about
Making like Marcel Marceau
Mixing with others at a party
Skirt shorter than most, or iPod version
Smallest unit of liquid or other sorts of measurement
Making something smaller or seem smaller than it is
The bare _______
Something done with Bitcoin, which apparently uses up a lot of energy, though I can’t for the life of me explain how or why
MU
Assaulting on the street, or making hammy faces
Thinking about something, with “over”
Putting a thing on a dog to make it quiet, so it won’t bark a pangram
N hints
Trivial, or oddly, taking up too much attention
Cuddling up to
U hints
Taking the silencing device off a dog, so it doesn’t bark a pangram
Z hints
Darting to, as opposed to fro?
What someone says when they think they’ve said a clever putdown, or move fast
Moving fast, or issuing a clever putdown
100
@Josh di Donato
And here I am hung up on two L words tonight.
Sheesh.
11
@Judi
I’ve just hit QB, so I’m available to give the rest of the hints. Just don’t want to gobble up all the hint-generating fun!
If no one has picked up the ball by, say, noon Eastern, I’m happy to post the remaining hints.
14
@Josh di Donato
I suspect they are the two words Doug mentions below.
"I only had two words which didn’t end in the obvious suffix on way to GN4L@181/25."
I am hung at 242/36. But it looks like I have ~22 hours to figure them out. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
1
LETTER BOXED
F - D (8), D - Y (9)
HINTS:
Rural worker, split
@3:30 EDT
10
@Jerry N
F - M (6), M - Y (10)
Enthusiasm for an equestrian or bovine social hierarchy
1
@Jerry N
I had also found your second word with a total Spotch (for me) as a different first word.
F - D (6), D - Y (9)
A small almond cake from Down Under, divided
2
@Jerry N
Not getting the word for split. Any other hints?
1
I only had two words which didn’t end in the obvious suffix on way to GN4L@181/25. Was pretty quick to Amazing but I had a small hiccup before pushing it over the line. I think QB is doable but it’s easy to get mesmerized.
15
@GN4L@25/180, and today I learned that the plural of GIZMO is apparently not GIZMI. Oh well.
I still have a ways to go.
Everybody stay safe out there!
6
I tried it too, just for fun.