# NYT Spelling Bee drives me crazy **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** board-card-word-game\ **Created:** [December 17, 2023, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739 "2023-12-17T15:50:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 103
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2025, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2041 "2025-09-13T16:13:01Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > So this is your own private compilation of SB data? I had wondered how you knew. Yes, I wrote a program to scrape them all, I’ve got a summarized database of 1,684 now. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2025, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2042 "2025-09-13T16:14:37Z")
Cool. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2025, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2043 "2025-09-13T16:24:56Z")
I got a pangram first try today. My gripe for the day is that they didn’t allow bitcoin. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2025, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2044 "2025-09-13T16:26:52Z")
I finally found one of the pangrams (though not the perfect one), about twenty words in. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2025, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2045 "2025-09-13T16:44:09Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > My gripe for the day is that they didn’t allow bitcoin. Yep, as I noted a few posts above. I wonder, however, if the plural would be accepted. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2025, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2046 "2025-09-13T17:34:10Z")
Oops, missed that. ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2025, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2047 "2025-09-14T06:22:29Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I finally found one of the pangrams (though not the perfect one), about twenty words in. It took me forever to find any of the pangrams; I was around 25 words in when I found the perfect one. And my least favorite tree, BAOBAB strikes yet again. What annoys me even more is that I’d forgotten all about it and had to resort to a clue to find it. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2025, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2048 "2025-09-14T13:59:41Z")
I hate it when that happens. (More often, the older I get.) ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2025, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2049 "2025-09-14T15:40:11Z")
Got a pangram as my first word again today, and got to Genius without resorting to clues, which doesn’t happen all that often. The word that put me over the top was epode, which I dredged up out of some dim crossword memory. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2025, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2050 "2025-09-14T15:59:26Z")
Speaking of crosswords, it’s annoying that Sam appears to filter based on his perception of commonality, but still includes an archaic (but very crossword-y) word like tope……. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2025, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2051 "2025-09-14T17:22:18Z")
Or doth. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2025, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2052 "2025-09-14T17:42:44Z")
It’s not about the words that should be there, but about guessing what Sam has picked to include today. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2025, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2053 "2025-09-14T17:53:22Z")
Still no HOOPOE. Also, given the pangram, I’m surprising that HOPHEAD wasn’t allowed. Or POPTOP. Haven’t been kicked off the site yet, so will keep going until they notice. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2025, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2054 "2025-09-14T19:55:25Z")
I noticed those omissions and wasn’t happy. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2025, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2055 "2025-09-14T21:00:54Z")
Speaking of archaic, why is doth not allowed, but doeth is? Totally illogical. 😡 I only got the latter (my last word before QB) by randomly trying combinations. I wasn’t even thinking of that word, and was stunned when it worked. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2025, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2056 "2025-09-14T21:06:16Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > why is doth not allowed, but doeth is? They were both accepted for me. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2025, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2057 "2025-09-14T22:12:07Z")
D’oh! Brain fart. [Emily Litella] Never mind[/EL] ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2025, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2058 "2025-09-14T22:38:18Z")
I’ve (more-or-less) stopped getting angry at this. I do still morbidly try to find a day where the crossword and Spelling Bee disagree about what’s a word. RIATA or REATA I think, and maybe ADIT, which seemed to be in the crossword every other day there for a while, but I don’t remember seeing it recently. I still get annoyed by UN. Why is this UN-thing there, but that UN-thing isn’t? It means you have to try everything. I doubt Sam built up the word list word by word, so even he doesn’t know exactly what’s there. I do think he does some curation though. I remember being 1 point away from Queen Bee and spending half an hour typing in every combo that seemed possible. It turned out to be DACE, an obscure fish from the North Atlantic. That’s since been removed. I’m also pretty sure LORRY has been added. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2025, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2059 "2025-09-14T23:01:49Z")
Similar to UN- is DE- ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2060 "2025-09-15T01:19:31Z")
> [@Greg\_Charles](#): > > I’m also pretty sure LORRY has been added. Lorry has been accepted from the beginning, though I’m not sure why. There are plenty of Britishisms that aren’t allowed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739.md?page=102) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739.md?page=104)