# 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:** 114
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2025, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2261 "2025-10-29T18:39:46Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > I used to live on that avenue So now it’s personal! 🙂 It was one of the main streets in the town where I grew up, and there’s one a couple miles from where I live now. ---
**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:** [October 30, 2025, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2262 "2025-10-30T05:07:17Z")
I don’t have a clue what the tree is ---
**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:** [October 30, 2025, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2263 "2025-10-30T14:29:25Z")
Since the puzzle is a day old, and the word is not in it, and it isn’t a likely clue to another word in the puzzle… LINDEN. ---
**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:** [October 30, 2025, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2264 "2025-10-30T14:38:15Z")
Huh. I’ve seen the word as a street name but never knew the definition. Had I thought about it I would have assumed it was just a last name like the actor Hal Linden and not that it had an additional meaning. ---
**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:** [October 30, 2025, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2265 "2025-10-30T16:16:00Z")
We have a big one in our front yard, otherwise I might just know it as a common tree in Germany. On a side note, when its small flowers bloom in the spring, all the bees and wasps find it, and the tree hums. ---
**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:** [October 31, 2025, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2266 "2025-10-31T04:58:36Z")
I just went down a LINDEN wood rabbit hole, looking up Unter den Linden, the boulevard in Berlin, from there looking at the Swedish surnames Lindskog (linden forest), Lindberg (linden mountain) and Lindskold (linden shield), from there to Viking linden shields (the wood is light but strong), then to statues. Many medieval statues are made from linden wood, and I found a website offering new statues of saints, described as linden wood hand carved in Italy. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2025, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2267 "2025-10-31T08:19:34Z")
So WINCH is accepted, but not WINCHING. Does Sam not know what the former means? ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2025, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2268 "2025-10-31T10:32:58Z")
I just came here to post that! What the heck?? ---
**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:** [October 31, 2025, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2269 "2025-10-31T11:08:50Z")
Gentlemen, as everyone knows, at the New York Times that is a noun, not a verb. No, seriously, I have no idea. I tried it twice! ---
**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:** [October 31, 2025, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2270 "2025-10-31T13:37:21Z")
I tried it twice too! And I checked, it’s in OED, M-W and Collins. A quick romp to Genius otherwise, the witch hat badge is cute, but a red faced annoyed badge or a mystified head scratching badge would be more appropriate. ---
**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:** [October 31, 2025, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2271 "2025-10-31T13:44:52Z")
And TWITTING and TWIGGING were disallowed as well, although I suppose someone might consider them Britishisms. But WHINGING was allowed, which is definitely a Brit word. ---
**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:** [October 31, 2025, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2272 "2025-10-31T13:54:50Z")
I tried those Britishisms too. Anyway I got to QB with WIGHT, which I would have thought too archaic, but TIL that it also means something appropriate for today: spirit, including an evil spirit ---
**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:** [October 31, 2025, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2273 "2025-10-31T14:33:12Z")
> [@gkster](#): > > Anyway I got to QB with WIGHT, which I would have thought too archaic Until Game Of Thrones, of course. ---
**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:** [October 31, 2025, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2274 "2025-10-31T14:51:44Z")
Oh, is it in Game Of Thrones? I’ve never watched it, like 52% of people in the “I’ve never done x” poll. > [@Polls only: No discussion](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polls-only-no-discussion/953642/6343): > > [poll](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polls-only-no-discussion/953642/6343) ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2025, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2275 "2025-10-31T18:10:09Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > > [@gkster](#): > > > > Anyway I got to QB with WIGHT, which I would have thought too archaic > > Until Game Of Thrones, of course. Tolkien used the word too. Also a monster in D&D And now that I think about it, Doc Smith used the word too, albeit in a somewhat different meaning than the others. ---
**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:** [October 31, 2025, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2276 "2025-10-31T18:15:23Z")
As did Elmer Fudd. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2025, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2277 "2025-10-31T20:55:37Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > So WINCH is accepted, but not WINCHING. Does Sam not know what the former means? Yeah, we’ve complained about this for ages. I’ve even emailed. Sam’s blind spots are truly baffling! ---
**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:** [November 4, 2025, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2278 "2025-11-04T00:22:34Z")
OK, so HOYDEN & GIBBET aren’t accepted, but yesterday’s pangram, PETTIFOG, is fine?? SMH yet again. ---
**Author:** ![mtnmatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a3d4f5/32.png) [@mtnmatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mtnmatt)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2025, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2279 "2025-11-04T01:28:14Z")
I only got that one because I remembered it from a past puzzle, and at that time, since I had never heard the word, did a NYT search and it had never appeared in the paper, even during the 2016-2020 era when it could have been used daily, ISTM. ---
**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:** [November 4, 2025, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2280 "2025-11-04T01:39:21Z")
I knew the word from the character in the Wizard of Id comic. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739.md?page=113) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739.md?page=115)