# NYT Spelling Bee drives me crazy
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739
**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:** 135
### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2026, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2681 "2026-03-11T15:41:20Z")
Perhaps because it’s always capitalized?
---
### Author:  [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2026, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2682 "2026-03-11T15:54:37Z")
This morning I tried a different spelling bee app on my phone (this is the [web version](https://www.spellingbee.one/.)) It’s basically a clone of the NYT game, except using a different dictionary and allowing ‘e’ and ‘r’ in the same puzzle. It’s a nightmare. After 113 words, six pangrams and carpal tunnel syndrome, I threw in the towel. Kudos to Sam for getting that right.
---
### Author:  [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2026, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2683 "2026-03-11T21:40:14Z")
And why isn’t DETENT allowed, when DETENTE is?
---
### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2026, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2684 "2026-03-11T22:37:40Z")
I tried that word as well.
---
### Author:  [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2026, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2685 "2026-03-13T05:29:46Z")
I was surprised “pedicle” wasn’t allowed today, having gotten numerous ones screwed into my back last year. (blurring because it’s similar to an allowed word)
---
### Author:  [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)
#### Post date: [March 14, 2026, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2686 "2026-03-14T12:39:45Z")
Yesterday, they didn’t accept another pangram, TROCHAIC.
---
### Author:  [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)
#### Post date: [March 14, 2026, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2687 "2026-03-14T13:13:41Z")
Does anyone here know the last word I got today, BURGOO?
Another one of Sam’s fucking obscure (to me, at least) cuisine terms.
---
### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [March 14, 2026, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2688 "2026-03-14T14:10:00Z")
I needed a hint for that one.
---
### Author:  [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)
#### Post date: [March 14, 2026, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2689 "2026-03-14T14:16:02Z")
I like to have some BURGOO with my CALLALOO and COLCANNON.
---
### Author:  [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)
#### Post date: [March 14, 2026, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2690 "2026-03-14T14:50:51Z")
Recently I was happily surprised they allowed RHOTIC. They usually hate linguistics terms (ironically, perhaps).
---
### Author:  [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)
#### Post date: [March 14, 2026, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2691 "2026-03-14T18:10:48Z")
> [@commasense](#):
>
> Does anyone here know the last word I got today, BURGOO?
Yes. Slightly less obscure than some of his other foods. The NYTimes Recipes features this recipe every so often.
[Burgoo Recipe](https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1026635-burgoo)
> [@BlankSlate](#):
>
> I like to have some BURGOO with my CALLALOO and COLCANNON.
Lol!
---
### Author:  [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2026, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2692 "2026-03-15T15:27:31Z")
What’s the matter with RAILYARD? Seems perfectly cromulent to me.
---
### Author:  [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2026, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2693 "2026-03-15T21:18:59Z")
And cardial.
---
### Author:  [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2026, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2694 "2026-03-16T00:03:53Z")
> [@needscoffee](#):
>
> cardial.
Maybe it’s because my dictionary is 20 years old, but it doesn’t have that word.
But it does have LIDAR, which is not accepted by SB.
---
### Author:  [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2026, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2695 "2026-03-16T11:44:19Z")
I don’t think he accepts acronyms, though it feels like LIDAR is moving to lidar, similarly to its cousin radar.
---
### Author:  [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2026, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2696 "2026-03-16T11:48:27Z")
Eeling seems like a perfectly good word to me.
---
### Author:  [@Thumper668](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thumper668)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2026, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2697 "2026-03-16T13:20:10Z")
Apparently EXIGENCE is a problem.
---
### Author:  [@Thumper668](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thumper668)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2026, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2698 "2026-03-16T13:23:20Z")
Cardial is a rather obscure medical term meaning ‘relating to the passage between the esophagus and the stomach’. Still a valid word.
---
### Author:  [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2026, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2699 "2026-03-16T15:13:58Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#):
>
> I don’t think he accepts acronyms, though it feels like LIDAR is moving to lidar, similarly to its cousin radar.
Lidar is not an acronym. It’s a blend of LIght + raDAR. At least, that’s what M-W says.
> [@Thumper668](#):
>
> Cardial is a rather **obscure** medical term
(Emphasis added.) That’s why it’s not accepted.
---
### Author:  [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2026, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/2700 "2026-03-16T15:17:07Z")
> [@dtilque](#):
>
> Lidar is not an acronym. It’s a blend of LIght + raDAR. At least, that’s what M-W says.
Huh, LIght Detection And Ranging is what I learned.
[Lidar - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lidar) How strange.
> Lidar (/ˈlaɪdɑːr/, an acronym of light detection and ranging[1] or laser imaging, detection, and ranging,[2] often stylized LiDAR) i
[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739.md?page=134)
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739.md?page=136)