# 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:** 19
**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:** [May 26, 2024, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/361 "2024-05-26T14:06:16Z")
If you don’t like compound words, you might want to skip Sunday’s puzzle because there are lots of them. Also, it’s not very consistent about which words ending in -ABLE it accepts, so you just have to try them all. Which is annoying. ---
**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:** [May 26, 2024, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/362 "2024-05-26T14:27:13Z")
It’s not that I don’t like compound words; it’s just annoying that one is accepted while another is not. ---
**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:** [May 27, 2024, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/363 "2024-05-27T04:15:53Z")
Agreed. Like CLICKABLE being accepted while KICKABLE is not. And CALLABLE today is an accepted compound word that I’ve never heard used. ---
**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:** [May 27, 2024, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/364 "2024-05-27T04:21:49Z")
I wanted to use billback, but no go. ---
**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:** [May 27, 2024, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/365 "2024-05-27T14:41:03Z")
> [@gkster](#): > > And CALLABLE today is an accepted compound word that I’ve never heard used. I’ve never head of it either, but it has a specific usage in the financial industry as a demand for payment. Mirriam Webster’s example sentence: > Some investors had speculated that the $1.1 billion note is structured as a _callable_ bond, ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2024, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/366 "2024-05-27T17:11:13Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > I’ve never head of it either, but it has a specific usage in the financial industry as a demand for payment. And this is an illustration of which words are accepted and which are not when it comes to suffixes (_-able_ is really a suffix for these words, not part of a compound word) and prefixes such as _non-_ and _un-_. Only affixed words where there’s a meaning that goes beyond the simple meaning of the affix. Why? Because dictionaries need to explicitly have an entry for them, whereas they usually skip entries for the others. And computer word lists, including the one used for this game, are based on dictionaries. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2024, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/367 "2024-05-28T02:09:38Z")
Are there any other word games similar to Spelling Bee out there? I once tried to find some, but came up empty. You’d think there’d be copycat games around somewhere. ---
**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:** [May 28, 2024, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/368 "2024-05-28T02:10:36Z")
Yes, someone posted one awhile back, let me look… ---
**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:** [May 28, 2024, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/369 "2024-05-28T02:16:45Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > Are there any other word games similar to Spelling Bee out there? > [@NYT Spelling Bee drives me crazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/96): > > It’s [spellsbee.com](http://spellsbee.com). Not the same as the Times? ---
**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:** [May 28, 2024, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/370 "2024-05-28T04:17:35Z")
I just played SpellsBee, and even though its format is just like Spelling Bee, at the bottom of the page it has a disclaimer: “[SpellsBee.com](http://SpellsBee.com) is not affiliated with “Spelling Bee” by NYTimes in any way”. It struck me as easier than Spelling Bee, for which I almost always need a hint for the last few words. I found all 40 possible SpellsBee words without hints, which it doesn’t provide anyway. ---
**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:** [May 28, 2024, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/371 "2024-05-28T04:45:32Z")
Yeah, it’s different - they accept different words than Spelling Bee, for one. It’s kind of a pale imitation, but it’s something, I guess. There are links at the bottom of the page to a Strands clone and a Squares game (a word search). The Strands game didn’t work right - it didn’t format to my cell phone screen very well, and there were scattered letters left over. [![](https://i.imgur.com/3CkfDJ0.jpeg) ](https://i.imgur.com/3CkfDJ0.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2024, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/372 "2024-05-28T06:29:57Z")
> [@gkster](#): > > It struck me as easier than Spelling Bee, for which I almost always need a hint for the last few words. I found all 40 possible SpellsBee words without hints, which it doesn’t provide anyway. I also just played it. It obviously uses its own word list. It has some words not in the NYT game and doesn’t accept others that are in it. It also doesn’t seem to have a Queen Bee equivalent. ---
**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:** [May 28, 2024, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/373 "2024-05-28T15:38:15Z")
Holy cow, one of today’s words is properly obscure. I had to read several clues to find it, as it was the last outstanding one. Never heard of it before. And yet MECHANE was not on the list (which any _Order of the Stick_ fan will know). And LIANA once again failed to appear yesterday. ---
**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:** [May 28, 2024, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/374 "2024-05-28T16:25:06Z")
Which word? (Blur it, of course.) We stop at Genius, so may not have gotten it. ---
**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:** [May 28, 2024, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/375 "2024-05-28T16:56:41Z")
It’s NANKEEN. Which according to Spelling Bee Buddy only 19% have managed to find. ---
**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:** [May 28, 2024, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/376 "2024-05-28T17:07:13Z")
Nankeen is yet another _lol just kidding_ word. It’s been acceptable seven times after being disallowed the first four times it was playable. ---
**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:** [May 28, 2024, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/377 "2024-05-28T17:40:04Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > is yet another _lol just kidding_ word. It’s been acceptable seven times after being disallowed the first four times it was playable. I certainly don’t doubt this statement, but out of idle curiosity, how do you know this stat? ---
**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:** [May 28, 2024, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/378 "2024-05-28T18:31:47Z")
[This site.](https://www.sbsolver.com/) Click on the ‘History’ tab and enter any word used in the NYT Spelling Bee. Or not used. Edit: Just reloaded the page w/o my adblocker on and it’s a bit ad happy. ---
**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:** [May 28, 2024, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/379 "2024-05-28T19:15:58Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Holy cow, one of today’s words is properly obscure. Yeah, that was super annoying, considering words it _won’t_ accept. ---
**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:** [May 29, 2024, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/380 "2024-05-29T16:31:10Z")
Listen, Sam, that word is also a verb, which means it has a past tense. I know because I looked it up. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739.md?page=18) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739.md?page=20)