# 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:** 32
**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:** [August 18, 2024, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/621 "2024-08-18T12:43:45Z")
That should definitely be a valid SB word, especially given the word starting with N that’s allowed today. I would say that GODHOOD is more common. ---
**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:** [August 18, 2024, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/622 "2024-08-18T14:09:17Z")
Disappointed but not surprised it didn’t accept HORNDOG. ---
**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:** [August 18, 2024, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/623 "2024-08-18T14:48:17Z")
Literally came to post this. Delighted that I wasn’t the only one who tried it. Also, I always try DROOG, even though I know it’s never going to be acceptable. ---
**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:** [August 18, 2024, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/624 "2024-08-18T17:09:14Z")
I did too! Also DRONGO, which I know as Aussie slang but now looking it up I discovered it’s also a bird and thus ought to be fair game. ---
**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:** [August 18, 2024, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/625 "2024-08-18T18:01:36Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Disappointed but not surprised it didn’t accept HORNDOG Same here! They accept DILDO, why not horndog? ---
**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:** [August 18, 2024, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/626 "2024-08-18T18:04:11Z")
Having recently learned that a “hondo” is the knot used in a lasso, I was hoping to use it, but I understand that it’s pretty obscure. ---
**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:** [August 19, 2024, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/627 "2024-08-19T08:58:00Z")
I was rather pleased to have come up with [PORPHYRY](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porphyry_(geology)). I would have been even more pleased if it had been accepted. No luck on HOOPTY either. There was one I blanked on and eventually went to the user clues which were singularly unhelpful. They kept referring to a “Chinese stew” which could be anything. I eventually worked it out, and the folks in [Lancashire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancashire_hotpot) might want a word. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/628 "2024-08-19T10:17:03Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > The problem with that word is that it in the US it is also used to describe Black hair. AIUI, while Black Americans can use it, it’s considered offensive when used by others. So I get leaving that one out. I had the same thought-- the word in question, BTW, being “nappy.” Also, from what I understand from truck drivers of my acquaintance, in some regions, the word “lorry” is used in the US for a cab + load combination where a semi load is entirely enclosed (ie, not a flatbed, or something partially open). I think, but won’t swear by it, that “lorries” is haul cargo and would not be enclosed Mack trucks or cargo vans that are below “lorry” weight restrictions on bridges. I think in the UK a lorry is also a semi cab without a load, which in the US is a “bobtail.” UK readers, please correct me-- I think a Mack-type truck is still a lorry in the UK, but trucks that people might used for farm work, and as personal drivers, are “trucks,” in the UK. **The point being that with meanings overlapping, but still different, it isn’t possible to use the definitions of both countries without someone crying “foul.”** Yes, I’m on post 4 or something of about 8,000. Never heard of the game before, but am highly intrigued; going to check it out. If it’s interesting as it sounds, I’m going to figure out about how many posts this thread gets per day, and try to read that, + 20, until I’m caught up. There goes the Agatha Christie novel I’ve been trying to finish. But in the meantime, could someone PM me a one-paragraph explanation of how the game works? little bit confused right now. ---
**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:** [August 19, 2024, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/629 "2024-08-19T12:39:17Z")
Didn’t it used to accept OPAH? ---
**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:** [August 19, 2024, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/630 "2024-08-19T13:18:25Z")
I guess the study of joint disease wasn’t in Sam’s curriculum. ---
**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:** [August 19, 2024, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/631 "2024-08-19T13:22:31Z")
Or alternative medicine - no ORTHOPATHY allowed. Although I’m not as bothered by that one. ---
**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:** [August 19, 2024, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/632 "2024-08-19T13:25:40Z")
But apparently the study of Buddhism was. ARHAT? Really? I only got it because I used the hints to see the letter count and first two letters, then tried a few random combinations. They didn’t take HOOPY. Next you’ll be telling me they don’t take FROOD, either. ---
**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:** [August 19, 2024, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/633 "2024-08-19T16:08:30Z")
It did. 17 times through to the end of 2023, and now disallowed the past 5 times. Another mysterious deletion. ---
**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:** [August 19, 2024, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/634 "2024-08-19T16:17:34Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > could someone PM me a one-paragraph explanation of how the game works? little bit confused right now. Here’s a wiki that explains it pretty well. > **[The New York Times Spelling Bee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Times_Spelling_Bee)** > > The New York Times Spelling Bee, or simply the Spelling Bee, is a word game distributed in print and electronic format by The New York Times as part of The New York Times Games. Created by Frank Longo, the game debuted in a weekly print format in 2014. A digital daily version with an altered scoring system launched on May 9, 2018. > The game presents players with a hexagonal grid of 7 letters arrayed in a honeycomb structure. The player scores points by using the letters to form words consistin... ---
**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:** [August 20, 2024, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/635 "2024-08-20T10:01:43Z")
Tuesday: No HOOPOE. Hmph. (Also: still no PION) ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2024, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/636 "2024-08-21T00:57:46Z")
Yes, pion really surprised me. Absolutely standard dictionary word. ---
**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:** [August 21, 2024, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/637 "2024-08-21T01:05:02Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > But apparently the study of Buddhism was. ARHAT? That’s been included frequently enough that I actually remembered to try it. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2024, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/638 "2024-08-21T05:21:40Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Yes, pion really surprised me. Absolutely standard dictionary word. When it comes to subatomic particles, only the most commonly known ones seem to be accepted. Proton and photon, yes and I assume electron and neutron (I can’t remember them ever coming up), but AFAICT, nothing else. ---
**Author:** ![Cugel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cugel/32/1199_2.png) [@Cugel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cugel)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2024, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/639 "2024-08-21T08:12:37Z")
Lambing would be up there in the most mundane omissions category, at least for the two months I’ve been playing. ---
**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:** [August 21, 2024, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/640 "2024-08-21T10:12:15Z")
Yeah, I thought so too. Maybe it’s obscure if you live in NYC and know nothing whatsoever about farms. And BLAG/BLAGGING are too British to make the cut. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739.md?page=31) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739.md?page=33)