# 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:** 47
**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:** [December 12, 2024, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/921 "2024-12-12T22:08:59Z")
INANITION is one that I’ve tried before, and again today, unsuccessfully. It’s far less obscure than some of the obscure words on the list. ---
**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:** [December 13, 2024, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/922 "2024-12-13T05:49:20Z")
I’m sure it’s been raised before, but my guess is that arbitrary inclusion or omission of words is designed to provoke threads just like this, what the kids call engagement. ---
**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:** [December 13, 2024, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/923 "2024-12-13T12:09:28Z")
Well now, the virtue of one true vowel - Genius in less than a minute. I will probably try for QB, which I usually don’t bother with. ---
**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:** [December 13, 2024, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/924 "2024-12-13T14:09:55Z")
I think you might be onto something. More Sam lunacy: [Click for spoiler](https://i.imgur.com/FKWU5pC.png) ---
**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:** [December 13, 2024, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/925 "2024-12-13T14:30:00Z")
That’s a stupid word, as is the PG today. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/926 "2024-12-13T16:44:41Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > Well now, the virtue of one true vowel - Genius in less than a minute. I will probably try for QB, which I usually don’t bother with. I hate single vowel puzzles. This one wasn’t quite so bad, being an A. Usually it’s an I and a lot of -ING words. Ugh! Way to go on the fast Genius time. I think my fastest to Genius was around 4 minutes. Last night I got to QB in around 35-40 minutes. ---
**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:** [December 13, 2024, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/927 "2024-12-13T18:55:32Z")
I just got Genius without getting a pangram. (Still trying) I am new to this game but it seems like it should be rare. ---
**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:** [December 13, 2024, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/928 "2024-12-13T18:59:06Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > I just got Genius without getting a pangram. So did I earlier this morning. As it later turned out, I got all the words but one without getting a pangram. I actually kinda guessed to finally get it. ---
**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:** [December 13, 2024, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/929 "2024-12-13T19:03:30Z")
I’ve only been playing for like two weeks so I’m a complete noob. I’ve never gotten all of them except for once but I cheated and looked up the remaining words just to see what would happen. I’ve quickly gotten much better at it and I’ll know about oocyte the next time it’s relevant. ---
**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:** [December 13, 2024, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/930 "2024-12-13T19:40:57Z")
@BlankSlate can probably tell you how often it comes up. > [@hajario](#): > > I just got Genius without getting a pangram. Same here, today. It’s a dumb pangram, so maybe that will help. Just stupid. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/931 "2024-12-13T21:45:47Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > I’ve only been playing for like two weeks so I’m a complete noob. I’ve been playing for some three and a half years now. There were a couple times in the first few games that I didn’t get Genius, but since then I’ve always gotten there. I didn’t use the hints for the first half year, and so rarely got QB then. With the hints, QBs came much more often; nowadays not getting QB is becoming rare. ---
**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:** [December 16, 2024, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/932 "2024-12-16T12:11:48Z")
Monday: PIPPED is normal-type word, but not included for some reason. Also: Saturday I was sorry to see that [OCHE](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oche) (rhymes with “hockey”) didn’t get recognized, but then professional darts isn’t very big in the US. ---
**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:** [December 16, 2024, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/933 "2024-12-16T12:16:23Z")
And I imagine our pilots and aviation buffs are PEEVED that PITOT is not on the list. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2024, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/934 "2024-12-19T09:28:25Z")
No man, got no GNOMON. Not a HOMININ either. ---
**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:** [December 19, 2024, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/935 "2024-12-19T12:02:37Z")
Well, Sam’s decisions to omit certain words can be GNOMIC. On the other hand, after multiple clues failed to help I had to look up the name of a certain hairstyle. Being a balding male likely did not work in my favor. ---
**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:** [December 19, 2024, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/936 "2024-12-19T13:22:36Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > No man, got no GNOMON GNOMON, no cry! ---
**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:** [December 19, 2024, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/937 "2024-12-19T23:06:57Z")
No gnomon, an ordinary English word, but he has mochi a word I’ve never heard of (although the internet has). ---
**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:** [December 19, 2024, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/938 "2024-12-19T23:15:47Z")
I tried both gnomon and gnomic yesterday. And a few days ago, one of the last words remaining (for which I needed a hint) was clayey. Not something I’d previously heard of. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2024, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/939 "2024-12-20T00:47:02Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > but he has mochi a word I’ve never heard of Yeah, I haven’t heard of it either. I got it by semi-random guessing. ---
**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:** [December 20, 2024, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/940 "2024-12-20T01:16:18Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > No gnomon, an ordinary English word, but he has mochi a word I’ve never heard of (although the internet has). I definitely know that word and have eaten them had had them in my home [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739.md?page=46) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739.md?page=48)