# 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:** 55
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2025, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1081 "2025-01-20T10:07:00Z")
I spoke too soon about Word Flower not having obscure words. One of the words for today’s game was URTICARIA! Gawd! ---
**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:** [January 20, 2025, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1082 "2025-01-20T10:42:59Z")
Monday - no ADIT or WADI but otherwise a pretty smooth run today. ---
**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:** [January 23, 2025, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1083 "2025-01-23T12:26:09Z")
Okay, so yesterday we had ECOTONE and TOONIE. Really? And today OLLIE. We’re supposed to know skateboarding terms? Or does the ~~name~~ word have some other meaning I don’t know? ---
**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:** [January 23, 2025, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1084 "2025-01-23T19:06:35Z")
I know we’ve had TOONIE and OLLIE many times. I _always_ miss the first one. Today I was hoping there was EMBOLI, but no. ---
**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:** [January 23, 2025, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1085 "2025-01-23T20:51:09Z")
Is TOONIE included because it’s the slang term for a Canadian two-dollar coin? Edit to blur spoiler. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2025, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1086 "2025-01-23T21:26:01Z")
We can only speculate about why one word is accepted and others not. But that’s been my assumption about “toonie”, also “loonie”. Edited - Blurred spoiler ---
**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:** [January 24, 2025, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1087 "2025-01-24T10:47:16Z")
Friday: Sigh. Bit of a slog but at least no -ING or -ED words. Missing in action: CANNONRY, CANONRY, TORC, CANTO, and probably some others I’ve forgotten. ETA: decided to blur because they point to accepted words. ---
**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:** [January 24, 2025, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1088 "2025-01-24T11:05:08Z")
I tried the last word on your list twice because I just assumed I had mistyped it. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2025, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1089 "2025-01-24T12:56:08Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > My wife and I play together on our separate tablets, but on the same account, so we see each other’s entries. She usually stsrts them, and I usually finish. Are you….me?! ---
**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:** [January 24, 2025, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1090 "2025-01-24T13:07:40Z")
I did the same! ---
**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:** [January 24, 2025, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1091 "2025-01-24T19:21:14Z")
Considering the state of my so-called brain these days, it’s entirely possible, and might actually explain a few things. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2025, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1092 "2025-01-25T12:53:38Z")
🙂 The Bee’s assessment of geology terms is odd. Today they accepted hematite, just one of thousands of minerals, but recently they _didn’t_ accept craton, an absolutely fundamental concept. ---
**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:** [January 25, 2025, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1093 "2025-01-25T14:22:40Z")
A diabolical aspect of this game is the time between the appearances of an unfamiliar word. For instance, six months was long enough for me to completely forget TAIGA. ---
**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:** [January 25, 2025, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1094 "2025-01-25T15:09:47Z")
That’s why I keep a list of all the words I miss. ---
**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:** [January 26, 2025, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1095 "2025-01-26T22:12:45Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > That’s why I keep a list of all the words I miss I considered that, but decided it wasn’t in the spirit of the game for me. If I could always remember all the words, I’d have no reason to play. ---
**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:** [January 26, 2025, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1096 "2025-01-26T22:26:40Z")
Not all of the words. Just the ones I missed, often more than once. ---
**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:** [January 26, 2025, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1097 "2025-01-26T22:44:53Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Not all of the words. Just the ones I missed, often more than once Yes, I understood that. ---
**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:** [January 27, 2025, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1098 "2025-01-27T03:38:50Z")
Sam isn’t an Aubrey-Maturin fan, or he’d allow POTTO ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2025, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1099 "2025-01-27T04:50:34Z")
I was disappointed NEOTENY wasn’t accepted. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2025, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1100 "2025-01-27T06:26:58Z")
Me, too! Fundamental to developmental biology. Stephen Jay Gould introduced me to the term in one of his essays, when I was a teen in the 80s – the oversimplified (but not entirely wrong) idea that, in some ways, a modern human resembles a more juvenile version of certain hominid ancestors. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739.md?page=54) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739.md?page=56)