# 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:** 73
**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:** [April 24, 2025, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1441 "2025-04-24T03:42:00Z")
CELLULE?!? Really? I’m 70 years old and this is the first time I’ve heard of this word. But it’s not “obscure or technical,” is 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:** [April 24, 2025, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1442 "2025-04-24T07:25:03Z")
I’m surprised that GAMEY isn’t allowed ---
**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:** [April 24, 2025, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1443 "2025-04-24T13:11:24Z")
I struggled today, I won’t lie…it took me a while to find a pangram. ---
**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:** [April 24, 2025, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1444 "2025-04-24T15:10:52Z")
I never heard the word before the Spelling Bee but it’s the 18th time it’s come up, so it’ll come around again before too long. Now that we’ve had this conversation, you’ll probably remember it next time. If only I get could that to work for TUTTI. ---
**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:** [April 24, 2025, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1445 "2025-04-24T15:27:27Z")
It’s only since I found Spelling Bee Buddy a few months ago that I regularly try for Queen Bee, so I doubt I’ve come across it in previous Spelling Bees. But with luck, I _may_ remember it next time. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2025, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1446 "2025-04-24T18:21:02Z")
I broke down and checked the hints today, and there were a few words I kicked myself for missing (a lot of easy MA words that I just couldn’t get to), and three that I had just never heard before. I assume I could have gotten to Genius without those three if I’d stuck with it. Completely new to me: the alternative spellings of AMEBA and AMEBAE, and also BEGEM, which sounds like where drunk Bilbo tells the Uber driver to take him. ---
**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:** [April 25, 2025, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1447 "2025-04-25T13:16:34Z")
> [@Thing.Fish](#): > > which sounds like where drunk Bilbo tells the Uber driver to take him. 👏 ---
**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:** [April 26, 2025, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1448 "2025-04-26T16:01:01Z")
Wait, HALO is a verb now? If you’re going to accept the past participle ONGOING, don’t you logically have to take the present tense form ONGO, too? Not according to Sam. Actually, I know copy editors who deprecated the use of the former because they too denied the existence of the latter. They preferred alternates like CONTINUING, etc. (Blurred not because it’s in today’s puzzle, but so it doesn’t provide a hint.) And decades into the computer age, why isn’t LOGON accepted? Ever since I started playing Spelling Bee, I’ve been disappointed they didn’t accept GAOL. Yes, it’s obsolete and obscure (an old spelling of JAIL, I first saw it in _The Wind in the Willows_). ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2025, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1449 "2025-04-26T16:37:21Z")
> halo > > 2 of 3 > > ## [verb](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/verb) > > haloed; haloing; haloes > > [transitive verb](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/transitive) > > **:** to form into or surround with a halo > > rainbows haloed the waterfalls—Michael Crawford ---
**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:** [April 26, 2025, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1450 "2025-04-26T16:38:03Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > And decades into the computer age, why isn’t LOGON accepted? Well, really, especially since LOGIN is accepted. ---
**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:** [April 26, 2025, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1451 "2025-04-26T18:28:16Z")
Isn’t logon normally two words? ---
**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:** [April 26, 2025, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1452 "2025-04-26T22:25:40Z")
Not if it’s a noun ---
**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:** [April 27, 2025, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1453 "2025-04-27T01:09:49Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Isn’t logon normally two words? You’re correct that it’s two words. It’s not considered correct as one word yet (Merriam-Webster or [Dictionary.com](http://Dictionary.com)). ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2025, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1454 "2025-04-28T17:55:44Z")
Got to Genius quickly with no hints today! Happy that what put me over the top was the ten-letter past tense verb meaning “to follow Jerry Garcia around” ---
**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:** [April 28, 2025, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1455 "2025-04-28T18:12:43Z")
That word, along with deadhead has appeared previously. ---
**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:** [April 28, 2025, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1456 "2025-04-28T18:19:17Z")
Me too, brother. As you know, they are probably using the more standard definition moving a cargo carrier to a location while empty ---
**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:** [April 28, 2025, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1457 "2025-04-28T18:19:22Z")
And, of course, it refers to taking a trip without cargo (if you’re a trucker) or traveling somewhere to work as a flight attendant, without working the trip out (or back), and probably other things as well. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2025, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1458 "2025-04-28T18:49:52Z")
I know, but that’s no fun. Also, “deadhead” in the Dead sense isn’t really used as a verb. ---
**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:** [April 28, 2025, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1459 "2025-04-28T18:53:40Z")
Then you’re doing it wrong 😉 ---
**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:** [April 28, 2025, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1460 "2025-04-28T20:42:49Z")
I always think of that word in reference to flowers… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739.md?page=72) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739.md?page=74)