# 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:** 89
**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:** [July 18, 2025, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1761 "2025-07-18T19:02:20Z")
I get PINNIPED pretty easily, for whatever reason. I rarely go for QB for the same reason I no longer play Wordle, solitaire, Tetris, or Block Blast, which is that I’d rather spend my time on something else. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1762 "2025-07-18T19:07:05Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > although adenine and pinniped are not that easy to get. I got them with hints, Just reread my post and realized I mistyped. I got those two words _without_ hints; the words I needed hints for were much easier. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1763 "2025-07-18T19:16:02Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > That is a good technique. When you run into a wall, go away and do something else for a while. Yeah, that’s usually what I do. But for some reason today it just wasn’t magic. > [@susan](#): > > I rarely go for QB I never do. ---
**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:** [July 19, 2025, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1764 "2025-07-19T13:15:43Z")
No COLLOIDAL. ---
**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:** [July 19, 2025, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1765 "2025-07-19T14:07:14Z")
Another anomaly, because COLLOID has always been accepted. And thanks to colloidal silver, it’s a widely used term. Much more so than DIABOLO (which suffered seven rejections before becoming an official Samword.) ---
**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:** [July 19, 2025, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1766 "2025-07-19T19:30:53Z")
Yep. I tried it too ---
**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:** [July 19, 2025, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1767 "2025-07-19T20:32:45Z")
Me too. ---
**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:** [July 19, 2025, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1768 "2025-07-19T23:40:28Z")
We all did. At least once. ---
**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:** [July 20, 2025, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1769 "2025-07-20T19:30:47Z")
Why not TINPOT today? And I tried POTTO, one of my favorite animal characters from the Aubrey-Maturin series, which I’ve unsuccessfully tried before, and Sam still doesn’t accept it. ---
**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:** [July 20, 2025, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1770 "2025-07-20T19:43:45Z")
Weirdly, Merriam has your first one hyphenated, whereas it’s not in a random British English dictionary I checked. I of course tried it as well. ---
**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:** [July 20, 2025, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1771 "2025-07-20T19:57:38Z")
Although I was somewhat daunted today to see that Genius was 293 and QB was 418, I dove in anyway, and was halfway to genius before I realized that, in addition to ING there was also TION. As it happened, that wasnt such a big help, since only 3 words out of 72 total used TION. But I was able to get well beyond Genius with no help at all, and got to QB only using the grids at Spelling Bee Buddy, none of the customized hints at the top of the page. That’s my usual practice: no help before Genius, then the grids until I can’t go any further, then the hints, with the user-provided hints as the absolute last resort. ---
**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:** [July 20, 2025, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1772 "2025-07-20T20:09:05Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > with the user-provided hints as the absolute last resort. User-provided hints are called “Clues”, in SpellingBee-ese. I can _occasionally_ get to Genius without the hints, but I would never be able to get to Queen Bee without them. I have no idea how some of these posters do 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:** [July 20, 2025, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1773 "2025-07-20T20:17:25Z")
I’ve only done it like five times without help. Sometimes I get in a groove. I’m at 369 points so far today. I keep looking again and I see more words. QB is 417 or 418 so I doubt I’ll get there. ---
**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:** [July 20, 2025, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1774 "2025-07-20T20:25:11Z")
Today I was gratified to see that PITTING was recognized as a word. Yesterday I was disappointed that neither OBLADI or OBLADA were accepted, but life goes on… ---
**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:** [July 20, 2025, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1775 "2025-07-20T20:26:28Z")
I can usually, not always, get to Genius without checking the clues. I can’t imagine ever getting to QB unassisted; there’s always been at least one word I just don’t know. ---
**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:** [July 20, 2025, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1776 "2025-07-20T20:43:10Z")
Yeah, today was one of the rare times that Sam hasn’t included some weird word I’ve never heard of. The worst one today was PIPIT, a kind of bird. I didn’t know it right away, but got it just by putting in combos of five letters starting with PI. When it was accepted, I remembered that I had seen it here before. ---
**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:** [July 20, 2025, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1777 "2025-07-20T21:10:02Z")
And when there’s also an ‘e’ you PIPIT, PIPET and PIPETTE. ---
**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:** [July 20, 2025, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1778 "2025-07-20T21:29:38Z")
> [@Thing.Fish](#): > > Today I was gratified to see that PITTING was recognized as a word. Why wouldn’t it be? It’s a perfectly cromulent word. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2025, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1779 "2025-07-21T05:17:06Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > That’s my usual practice: no help before Genius, then the grids until I can’t go any further, then the hints, with the user-provided hints as the absolute last resort. The above seems to indicate that there are three levels of help provided for this puzzle. Let me correct that impression: there are only two levels: hints and clues. The first level, hints, is provided by the Hints page with the grid and two-letter list. The exact same information it provides is also in the two grids on the Spelling Bee Buddy page. The only difference is that the Buddy has done all the tedious drudgery work of figuring out what are the first letters by length that you’re missing plus the first two letters of the missing words. You could get all that info from the grid+list on the other page. I used to do that before I started using the Buddy. Even now I still do it for letters that have only a few total words. The other help is properly called clues and it is additional to the hints and provided by other players. Like you, I only use them in extremis. Hell, I don’t even look at the scoring ranks until I get to Genius. ---
**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:** [July 21, 2025, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1780 "2025-07-21T09:11:01Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Why wouldn’t it be? It’s a perfectly cromulent word. And one I used before the internet was a thing, in the context of cherries. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739.md?page=88) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739.md?page=90)