# 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:** 90
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2025, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1781 "2025-07-21T13:35:14Z")
Now “Roman” is an obscure word? Pffft! ---
**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:** [July 21, 2025, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1782 "2025-07-21T13:54:22Z")
It’s probably always capitalized? ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2025, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1783 "2025-07-21T13:57:53Z")
Uh, I would never capitalize it (“Nariz romana” for example it’s never capitalized in Spanish), but a quick google shows that “Roman” is always capitalized, didn’t know that. Another quirk of the English language learned! 💪 ---
**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:** [July 21, 2025, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1784 "2025-07-21T14:09:18Z")
Yeah, German doesn’t capitalizes those things when they’re adjectives either. ---
**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 21, 2025, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1785 "2025-07-21T22:28:40Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > 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. Sorry for using the wrong terminology, but IMO there _are_, in fact, three levels of help at the Spelling Bee Buddy. 1. The grids. 2. The hints in the box labeled Your Customized Hints, which usually are just things you could have inferred from the grid, like “Good work finding 13 words that start with M! Keep looking, there are more to go.” But sometimes you get more helpful hints like, “Good work finding PART. Can you think of any other words that start with those letters?” 3. The reader clues that you have to click on “Give me a reader clue” to see. They usually make the answer pretty obvious. For instance, last week, if you hadn’t figured out a four-letter word starting with AI, the reader clue was “Assistant.” Those are the distinctions I was trying to make in my previous post. ---
**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, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1786 "2025-07-21T22:36:27Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > The hints in the box labeled Your Customized Hints, which usually are just things you could have inferred from the grid, like “Good work finding 13 words that start with M! Keep looking, there are more to go.” But sometimes you get more helpful hints like, “Good work finding PART. Can you think of any other words that start with those letters?” I’ve always totally ignored that part of the Buddy. I think I may have tried it out the first time I opened the Buddy page and decided it was useless. ---
**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 21, 2025, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1787 "2025-07-21T22:48:43Z")
Yeah, it’s mostly useless, except for the kind of hint in my example. ---
**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 21, 2025, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1788 "2025-07-21T23:00:39Z")
Today was a tough road to Genius. ---
**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 21, 2025, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1789 "2025-07-21T23:03:14Z")
I got most all of it until the last few, where I had to go to comment hints by Steve. ---
**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 21, 2025, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1790 "2025-07-21T23:29:18Z")
I had a tough time too. I was one point away from G forever. ---
**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 22, 2025, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1791 "2025-07-22T00:07:44Z")
Yeah, usually it’s fairly easy to get to genius. Today it tooks some extra effort even though most of the words were common. It wasn’t until later that I realized I had missed MORON. 😬 ---
**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 22, 2025, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1792 "2025-07-22T01:41:02Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > Yeah, it’s mostly useless, except for the kind of hint in my example > [@commasense](#): > > But sometimes you get more helpful hints like, “Good work finding PART. Can you think of any other words that start with those letters?” I’m not seeing how that would be helpful. Unless I’m mistaken, they mean “other words that start with PA”. Which the grid already tells you. ---
**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 22, 2025, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1793 "2025-07-22T04:27:12Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > I’m not seeing how that would be helpful. Unless I’m mistaken, they mean “other words that start with PA”. Which the grid already tells you. I’m afraid you are mistaken. It means just what it says: you will find PARTY or PARTIAL, or other words that start with PART. ---
**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 22, 2025, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1794 "2025-07-22T04:35:38Z")
Wow, clearly I had no idea. ---
**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 22, 2025, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1795 "2025-07-22T05:16:51Z")
Today (Monday) they had some rather extreme examples: “Good job finding MALARIA. Can you find any other words starting with those letters?” MALARIA And MARINA / MARINARA ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2025, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1796 "2025-07-22T09:57:00Z")
Female dogs are right out, but Bilbo Baggins is good. ---
**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 22, 2025, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1797 "2025-07-22T12:36:50Z")
What a strange omission. The NYT itself allows that word in multiple contexts. ---
**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 22, 2025, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1798 "2025-07-22T21:11:42Z")
Yeah, that was weird. I was surprised that it accepted it but I’ll take it. Another slog for me today but a persevered for the G without a pangram although I think BIOETHIC would have been a good one. Edit: I just found a pangram! ---
**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:** [July 24, 2025, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1799 "2025-07-24T11:58:09Z")
For a while, alfa wasn’t accepted, but then I think it was? Now it isn’t again. (Spoilered because it’s close to an accepted word). ---
**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 24, 2025, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1800 "2025-07-24T12:11:44Z")
It was allowed exactly once - this most recent February - and disallowed 66 times. Sam: “Oopsie!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739.md?page=89) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739.md?page=91)