# 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:** 99
**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:** [August 18, 2025, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1961 "2025-08-18T16:58:16Z")
I was just glad it didn’t take as long as several of the last handful. ---
**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:** [August 18, 2025, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1962 "2025-08-18T17:29:32Z")
Me too. I was starting to doubt my skills. I got one word past G and may go back to it later. ---
**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:** [August 20, 2025, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1963 "2025-08-20T14:05:28Z")
Yesterday was the toughest one that I can remember. MEZZOTINT? Really? By contrast, today’s was a cinch. ---
**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:** [August 20, 2025, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1964 "2025-08-20T14:25:58Z")
Yeah, give me a break with that word. A few days ago, it didn’t accept guarana, even thought that’s printed on tons of energy drinks, but it takes mezzotint? ---
**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:** [August 20, 2025, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1965 "2025-08-20T14:54:06Z")
That (mezzotint) was a really obscure word yesterday. It was the last one I needed for Queen Bee and I needed a hint for it. Though today (pangram: walkout), one of the accepted words was waul. It _is_ in the Merriam-Webster dictionary but it’s described as chiefly Scottish. ---
**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:** [August 20, 2025, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1966 "2025-08-20T15:19:39Z")
It didn’t accept TONTINE yesterday which I thought was a common enough word. ---
**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:** [August 20, 2025, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1967 "2025-08-20T15:22:22Z")
I’m 99% sure they’ve accepted it before. I know it from _The Wrong Box_, the 1966 comedy with Michael Caine, Ralph Richardson, Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, and Peter Sellers. ---
**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:** [August 20, 2025, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1968 "2025-08-20T15:26:10Z")
A tontine was the subject of _[Raging Abe Simpson and His Grumbling Grandson in ‘The Curse of the Flying Hellfish’](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raging_Abe_Simpson_and_His_Grumbling_Grandson_in_%2527The_Curse_of_the_Flying_Hellfish%2527)_, episode 22 of the seventh season of The Simpsons. ---
**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:** [August 20, 2025, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1969 "2025-08-20T15:50:46Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > I’m 99% sure they’ve accepted it before. It was accepted ten times before this year, but now it’s been rejected twice. Sam really is a terrible manager of this process, the whole goddamn thing could be automated, 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:** [August 20, 2025, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1970 "2025-08-20T18:48:42Z")
And it’s the other way around for WAUL, which was rejected in the first of three appearances. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2025, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1971 "2025-08-20T19:04:12Z")
There was an episode of MASH where Col. Potter was the surviver of a tontine. That’s where I learned about 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:** [August 20, 2025, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1972 "2025-08-20T19:13:26Z")
There was a tontine in the Simpsons, but M\*A\*S\*H might also be where I learned about it. ---
**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:** [August 20, 2025, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1973 "2025-08-20T20:38:17Z")
I’m pretty sure I learned TONTINE from the spelling bee. It’s absurd to acccept a word ten times then snatch it away. It feels more like ‘oops, I forgot’ than any sort of correction. ---
**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:** [August 21, 2025, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1974 "2025-08-21T12:43:11Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Yesterday was the toughest one that I can remember. MEZZOTINT? Really? Weirdly, it was one of the first words I got (likely because I spotted MEZZO, which gets used in music a lot). It was TIMEZONE that took me a while - compound words are more likely to elude me. Today’s (Thursday’s) was a snap. ---
**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:** [August 21, 2025, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1975 "2025-08-21T12:47:08Z")
Yeah, two easy days in a row! What am I supposed to stare at during my commute home?? ---
**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:** [August 21, 2025, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1976 "2025-08-21T12:48:18Z")
Letter Boxed? ---
**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:** [August 21, 2025, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1977 "2025-08-21T12:52:31Z")
I already have enough daily obsessions. I’m studiously avoiding Pips, 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:** [August 21, 2025, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1978 "2025-08-21T13:02:40Z")
Oh, Pips is fun. Somewhere around two minutes to Genius today, though part of that is the rare occasion of using my laptop keyboard instead of my iPad. ---
**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:** [August 23, 2025, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1979 "2025-08-23T16:51:06Z")
Bow down to your Queen! No hints. ---
**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:** [August 23, 2025, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739/1980 "2025-08-23T20:49:53Z")
Bowing to you! I got beyond Genius (36/41 words) with no hints but needed hints to get to QB. I didn’t need clues, though. Anyone wondering when we’ll get a challenging one after several days of easy ones? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739.md?page=98) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyt-spelling-bee-drives-me-crazy/994739.md?page=100)