Being the busy man I am, I do not play Spelling Bee to become the Queen (a Queen) of the NYT hive. I am content to be a worker bee. I just look at the honeycombed letters and compose words with them, without allowing myself to use any letter twice. I start with the top letter and then go counterclockwise around the circle and end with the letter in the center. Who has time to do Spelling Bee, the NYT crossword, Wordle etc. Well, we know of one person and now we know that she is moving to NYT to get close to the source, like a Chaucerian pilgrim heading toward Canterbury.
I’ve been content with Solid status for a while now, and some days I am grateful for this as I struggle to get there on the crazy puzzles. I use the same technique as those old Magic Eye posters when I’m stuck.
I lost my passion to go farther when I realised the pointless unfairness of his word lists. I like rules. And when a game has no discernible rule I lose interest. I do come up with hundreds of Italian words no one will ever give me credit for. And occasionally my Latin vocabulary matches up with his. That makes me feel smug enough to let go of the rest, I suppose.
I do recommend it as a good way to wake up in the morning. Not to mention it is a useful ally in my fight to not forget the English language.
Btw, I laughed out loud several times reading this article! Always grateful for a laugh and a reminder of my lovely friend’s amazing sense of humor. 😘 miss you, lady
Not sure if you are disconnected from Substack - Cappuccino et al, but I thought I would see if writing a message here will put us in touch. Simple question: you OK? vian@casagama.it
One of my quirks is that I hate, H-A-T-E, games- board games, word games, crossword puzzles, you name it. It's my ADD. I can't process information in a way that allows me to be competitive, so even though I'm a pretty intelligent guy, I suck at games. And so I avoid them like the plague..well, except for Cards Against Humanity. That feels different somehow, and it makes me laugh, which doesn't suck.
This, of course, drives Erin nuts, but I hate feeling stupid, and I invariably end up feeling that way when I play games. My brain just isn't wired to process information that way. I can't maintain a debate/argument for more than a short period before I lose track and games frustrate me. So I just don't.
When people boast about their Wordle scores, it leaves me cold. Never done it, not gonna do it, could hardly care less about it. If I need to kill time, I'll grab my iPad and read something.
Truth! Every single hilarious word! And it is competition against myself, therefore no one else is to blame as the hours pass and the frustrations mount like dirty laundry.
HOLY SH*T!!! I had NO IDEA there was a Queen Bee level!! I've been playing for over a year and feel so smug every time I hit Genius. Thanks for putting me back in my place, Stacey. Great. Now it's going to be 2 am before I get to sleep every night (as opposed to just midnight). Grazie mille ;) By the way, now that I know the puzzle-maker's name, I will hunt him down. The 'obscure' rating he gives some words boggles the mind. "Blin" is okay but "lassi" isn't?! Is that not food discrimination?? Well, now I know there's a whole community of nut jobs out there, I'll be sure to join in the fray when the time comes. Meanwhile, in pursuit of the queen... Vivat Regina!!
My spelling sucks, which is why I'm generally hopeless with word puzzles. (To this day I remain outraged that "traveler" and "traveling" have only one "l" in them.) Reading your piece, I was reminded of a scene from S1E1 of 'West Wing' where the character Leo McGarry (chief of staff to POTUS) is on the phone expressing his outrage with the NYT crossword people because of how they spelled Ghadafi's name. ("I've met the man, I've shaken his hand! I know how to spell his name! ... Who I am is not important!")
I've thought about playing this and maybe I still will, but I Iike to play games where there's a strong possibility I'll be able to figure out the answers. Now you're telling me about words that diabolical little twerp is throwing in there, and before I even start I know I'll never be Queen Bee!
Still, I thoroughly enjoyed your piece about it. Even more so because I didn't have to figure out any of the words. 😊
I LOVE THE BEE! I had never discovered the hints but have fumed several times about his ignorance of words I had found to the point of tweeting at him about them.
Being the busy man I am, I do not play Spelling Bee to become the Queen (a Queen) of the NYT hive. I am content to be a worker bee. I just look at the honeycombed letters and compose words with them, without allowing myself to use any letter twice. I start with the top letter and then go counterclockwise around the circle and end with the letter in the center. Who has time to do Spelling Bee, the NYT crossword, Wordle etc. Well, we know of one person and now we know that she is moving to NYT to get close to the source, like a Chaucerian pilgrim heading toward Canterbury.
I’ve been content with Solid status for a while now, and some days I am grateful for this as I struggle to get there on the crazy puzzles. I use the same technique as those old Magic Eye posters when I’m stuck.
I lost my passion to go farther when I realised the pointless unfairness of his word lists. I like rules. And when a game has no discernible rule I lose interest. I do come up with hundreds of Italian words no one will ever give me credit for. And occasionally my Latin vocabulary matches up with his. That makes me feel smug enough to let go of the rest, I suppose.
I do recommend it as a good way to wake up in the morning. Not to mention it is a useful ally in my fight to not forget the English language.
Btw, I laughed out loud several times reading this article! Always grateful for a laugh and a reminder of my lovely friend’s amazing sense of humor. 😘 miss you, lady
Not sure if you are disconnected from Substack - Cappuccino et al, but I thought I would see if writing a message here will put us in touch. Simple question: you OK? vian@casagama.it
One of my quirks is that I hate, H-A-T-E, games- board games, word games, crossword puzzles, you name it. It's my ADD. I can't process information in a way that allows me to be competitive, so even though I'm a pretty intelligent guy, I suck at games. And so I avoid them like the plague..well, except for Cards Against Humanity. That feels different somehow, and it makes me laugh, which doesn't suck.
This, of course, drives Erin nuts, but I hate feeling stupid, and I invariably end up feeling that way when I play games. My brain just isn't wired to process information that way. I can't maintain a debate/argument for more than a short period before I lose track and games frustrate me. So I just don't.
When people boast about their Wordle scores, it leaves me cold. Never done it, not gonna do it, could hardly care less about it. If I need to kill time, I'll grab my iPad and read something.
Stacey, I started playing last week. Wordle was over too quickly, so I tried Spelling Bee.
My response is extremely similar to yours. I'm trying NOT to stay up to midnight so I can flail through the first thirteen words.
Thank you for yet more inspiration for my new frenzied obsession, snort. <3
Truth! Every single hilarious word! And it is competition against myself, therefore no one else is to blame as the hours pass and the frustrations mount like dirty laundry.
HOLY SH*T!!! I had NO IDEA there was a Queen Bee level!! I've been playing for over a year and feel so smug every time I hit Genius. Thanks for putting me back in my place, Stacey. Great. Now it's going to be 2 am before I get to sleep every night (as opposed to just midnight). Grazie mille ;) By the way, now that I know the puzzle-maker's name, I will hunt him down. The 'obscure' rating he gives some words boggles the mind. "Blin" is okay but "lassi" isn't?! Is that not food discrimination?? Well, now I know there's a whole community of nut jobs out there, I'll be sure to join in the fray when the time comes. Meanwhile, in pursuit of the queen... Vivat Regina!!
My spelling sucks, which is why I'm generally hopeless with word puzzles. (To this day I remain outraged that "traveler" and "traveling" have only one "l" in them.) Reading your piece, I was reminded of a scene from S1E1 of 'West Wing' where the character Leo McGarry (chief of staff to POTUS) is on the phone expressing his outrage with the NYT crossword people because of how they spelled Ghadafi's name. ("I've met the man, I've shaken his hand! I know how to spell his name! ... Who I am is not important!")
There's a level beyond Genius?! Thanks for that. Thanks a lot. Geez...
> the sugar rush from my millionth homemade loaf of cinnamon bread
If you can make it gf, I'll buy some!
I mean, with a million loaves under your apron, you must've learned something....
I've thought about playing this and maybe I still will, but I Iike to play games where there's a strong possibility I'll be able to figure out the answers. Now you're telling me about words that diabolical little twerp is throwing in there, and before I even start I know I'll never be Queen Bee!
Still, I thoroughly enjoyed your piece about it. Even more so because I didn't have to figure out any of the words. 😊
Wordle, though…..NO.
I LOVE THE BEE! I had never discovered the hints but have fumed several times about his ignorance of words I had found to the point of tweeting at him about them.