I recently wrote that <a href="{app}/view_article.php?id=3964">Kath and I have a one-year streak going</a> in the NYT Crossword Puzzle. While that is still ongoing, we've also recently discovered a little gem called <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/puzzles/spelling-bee" source="New York Times">Spelling Bee</a>. The concept is elegant and simple: <ul> You get seven letters arranged in a honeycomb. You have to combine these letters to come up with as many words with four letters or more as you can. The middle letter is required. You can repeat letters as much as you like. Answers can overlap one another. (E.g. "glad" and "gladly" are two separate answers). The longer the word, the more points you get. You can an extra bonus for pangrams (words that use all of the letters at least once)<fn> The puzzle rates your performance with "good", "nice", "great", "awesome", and, finally, "genius"<fn> (You can click your progress indicator to see how many points are required for each level.) There is <i>always</i> a pangram (a word that uses all of the letters) </ul> You can check your word list against the master word list only on the next day, which is kind of nice and zen. <h>Spelling Bee Solver</h> <hl>Update: January 2021</hl> You can get some hints about the kinds of answers in the puzzle from the <a href="https://www.shunn.net/bee/latest">Spelling Bee Solver</a>. It shows how many words there are that start with each letter, tells you how many pangrams there are, and how many total words and points. There's even a matrix with starting letters in the rows and number of letters in the columns. This is super-helpful and makes it a bit more fun when you're just spinning your wheels and not seeing any words anymore. A lot of times, it just helps to know that there are two more four-letter words starting with "C"---and then they just <i>pop out</i> when you'd just spent ten minutes, scouring the puzzle and not seeing anything at all. <h>Queen Bee</h> There is a level beyond genius called "Queen Bee"---and we finally got one. <img attachment="adjourn_queenbee.png" align="none" caption="Pangram = Adjourn"> We've since gotten Queen Bee quite a few times---a handful of times with no help whatsoever, but a lot more when consulting the matrix in the solver mentioned above. <h>Samples</h> Here are a couple of games that we've completed, just to show off. <div style="display: grid; grid-template-columns: repeat(auto-fill, 200px); grid-gap: 10px"><div> <img attachment="balcony.png" caption="Balcony"> </div><div> <img attachment="forthwith.png" caption="Forthwith"> </div><div> <img attachment="glandular.png" caption="Glandular"> </div><div> <img attachment="illegibility.png" caption="Illegibility"> </div><div> <img attachment="lavatory.png" caption="Lavatory"> </div><div> <img attachment="unnaturally.png" caption="Unnaturally"> </div></div> <h>Now, the bad news</h> Would I be reporting on this fun little game if it was all sunshine and roses? No, no, I probably wouldn't. You see, there are some words I've learned over the years, for which I've borne more than my share of ridicule for knowing, that the puzzle refused to acknowledge as being "in its word list". I was shocked and disappointed<fn> to see that certain words that I've kept in my back pocket, as it were, for just such a rainy day as this, were not recognized. Proof? Of course I have proof. The following are definitions from the <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/">Free Dictionary</a>. While not exactly <i>common</i>, these are all non-archaic words that are not proper nouns. Those that are <i>chiefly British</i> (e.g. <i>demobbed</i>) might be understandable as "too rare" were the puzzle not to regularly include incredibly obscure references to fish and fruit species. There isn't really much consistency on what is considered a proper noun or what is considered "rare". <info><b>Update 15.05.2021:</b> After over a year of playing this puzzle, the patterns are pretty clear. Proper words are allowed if it's a fruit, fish, plant, flower, type of cheese, or songbird. Or if it has something to do with Judaism and Jewish tradition. <i>Minyan</i> was in the puzzle yesterday, which is a word simply <i>everyone</i> knows and uses every day. What is glaringly obvious is the anti-science, anti-math bent to this whole puzzle. Building blocks of reality, like <i>pion</i>, <i>muon</i>, and <i>lepton</i> aren't recognized, but obscure cacti are, as well as all manner of lilies, like <i>canna</i> and <i>calla</i>.</info> <info><b>Update 12.03.2022:</b> Today was a very interesting day. Kath and I got to Queen Bee without even <i>looking</i> at the Spelling Bee Solver. We also got the pangram "Immunized" as the third-last word ("Immune" and "Immunize" were the final two words). However, not only did we power right through to Queen Bee very quickly, we also picked up <i>six</i> pretty common words that the puzzle did not accept. That is a record for one day. The words were "Midden", "Mummed", "Undimmed", "Unmended", "Unminded", and "Unmined". <img src="{att_link}immunized_pangram.png" href="{att_link}immunized_pangram.png" align="none" scale="35%"></info> <info><b>Update 20.01.2024:</b>We recently had a couple of puzzles that had very few words and points. One of them was <b>rhythmic</b>, with a total of 20 words for 85 points. The other was <b>Homepage</b>, with a total of 27 words for only 76 points. More words, but fewer points because the words were shorter, on average. <div style="display: grid; grid-template-columns: 35ex 35ex; gap: 15px"><img style="width: 100%; object-fit: contain" src="{att_link}rhythmic_-_20_words_for_85_points.png" align="none"><img style="width: 100%; object-fit: contain" src="{att_link}homepage_-_27_words_for_76_points.png" align="none"></div></info> <div style="display: grid; grid-gap: 10px; grid-template-columns: repeat(auto-fill, 240px);"><div> <img attachment="adit.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/adit">adit</a>: An almost horizontal entrance to a mine. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="alee.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/alee">alee</a>: Away from the wind </div> </div><div> <img attachment="alembic.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/alembic">alembic</a>: An apparatus consisting of two vessels connected by a tube, formerly used for distilling liquids. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="amah.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/amah">amah</a>: A housemaid or children's nurse, especially in East Asia and Southeast Asia. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="ammoniac.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/ammoniac">ammoniac</a>: Of, containing, or similar to ammonia. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="anil.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/anil">anil</a>: An indigo plant or the blue dye obtained from it. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="antagonization.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/antagonization">antagonization</a>: The act of antagonizing someone. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="appel.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/appel">appel</a>: A quick stamp of the foot used in fencing as a feint to produce an opening. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="aright.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/aright">aright</a>: In a proper manner; correctly. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="arity.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/arity">arity</a>: The number of arguments or operands taken by a function or operator </div> </div><div> <img attachment="atopic.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/atopic">atopic</a>: Of or relating to hereditary hypersensitivity to certain allergens (e.g. hay fever) </div> </div><div> <img attachment="auric.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/auric">auric</a>: Relating to or containing gold </div> </div><div> <img attachment="backheel.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/backheel">backheel</a>: A throw in wrestling; a passing method in soccer </div> </div><div> <img attachment="backtick.jpg"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/backtick">backtick</a>: This symbol: <c>`</c> </div> </div><div> <img attachment="badonkadonk.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/badonkadonk">badonkadonk</a>: buttocks; booty; an extremely curvaceous female behind </div> </div><div> <img attachment="becalm.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/becalm">becalm</a>: To render motionless for lack of wind; to make calm or still; soothe </div> </div><div> <img attachment="bedamn.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/bedamn">bedamn</a>: To curse thoroughly </div> </div><div> <img attachment="bended.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/bended">bended</a>: Bent. From the expression "on bended knee". </div> </div><div> <img attachment="betel.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/betel">betel</a>: A vine or nut (<hl>As of May 2021, this word is now accepted.</hl>) </div> </div><div> <img attachment="betitle.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/betitle">betitle</a>: To bestow a name upon something </div> </div><div> <img attachment="biddy.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/biddy">biddy</a>: A hen; A fowl; A woman, especially an older one who is extremely talkative. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="bimbo.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/bimbo">bimbo</a>: A person, esp a foolish one </div> </div><div> <img attachment="bint.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/bint">bint</a>: A derogatory term for girl, woman </div> </div><div> <img attachment="bokeh.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/bokeh">bokeh</a>: The effect of blurriness in the areas of an image that fall outside a photograph's depth of field </div> </div><div> <img attachment="bole.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/bole">bole</a>: Tree trunk </div> </div><div> <img attachment="bomblet.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/bomblet">bomblet</a>: One of a number of small bombs usually contained in a cluster bomb and released in midair. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="boolean.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/boolean">boolean</a>: Of or relating to a logical combinatorial system treating variables, such as propositions and computer logic elements, through the operators AND, OR, NOT, and XOR </div> </div><div> <img attachment="bytecode.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/bytecode">bytecode</a>: A form of instruction set designed for efficient execution by a software interpreter </div> </div><div> <img attachment="cahoot.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/cahoot">cahoot</a>: A business partnership. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="calcite.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/calcite">calcite</a>: A common crystalline form of natural calcium carbonate, CaCO3, that is the basic constituent of limestone, marble, and chalk. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="calif.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/calif">calif</a>: A leader of an Islamic polity, regarded as a successor of Muhammad and by tradition always male. (Also: <i>califf</i> or <i>caliph</i>) </div> </div><div> <img attachment="camelia.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/camelia">camelia</a>: Any of several shrubs or small evergreen trees having solitary white or pink or reddish flowers </div> </div><div> <img attachment="capacitative.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/capacitative">capacitative</a>: Pertaining to electrical capacitance, or the property of being able to collect and hold a charge of electricity. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="capacitive.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/capacitive">capacitive</a>: Pertaining to electrical capacitance, or the property of being able to collect and hold a charge of electricity. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="caron.jpg"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/caron">caron</a>: A diacritical mark (ˇ) that is used over certain letters, such as č, to indicate quality of pronunciation. Also called haček. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="caryatid.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/caryatid">caryatid</a>: A sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support taking the place of a column or a pillar supporting an entablature on her head. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="cavitate.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/cavitate">cavitate</a>: To form holes or cavities within an agitated liquid; react upon the water with *cavitation (which see): said of a screw propeller. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="celtic.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/celtic">celtic</a>: Of, relating to, or characteristic of the Celts or the Celtic languages </div> </div><div> <img attachment="chinaman.jpg"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/chinaman">chinaman</a>: An old-timey epithet or moniker for a person from China </div> </div><div> <img attachment="chink.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/chink">chink</a>: A narrow opening, such as a crack or fissure. (presumably not recognized because the snowflakes think it could only be a slur for Chinese person.) </div> </div><div> <img attachment="clonal.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/clonal">clonal</a>: Havin the properties of a clone; e.g. <i>clonal RNA</i> </div> </div><div> <img attachment="cloacal.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/cloacal">cloacal</a>: Related to the common cavity that serves as the opening for the intestinal, genital, and urinary tracts in many vertebrates, including amphibians, reptiles, birds, monotremes, and some fishes </div> </div><div> <img attachment="codec.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/codec">codec</a>: A device or program capable of performing transformations on a data stream or signal. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="colloidal.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/colloidal">colloidal</a>: Of, relating to, containing, or having the nature of a colloid. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="complot.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/complot">complot</a>: A plot or scheme </div> </div><div> <img attachment="cope.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/cope">cope</a>: To contend with difficulties and act to overcome them </div> </div><div> <img attachment="couloir.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/couloir">couloir</a>: A steep mountainside gully, especially one forming a break in a cliff face. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="craic.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/craic">craic</a>: Irish vernacular for "fun", e.g. "when I'm at the pub with the lads, we always have a good craic." </div> </div><div> <img attachment="cunt.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/cunt">cunt</a>: Used as a disparaging term for a person one dislikes or finds extremely disagreeable. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="curia.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/curia">curia</a>: A medieval assembly or council. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="dado.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/dado">dado</a>: A rectangular groove cut into a board so that a like piece may be fitted into it. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="dadoed.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/dadoed">dadoed</a>: To have cut a <i>dado</i> groove into a board. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="dandle.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/dandle">dandle</a>: To lightly bounce a child on one’s knee or in one’s arms; pamper; pet </div> </div><div> <img attachment="decile.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/decile">decile</a>: Any of the groups that result when a frequency distribution is divided into ten groups of equal size. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="demobbed.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/demobbed">demobbed</a>: Demobilization of armed forces </div> </div><div> <img attachment="dentate.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/dentate">dentate</a>: Edged with toothlike projections; toothed </div> </div><div> <img attachment="dickie.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/dickie">dickie</a>: A woman's blouse front worn under a suit jacket or low-necked garment or a man's detachable shirt front. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="diluvian.jpg"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/diluvian">diluvian</a>: Of or connected with a deluge </div> </div><div> <img attachment="dioxin.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/dioxin">dioxin</a>: a general name for a family of chlorinated hydrocarbons (esp. as a byproduct of some pesticides). </div> </div><div> <img attachment="donator.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/donator">donator</a>: A person who gives to a charity or cause </div> </div><div> <img attachment="donator.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/donator">donator</a>: A person who gives to a charity or cause </div> </div><div> <img attachment="drily.jpg"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/drily">drily</a>: In a dry manner </div> </div><div> <img attachment="echolocate.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/echolocate">echolocate</a>: To navigate by emitting high-pitched sounds and interpreting their echoes to determine the direction and distance of objects. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="ecocline.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/ecocline">ecocline</a>: A genetic gradient of adaptability to an environmental gradient. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="edaphic.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/edaphic">edaphic</a>: Of or relating to soil, especially as it affects living organisms. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="edgily.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/edgily">edgily</a>: In a nervous, irritable, daring, provocative, trend-setting way. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="effable.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/effable">effable</a>: Capable of being expressed in words. Compare to <i>ineffable</i>. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="egyptology.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/egyptology">egyptology</a>: The study of the culture and artifacts of the ancient Egyptian civilization. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="enceinte.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/enceinte">enceinte</a>: Pregnant. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="endian.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/endian">endian</a>: The order of bytes in a multi-byte numeric representation in computer memory. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="enqueue.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/enqueue">enqueue</a>: To add to a queue </div> </div><div> <img attachment="enzian.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/enzian">enzian</a>: A plant from the gentian family </div> </div><div> <img attachment="faff.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/faff">faff</a>: A thing that is awkward or time-consuming to do; to dither or fuss (also, <i>faffing about</i> </div> </div><div> <img attachment="fain.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/fain">fain</a>: ready; willing; happy </div> </div><div> <img attachment="fairing.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/fairing">fairing</a>: An auxiliary structure or the external surface of a vehicle, such as an aircraft, that serves to reduce drag. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="fatted.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/fatted">fatted</a>: To have been made fat. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="flatulate.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/flatulate">flatulate</a>: To expel intestinal gasses through the anus; to fart </div> </div><div> <img attachment="foetid.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/foetid">foetid</a>: having an offensive odor; stinking; noisome. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="geegaw.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/geegaw">geegaw</a>: a showy trifle : bauble, trinket. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="gaffing.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/gaff">gaff</a>: A metal hook fastened to a pole; to cheat; fleece; harsh treatment or criticism (also, <i>gaffing</i>) </div> </div><div> <img attachment="gibbet.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/gibbet">gibbet</a>: A device used for hanging a person until dead; a gallows. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="gigged.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/gigged">gigged</a>: to have done a job, esp a single booking for a musician </div> </div><div> <img attachment="gilet.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/gilet">gilet</a>: A vest or bodice </div> </div><div> <img attachment="gluon.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/gluon">gluon</a>: A massless, neutral vector boson that mediates strong interactions between quarks, binding them together within hadrons. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="gnomon.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/gnomon">gnomon</a>: The piece jutting from the center of a sundial </div> </div><div> <img attachment="golliwog.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/golliwog">golliwog</a>: A doll fashioned in grotesque caricature of a black male. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="gonif.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/gonif">gonif</a>: A thief, scoundrel, or rascal. (also <i>ganef</i>) </div> </div><div> <img attachment="gorily.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/gorily">gorily</a>: In a gory manner </div> </div><div> <img attachment="gypped.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/gypped">gypped</a>: Defrauded or swindled </div> </div><div> <img attachment="heliophile.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/heliophile">heliophile</a>: Any organism that is attracted to large amounts of sunlight. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="hemophage.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/hemophage">hemophage</a>: A cell that destroys red blood cells by phagocytosis. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="huck.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/huck">huck</a>: To throw or toss. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="ichor.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/ichor">ichor</a>: The blood of the Gods (<hl>As of February 2021, this word is now accepted.</hl>) </div> </div><div> <img attachment="immanent.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/immanent">immanent</a>: innate, inborn, intrinsic </div> </div><div> <img attachment="inline.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/inline">inline</a>: Incorporated into a body of text rather than placed as a separate section </div> </div><div> <img attachment="italian.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/italian">italian</a>: Of or relating to Italy or its people, language, or culture. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="ladyboy.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/ladyboy">ladyboy</a>: The Indo-European language of the ancient Latins and Romans and the most important cultural language of western Europe until the end of the 17th century. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="lamplit.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/lamplit">lamplit</a>: Lit by a lamp. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="latin.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/latin">latin</a>: The Indo-European language of the ancient Latins and Romans and the most important cultural language of western Europe until the end of the 17th century. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="latina.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/latina">latina</a>: A woman or girl who is a member of one of the Spanish-speaking peoples of the Americas. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="lede.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/lede">lede</a>: The introductory portion of a news story, especially the first sentence. (<hl>As of July 2021, this word is now accepted.</hl>) </div> </div><div> <img attachment="leftenant.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/leftenant">leftenant</a>: Alternate spelling of <i> lieutenant</i>. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="lexeme.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/lexeme">lexeme</a>: The fundamental unit of the lexicon of a language. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="liana.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/liana">liana</a>: Any of various climbing, woody, usually tropical vines. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="lidar.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/liana">lidar</a>: An optical sensing technology used to determine the position, velocity, or other characteristics of distant objects by analysis of pulsed laser light reflected from their surfaces. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="luff.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/luff">luff</a>: To flap while losing wind. Used of a sail. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="lungful.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/lungful">lungful</a>: Enough to fill the lungs, esp. of smoke </div> </div><div> <img attachment="machinima.jpg"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/machinima">machinima</a>: The use of real-time 3-D graphics to generate computer animation </div> </div><div> <img attachment="manioc.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/manioc">manioc</a>: Another name for cassava </div> </div><div> <img attachment="menage.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/menage">menage</a>: People living together as a unit; a household. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="midden.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/midden">midden</a>: A dunghill or refuse heap </div> </div><div> <img attachment="minge.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/minge">minge</a>: British vulgar slang for the vulva. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="molal.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/molal">molal</a>: Of or designating a solution that contains one mole of solute in 1 kilogram of solvent. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="monadic.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/monadic">monadic</a>: An indivisible, impenetrable unit of substance viewed as the basic constituent element of physical reality in the metaphysics of Leibniz. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="monofin.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/monofin">monofin</a>: Consists of a single or linked surfaces attached to both of the diver's feet. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="monoid.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/monoid">monoid</a>: A set equipped with an associative binary operation and an identity element. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="moonlet.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/moonlet">moonlet</a>: A small natural or artificial satellite. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="multitool.jpg"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/multitool">multitool</a>: a device that contains various tools attached to a single handle. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="mummed.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/mummed">mummed</a>: not verbalizing; silent; or to act or play in a pantomime. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="mumming.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/mumming">mumming</a>: not verbalizing; silent; or to act or play in a pantomime. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="nacelle.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/nacelle">nacelle</a>: A streamlined housing or tank for something on the outside of an aircraft or motor vehicle. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="naphthalene.jpg"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/naphthalene">naphthalene</a>: A white crystalline aromatic compound, C10H8, derived from coal tar or petroleum and used in manufacturing dyes, moth repellents, and explosives and as a solvent. Also called tar camphor. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="naphthene.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/naphthene">naphthene</a>: any of a class of cycloalkanes, mainly derivatives of cyclopentane, found in petroleum </div> </div><div> <img attachment="naphthenate.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/naphthenate">naphthenate</a>: Any salt or ester of naphthenic acid </div> </div><div> <img attachment="nappy.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/nappy">nappy</a>: Having a nap; fuzzy: a nappy carpet. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="nibling.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/nibling">nibling</a>: Combination of nieces and nephews </div> </div><div> <img attachment="nictitating.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/nictitating">nictitating</a>: Winking. Usually used with <i>nictitating membrane</i> to describe the transparent third eyelid that some animals have. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="nictitation.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/nictitation">nictitation</a>: The process of winking or blinking rapidly, </div> </div><div> <img attachment="nonplanar.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/nonplanar">nonplanar</a>: not lying or able to be confined within a single plane : having a three-dimensional quality. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="nuncle.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/nonplanar">nuncle</a>: an uncle. It's in Shakespeare, dude. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="olla.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/olla">olla</a>: A rounded earthenware pot or jar, used especially for cooking or for carrying water </div> </div><div> <img attachment="opah.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/opah">opah</a>: A large, oval-shaped fish (<i>Lampris guttatus</i>) having a silvery iridescent body with red fins and edible red flesh. Also called <i>moonfish</i>. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="panamanian.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/panamanian">panamanian</a>: A native or inhabitant of Panama (which was accepted as a word, although it's a proper noun) </div> </div><div> <img attachment="phaeton.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/phaeton">phaeton</a>: A light, four-wheeled open carriage, usually drawn by a pair of horses. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="piadina.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/piadina">piadina</a>: A thin Italian flatbread. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="pineal.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/pineal">pineal</a>: (1) Having the form of a pine cone. (2) Of or relating to the pineal gland. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="pinnie.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/pinnie">pinnie</a>: One of a set of uniformly colored, usually sleeveless shirts worn as a temporary team uniform, as when scrimmaging. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="pion.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/pion">pion</a>: Any of the three least massive mesons, having a positive, neutral, or negative electric charge </div> </div><div> <img attachment="placable.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/placable">placable</a>: Easily calmed or pacified; tolerant </div> </div><div> <img attachment="placeable.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/placeable">placeable</a>: capable of being placed </div> </div><div> <img attachment="pollee.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/pollee">pollee</a>: A person who is questioned in a poll </div> </div><div> <img attachment="polygyny.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/polygyny">polygyny</a>: The condition or practice of having more than one wife at one time. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="pood.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/pood">pood</a>: A Russian unit of weight equivalent to about 16.4 kilograms (36.1 pounds) avoirdupois. (Used for kettle bells.) </div> </div><div> <img attachment="prion.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/prion">prion</a>: A protein particle that is the agent of infection in a variety of neurodegenerative diseases, including bovine spongiform encephalopathy, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and scrapie. (<hl>As of November 2022, this word is now accepted.</hl>) </div> </div><div> <img attachment="puttee.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/puttee">puttee</a>: A strip of cloth wound spirally around the leg from ankle to knee. A gaiter covering the lower leg. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="racily.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/racily">racily</a>: In a risqué or ribald manner (adverb form of <i>racy</i>) </div> </div><div> <img attachment="rarify.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/rarify">rarify</a>: To make thin or less dense, as air. (Alternate spelling) </div> </div><div> <img attachment="ronin.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/ronin">ronin</a>: A samurai who is not in the service of a feudal lord. Also written <i>rōnin</i>. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="telic.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/telic">telic</a>: Directed or tending toward a goal or purpose; purposeful. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="thew.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/thew">thew</a>: Muscular power or strength. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="thole.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/thole">thole</a>: A wooden pin or one of a pair, set upright in the gunwales of a rowing boat to serve as a fulcrum in rowing </div> </div><div> <img attachment="topolect.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/topolect">topolect</a>: A dialect unique to a region </div> </div><div> <img attachment="totted.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/totted">totted</a>: Summed; totaled </div> </div><div> <img attachment="triadic.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/triadic">triadic</a>: A chord of three tones, especially one built on a given root tone plus a major or minor third and a perfect fifth. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="tufa.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/tuple">tufa</a>: A soft, friable, and porous sedimentary rock consisting of calcium carbonate and formed by the evaporation of water, especially at the mouth of a hot spring or on a drying lakebed. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="tuple.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/tuple">tuple</a>: A generalization of ordered elements in any dimension. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="unary.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/unary">unary</a>: Consisting of, or affecting, a single element or component; monadic </div> </div><div> <img attachment="undaunted.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/undaunted">undaunted</a>: Not discouraged or disheartened; resolutely courageous. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="undimmed.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/undimmed">undimmed</a>: Not diminished or lessened. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="unmended.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/unmended">unmended</a>: Not healed or improved. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="unminded.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/unminded">unminded</a>: Disregarded. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="unmined.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/unmined">unmined</a>: Not mined; untapped. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="vair.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/vair">vair</a>: A fur, probably squirrel, much used in medieval times to line and trim robes. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="villi.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/villi">villi</a>: A minute projection arising from a mucous membrane, especially one of the numerous vascular projections of the small intestine. (singular, <i>villus</i>) </div> </div><div> <img attachment="wadi.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/wadi">wadi</a>: A valley, gully, or streambed in northern Africa and southwest Asia that remains dry except during the rainy season; an oasis </div> </div><div> <img attachment="wain.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/wain">wain</a>: The Big Dipper; A large open farm wagon </div> </div><div> <img attachment="welch.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/welch">welch</a>: To fail to fulfill an obligation (alternate spelling of <i>welsh</i>) </div> </div><div> <img attachment="withe.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/withe">withe</a>: A tough supple twig, especially of willow, used for binding things together </div> </div><div> <img attachment="woodlark.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/woodlark">woodlark</a>: A songbird (Lullula arborea) of Europe, northern Africa, and the Middle East, having brownish plumage and a short tail and noted for its melodious song. </div> </div><div> <img attachment="zoonotic.png"> <div> <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/zoonotic">zoonotic</a>: Of or relating to a disease of animals that can be transmitted to humans.<fn> </div> </div> </div> <hr> <ft>I made up a thing called a "natural pangram", which uses each of the letters <i>exactly</i> once (e.g. laundry), in order to prove to Kath that my pangram was better than hers.</ft> <ft>At which point we usually stop, although we've never gotten every last one of the possible words.<fn> Being called "genius" once a day by our soon-to-be robot masters is rewarding enough.</ft> <ft>The German word <i>bodigt</i>, as in "defeated to the ground", seems to do the feeling the bare minimum of justice.</ft> <ft>Omitting <i>zoonotic</i> as "obscure" is just unconscionable and unsupportable when the word must have appeared a million times in the news over the last year, when describing the primary reason we're all sitting at home all the time doing the frickin' Spelling Bee.</ft> <ft>In the meantime, we've "cheated" with two open windows to be able to find out that there is, indeed, a final status for having found all of the words: "Queen Bee". <img src="{att_link}queen_bee.png" href="{att_link}queen_bee.png" align="none" scale="25%"> We haven't managed it for real---sometimes because we miss a word or two that should have known, but sometimes because there's a word we didn't know was a word, e.g. "footwall"---but we've gotten within one word one time. We had "knick". We had "knack". We forgot "knickknack".</ft>