Spelling Bee

Earlier this year the New York Times added some new games to their daily on-line edition. I have to admit I only discovered the one I will discuss here about a month or so ago, but I have become quite devoted to trying to work on it every day.

The game is called “Spelling Bee.” Each day, seven letters are given, one of which is in bold font and appears in the center of the grid. Here is an example:

How to Play

Create words using letters from the hive.

·       Words must contain at least 4 letters.

·       Words must include the center letter.

·       Words may not be proper nouns or hyphenated.

·       Letters can be used more than once.

Score points to increase your rating.

·       4-letter words are worth 1 point each.

·       Longer words earn 1 point per letter.

·       Each puzzle includes at least one “pangram” which uses every letter. These are worth 7 extra points!

The letters in today’s Spelling Bee are

MOCPLTI

If you want to try to play, stop reading here!

I found 14 words which corresponded to a score of 70; two of the words use all 7 letters.

·       Clomp

·       Comic

·       Commit

·       Complicit

·       Impolitic

·       Limit

·       Loom

·       Mill

·       Mimic

·       Mitt

·       Moll

·       Molt

·       Moot

·       Pompom

Rankings

Ranks are based on a percentage of possible points in a puzzle. The minimum scores to reach each rank for today’s puzzle are:

1.      Beginner (0)

2.      Good Start (2)

3.      Moving Up (5)

4.      Good (8)

5.      Solid (14)

6.      Nice (24)

7.      Great (38)

8.      Amazing (48)

9.      Genius (67)

In other words, a score of 70 for today classifies as GENIUS!

I am really enjoying this game!

Love,

Rebecca