Still, everyone yearns to be “Genius” and one way is finding the pangram, a word that includes all seven letters. “Within a given week, about 25 percent of players will achieve ‘Genius’ at least once,” says Luke Summerlin, a manager of data and analytics at The New York Times. Made so by the editor’s selection of “acceptable” words, which includes some bewildering doozies (“logophile”) and excludes some plausible others. Reaching this pinnacle is difficult and frustrating. Find every possible word you’ll be crowned “Queen Bee” (which reminds me of earning an Eagle Scout or Ph.D). Players needn’t find all the possible combinations in order to win the “Genius” title that is typeset in Stymie Bold atop a geometrically rendered, black and yellow smiling bee wearing a scholar’s mortarboard and when a player is not entirely satisfied with the ordinary “Genius” status, there is an even higher award. Points are calculated based on the complexity of each word and winning scores change daily too. Like the crossword puzzle, which for decades has arguably been the Times most popular feature (next to the obituaries), the Bee has acquired considerable buzz among devotees if only because it uses more familiar words than the more difficult vocabulary in crossword puzzles. Spelling Bee, edited by Sam Ezersky, is the first of five novel digital games created by The New York Times Games team in 2014. The center letter must be used at least once in every “acceptable” word in order to earn enough points (the number changes daily) to win. The object of Spelling Bee is for players to make words from a set of seven, scrambled vowels and consonants, positioned in a honeycomb grid. EST) and I have been drafted into enabling this addiction for my wife, and, in turn, have become obsessed too. But ever since this pandemic, the Times’ online Spelling Bee, launched in 2018, is the first ritual of the day (a new puzzle is posted every morning at 3:00 a.m. For decades I’ve avoided helping my wife with the Times crossword puzzle (which I count as one of the top five frustrations of my life).

The New York Times Spelling Bee, equal parts joy and torture. If not, a few minutes after I start typing, a familiar, ghostlike silhouette walks towards me out of the pre-dawn darkness, and says: “Wanna do the puzzle?” “Give me five to ten minutes,” I reply, slightly annoyed that we seem to be acquiring an addiction.

If I’m lucky she will sleep soundly for another 45 minutes to an hour. I try not to wake my wife less out of concern for her slumber than to satisfy my selfish need to get some work done before the day begins. I awaken between 4:30 and 5:00 a.m., then slip quietly out of bed, shuffle into my office and turn on the computer.

Spelling bee nyt rules