To share here, I took a screen grab and saved it as a photo in postimage dot com.

On FB it just let me copy and paste, which was weird that it worked so well.

I am stumped. Do I just type in random letters like Wheel of Fortune?

You type in letters (hopefully strategically instead of randomly) that spell a word. The program tells you if any of those letters are in the word (yellow) or are in the word in that exact place (green). Then you type in a second word, knowing that some letters are NOT in it, and knowing that some are, and some might be in the right spot. And so on until you fail or you get the exact word.

quote:

Originally posted by Cindysphinx:
I am stumped. Do I just type in random letters like Wheel of Fortune?

The key is that you have to type in a word (as P*D said) you can't just type in random letters.

So pick, for the first word, some word with a nice combination of consonants and vowels.

Any letters that have been used once show up in the keyboard below. So for the second word, type in a brand new word without re-using any of the same letters. Then it's elimination, plus thinking about what words have what letter in just that spot.

I had a hard time wrapping my head around it yesterday, but today it clicked.

Something I learned today that I thought was a little tricky--a letter can be used twice. So if you have a green "C", that doesn't mean that there's not another "C" elsewhere in the word.

quote:

Originally posted by jodi:
Awesome! Do you ever do letterboxed? That one is harder for me, Some days the words just come tome, other days I can’t get them at all!

I loooove letterboxed. It's easier for me than spelling bee--I didn't know there were hints!

quote:

I didn't know there were hints!

In Spelling Bee, upper right (above where it shows your score and current ranking) you'll find either "Today's Hints" or "More" (if you only see more, the hints are in the More pull-down menu).

The main hints are just a list of how many words, like this:

quote:

WORDS: 31, POINTS: 131, PANGRAMS: 1

4 5 6 7 8 10 Σ
C: 1 5 - - 1 1 8
E: 1 1 1 1 1 - 5
L: 2 2 - - - - 4
O: - 1 - - - - 1
V: 8 2 3 - - - 13
Σ: 12 11 4 1 2 1 31

Two letter list:

CI-3 CL-1 CO-4
EL-1 EV-4
LE-2 LI-1 LO-1
OL-1
VE-3 VI-4 VO-6

I use the two letter lists first. Then if I'm stuck (and I usually am) I score down on the the "today's hints" page and go to the Comments. There people share actual hints (like the kind you'd see in a crossword puzzle).

I've become dependent on the hints, but now I always get to Queen Bee.

quote:

Originally posted by piqué:

quote:

Originally posted by jodi:
Awesome! Do you ever do letterboxed? That one is harder for me, Some days the words just come tome, other days I can’t get them at all!

I loooove letterboxed. It's easier for me than spelling bee--I didn't know there were hints!

I didn’t know about the hints either! I wish there were hints for letter boxed. I did manage today’s puzzle in two words, which almost never happens.

quote:

I did manage today’s puzzle in two words, which almost never happens.

Wow! I must go have a look at today's. Though it may be Monday's by now.

Ok, I tried letter boxed, but I think I don't understand it.

You form words by connecting back and forth, but there are no points? What is the goal? What would it look like to "complete" it?

You have to use all the letters around the box in under 5 or 6 words to complete the puzzle. The next word starts with the last letter of the word before it. The ultimate goal is to do it in two words. It’s not usually too difficult to complete the puzzle. But it’s tough to do it in two words.

Interesting thing is - at least twice (when I’ve finished a puzzle in two words) the words are not the same as the two words they show the next day as the answer. (So there can be multiple solutions).

Hints for my solution for today - one of the words you can eat, and the other has to do with classification of things.

I've never seen anything about doing it in 2 words. The fewest words they've said to do it in is 4. Of course often I do it in fewer words than they specify. Is it supposed to be possible to do it in 2 words every day?

I think the puzzle you did today is already gone.

Where are you seeing answers to the previous day's puzzle?? Are you doing these in the NYT app? Or in a browser?

In a browser you can see yesterday's answer

https://www.nytimes.com/puzzles/letter-boxed