The “Spelling Bee” is Addicting, Fun…and Torturous.

 

Life is stressful. But there’s one thing my mom and I do that takes the edge off. The New York Times publishes a daily game called “The Spelling Bee.” You’re given seven random letters to make as many words as you can. One of the letters (which they select) has to be in each. What’s so hard about finding a bunch of nouns and verbs? Ha! This game can be a huge pain, but there are three surprising benefits…

Distraction –I can barely remember my name early in the morning, let alone root out adjectives and participles. In “Spelling Bee” no less than four-letter words are allowed and the longer the word, the more points. I like how doing this puzzle jumpstarts my brain. Some people plow through and do half — even the whole thing — at once. Mom and I are “grazers,” people who pick it up throughout the day, like the knitting.

In its own way, “Spelling Bee” takes my mind off the world’s issues. And there’s something else we’ve noticed — “fresh eyes” help. You can gaze at this thing until you’re cross-eyed and see nothing. Then you’ll pick it up later, and five words appear like magic. Maybe there’s a lesson there.

Challenge –Sometimes the words start popping like corn kernels in hot oil. Then I hit “the wall,” so to speak. How can there be more? I’ve come up with 30. But judging by the score, I’m only halfway through. There’s also a “pangram” (sometimes several) which are words that use each letter and have the most points. Sometimes a pangram is simply two small words strung together like ‘typeface.’ Other times they’re looking for ‘armadillo.”

The next day Mom and I check to see what words we missed. Once in a while, only one got away. Other times there are several – most we never heard of. And then sometimes there’s a bunch of words we should’ve gotten but didn’t. Sigh. We’re only human.

Satisfaction – After dinner, mom and I compare scores. It’s embarrassing to admit how often my 80-something year old mother beats me. But she’s an avid reader and loves the English language as much as me. One time, between the two of us working at it, we got the highest score, the lauded Queen Bee, where you find every possible combination.

But that was once. Usually we get to “Genius,” which feels good too. That means we got most of the words so we can at least hold our heads high. Then there are nights we’ve come up with 50 words between us and still aren’t close.

From what I’ve read, “Spelling Bee” is buzzing around the globe a lot these days. “Hivers” include lawyers, students, surgeons, politicians, and housewives.

Who knew? Mom and I aren’t the only ones needing distraction.

 

Is there a game you like to play? Comments are always welcome and if you like, please share.

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