SPOILER ALERT: today's NYT Spelling Bee puzzle

[Pinback]

I thought I was never going to make it to Genius, but the word that put me over the top was…


DOTARD

[Lonestarblue]

1. The Spelling Bee is the first thing I do, even before the news.

I save Connections for later. It was interesting to see dotard in the puzzle, I suspect a deliberate choice for the selection of letters.

[Pinback]

2. Ha, could be.

I have a routine: Spelling Bee first, then I try Letter Boxed until my head starts to hurt, then switch to The Mini (try to get it out of the way early in the day since they seem to have that one renew on European time), then bang my head against Connections for a while, then back and forth between that and Letter Boxed until I’ve stumbled through them both. I’ve actually gotten a two-word solution to Letter Boxed a handful of times, a totally insignificant but satisfying triumph.

I save Wordle for last, sometimes not getting to it until the evening — a tradition with my wife and me since she’s diligent about Wordle and usually beats me by at least one turn, so we compare notes and she gets to rub it in before we go to bed. Somehow we’re still together after many years.


I’m not sure any of these puzzles are actually improving my brain, but they’re at least a welcome diversion that I can turn to for interludes throughout the day. Healthier than day drinking, anyway.