How do I use this page to help me solve the Spelling Bee?

Do I really have to type in all the letters? Isn't there a faster way to get hints on today's Spelling Bee?

When I clicked the latest button, it brought me to a page that had statistics about today's Spelling Bee but no answers. How do I get to the answers?

Isn't this page just an elaborate way of cheating on the Spelling Bee? Where's the sportsmanship in that?

Is this page only good for finding answers to the Spelling Bee?

I entered a seven-letter word, but your page told me my word only has six letters. Why is that?

What happens if I enter more than seven letters?

When I entered some letters in the solver, I got some really strange words back in the results. Why is that?

How do you calculate the score field in the solution statistics?

You keep using words like pangram that I don't understand. What does that mean?

I found a really great word that was not accepted in the Spelling Bee. It's an actual word, so why didn't they take it?

When I entered today's letters in your solver, I got back some words that weren't accepted in the Spelling Bee. What's up with that?

Browsing through the archive, I found a few puzzles with answers labeled disallowed in later puzzles. What does that mean?

I see a checkbox labeled show compound distribution as an option on today's puzzle. What does that mean, and how do I use this feature?

I spotted a compound in today's solution set that you overlooked. When are you going to fix it?

Has it ever happened that a previous Spelling Bee gets repeated on a later date?

I'm trying to solve the weekly print version of the Spelling Bee. Why don't you have an accurate solution set for that?

Why did you build this page in the first place? Were you just looking for a way to cheat on the Spelling Bee?

Was there anything unexpected that you learned from building this solver?

What is the longest pangram in your database?

Do you work for The New York Times?

As a coder myself, I'm curious to know how your solver works.


Also by William Shunn

Cast a Cold Eye: A Novella by Derryl Murphy & William Shunn