Good Words

I play the NYT‘s Spelling Bee game every day. I play until I hit the Genius level, and then, unless I have more words already in mind, I stop. It’s important to have a stopping place, otherwise I’d spend too much time on the game. Sometimes I find words that the app won’t accept as valid entries. Usually I’m OK with that, because I know a lot of weird words that I shouldn’t expect other people to know. But, if I really feel that the words ought to have been accepted, I send the editors an e-mail. Today I sent them the words MIDDEN (trash heap), UNDIMMED, and MUEZZIN (person who calls Muslims to prayer). All three words are in Merriam-Webster, and I would have finished the game a lot faster if those words had been accepted (though MUEZZIN would have been sort of a cheat, since I initially spelled it wrong and then looked up the correct spelling–it’s a great word, but a doozy to spell!).