ROUND SIX: Am I counting correctly? Are we down to 21 spellers in this round? Wow.
Wait. We just lost Sumaita Mulk (#5) on quatuor. So we're down to 20. Speller #25 Jennifer Mong goes down on vellon. She was the Canadian National Champ. 19 remain. Speller #42 Vaidya Govindarajan is gone on polynee which is some kind of Swedish baked good. 18 remain. Are we going to have enough spellers for the finals?
#44 Stuti Mishra has been rocking her words and continues to do so with capharnaum.
#49 Rachael Cundey is brought down by cheyney. And #50 Simola Nayak goes out! And #79 Gina Solomito goes out! Come on, Jamaica...
#89 Gifton Wright correctly spells Gleichschaltung! What the heck is a Gleichschaltung? In short, it is forced standardization or assimilation.
#92 Vanya: She's gone! The darling of the Bee is gone! Pejerrey took her down!
#127 Kavyapranati Pratapa is also down.
#136 Jordan Hoffman gets heiau correct!
#141 Gokul Venkatachalam gets a word with Maori origin. I don't think I remember a word with Maori origin being used in the Bee before...and he he goes down kahikatea!
We've lost 9 spellers so far. 12 remain...
#155 Nabeel Rahman is ousted on tirthankara.
They've just said that everyone who spells correctly in this round is moving on to the finals.
Arvind sails through on phrontistery! Nicholas Rushlow is in with kanaima!
Lena Greenberg is freaking out. Full of nerves. So is her Mom. I love it. The word is cholecystitis -- a medical word made up Greek elements. She gets it right! The stress I feel watching her spell is out of control! She looks as if she might drop mid-spell or as if her hair might burst into flames at any moment.
We lose Mark De Los Santos on himation.
And Vismaya Kharkar from Utah who is delightful is eliminated on pissaladiere which is an open-faced pastry topped with olives, onions and anchovies!
Nine spellers will move on to the finals!!!
