There are two preliminary rounds today in which all 281 spellers will face the microphone, Dr. Jacques Bailly, and the cameras of ESPN3 online (in both "play along" and more aggressively chyroned versions). Spellers receive 3 points for each word spelled correctly today; add that number to yesterday's written round score, and the top up-to-50 spellers advance to the semifinals tomorrow.
You can follow along in a few places (in addition to here): the Bee website, and a few places on Twitter worth noting: @ScrippsBee, @PeterSokolowski @JGWhiteAP, and hashtag #SpellingBee.
[Last year, 266/281 of the spellers aced this round; success in round three was similarly attainable (239/266), leaving the computerized test to perform the massive cut-down work before Thursday, as all the words came from a ~1500 word official study list.]
8:19am: And we're off! 15/15 so far, and both Yiddish (CHAHCH-kuh) and Afrikaans (spring-bahk) are already in play.
8:35am: 36/36, and nothing too difficult yet, really. Several kids explicitly asking "can you use it in a funny sentence?"
8:40am: First elimination is KAYCE-hont, a medium-sized Dutch dog.
8:57am: 63/65 so far (a missing 'm' on kahm-ih-sahr), and many perennial words are back. We're on edelweiss now.
9:32am: 97/105 correct, with all the words being on this same, familiar level.
10:00am: We're at halftime of round 2; 128/140 are through to the next round. If you've followed the Bee before, these words were no surprise from alcazar to zucchini.
10:27am: For the second time in three years, segue is spelled like the vehicle. Oops. That and rhinoceros (extra 'u') are the first two errors of the second half.
8:19am: And we're off! 15/15 so far, and both Yiddish (CHAHCH-kuh) and Afrikaans (spring-bahk) are already in play.
8:35am: 36/36, and nothing too difficult yet, really. Several kids explicitly asking "can you use it in a funny sentence?"
8:40am: First elimination is KAYCE-hont, a medium-sized Dutch dog.
8:57am: 63/65 so far (a missing 'm' on kahm-ih-sahr), and many perennial words are back. We're on edelweiss now.
9:32am: 97/105 correct, with all the words being on this same, familiar level.
10:00am: We're at halftime of round 2; 128/140 are through to the next round. If you've followed the Bee before, these words were no surprise from alcazar to zucchini.
10:27am: For the second time in three years, segue is spelled like the vehicle. Oops. That and rhinoceros (extra 'u') are the first two errors of the second half.
