

The same concept was adapted to the Catalan language by a non-profit in November 2021. Several online tools have been created to provide daily hints and analysis of the puzzle, among them one by science fiction author William Shunn. In addition to its reception among critics, the game has also spawned a significant following on social media, with players posting their scores and discussing each day's word selections on Twitter. Jim Memmot of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle similarly praised the game as a pleasant pastime during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nilanjana Roy of the Financial Timespraised the game as one of the best ways to pass the time and connect with friends during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. Pat Myers of The Washington Postwrote that, despite being a lifelong promoter of The Washington Post, she found herself in "the thrall of the New York Times Spelling Bee game". Since its online debut in 2018, Spelling Bee's popularity has grown and the game has received praise from other game makers in the media industry. As of August 2021, the game is maintained by Sam Ezersky, who is responsible for constructing the daily puzzles, which go live at 3 A.M., eastern, every day. The game's digital version debuted on May 9, 2018. The game launched in its print format in 2014 as a weekly feature in The New York Times Magazine. Spelling Bee was created by Frank Longo following a proposal from Will Shortz. If the player finds all of the possible words in a given puzzle, they achieve the title of "Queen Bee".


Each puzzle is guaranteed to have at least one pangram, which awards the player the largest number of points when found. Scoring points leads to progressively higher praise for the player's effort, such as "Solid", "Amazing", and "Genius". However, any words proposed by the player must include the letter at the center of the honeycomb. The player scores points by using the letters to form words consisting of four or more letters. The game presents players with a grid of 7 letters arrayed in a honeycomb structure. The sole pangram of this puzzle was "inflect". A partially completed version of the Augpuzzle.
