Spelling Bee Editor | LexiConnexxions

Resources: Spelling Bee Editor Interviews & Media

Gathered here are selected news articles, features, interviews, news releases, podcasts, selected social media posts, and other material from the New York Times and other sources about Sam Ezersky, the editor of the Spelling Bee.

Some of the items listed here may also be included in other portions of this LexiConnexxions feature.

Items are listed in chronological order, with the newest given first.

A compilation of What Sam Says About (Nearly) Everything is available HERE.

Beeatrice, is that you? 🐝 Watch Spelling Bee editor Sam Ezersky show us around a real beehive. 🍯New York Times Instagram, Oct 7, 2026https://www.instagram.com/reels/DeMfvADklJT/ (No puzzle editors were stung during the making of this video.)
Hello Puzzlers: Special Guest Sam EzerskyThe "Hello Puzzlers" podcast has posted an episode recorded at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament in May. Among the guests was Spelling Bee editor Sam Ezersky (who was a crossword constructor long before he became Bee editor). The segment with Sam E, in which he discusses the Spelling Bee (especially word selection), begins at 38:00.Hello Puzzlers Podcast, April 12 2026https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMrHaTEppvgRead the LexiConnexxions Transcript HERE.

Spelling Bee editor Sam Ezersky has a trivia question for you!NY Times Instagram, February 24, 2026https://www.instagram.com/reel/DVKEMSZEufN/
Which Spelling Bee puzzle will make it to the top spot?NYTimes Instagram, February 05, 2026https://www.instagram.com/reel/DUYQNYgDmbU/Puzzle editors Sam Ezersky and Joel Fagliano continue their blind rankings in part two.
We asked puzzle editors Sam Ezersky and Joel Fagliano to blind rank ten Spelling Bee boards. NYTimes Instagram, February 04, 2026https://www.instagram.com/reel/DUVZ1JMlwW3/Watch them chat about their ranking strategy and which letter combinations they love. Which set of letters do you think will top the list?
Want to reach Queen Bee status?NYTimes Instagram, December 05, 2025https://www.instagram.com/reel/DR4VUi7gRW9/Spelling Bee editor Sam Ezersky shares three tips to help you rise in the ranks.
The Pyrotechnics of Puzzles: How NYT Games are made.New York Times ‘The Daily,’ October 11, 2025https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/podcasts/the-daily/nyt-games-connections-crossword.htmlIn a special, subscriber-only episode of “The Daily,” a team of editors from The New York Times’s Games department takes us behind the scenes. Wyna Liu, Joel Fagliano and Sam Ezersky discuss what goes into making games such as the Mini Crossword, Connections, the Spelling Bee and more. Guests: Wyna Liu, who writes the daily Connections puzzle and is an editor of the New York Times Crossword; Joel Fagliano, who created the Mini, and Sam Ezersky, who edits the Spelling Bee and Letterboxed.Unedited transcript: https://podcasts.happyscribe.com/the-daily/the-pyrotechnics-of-puzzles-how-nyt-games-are-made“How do you create the spelling bee for the day?” begins at 18:26.
To Celebrate the 2,500th Spelling Bee Puzzle, NYT Games Thanks Its Most Scrupulous Spellers with a Special Solve.New York Times News Release, March 12, 2025https://www.nytco.com/press/celebrating-the-2500th-spelling-bee-puzzle/2,500 puzzles later, we’ve finally done it…the letter “S” has made its way into today’s Spelling Bee puzzle (March 12, 2025) in celebration of this special occasion. The other 25 letters of the alphabet have all appeared time and time again dating back to the start of the puzzle in 2018, but this will be a first for the letter “S” – a game board debut that the Spelling Bee community has been asking for throughout the years. NYT Games Digital Puzzles Editor, Sam Ezersky, shares more on creating this special solve and what this milestone means for Spelling Bee.
Video message from Sam Ezersky about the March 12, 2025 Spelling Bee.Threads, March 12, 2025https://www.threads.net/@nytgames/post/DHGPR0oOhLr?xmt=AQGzIBpmlO3sYRG72FS6B6s8r-hEtrDeZuEdIlyvn5nNDwTranscript by LexiConnexxions: “Hi everybody, it’s your friendly neighborhood SB editor Sam Ezersky here. You all gotta try today’s puzzle. It’s the first in the digital Spelling Bee’s history to contain the letter S. Plurals are a thing now, guys! All 25 other letters have been included at least once, twice, ten plus times.* But never the letter S, because, well, plurals can be tedious, you don’t want the puzzle to be too big, I don’t know. We have shied away from this, and at this point, it’s kind of a meme. But that all changes today. So you all might be wondering, are you going to need to solve this puzzle any differently than normal? I’d say no, on the whole, but one tip or trick I might have to offer is, let’s say you find a noun: Don’t forget to tack on an S at the end if it doesn’t have the S in it. Some words you might find might come in twos, the singular and the plural. So don’t forget, if you do one, do the other along the way. Now, are we ever gonna see another puzzle with the S in it? So, I can say— Hold on, I’m getting another call, gotta run!”
Happy Spelling Bee-Day [7th birthday of the Spelling Bee.]New York Times Instagram, May 09, 2025https://www.instagram.com/p/DJb4vmKOsLx/
Why do we have human games editors? [Spelling Bee Editor Sam Ezersky explains.]New York Times Instagram, September 03, 2024https://www.instagram.com/reel/C_dZxiaR_de/Transcription by LexiConnexxions: "You’re probably wondering why does a game like Spelling Bee even need an editor to begin with? Content can be turned out algorithmically, right? … I edit the Spelling Bee on a daily basis; my fingerprints are all over these puzzles. The point of a human editor for any game is to be able to just tailor this game to its audience better, it’s being able to make this game live and breathe. Algorithmic stuff can only capture so much of the fun quotient. As a human editor I get to do my best to put myself in your human shoes. What could be fun in a puzzle? It’s not even just about my own opinion, it’s like, what are the sorts of things can I learn from you all as I edit the Spelling Bee on a day to day basis? My role is for Spelling Bee, in the almost six years I’ve edited this game, is to be able to have this game really live and breathe and evolve with its audience. If I’m here, you can continue to just feel that this game is not just something that’s being churned out by a bot."

Nobody’s doing it like Steve G and the Spelling Bee hint writers. We chatted with editor Sam Ezersky about the heroes of the hive mind.New York Times Instagram, May 03, 2024https://www.instagram.com/mynytimes/reel/C6hGGQbRK09/Transcript by LexiConnexxions: SE: “So, if you’ve ever popped by our daily Spelling Bee forum on Wordplay, you’re probably seeing the most top-liked comment is from this guy STEVE G. Steve G gives comprehensive hints at like 0:dark:30 for every single word that you can find in that day’s puzzle. It is fascinating! And Steve G isn’t even alone, there are actually many of you who pop by to leave your hints on the day’s puzzle, however early, just to help each other out. The hints themselves are amazing, less work for me to do, you all can figure it out on your own! But also, it’s just another indicator of how supportive and cohesive this #hivemind community is.”

Editor Sam Ezersky has some choice words for Spelling Bee hint writer Steve G. 👀👀. New York Times Instagram, May 03, 2024https://www.instagram.com/p/C6gjZAzu4cf/Transcript by LexiConnexxionsSE [B&W, ominous music] I’m actually pretty surprised that the New York Times is letting me say what I’ve gotta get off my chest right now. [pause] STEVE G, if you’re listening, I have an important message to deliver. How do I put this? [pause] [color, upbeat music] Thank you! Thank you for everything that you are doing for us! Your work is amazing, you get up at 0:dark:30, you blitz this puzzle every day, your hints are bangers, everybody gets to Queen now, you absolutely open the flood gates, we all are inspired to make hints of our own, we all want to lift each other up, thanks to you, my man!
Part of being the Spelling Bee editor means answering to the 🐝 hive mind 🐝. Sam Ezersky shares his most unexpected moments on the job.New York Times Instagram, April 30, 2024https://www.instagram.com/reel/C6Y8AjKuUmJ/Transcript by LexiConnexxions.SE: What are some of the most surprising, funny, fascinating moments since I’ve been editing Spelling Bee? Let me tell you, there’s so much to choose from. So originally the word RAFFIA was omitted from the Spelling Bee word list. My mistake! Somebody shipped 72 yards of raffia in a coil ordered off Amazon to me saying “Hey, this is raffia, you should add this to the word list!” You guys are so funny! I’m also thinking about some goofy pangrams or words normally accepted in the game, like BACKROOM: Everybody just found BARACKOBAMA instead. I can’t just add the name of a former president to the word list. Another pangram was HANDBOOK but everybody seemed to find BADONKADONK. And then of course there are some of the words that actually should have been in there. My word list was not, shall we say, up to date, and didn’t have the pangram CLICKBAIT on a day that those letters ran. And Steve Martin, the great Steve Martin tweeted out, saying, “Hey New York Times, you need to get out more.” It was really embarrassing at first, but now I just find this sort of thing hysterical. The degree of creativity that the #Hivemind has is unparallelled. Not anything that I ever could have expected when I started editing this game.
Here's why some loanwords from foreign languages count in Spelling Bee.New York Times TikTok, April 14, 2024
https://www.tiktok.com/@thegamesteam/video/7357803650892320042Transcription by LexiConnexxions.Q from a player (posted 2023-12-6): Can you address why sometimes words in other languages count and sometimes they don’t? What’s your barometer there?A from Sam Ezersky (2024-04-14): If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my 5+ years of doing this, it’s that the English language is really quirky, and for some reason, there are words that are considered loan words from other languages and cultures that are listed in English-language dictionaries, and some words that aren’t, and it’s confusing because sometimes there are words that you know and I know, but they’re not listed in these English-language dictionaries, and I’d rather make judgement calls based off, you know, a dictionary backing than Sam’s own personal vibe check. Of course, deepest sympathies because it sometimes seems arbitrary at the end of the day, but the line has to be drawn somewhere, even if it’s on an albeit weird parameter.
For Sam Ezersky, puzzles are more than just a game: The editor of the acclaimed New York Times Spelling Bee sparks joy and creativity with his puzzlesThe Cavalier Daily, March 15, 2024https://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2024/03/for-sam-ezersky-puzzles-are-more-than-just-a-game
The ‘New York Times’ Spelling Bee Editor is Proud of His Baltimore RootsBaltimore Magazine, December 2023https://www.baltimoremagazine.com/section/artsentertainment/new-york-times-spelling-bee-editor-sam-ezersky-pikesville-roots/Includes some interesting background bits that I’ve not seen in other interviews, including Mr Ezersky’s early days at “the Spelling Bee, a deceptively simple word puzzle.” Serves up a very interesting detail on how the daily Bee is constructed.
An evening with Sam Ezersky, the Digital Puzzles Editor for the New York Timespresented in LA by Writers’ Bloc on November 21, 2023https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLaeXF72r-A VIDEO: 1 hour, 8 minutes. Description of the event here: https://writersblocpresents.com/main/sam-ezersky/ Read the LexiConnexxions Transcript HERE.

Spelling Bee’s evolving word list.Axios, June 05, 2023https://www.axios.com/2023/06/05/spelling-bee-evolving-word-listEXCERPTS: [paywalled]Sam Ezersky, the editor of the New York Times’ popular daily word-finder game Spelling Bee, is less picky these days about the words he allows people to use.The game has millions of players per week, according to the Times.Ezersky builds a week’s worth of puzzles in about a day, sends them to testers, and spends much of his time deciding which words to allow as solutions.Words under four letters aren’t allowed, nor proper nouns or words Ezersky deems too esoteric. That last part is where the controversy lies. “One person’s personal wheelhouse is another person’s esoterica,” Ezersky says. He’s become more permissive with slang, especially if solvers keep trying for a word he hadn’t allowed in the past. For example: he’s warmed to “glamp” — slang for “glamorous camping.” He used to strive to create a consistently expanding word list that always allowed words that were permitted before. His new thinking: If too many people complained about a word that was allowed in the past, maybe don’t allow it in the future. “My goal is to be able to have this game live and breathe and evolve with its audience rather than create some draconian rules,” Ezersky tells Axios.
A Spelling Bee That Rocked the Forum: Players had strong opinions about the Friday, Oct. 14 puzzle.New York Times, December 29, 2022https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/29/crosswords/spelling-bee-community-talking-about.htmlMr. Ezersky reads the forum, and he does take players’ feedback into account. “That’s actually the main reason why I lurk,” Mr. Ezersky said. “It’s not primarily to collect feedback on the word list itself, but to truly immerse myself in the community. What conversations take place in and around the game? What role does it have in our daily lives? How does it bring us all together?” He added, “Not only is it all delightful to witness, but staggering.”
The Bee Keeper: A conversation with Sam Ezersky (Engr ‘17), the editor of The New York Times’ buzzy word game.Virginia Magazine (UVA Alumni Association), Winter 2022https://digital.uvamagazine.org/articles/bee-keeper/
Your Spelling Bee Questions, Answered: Sam Ezersky on how he crafts the Bee and how to be a better solver.New York Times, August 14, 2022https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/14/briefing/spelling-bee-questions-and-answers.html
The making of the cult favorite game, “Spelling Bee” [3:45 video] [worth watching]Brut, May 22, 2022https://www.brut.media/us/entertainment/the-making-of-the-cult-favorite-game-spelling-bee--3a9b7270-9272-4861-9453-1471922c57behttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP0cV6RX2i4
It’s the puzzle game everyone is obsessed with. Brut spoke to the digital puzzle editor of The New York Times on making the internet’s nerdiest word game “Spelling Bee.”Read the LexiConnexxions Transcript HERE.

The Wordle hurdle: the pitfalls of setting puzzles [interview with Sam Ezersky, mostly re: word choices in the Spelling Bee]Australian Financial Review, May 21, 2022https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/arts-and-culture/the-wordle-hurdle-the-pitfalls-of-setting-puzzles-20220512-p5akueEzersky selects each day’s hexagon of letters, a computer generates a list of possible words. Ezersky’s job is to whittle down that list to those the puzzle will accept. … “I thought: how hard can it be? I just get to say yes to some words and no to others.’ He quickly discovered he had walked into a trap that has ensnared lexicographers since Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary of the English Language in 1755.”First published in The Economist, April 19, 2022 [paywalled]https://www.economist.com/1843/2022/04/19/the-wordle-hurdle-the-pitfalls-of-setting-puzzles 
How Word Puzzles Tickle the Brain and Satisfy the Soul.Literary Hub, April 27, 2022https://lithub.com/how-word-puzzles-tickle-the-brain-and-satisfy-the-soul/A delightful article combining one player’s middle-of-the-night word finding with an interview with the puzzle editor.
The New York Times Spelling BeeAll of It with Alison Stewart, WNYC, January 13, 2022 (13 minutes)https://www.wnyc.org/story/new-york-times-spelling-bee/New York Times digital puzzles editor Sam Ezersky joins "All of It with Alison Stewart"  to talk about the “Spelling Bee.” We also ask callers about their feelings about the bee.Read the LexiConnexxions Transcript HERE.

The Quest for Queen Bee
The Keith Law Show, November 10, 2021 (SE segment begins at 5:54; SB discussion begins around 15:40)Keith is joined by Sam Ezersky, Digital Puzzles Editor for the New York Times, to discuss their shared love of word puzzles, the highly engaging and potentially addictive ‘Spelling Bee’, Sam’s path to his current role, and the ongoing challenge of determining which words make the cut for each version of the puzzle.Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/sc/podcast/the-quest-for-queen-bee-w-sam-ezersky/id1499877854?i=1000541286581Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/3327d6c3-f1c7-4aaf-8ea6-72a04cdcb78d/episodes/172762f4-73f1-47d4-99a0-18f0cbe86a06/the-keith-law-show-the-quest-for-%E2%80%98queen-bee%E2%80%99-w-sam-ezerskyRead the LexiConnexxions Transcript HERE.

How the Grid Kid Became King of the Online Spelling Bee: The New York Times’ Sam Ezersky breaks down how he adjudicates the Spelling Bee.Slate, August 31, 2021https://slate.com/podcasts/spectacular-vernacular/2021/08/are-you-spectacular-vernaculars-next-spelling-bee-championThis is an episode of Spectacular Vernacular, Slate’s podcast about language, where hosts Nicole Holliday and Ben Zimmer spoke with Sam Ezersky, digital puzzles editor for the New York Times, about the online Spelling Bee, which he oversees.; the entire audio is available within the article. The Spelling Bee segment begins at 18:26 and ends at 36:36.Transcript (machine-generated, full of errors):https://slate.com/transcripts/cHBMRmgwMG9ydlg0U1Y1NE9MN0VVMDRYdXVVT1VpTi92TEF6VTBDaTNTRT0=
Insider Secrets of the Spelling Bee: The New York Times’ Sam Ezersky reveals all.Slate, August 31, 2021https://slate.com/culture/2021/08/nyt-spelling-bee-sam-ezersky.htmlThis article is a condensed transcript of an episode of Spectacular Vernacular, Slate’s podcast about language, where hosts Nicole Holliday and Ben Zimmer spoke with Sam Ezersky, digital puzzles editor for the New York Times, about the online Spelling Bee, which he oversees.; the entire audio is available within the article. Within that recording, the Spelling Bee segment begins at 18:26 and ends at 36:36.Complete transcript here (machine-generated, full of errors):https://slate.com/transcripts/cHBMRmgwMG9ydlg0U1Y1NE9MN0VVMDRYdXVVT1VpTi92TEF6VTBDaTNTRT0=
Secrets of the New York Times Spelling BeeCulture Gabfest, February 24, 2021https://podcasts.musixmatch.com/podcast/culture-gabfest-01hvbyrfsgsjjt60fg2gnatrx0/episode/secrets-of-the-new-york-times-spelling-bee-01hw7tj7pt6s89kk2qtcdwdxdvSegment on the New York Times’s Spelling Bee puzzle and interview its creator, 24-year-old Sam Ezersky begins at 19:50.TRANSCRIPT (machine-generated): https://www.pandora.com/podcast/transcript/culture-gabfest/secrets-of-the-new-york-times-spelling-bee/PE:1321365712

The Genius of Spelling BeeNew York Times, October 16, 2020; updated Aug. 31, 2022https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/16/crosswords/spellingbee-puzzles.htmlThe game’s path to success was paved with a beehive in the Sunday magazine, solvers waking up at 3 a.m. to play and a global “hivemind” that exists to troll a New York Times editor.
How a Crossword Puzzle Pro Landed His Dream JobSam Ezersky, associate puzzles editor for the New York Times, says his passion began at an early age.New Jersey Monthly, April 2020Published online at Jersey Living on April 8, 2020https://njmonthly.com/articles/jersey-living/sam-ezersky/
60 Seconds with Sam Ezersky: A chat with one of the New York Times Crossword constructors. [about crosswords, not SB]New York Times, October 22, 2018https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/22/crosswords/who-made-my-puzzle.html“For some of us who proudly identify as word nerds, the preferred pastime has been a clever and challenging puzzle that can be enjoyed either in solitude or on social media: the New York Times Spelling Bee.” [The article contains a few errors but remains a pleasant read.]
UVA's King of Crosswords Wins Dream JobRADIO IQ Sandy HausmanWVTF, June 8, 2017https://www.wvtf.org/news/2017-06-08/uvas-king-of-crosswords-wins-dream-job
Puzzle Master: Second-year student’s crosswords published in the New York TimesVirginia Magazine (UVA Alumni Association), Fall 2014https://uvamagazine.org/articles/puzzle_master
Sam EzerskyIn Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Ezersky

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CAVEAT LECTOR: All the resources in this guide have been reviewed for reasonable quality. Some of the citations in this listing include content notes and/or gentle caveats from LexiConnexxions, usually in [square brackets]. Content at external links may change or disappear, or the links themselves may die or disappear. The existence, content, safety, and security of third-party sites is beyond our control. 

A note from Sam Ezersky to a Bee solver about curating the daily Spelling Bee word list

TRANSCRIPTION: A note from Sam Ezersky to a Bee solver about curating the daily Spelling Bee word listJuly 16, 2019https://x.com/thegridkid/status/1151188527423643649Reported in the Spelling Bee forum July 18, 2019https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/17/crosswords/daily-puzzle-2019-07-18.html#permid=101539351
ATTN #HiveMind: Just finished off a response to a solver about my thoughts on curating the #SpellingBee word list, and figured this would be helpful for those in the Twitterverse to see it too! Cheers🐝🐝🐝 @NYTimesWordplay @NYT_Crossword1:55PM    Jul 16, 2019

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Thanks so much for your well-reasoned feedback; it’s definitely something I’ll continue to think about as I curate the daily Bee. I’d be lying if I said [that] you were the first (or even the second, third, or tenth to voice this complaint!
When I edit the word list for a given puzzle, my goal is to keep solvers from all walks of life in mind. Having something that is overly technical or niche us just going to mystify the many in the room [who] aren’t familiar with it, which was my logic behind recently omitting an answer like TROCAR or CHIRAL. Then again, there’s something to be said for the frustration that any solver might have upon discovering a word that isn’t accepted; you know the word, you found it, and your not … receiving any points for it?!
This is all to say: Spelling Bee is one giant balancing act so that I can make the game fun for any solver out there, regardless of background, expansive vocabulary, etc. I spend ample time vetting dictionaries of various breadths, news articles, Google NGram, you name it, to explore the commonness of all those line judge calls, some of which barely get by and others of which just miss the cut.
Also, as much as I try to avoid it, there will always be subjective bias in editing. Everyone has their different knowledge banks, and I just happen to be the one injecting mine into the word list while still always looking to make sure I keep an open mind. There are numerous times that something only barely familiar to me has been included, as my research has proven [that] the word is fair game, given my approach. The fun fact about my omission of several “science-y” terms: I actually have academic backgrounds in mechanical engineering and economics, and happen to be pretty math-y/science-y myself. You’d never know that, though, because I want to make sure [that] this game isn’t just tailored toward someone like me 😊
In any case, I’ll continue to be receptive to any sort of critique [that] solvers have about particular words, gameplay, whatever. I really do appreciate you[r] writing; if you ever have more specific suggestions to fire off, feel free to reach out to NYTCrossword@nytimes.com with your feedback!All best,Sam