Spelling Bee Editor: Interviews and Articles
NOTE: Several items listed here are also listed in the Audio and Video section of this resource guide.
Sam Ezersky.In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Ezersky On June 26, 2026, Spelling Bee editor Sam Ezersky stopped in to the Spelling Bee forum to answer questions.https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/26/crosswords/spelling-bee-forum.html
Hello Puzzlers Podcast: Special Guest Sam EzerskyApr 12 2026https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMrHaTEppvgThe "Hello Puzzlers" podcast recorded an episode 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 18:00. LEXICONNXXIONS TRANSCRIPT AVAILABLE: CLICK HERE. To Celebrate the 2,500th Spelling Bee Puzzle, NYT Games Thanks Its Most Scrupulous Spellers with a Special SolveNew 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 BeeThreads, March 12, 2025https://www.threads.net/@nytgames/post/DHGPR0oOhLr?xmt=AQGzIBpmlO3sYRG72FS6B6s8r-hEtrDeZuEdIlyvn5nNDwTranscript:“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!” Why do we have human games editors? [Spelling Bee Editor Sam Ezersky explains.]New York Times Instagram, September 3, 2024https://www.instagram.com/reel/C_dZxiaR_de/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
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 3, 2024https://www.instagram.com/mynytimes/reel/C6hGGQbRK09/
Editor Sam Ezersky has some choice words for Spelling Bee hint writer Steve G. 👀👀New York Times Instagram, May 3, 2023https://www.instagram.com/p/C6gjZAzu4cf/
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/
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 not included 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/ LEXICONNEXXIONS TRANSCRIPT OF SPELLING-BEE-RELATED PORTIONS: CLICK HERE. Spelling Bee’s evolving word listAxios June 5, 2023https://www.axios.com/2023/06/05/spelling-bee-evolving-word-listEXCERPTS: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.
The Bee Keeper: A conversation with Sam Ezersky (Engr ‘17), the editor of The New York Times’ buzzy word game.Sam GrossmanVirginia 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--3a9b7270-9272-4861-9453-1471922c57beIt’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.”
The Wordle hurdle: the pitfalls of setting puzzles [interview with S.E. mostly re: word choices in the Spelling Bee]Abigail Fielding-SmithAustralian 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 SoulA.J. JacobsLiterary 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 BeeWNYC, January 13, 2022 (13 minutes)https://www.wnyc.org/story/new-york-times-spelling-bee/New York Times digital puzzles editor Sam Ezersky joins us to talk about the “Spelling Bee.” We also ask callers about their feelings about the bee.
The Quest for Queen BeeThe Keith Law Show, September 11, 2021 (44 minutes)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-ezersky
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.Complete transcript here (machine-generated, full of errors):https://slate.com/transcripts/cHBMRmgwMG9ydlg0U1Y1NE9MN0VVMDRYdXVVT1VpTi92TEF6VTBDaTNTRT0=
Insider Secrets of the Spelling Bee: The New York Times’ Sam Ezersky reveals all.Nicole Holliday and Ben ZimmerSlate, 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=
60 Seconds with Sam Ezersky: A chat with one of the New York Times Crossword constructors. [about crosswords, not SB]Deb AmlenNew 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.]
Puzzle Master: Second-year student’s crosswords published in the New York TimesEmma RathboneVirginia Magazine (UVA Alumni Association), Fall 2014https://uvamagazine.org/articles/puzzle_master
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.By Eleanor GilmanNew Jersey Monthly, April 2020Published online at Jersey Living on April 8, 2020https://njmonthly.com/articles/jersey-living/sam-ezersky/
Sam Ezersky.In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Ezersky On June 26, 2026, Spelling Bee editor Sam Ezersky stopped in to the Spelling Bee forum to answer questions.https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/26/crosswords/spelling-bee-forum.html
Hello Puzzlers Podcast: Special Guest Sam EzerskyApr 12 2026https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMrHaTEppvgThe "Hello Puzzlers" podcast recorded an episode 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 18:00. LEXICONNXXIONS TRANSCRIPT AVAILABLE: CLICK HERE. To Celebrate the 2,500th Spelling Bee Puzzle, NYT Games Thanks Its Most Scrupulous Spellers with a Special SolveNew 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 BeeThreads, March 12, 2025https://www.threads.net/@nytgames/post/DHGPR0oOhLr?xmt=AQGzIBpmlO3sYRG72FS6B6s8r-hEtrDeZuEdIlyvn5nNDwTranscript:“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!” Why do we have human games editors? [Spelling Bee Editor Sam Ezersky explains.]New York Times Instagram, September 3, 2024https://www.instagram.com/reel/C_dZxiaR_de/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
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 3, 2024https://www.instagram.com/mynytimes/reel/C6hGGQbRK09/
Editor Sam Ezersky has some choice words for Spelling Bee hint writer Steve G. 👀👀New York Times Instagram, May 3, 2023https://www.instagram.com/p/C6gjZAzu4cf/
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/
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 not included 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/ LEXICONNEXXIONS TRANSCRIPT OF SPELLING-BEE-RELATED PORTIONS: CLICK HERE. Spelling Bee’s evolving word listAxios June 5, 2023https://www.axios.com/2023/06/05/spelling-bee-evolving-word-listEXCERPTS: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.
The Bee Keeper: A conversation with Sam Ezersky (Engr ‘17), the editor of The New York Times’ buzzy word game.Sam GrossmanVirginia 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--3a9b7270-9272-4861-9453-1471922c57beIt’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.”
The Wordle hurdle: the pitfalls of setting puzzles [interview with S.E. mostly re: word choices in the Spelling Bee]Abigail Fielding-SmithAustralian 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 SoulA.J. JacobsLiterary 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 BeeWNYC, January 13, 2022 (13 minutes)https://www.wnyc.org/story/new-york-times-spelling-bee/New York Times digital puzzles editor Sam Ezersky joins us to talk about the “Spelling Bee.” We also ask callers about their feelings about the bee.
The Quest for Queen BeeThe Keith Law Show, September 11, 2021 (44 minutes)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-ezersky
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.Complete transcript here (machine-generated, full of errors):https://slate.com/transcripts/cHBMRmgwMG9ydlg0U1Y1NE9MN0VVMDRYdXVVT1VpTi92TEF6VTBDaTNTRT0=
Insider Secrets of the Spelling Bee: The New York Times’ Sam Ezersky reveals all.Nicole Holliday and Ben ZimmerSlate, 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=
60 Seconds with Sam Ezersky: A chat with one of the New York Times Crossword constructors. [about crosswords, not SB]Deb AmlenNew 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.]
Puzzle Master: Second-year student’s crosswords published in the New York TimesEmma RathboneVirginia Magazine (UVA Alumni Association), Fall 2014https://uvamagazine.org/articles/puzzle_master
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.By Eleanor GilmanNew Jersey Monthly, April 2020Published online at Jersey Living on April 8, 2020https://njmonthly.com/articles/jersey-living/sam-ezersky/