"The ability of those spellers was simply greater in aggregate than we prepared for," said Peter Sokolowski, an editor-at-large at Merriam-Webster who consults with Scripps but has no formal role in word selection or bee planning.
Broken bee? Spelling experts say tougher words are out there
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"Elite spellers aren't truly guessing very often. They can usually make up the constituent parts of the word," Sokolowski said. "When they take a long time, you can tell when a kid really knows and you can tell when a kid is guessing. ... It's rare, and it's kind of exciting."
Correction: Spelling Bee story
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