On spelling’s saddest day, hyped National Spelling Bee competitors see their hopes dashed

By BEN NUCKOLS
Associated Press

OXON HILL, Md. (AP) — The Scripps National Spelling Bee had its toughest day of competition with the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds. Wednesday began with 148 spellers on stage and by early afternoon, more than 100 had been eliminated. Among them were some veteran spellers who hoped to improve on their previous performances and qualify for Thursday night’s finals. Spellers say a lot of luck can come into play as Scripps pulls from more than half a million words in Webster’s Unabridged dictionary. And those who’ve performed well in prior years often fall short of expectations.