Here are the Letter Boxed February 14, 2025 Answers from New York Times Games. Our solutions and answers are 100% valid and accurate. We suggest trying to solve the game on your own before using the help of our website.
Sides of this Letter Box are:
AUXDBTNMIGOZ
The answers are:
GUMBOOXIDIZATION
Quick OA
Same here
Yes, same. ✔
I’ll go out on the precarious limb and proclaim SSS.
Will it survive? 🤔
Yep, pretty sure it’s the same sad stew or none at all.
MBXZ is really tough. There may be other words that combine X and Z ????
OA too.
OA.
Does OA stand for obvious answer?
Only answer?
Official answer.
OA. It took a little while for me to make the jump from OXIDANT to OXIDIZATION.
Same – to get from OXIDATION to OXIDIZATION. Can’t see there being more than one solution /OA….
Same here.
GUMBO – OXIDIZATION
Iron Chef
One more for the quick OA.
Put me on that list too.
I like it 👍
Didn’t get a solution, mostly because I left out the “IZ” bit and kept fiddling with Oxidation.
OA. Fiddled around with OXIDATION for a while but could only get to a three word solve using GUMBO or GIZMO as my first word. Then I figured that the Z had to get OXIDIZED in order to make this work, and it did.
OA within the first half cup of coffee
GUMBO / OXIDIZATION too…
Yup
MUNGO-OXIDIZATION
close but no cigar
The disproportionate number of J, Q, X, & Z one-answer solutions are getting tiresome and do nothing for me.
Same. Feel there has definitely been a shift lately (hard to say how recently, but I would guess past several months) where this is now much more common than it used to me. Makes the puzzle less fun.
Oh, guess we can have some rusty steel wool as well…
Oops, trying to save the 🐝.
Same- quick OA
Quick OA for me too
OA in less than a minute. The fixation with X, Z, and Q’s is getting old. Or, maybe I’m just getting cranky 😊
OA, fastest ever as no choice.
OA. This may be an unpopular opinion, but I love the only-one-solution days… too many choices makes me anxious! Like the cereal aisle in American grocery stores.
That’s called choice overload and the concept was first put forth by Alvin Toffler in his 1970 book Future Shock.
“Paradoxe du choix” is a phrase used in psychology for this that is borrowed from French. It translates as “paradox of choice,” which is now also used as an alternative term, which is kind of ironic if you think about it. Anyway, it refers to the phenomenon that as available choices increase, so does difficulty in choosing, anxiety, confusion, and regret.
Psychologist Barry Schwarz wrote what’s become the definitive text on it called: The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less.
Abundant choice is truly a first-world problem.
Paralysis by analysis
“Analysis Paralysis” is a popular term in board gaming for designs that evoke too much thinking before making your choice.
OA for me today, obviously — the lack of an “E” really limited usage of the “X”, which led to a quick solve.
This is such a great discussion of Civilization and its Discontents! I am reminded of a wonderful scene in Moscow on the Hudson, Robin Williams’ character having a meltdown at the grocery in the coffee aisle…
OA here, probably perforce. Gumbo Oxidization – don’t leave it on the counter overnight next time.
Oh my that takes me back…where are my paper clothes?
Oops. I meant to enter the post below under RICHIE as a response to your post.
I’m with you Caroline! I can understand some creative frustration from the Letterbox Elite but as one of the stumbling rabble I appreciate days like these, when the path is paved and clear.
Got my tix for The Stumbling Rabble
😋
OA after first toying with DIGITIZATION.
Quick OA. Breath for the broth.
OA
Gumbo-oxidization🤗
Immediate OA something we do frequently down here. A nap helps.
OA quickly. Which is strange since I never heard of oxidization. Either did my spellcheck
I think most people use OXIDATION, but I have an old chemistry book (circa 1975) that does use OXIDIZATION. It enabled me to get rid of the X and Z inside the word so connecting was still possible!
Old chemistry book! I was in college in 1976. I did mange to get GUMBO – OXIDIZATION.
GUMBO — OXIDIZATION
Tried DIGITIZATION, NOMADIZATION, IODIZATION, ANODIZATION* (OED liked, but LB did not) but the leftovers were similar, and I could find nothing that contained them all. It wasn’t until I got rid of the X with OXIDIZATION did GUMBO appear.
Here’s one for fun- magazation* dumbox – what progressives think of the president. However, don’t forget that’s what opponents called St. Thomas Aquinas also
Nice! I do recall the Dumb Ox title!
Oxidization is what oxidizing agent does to that which undergoes oxidation. Nuance. One active one passive. So it distinguishes between the two. Only one loses alectrons and gains oxygen or hydrogen
Electrons!
Alectrons occur when polish off your favorite ale and cellular respiration happens
ummm, aletrons….. 🙂
gumbo – oxidization
Yay! OA. First word I typed in was Oxidization then Gumbo was obvious.
GUMBO – OXIDIZATION
Though putrefaction more likely than rust.
OA. Took a while after playing around with DUBAIZATION
Mark, OA is Official Answer. For newcomers to this site, someone should do an acronyms list.
I’m pretty sure it stands for Ostentatious Aggrandizement
Hello ICE, here’s what I know of, and it’s an updating:
OA = Official Answer
PSW = Playable Scrabble Word
ALIOW = At Least Its Over With
SSS = Suspected Singular Solution (like today)
SS = Singular Solution
word° = word is in OED
word^ = word is in Merriam-Webster
word* = playable Scrabble word
word⁻ = word is hyphenated ( I think only I’ve used this 😉 )
Thanks Mark. Sometimes see TI also- thematic integrity.that, and numbers, can sometimes make the Official Answer not seem the Optimal Answer
Thanks Bill, for remembering TI. 👍
And yes, the numbering system:
12/1 = 12 letters in 1 word
13/2 = 13 letters in 2 words
…
x/y = x letters in y words
Super helpful, Mark! Excellent compilation.
It appears that today’s OA was actually OOA. Only One Answer.
That was my suspicion as well.
Quickest OA ever
OA