Zander Patent, speller 56, had a question for Dr. Bailly.
"How do you spell it," he asked of his word, "phoniatric."
"I'm very much hoping correctly," Dr. Bailly countered.
Zander got the word right. "Correctly," head judge Mary Brooks said as he completed it.
Speller 54, Christopher Chang, greeted Dr. Bailly.
"How are you, Christopher," he replied.
"I'm great, how about you?" Christopher countered.
"Doing just fine," Dr. Bailly said.
Christopher correctly spelled "Roscian" to continue his great day.
McKenna Noland, speller 50, was eliminated on "phthalein." It means any of a group of xanthene dyes that are intensely colored in alkaline solution. Jaren Rose, speller 51, is out on "geelhout," any of several southern African trees whose wood is sometimes used for interior work.
Jeremy Ortmann, speller 41, wasn't thrilled to hear his word, "Gesamtkunstwerk."
"You were saving that one for me, weren't you?" he asked Dr. Bailly.
He spelled it right, and clapped as he walked away.
The spellers were delayed this afternoon, but there was nary a chuckle when speller 39, Siyona Mishra, spelled "chiliad," which means a period lasting 1,000 years. Dr. Bailly read the sentence:
While it really only lasted about ten minutes, the contestants felt that sitting on the stage waiting for the Spelling Bee to resolve their technical issues lasted an entire chiliad.
Jack Benveniste-Plitt, speller 37, is wearing a yellow yarmulke to match the bee theme. He correctly spelled "guenon" to stay in.
Bryce Harrell, speller 33, misspelled "syncytium" and is out of the competition.
One speller, Kassie McKnight (Speller 138) is using her placard to fan herself in the back row.
Greta Warner, speller 27, misspelled "laconism" and is out. Speller 28, Cameron Keith -- the youngest in the competition -- remained in by correctly spelling "odontiasis."
Oona Flood, the blue-haired speller 19, asked first for the language of origin, then for the spelling.
"I hope I don't have to give that to you," Dr. Bailly replied.
He didn't. Oona spelled "xiphias" correctly, then walked away, her arms raised in victory.