WASHINGTON (AP) -- It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, said spelling bee veteran Samir Patel, that the first day of the national finals was halted in the fourth round, just as he stepped to the microphone.
He was a little disappointed, not getting his chance to spell.
But he was glad he didn't have to spell, too.
"I was really tired," said the 12-year-old, who is home-schooled in Colleyville, Texas, and who tied for second place last year. Samir finished 27th in 2004, and was third the year before that.
Samir and 12 other spellers will get their chance at the microphone when Round Four of the 79th annual Scripps National Spelling Bee resumes Thursday, with live coverage on ESPN.
The winner will be crowned Thursday night during a live broadcast on ABC.
On Wednesday, the first day of the two-day marathon of spelling, officials halted competition near the end of the fourth round when the number of spellers who had qualified for the next one reached 46.
Thirteen had yet to correctly spell or fumble their way out of Round Four.
"Did it have to be me?" Samir, a seventh-grader, was overheard asking a bee official afterward.
Bee director Paige Kimble said spelling was halted mid-round so there would be enough spellers for Thursday's live broadcasts. The goal is to have about 10 spellers for the prime-time show.
The competition began with a 25-word, multiple-choice test and a round of oral spelling, and the combined scores were used to narrow the field of 274 fourth- through eighth-graders to the top 97 spellers.
From there, 46 spellers aced such words as "tychopotamic," "monochromatic" and "malihini" -- clenching their fists or sighing in relief afterward -- to land a spot in the fifth round.
But 51 others stumbled on "bonspiel," "whippoorwill," "recumbentibus" and plenty other words, the telltale sound of a bell signifying their mistakes. After being told the correct spelling, the children were quickly escorted to a "comfort room" to be consoled by family in private.
During competition, the 9- to 15-year-olds sit beneath hot lights on a red-and-blue, made-for-TV stage, some deep in concentration with heads bowed or resting in their palms. Others looked bored, yawning or staring at the ceiling. Some chatted with seatmates or watched as spellers approach the microphone.
Spellers may ask about a word's pronunciation, definition, part of speech, use in a sentence and etymology.
"Can you repeat both the pronunciations. Can you repeat the definition? Etymology?" asked Kavya Shivashankar, a fifth-grader at Regency Place Elementary School in Olathe, Kansas, who likes math and reading. Her word, "estrepe," means to wreak needless destruction or waste upon.
"Are those the only two pronunciations? Can you repeat the definition one more time?" the 10-year-old continued, using a finger to write it out in her left palm.
Kavya spelled it right, earning a place in Round Five.
Spellers made it to the finals by winning contests in the 50 states, as well as in American Samoa, the Bahamas, Canada, Europe, Guam, Jamaica, New Zealand, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
About one-fourth, or 66, are making repeat appearances, including two eighth-graders who are competing for the fifth and final time. Both made it into Round Five.
ESPN has broadcast the second day of the bee since 1994, but this year, in a nod to the popularity of "reality TV," the championship rounds were moved to ABC for a live, prime-time event before a larger viewing audience. The Walt Disney Co. owns both networks.
The winner goes home with more than $42,000 in cash and prizes.
The Louisville Courier-Journal started the bee in 1925. The E.W. Scripps Co., a media conglomerate, assumed sponsorship in 1941.