Are North American Spellings Invalid like US Spellings?

[Philip A]

This very minor discrepancy I believe is a currently unknown rule on Countdown, but as this affects the Apterous dictionary I think it might be worth asking here.

US spellings such as color and signaled are not allowed on Countdown (but American words like diaper are valid)…

…but what about North American spellings? This means the spelling is also used in Canada, an English-speak country.

Few examples which Apterous actually allows, but Susie might not:

METALED and METALING

VERB (metals, , metalling, , metalled, ; North American English metals, , North American English metaling, North American English metaled)

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REMODELER (NB: remodeller is not in the dictionary at all and it’s probably a North American word, strictly, but looks more like an American spelling)

remodeler
Pronunciation: /riːˈmɒdələ/
NOUN

North American English
A person who carries out structural alterations to an existing building, such as adding a new bathroom.

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COZIES (Susie disallowed this once, but is kept on Apterous)

1.2North American English
(cozy)
An insulating sleeve used to keep a canned or bottled drink cold:
guests received beer cozies at the end of the evening

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LUPINES

lupin
Pronunciation: /ˈluːpɪn/
(North American English lupine Pronunciation: /ˈluːpɪn/)
NOUN

A plant of the pea family with deeply divided leaves and tall colourful tapering spikes of flowers.

If The Countdown Team rules North American spelling invalid in the same way they do with US spellings, then these should all be removed from the Apterous dictionary too.

[Gevin Chapwell]

Do the rules just say US spellings? I've wondered this before.

Edit - Having done a search, it generally seems that North American should be OK. Not sure if this has been tested on the show though.