Saturday, August 22, 2026

Answers to yesterday's Bee

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The official answers for today's puzzle are:

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Number of Pangrams: 2

Maximum Puzzle Score: 304

Number of Answers: 56

Points Needed for Genius: 213

Genius requires between 31 and 47 words. You need at least a 7-letter word to reach genius. If you don't get the pangrams, you need 77% of the total points to reach genius. If you get the pangrams, you only need 67% of the remaining points to reach genius.

Other days with this pangram:

The button below will reveal a chart with the number of words by each letter. Red bars indicate that there is a pangram(s) starting with that letter.


How does this puzzle compare to other puzzles?

Today's score of 304 was in the 93rd percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there was a score this high was on August 14, 2026.
The highest score ever was 537 on January 22, 2021.
The lowest score ever was 47 on March 27, 2023.

This puzzle's 56 possible answers rank it in the 85th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there were more answers than this was on August 14, 2026.
The highest number of answers was 81 on June 08, 2019.
The lowest number of answers was 16 on March 27, 2023.

It takes a 7-letter word for genius.
The last time this happened was on August 21, 2026.

Today's puzzle has an average word length of 5.7.
For all Bees, the average word length has been 5.3.



Haven't I seen these letters before?

Hover over a letter to see its first and most recent appearance in the Bee!



Haven't I seen these words before?

The most common words in the Bee are:

  • noon 248
  • loll 228
  • toot 221
  • nana 207
  • naan 207
  • tilt 160
  • till 160
  • nene 160
  • mamma 160
  • mama 160
  • lilt 160
  • tint 158
  • onion 153
  • acai 151
  • acacia 151
  • toon 148
  • onto 148
  • olio 140
  • anon 139
  • anal 139
  • tact 130
  • dodo 130
  • papa 129
  • baba 129
  • mitt 128
  • lulu 126
  • lull 126
  • loon 124
  • poop 122
  • calla 122
  • call 122
  • booboo 122
  • boob 122
  • cocci 121
  • tartar 119
  • tart 119
  • ratatat 119
  • moon 119
  • mono 119
  • tattoo 118
  • attar 118
  • tutu 116
  • cancan 115
  • aria 115
  • momma 114
  • ammo 114
  • ally 114
  • allay 114
  • meme 113
  • roar 112


How long are words in the Bee?

There have been 122,136 answers ever accepted in the Bee - with 11,120 unique words.
Below are the distributions of the lengths of these words.



Valid dictionary words not in today's official answers

You may be wondering why these words aren't here*:

  • acari
  • acciaccatura
  • acinar
  • acini
  • acinic
  • acratic
  • actin
  • actinia
  • actinian
  • actinic
  • airn
  • airt
  • annuitant
  • antiair
  • antiar
  • antiarin
  • anticar
  • anuria
  • anuric
  • araucaria
  • araucarian
  • atactic
  • ataractic
  • attaint
  • attrit
  • auric
  • cain
  • cantatrici
  • cantic
  • carina
  • cauri
  • citrin
  • citrinin
  • crit
  • crittur
  • crucian
  • cunit
  • curari
  • curia
  • cutin
  • iatric
  • ictic
  • incitant
  • inia
  • inrun
  • inti
  • intrant
  • inturn
  • iritic
  • naira
  • nairu
  • naric
  • nictitant
  • nutria
  • raia
  • riant
  • riata
  • ricrac
  • rutin
  • tain
  • tartaric
  • tian
  • tictac
  • titania
  • titi
  • titian
  • titrant
  • triac
  • trictrac
  • trinitarian
  • tunica
  • unai
  • unci
  • uncia
  • uncinaria
  • uncini
  • unica
  • urania
  • uranic
  • uranitic
  • urari
  • uratic
  • urticant
  • urticaria

*Because the New York Times considers them obscure or offensive.

acacia

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A shrub or tree of the tribe Acacieae.
  2. The thickened or dried juice of several species in Acacieae, in particular Vachellia nilotica (syn. Acacia nilotica), the Egyptian acacia.
  3. A false acacia; robinia tree, Robinia pseudoacacia.
  4. Gum arabic; gum acacia.
  5. Any of several related trees, such as the locust tree.
  6. A light to moderate greenish yellow with a hint of red.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. (history) A roll or bag, filled with dust, borne by Byzantine emperors, as a memento of mortality. It is represented on medals.

acai

noun
  1. Any of several South American palms, of the genus Euterpe, having a dark purple drupe.
  2. The fruit of these trees, harvested for its juice.

antarctic

No Definition Found.

anti

noun
  1. A person opposed to a concept or principle.
adjective
  1. Opposed to something.
  2. That has a torsion angle between 90° and 180°
preposition
  1. Alternative form of anti-

antic

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A grotesque representation of a figure; a gargoyle.
  2. A caricature.
  3. (often in plural) A ludicrous gesture or act; ridiculous behaviour; caper.
  4. A grotesque performer or clown, buffoon.
verb
  1. To perform antics, caper.
  2. To make a fool of, to cause to look ridiculous.
  3. To perform (an action) as an antic; to mimic ridiculously.
adjective
  1. Playful, funny, absurd
  2. Grotesque, incongruous.
  3. Grotesque, bizarre
adjective
  1. Having existed in ancient times, descended from antiquity; used especially in reference to Greece and Rome.
  2. Belonging to former times, not modern, out of date, old-fashioned.
  3. Designating a style of type.
  4. Embossed without gilt.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A pose, often exaggerated, in anticipation of an action; for example, a brief squat before jumping

arctic

noun
  1. A warm waterproof overshoe.
  2. Any of various butterflies of the genus Oeneis.
adjective
  1. (now only in compounds) Pertaining to the celestial north pole, or to the pole star.
  2. Pertaining to the northern polar region of the planet, characterised by extreme cold and an icy landscape.
  3. Extremely cold, snowy, or having other properties of extreme winter associated with the Arctic.
  4. Designed for use in very cold conditions.

aria

noun
  1. A musical piece written typically for a solo voice with orchestral accompaniment in an opera or cantata.

arnica

noun
  1. Any of several plants, of the genus Arnica, considered to have medicinal properties, especially Arnica montana.

atria

noun
  1. A central room or space in ancient Roman homes, open to the sky in the middle; a similar space in other buildings.
  2. A square hall lit by daylight from above, into which rooms open at one or more levels.
  3. A cavity, entrance, or passage.
  4. Any enclosed sexine and nexine layers, widening toward the interior of the grain.

attain

verb
  1. To gain (an object or desired result).
  2. To reach or come to, by progression or motion; to arrive at (a place, time, state, etc.).
  3. To come or arrive, by motion, growth, bodily exertion, or efforts toward a place, object, state, etc.
  4. To get at the knowledge of.
  5. To reach in excellence or degree.
  6. To reach a person after being behind them.

attic

noun
  1. The space, often unfinished and with sloped walls, directly below the roof in the uppermost part of a house or other building, generally used for storage or habitation.

cacti

noun
  1. Any member of the family Cactaceae, a family of flowering New World succulent plants suited to a hot, semi-desert climate.
  2. Any succulent plant with a thick fleshy stem bearing spines but no leaves, such as euphorbs.

cairn

No Definition Found.

cantina

noun
  1. A drinking establishment, often specifically of the type found in Latin America.
  2. Abbreviated form of cantina truck, cantina wagon or cantina trailer

circa

preposition
  1. Approximately, about, around (typically in relation to time)

circuit

noun
  1. The act of moving or revolving around, or as in a circle or orbit; a revolution
  2. The circumference of, or distance around, any space; the measure of a line around an area.
  3. That which encircles anything, as a ring or crown.
  4. The space enclosed within a circle, or within limits.
  5. Enclosed path of an electric current, usually designed for a certain function.
  6. A regular or appointed trip from place to place as part of one's job
  7. The jurisdiction of certain judges within a state or country, whether itinerant or not.
  8. Various administrative divisions of imperial and early Republican China, including:
  9. Methodism: The basic grouping of local Methodist churches.
  10. By analogy to the proceeding three, a set of theaters among which the same acts circulate; especially common in the heyday of vaudeville.
  11. A track on which a race in held; a racetrack
  12. Circumlocution
  13. A thought that unconsciously goes round and round in a person's mind and controls that person.
  14. A closed path, without repeated vertices allowed
verb
  1. To move in a circle; to go round; to circulate.
  2. To travel around.
noun
  1. A court that sits at more than one location in the district that it serves.

cirri

noun
  1. A tendril.
  2. A thin tendril-like appendage.
  3. A principal high-level cloud type characterised by white, delicate filaments or wisps, of white (or mostly white) patches, or of narrow bands, found at an altitude of above 7000 metres.

citric

No Definition Found.

crania

No Definition Found.

critic

noun
  1. A person who appraises the works of others.
  2. A specialist in judging works of art.
  3. One who criticizes; a person who finds fault.
  4. An opponent.
verb
  1. To criticise.
noun
  1. The art of criticism.
  2. An essay in which another piece of work is criticised, reviewed, etc.
  3. A point made to criticize something.
  4. A critic; one who criticises.

curtain

noun
  1. A piece of cloth covering a window, bed, etc. to offer privacy and keep out light.
  2. A similar piece of cloth that separates the audience and the stage in a theater.
  3. (by extension) The beginning of a show; the moment the curtain rises.
  4. (fortifications) The flat area of wall which connects two bastions or towers; the main area of a fortified wall.
  5. (also "final curtain") Death.
  6. That part of a wall of a building which is between two pavilions, towers, etc.
  7. A flag; an ensign.
verb
  1. To cover (a window) with a curtain; to hang curtains.
  2. To hide, cover or separate as if by a curtain.

incant

verb
  1. To state solemnly, to chant.
  2. To recite an incantation.

incur

verb
  1. To bring upon oneself or expose oneself to, especially something inconvenient, harmful, or onerous; to become liable or subject to
  2. To enter or pass into
  3. To fall within a period or scope; to occur; to run into danger

intact

adjective
  1. Left complete or whole; not touched, defiled, sullied or otherwise damaged
  2. Of animals, not castrated: an intact bull.
  3. Uncircumcised; commonly used to describe a penis with a foreskin in intactivism.

intuit

verb
  1. To know intuitively or by immediate perception.

inurn

verb
  1. To place (the remains of a person who has died) in an urn or other container.
  2. To hold or contain (the remains of a person who has died).

irritant

No Definition Found.

niacin

noun
  1. A water-soluble vitamin, a component of vitamin B complex, found in meat, yeast, and dairy products; it is essential to metabolism.

nitric

noun
  1. Nitric acid
adjective
  1. Of, pertaining to, or containing, nitrogen.

rain

noun
  1. Condensed water falling from a cloud.
  2. Any matter moving or falling, usually through air, and especially if liquid or otherwise figuratively identifiable with raindrops.
  3. An instance of particles or larger pieces of matter moving or falling through air.
verb
  1. To have rain fall from the sky.
  2. To fall as or like rain.
  3. To issue (something) in large quantities.
  4. To reign.

raita

noun
  1. A condiment used as a dip or sauce in the cuisine of southern Asia, made from seasoned yogurt.

rani

noun
  1. The wife of a rajah.
  2. A Hindu princess or female ruler in India.

ricin

noun
  1. An extremely toxic protein extracted from the castor bean.

ruin

noun
  1. (sometimes in the plural) The remains of a destroyed or dilapidated construction, such as a house or castle.
  2. The state of being a ruin, destroyed or decayed.
  3. Something that leads to serious trouble or destruction.
  4. A fall or tumble.
  5. A change that destroys or defeats something; destruction; overthrow.
  6. Complete financial loss; bankruptcy.
verb
  1. To cause the fiscal ruin of.
  2. To destroy or make something no longer usable.
  3. To cause severe financial loss to; to bankrupt or drive out of business.
  4. To upset or overturn the plans or progress of, or to have a disastrous effect on something.
  5. To make something less enjoyable or likeable.
  6. To reveal the ending of (a story); to spoil.
  7. To fall into a state of decay.
  8. To seduce or debauch, and thus harm the social standing of.

runic

No Definition Found.

tacit

adjective
  1. Expressed in silence; implied, but not made explicit; silent.
  2. Not derived from formal principles of reasoning; based on induction rather than deduction.

taciturn

adjective
  1. Silent; temperamentally untalkative; disinclined to speak.

tactic

noun
  1. A maneuver, or action calculated to achieve some end.
  2. A maneuver used against an enemy.
  3. A sequence of moves that limits the opponent's options and results in an immediate and tangible advantage, typically in the form of material.
adjective
  1. Tactical; of or relating to the art of military and naval tactics.
  2. Describing a polymer whose repeat units are identical.

tactician

noun
  1. A person skilled in the planning and execution of tactics.

taint

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A contamination, decay or putrefaction, especially in food
  2. A mark of disgrace, especially on one's character; blemish
  3. Tincture; hue; colour
  4. Infection; corruption; deprivation
  5. A marker indicating that a variable is unsafe and should be subjected to additional security checks.
verb
  1. To contaminate or corrupt (something) with an external agent, either physically or morally.
  2. To spoil (food) by contamination.
  3. To be infected or corrupted; to be touched by something corrupting.
  4. To be affected with incipient putrefaction.
  5. To mark (a variable) as unsafe, so that operations involving it are subject to additional security checks.
  6. To invalidate (a share capital account) by transferring profits into it.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A thrust with a lance, which fails of its intended effect.
  2. An injury done to a lance in an encounter, without its being broken; also, a breaking of a lance in an encounter in a dishonorable or unscientific manner.
verb
  1. To damage, as a lance, without breaking it; also, to break, as a lance, but usually in an unknightly or unscientific manner.
  2. To hit or touch lightly, in tilting.
  3. To thrust ineffectually with a lance.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. The perineum.

tannic

No Definition Found.

tannin

noun
  1. Tannic acid or any of its derivatives.

tantric

No Definition Found.

tiara

noun
  1. The papal crown.
  2. An ornamental coronet.

tinct

No Definition Found.

tint

noun
  1. A slight coloring.
  2. A pale or faint tinge of any color; especially, a variation of a color obtained by adding white (contrast shade)
  3. A color considered with reference to other very similar colors.
  4. A shaded effect in engraving, produced by the juxtaposition of many fine parallel lines.
verb
  1. To shade, to color.

titan

noun
  1. Something or someone of very large stature, greatness, or godliness.

titanic

Etymology 1

adjective
  1. Having great size, or great strength, force or power.

Etymology 2

adjective
  1. Of or relating to titanium, especially tetravalent titanium

train

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Elongated portion.
  2. Connected sequence of people or things.
verb
  1. To practice an ability.
  2. To teach and form (someone) by practice; to educate (someone).
  3. To improve one's fitness.
  4. To proceed in sequence.
  5. To move (a gun) laterally so that it points in a different direction.
  6. To encourage (a plant or branch) to grow in a particular direction or shape, usually by pruning and bending.
  7. To trace (a lode or any mineral appearance) to its head.
  8. To create a trainer for; to apply cheats to (a game).
  9. To draw along; to trail; to drag.
  10. To draw by persuasion, artifice, or the like; to attract by stratagem; to entice; to allure.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Treachery; deceit.
  2. A trick or stratagem.
  3. A trap for animals; a snare.
  4. A lure; a decoy.

trait

noun
  1. An identifying characteristic, habit or trend.
  2. An uninstantiable collection of methods that provides functionality to a class by using the class’s own interface.

tunic

No Definition Found.

tutti

noun
  1. A passage in which all members of an orchestra are playing
adjective
  1. All together; with all playing at once.
adverb
  1. All together. Indicates that the remainder of a group should join in playing after a solo or other passage with a reduced number of voices.

unit

noun
  1. A particular, minute unit of mass, defined differently for different substances, but so that varying substances of the same general type have the property that one international unit of the one has the same effect on the human body as one international unit of the other.
noun
  1. Oneness, singularity, seen as a component of a whole number; a magnitude of one.
  2. A standard measure of a quantity.
  3. The number one.
  4. An organized group comprising people and/or equipment.
  5. A member of a military organization.
  6. Any military element whose structure is prescribed by competent authority, such as a table of organization and equipment; specifically, part of an organization.
  7. An organization title of a subdivision of a group in a task force.
  8. A standard or basic quantity into which an item of supply is divided, issued or detailed. In this meaning, also called unit of issue.
  9. With regard to Reserve Components of the Armed Forces, denotes a Selected Reserve unit organized, equipped, and trained for mobilization to serve on active duty as a unit or to augment or be augmented by another unit. Headquarters and support functions without wartime missions are not considered units.
  10. The identity element, neutral element.
  11. An element having an inverse, an invertible element; an associate of the unity.
  12. In an adjunction, a natural transformation from the identity functor of the domain of the left adjoint functor to the composition of the right adjoint functor with the left adjoint functor.
  13. A volume of rock or ice of identifiable origin and age range that is defined by the distinctive and dominant, easily mapped and recognizable petrographic, lithologic or paleontologic features (facies) that characterize it.
  14. An item which may be sold singly.
  15. A unit of alcohol.
  16. One kilowatt-hour (as recorded on an electricity meter).
  17. A measure of housing equivalent to the living quarters of one household; an apartment where a group of apartments is contained in one or more multi-storied buildings or a group of dwellings is in one or more single storey buildings, usually arranged around a driveway.
  18. A gold coin of the reign of James I, worth twenty shillings.
  19. A work unit.
  20. A physically large person.
adjective
  1. For each unit.
  2. Having a size or magnitude of one.

unitarian

noun
  1. One who denies the doctrine of the Trinity, believing that God exists only in one person; a unipersonalist.
  2. A Muwahhid.
  3. One who rejects the principle of dualism.
  4. A monotheist.
adjective
  1. Espousing a unitary view of something

uric

adjective
  1. Pertaining to, contained in, or obtained from urine.

arancini

noun
  1. A baked rice ball, filled with cheese or other sauce, originally from Sicily.