Monday, February 23, 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: 1

Maximum Puzzle Score: 92

Number of Answers: 23

Points Needed for Genius: 64

Genius requires between 9 and 21 words. You need at least a 7-letter word to reach genius. If you don't get the pangram, you need 82% of the total points to reach genius. If you get the pangram, you only need 64% 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 92 was in the 8th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there was a score this low was on January 30, 2026.
The highest score ever was 537 on January 22, 2021.
The lowest score ever was 47 on March 27, 2023.

This puzzle's 23 possible answers rank it in the 7th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there were fewer answers than this was on January 30, 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 February 19, 2026.

Today's puzzle has an average word length of 5.1.
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 231
  • loll 214
  • toot 210
  • nana 192
  • naan 192
  • tilt 152
  • till 152
  • lilt 152
  • nene 150
  • mamma 146
  • mama 146
  • tint 145
  • toon 138
  • onto 138
  • onion 138
  • acai 137
  • acacia 137
  • anon 131
  • anal 130
  • olio 124
  • papa 123
  • dodo 123
  • tact 122
  • lulu 121
  • lull 121
  • baba 121
  • poop 119
  • booboo 118
  • boob 118
  • mitt 116
  • moon 115
  • mono 115
  • cocci 114
  • tartar 113
  • tart 113
  • ratatat 113
  • calla 113
  • call 113
  • tutu 112
  • tattoo 112
  • loon 112
  • attar 112
  • ally 110
  • allay 110
  • tatty 109
  • momma 109
  • ammo 109
  • meme 108
  • roar 106
  • peep 105


How long are words in the Bee?

There have been 114,014 answers ever accepted in the Bee - with 10,927 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*:

  • aarrgh
  • aarrghh
  • agha
  • agrapha
  • agraphia
  • agraphic
  • aphagia
  • archi
  • archicarp
  • argh
  • cachaca
  • caph
  • charpai
  • charr
  • chirr
  • gach
  • gharri
  • haar
  • haha
  • haircap
  • hairgrip
  • happi
  • hipparch
  • pacha
  • paragraphic
  • paraph
  • raphia

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

aargh

interjection
  1. Expressing annoyance, dismay, embarrassment or frustration.

arch

Etymology 1

noun
  1. An inverted U shape.
  2. An arch-shaped arrangement of trapezoidal stones, designed to redistribute downward force outward.
  3. An architectural element having the shape of an arch
  4. Any place covered by an arch; an archway.
  5. An arc; a part of a curve.
  6. A natural arch-shaped opening in a rock mass.
  7. Curved part of the bottom of a foot.
verb
  1. To form into an arch shape
  2. To cover with an arch or arches.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A chief.
adjective
  1. Knowing, clever, mischievous.
  2. Principal; primary.

archaic

noun
  1. (usually capitalized) A general term for the prehistoric period intermediate between the earliest period (‘Paleo-Indian’, ‘Paleo-American’, ‘American‐paleolithic’, &c.) of human presence in the Western Hemisphere, and the most recent prehistoric period (‘Woodland’, etc.).
  2. (paleoanthropology) (A member of) an archaic variety of Homo sapiens.
adjective
  1. Of or characterized by antiquity; old-fashioned, quaint, antiquated.
  2. (of words) No longer in ordinary use, though still used occasionally to give a sense of antiquity.
  3. Belonging to the archaic period

chai

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A female gypsy.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Short for masala chai, a beverage made with black teas, steamed milk and sweet spices, based loosely on Indian recipes.

chair

noun
  1. An item of furniture used to sit on or in, comprising a seat, legs, back, and sometimes arm rests, for use by one person. Compare stool, couch, sofa, settee, loveseat and bench.
  2. The seating position of a particular musician in an orchestra.
  3. An iron block used on railways to support the rails and secure them to the sleepers, and similar devices.
  4. One of two possible conformers of cyclohexane rings (the other being boat), shaped roughly like a chair.
  5. A distinguished professorship at a university.
  6. A vehicle for one person; either a sedan borne upon poles, or a two-wheeled carriage drawn by one horse; a gig.
  7. The seat or office of a person in authority, such as a judge or bishop.
verb
  1. To act as chairperson at; to preside over.
  2. To carry in a seated position upon one's shoulders, especially in celebration or victory.
  3. To award a chair to (a winning poet) at a Welsh eisteddfod.
noun
  1. A chairman or chairwoman, someone who presides over a meeting, board, etc.
noun
  1. A chair-like device used for performing execution by electrocution.
  2. An electrically powered wheelchair.
  3. A transitional hold in which an attacking wrestler hoists an opponent up onto his/her shoulders so that they are both facing in the same direction.

chap

Etymology 1

noun
  1. (obsolete outside Britain and Australia) A man, a fellow.
  2. A customer, a buyer.
  3. A child.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A cleft, crack, or chink, as in the surface of the earth, or in the skin.
  2. A division; a breach, as in a party.
  3. A blow; a rap.
verb
  1. Of the skin, to split or flake due to cold weather or dryness.
  2. To cause to open in slits or chinks; to split; to cause the skin of to crack or become rough.
  3. To strike, knock.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. (often in the plural) The jaw.
  2. One of the jaws or cheeks of a vice, etc.

Etymology 4

noun
  1. (authorship) One of the main sections into which the text of a book is divided.
  2. A section of a social or religious body.
  3. A sequence (of events), especially when presumed related and likely to continue.
  4. A decretal epistle.
  5. A location or compartment.

char

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A charred substance.
verb
  1. To burn something to charcoal.
  2. To burn slightly or superficially so as to affect colour.
noun
  1. One of the several species of fishes of the genus Salvelinus.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A charred substance.
noun
  1. One of the several species of fishes of the genus Salvelinus.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. A time; a turn or occasion.
  2. A turn of work; a labour or item of business.
  3. An odd job, a chore or piece of housework.
  4. A charlady, a woman employed to do housework; cleaning lady.
verb
  1. To turn, especially away or aside.
  2. To work, especially to do housework; to work by the day, without being a regularly hired servant.
  3. To perform; to do; to finish.
  4. To work or hew (stone, etc.).

Etymology 4

noun
  1. A character (text element such as a letter or symbol).

Etymology 5

noun
  1. Tea, sometimes specifically masala chai
noun
  1. Synonym of Korean foot: a traditional unit of length equivalent to about 30.3 cm.

chia

noun
  1. A Mexican sage grown for its edible seeds, Salvia hispanica.
  2. Salvia columbariae, a sage with similar seeds, native to the southwestern US and northwestern Mexico.

chic

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Good form; style.
  2. A person with (a particular type of) chic.
adjective
  1. Elegant, stylish.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A kind of ritual buffoon or clown in Yucatec Maya culture.

chica

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A Latin-American girl; a Latina.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. An orange-red dyestuff obtained by boiling the leaves of the bignonia.

chichi

Etymology 1

adjective
  1. Affectedly trendy; chic and stylish

Etymology 2

noun
  1. (Latin America, chiefly in the plural) A woman's breast.

chip

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A small piece broken from a larger piece of solid material.
  2. A damaged area of a surface where a small piece has been broken off.
  3. (games) A token used in place of cash.
  4. A sovereign (the coin).
  5. A circuit fabricated in one piece on a small, thin substrate.
  6. A hybrid device mounted in a substrate, containing electronic circuitry and miniaturised mechanical, chemical and/or biochemical devices.
  7. (especially in the plural) A fried strip of potato of square or rectangular cross-section; a french fry.
  8. (especially in the plural) A thin, crisp, fried slice of potato, or sometimes another vegetable; a crisp.
  9. A shot during which the ball travels more predominantly upwards than in a regular shot, as to clear an obstacle.
  10. A takeout that hits a rock at an angle.
  11. A dried piece of dung, often used as fuel.
  12. (northern) A receptacle, usually for strawberries or other fruit.
  13. A small, near-conical piece of food added in baking.
  14. A small rectangle of colour printed on coated paper for colour selection and matching. A virtual equivalent in software applications.
  15. The triangular piece of wood attached to the log line.
  16. Wood or Cuban palm leaf split into slips, or straw plaited in a special manner, for making hats or bonnets.
  17. Anything dried up, withered, or without flavour.
  18. A low shot that travels further along the ground than it does in the air.

Etymology 2

verb
  1. To chop or cut into small pieces.
  2. To break small pieces from.
  3. To play a shot hitting the ball predominantly upwards rather than forwards. In association football specifically, when the shot is a shot on goal, the opposing goalkeeper may be the direct object of the verb, rather than the ball.
  4. To upgrade an engine management system, usually to increase power.
  5. To become chipped.
  6. (often with "in") To ante (up).
  7. To fit (an animal) with a microchip.
  8. (often with "in") to contribute.
  9. (also, to chip at) To make fun of.

chirp

noun
  1. A short, sharp or high note or noise, as of a bird or insect.
  2. (radar, sonar, radio telescopy etc.) A pulse of signal whose frequency sweeps through a band of frequencies for the duration of the pulse.
verb
  1. To make a short, sharp, cheerful note, as of small birds or crickets
  2. To speak in a high-pitched staccato
  3. (radar, sonar, radio telescopy etc.) To modify (a pulse of signal) so that it sweeps through a band of frequencies throughout its duration.
  4. To cheer up; to make (someone) happier.

graph

noun
  1. (applied mathematics) A data chart (graphical representation of data) intended to illustrate the relationship between a set (or sets) of numbers (quantities, measurements or indicative numbers) and a reference set, whose elements are indexed to those of the former set(s) and may or may not be numbers.
  2. A set of points constituting a graphical representation of a real function; (formally) a set of tuples (x_1, x_2, \ldots, x_m, y)\in\R^{m+1}, where y=f(x_1, x_2, \ldots, x_m) for a given function f: \R^m\rightarrow\R.
  3. (formally) An ordered pair of sets (V,E), where the elements of V are called vertices or nodes and E is a set of pairs (called edges) of elements of V; (less formally) a set of vertices (or nodes) together with a set of edges that connect (some of) the vertices.
  4. A topological space which represents some graph (ordered pair of sets) and which is constructed by representing the vertices as points and the edges as copies of the real interval [0,1] (where, for any given edge, 0 and 1 are identified with the points representing the two vertices) and equipping the result with a particular topology called the graph topology.
  5. (of a morphism f) A morphism \Gamma_f from the domain of f to the product of the domain and codomain of f, such that the first projection applied to \Gamma_f equals the identity of the domain, and the second projection applied to \Gamma_f is equal to f.
  6. A graphical unit on the token-level, the abstracted fundamental shape of a character or letter as distinct from its ductus (realization in a particular typeface or handwriting on the instance-level) and as distinct by a grapheme on the type-level by not fundamentally distinguishing meaning.
verb
  1. To draw a graph.
  2. To draw a graph of a function.

graphic

noun
  1. A drawing or picture.
  2. (mostly in plural) A computer-generated image as viewed on a screen forming part of a game or a film etc.
adjective
  1. Drawn, pictorial.
  2. Vivid, descriptive, often in relation to depictions of sex or violence.
  3. Having a texture that resembles writing, commonly created by exsolution, devitrification and immiscibility processes in igneous rocks.

hair

noun
  1. A pigmented filament of keratin which grows from a follicle on the skin of humans and other mammals.
  2. The collection or mass of such growths growing from the skin of humans and animals, and forming a covering for a part of the head or for any part or the whole body.
  3. A slender outgrowth from the chitinous cuticle of insects, spiders, crustaceans, and other invertebrates. Such hairs are totally unlike those of vertebrates in structure, composition, and mode of growth.
  4. A cellular outgrowth of the epidermis, consisting of one or of several cells, whether pointed, hooked, knobbed, or stellated.
  5. A locking spring or other safety device in the lock of a rifle, etc., capable of being released by a slight pressure on a hair-trigger.
  6. Haircloth; a hair shirt.
  7. Any very small distance, or degree; a hairbreadth.
  8. Complexity; difficulty; quality of being hairy
verb
  1. To remove the hair from.
  2. To grow hair (where there was a bald spot).
  3. To cause to have hair; to provide with hair
  4. To string the bow for a violin.

harp

noun
  1. A musical instrument consisting of a body and a curved neck, strung with strings of varying length that are stroked or plucked with the fingers and are vertical to the soundboard when viewed from the end of the body
  2. A harmonica.
  3. A grain sieve.
verb
  1. (usually with on) To repeatedly mention a subject.
  2. To play on (a harp or similar instrument)
  3. To play (a tune) on the harp.
  4. To develop or give expression to by skill and art; to sound forth as from a harp; to hit upon.

high

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A high point or position, literally or figuratively; an elevated place; a superior region; a height; the sky; heaven.
  2. A point of success or achievement; a time when things are at their best.
  3. A period of euphoria, from excitement or from an intake of drugs.
  4. A drug that gives such a high.
  5. A large area of elevated atmospheric pressure; an anticyclone.
  6. The maximum value attained by some quantity within a specified period.
  7. The maximum atmospheric temperature recorded at a particular location, especially during one 24-hour period.
  8. The highest card dealt or drawn.
verb
  1. To rise.
adjective
  1. Very elevated; extending or being far above a base; tall; lofty.
  2. Relatively elevated; rising or raised above the average or normal level from which elevation is measured.
  3. Having a specified elevation or height; tall.
  4. Elevated in status, esteem, prestige; exalted in rank, station, or character.
  5. Of great importance and consequence: grave (if negative) or solemn (if positive).
  6. Consummate; advanced (e.g. in development) to the utmost extent or culmination, or possessing a quality in its supreme degree, at its zenith.
  7. (in several set phrases) Remote in distance or time.
  8. (in several set phrases) Very traditionalist and conservative, especially in favoring older ways of doing things; see e.g. high church, High Tory.
  9. Elevated in mood; marked by great merriment, excitement, etc.
  10. (of a lifestyle) Luxurious; rich.
  11. Lofty, often to the point of arrogant, haughty, boastful, proud.
  12. (with "on" or "about") Keen, enthused.
  13. (of a body of water) With tall waves.
  14. Large, great (in amount or quantity, value, force, energy, etc).
  15. (acoustics) Acute or shrill in pitch, due to being of greater frequency, i.e. produced by more rapid vibrations (wave oscillations).
  16. Made with some part of the tongue positioned high in the mouth, relatively close to the palate.
  17. Greater in value than other cards, denominations, suits, etc.
  18. (of meat, especially venison) Strong-scented; slightly tainted/spoiled; beginning to decompose.
  19. Intoxicated; under the influence of a mood-altering drug, formerly usually alcohol, but now (from the mid-20th century) usually not alcohol but rather marijuana, cocaine, heroin, etc.
  20. (of a sailing ship) Near, in its direction of travel, to the (direction of the) wind.
adverb
  1. In or to an elevated position.
  2. In or at a great value.
  3. At a pitch of great frequency.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Thought; intention; determination; purpose.

Etymology 3

verb
  1. To hie; to hasten.

highchair

noun
  1. An elevated chair, often including a built-in tray, used for feeding babies and toddlers.

paragraph

noun
  1. A passage in text that is about a different subject from the preceding text, marked by commencing on a new line, the first line sometimes being indented.
  2. A mark or note set in the margin to call attention to something in the text, such as a change of subject.
  3. An offset of 16 bytes in Intel memory architectures.
verb
  1. To sort text into paragraphs.

parch

noun
  1. The condition of being parched.
verb
  1. To burn the surface of, to scorch.
  2. To roast, as dry grain.
  3. To dry to extremity; to shrivel with heat.
  4. To make thirsty.
  5. To boil something slowly (Still used in Lancashire in parched peas, a type of mushy peas).
  6. To become superficially burnt; be become sunburned.

pariah

noun
  1. A person who is rejected from society or home; an outcast.
  2. A demographic group, species, or community that is generally despised.
  3. Someone in exile.
  4. A member of one of the oppressed social castes in India.

rich

verb
  1. To enrich.
  2. To become rich.
adjective
  1. Wealthy: having a lot of money and possessions.
  2. Having an intense fatty or sugary flavour.
  3. Plentiful, abounding, abundant, fulfilling.
  4. Yielding large returns; productive or fertile; fruitful.
  5. Composed of valuable or costly materials or ingredients; procured at great outlay; highly valued; precious; sumptuous; costly.
  6. Not faint or delicate; vivid.
  7. Very amusing.
  8. Ridiculous, absurd, outrageous, preposterous.
  9. Elaborate, having complex formatting, multimedia, or depth of interaction.
  10. Of a fuel-air mixture, having less air than is necessary to burn all of the fuel; less air- or oxygen- rich than necessary for a stoichiometric reaction.
  11. Trading at a price level which is high relative to historical trends, a similar asset, or (for derivatives) a theoretical value.