Friday, May 08, 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: 3

Maximum Puzzle Score: 248

Number of Answers: 48

Points Needed for Genius: 174

Genius requires between 21 and 43 words. You need at least a 9-letter word to reach genius. If you don't get the pangrams, you need 88% of the total points to reach genius. If you get the pangrams, you only need 62% of the remaining points to reach genius.

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 248 was in the 81st percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there was a score this high was on May 06, 2026.
The highest score ever was 537 on January 22, 2021.
The lowest score ever was 47 on March 27, 2023.

This puzzle's 48 possible answers rank it in the 70th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there were more answers than this was on May 06, 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 9-letter word for genius.
The last time this happened was on April 28, 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 239
  • loll 218
  • toot 214
  • nana 198
  • naan 198
  • nene 158
  • tilt 156
  • till 156
  • lilt 156
  • mamma 151
  • mama 151
  • tint 149
  • onion 145
  • toon 144
  • onto 144
  • acai 142
  • acacia 142
  • anal 134
  • anon 133
  • olio 129
  • tact 125
  • papa 125
  • baba 125
  • lulu 124
  • lull 124
  • dodo 124
  • poop 120
  • booboo 120
  • boob 120
  • moon 118
  • mono 118
  • mitt 118
  • cocci 118
  • calla 117
  • call 117
  • tartar 116
  • tart 116
  • ratatat 116
  • loon 116
  • attar 115
  • tattoo 114
  • tutu 113
  • ally 113
  • allay 113
  • momma 111
  • aria 111
  • ammo 111
  • tatty 110
  • meme 109
  • roar 108


How long are words in the Bee?

There have been 117,486 answers ever accepted in the Bee - with 10,982 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*:

  • acyl
  • alcaic
  • alcool
  • algological
  • alicyclic
  • allylic
  • alogical
  • alogically
  • caca
  • calcic
  • calo
  • cicala
  • ciggy
  • clag
  • cloacal
  • cloggily
  • cloggy
  • coala
  • coaly
  • coccal
  • coccic
  • coco
  • colly
  • colog
  • coly
  • coocoo
  • cooly
  • cyclicly
  • cyclo
  • gallic
  • gallica
  • galyac
  • glaciological
  • glycol
  • glycolic
  • glycyl
  • lacily
  • laically
  • loca
  • oologic
  • oological
  • yogic

*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.

acyclic

adjective
  1. Not cyclic; having an open chain structure.
  2. (of a graph) Containing no cycles.
  3. Of a flower, having its parts inserted spirally on the receptacle.

cacao

noun
  1. A tree, Theobroma cacao, whose seed is used to make chocolate.
  2. This tree's seed, the cocoa bean.

cagily

adverb
  1. In a cagy manner.

cagy

adjective
  1. Wary, careful, shrewd.
  2. Uncommunicative; unwilling or hesitant to give information.

calico

noun
  1. A kind of rough cloth made from unbleached and not fully processed cotton, often printed with a bright pattern.
adjective
  1. Having a pattern of red and contrasting areas, resembling the color of calico cloth.
noun
  1. A tortoiseshell and white domestic cat.

call

noun
  1. A telephone conversation.
  2. A short visit, usually for social purposes.
  3. A visit by a ship or boat to a port.
  4. A cry or shout.
  5. A decision or judgement.
  6. The characteristic cry of a bird or other animal.
  7. A beckoning or summoning.
  8. The right to speak at a given time during a debate or other public event; the floor.
  9. An option to buy stock at a specified price during or at a specified time.
  10. The act of calling to the other batsman.
  11. The state of being the batsman whose role it is to call (depends on where the ball goes.)
  12. A work shift which requires one to be available when requested (see on call).
  13. The act of jumping to a subprogram, saving the means to return to the original point.
  14. A statement of a particular state, or rule, made in many games such as bridge, craps, jacks, and so on.
  15. The act of matching a bet made by a player who has previously bet in the same round of betting.
  16. A note blown on the horn to encourage the dogs in a hunt.
  17. A whistle or pipe, used by the boatswain and his mate to summon the sailors to duty.
  18. A pipe or other instrument to call birds or animals by imitating their note or cry. A game call.
  19. An invitation to take charge of or serve a church as its pastor.
  20. Vocation; employment; calling.
  21. A reference to, or statement of, an object, course, distance, or other matter of description in a survey or grant requiring or calling for a corresponding object, etc., on the land.
  22. (prostitution) A meeting with a client for paid sex; hookup; job.
verb
  1. (heading) To use one's voice.
  2. (heading) To visit.
  3. (heading) To name, identify or describe.
  4. (heading) Direct or indirect use of the voice.
  5. (sometimes with for) To require, demand.
  6. To announce the early extinction of a debt by prepayment, usually at a premium.
  7. To demand repayment of a loan.
  8. To jump to (another part of a program) to perform some operation, returning to the original point on completion.

calla

noun
  1. A marsh plant native to cooler areas throughout the northern hemisphere, Calla palustris, having pale green flowers in a white spathe.
  2. The calla lily, Zantedeschia aethiopica.

callaloo

noun
  1. Any of various tropical plants grown in the Americas, especially of the genus Xanthosoma, cultivated for their edible leaves.
  2. A spicy soup or stew made from such leaves.

ciao

noun
  1. A greeting or farewell using the word "ciao".
interjection
  1. Hello, hi.
  2. Bye, goodbye.

cilia

noun
  1. Hairs or similar protrusions along the margin of a plant organ.
  2. A hairlike organelle projecting from a eukaryotic cell (such as a unicellular organism or one cell of a multicelled organism). These structures serve either for locomotion by moving or as sensors.
  3. One of the fine hairs along an insect's wing.

clay

noun
  1. A mineral substance made up of small crystals of silica and alumina, that is ductile when moist; the material of pre-fired ceramics.
  2. An earth material with ductile qualities.
  3. A tennis court surface made of crushed stone, brick, shale, or other unbound mineral aggregate.
  4. The material of the human body.
  5. A particle less than 3.9 microns in diameter, following the Wentworth scale.
  6. A clay pipe for smoking tobacco.
  7. A clay pigeon.
  8. Land or territory of a country or other political region, especially when subject to territorial claims
verb
  1. To add clay to, to spread clay onto.
  2. (of sugar) To purify using clay.

cloaca

noun
  1. (sometimes figurative) A sewer.
  2. The duct in reptiles, amphibians and birds, as well as most fish and some mammals, which serves as the common outlet for urination, defecation, and reproduction.
  3. An outhouse or lavatory.
  4. A duct through which gangrenous material escapes a body.

clog

noun
  1. A type of shoe with an inflexible, often wooden sole sometimes with an open heel.
  2. A blockage.
  3. A shoe of any type.
  4. A weight, such as a log or block of wood, attached to a person or animal to hinder motion.
  5. That which hinders or impedes motion; an encumbrance, restraint, or impediment of any kind.
verb
  1. To block or slow passage through (often with 'up').
  2. To encumber or load, especially with something that impedes motion; to hamper.
  3. To burden; to trammel; to embarrass; to perplex.
  4. To enforce a mortgage lender right that prevents a borrower from exercising a right to redeem.
  5. To perform a clog dance.

cloy

verb
  1. To fill up or choke up; to stop up.
  2. To clog, to glut, or satisfy, as the appetite; to satiate.
  3. To fill to loathing; to surfeit.

coal

noun
  1. A black rock formed from prehistoric plant remains, composed largely of carbon and burned as a fuel.
  2. A piece of coal used for burning (this use is less common in American English)
  3. A type of coal, such as bituminous, anthracite, or lignite, and grades and varieties thereof.
  4. A glowing or charred piece of coal, wood, or other solid fuel.
  5. Charcoal.
verb
  1. To take on a supply of coal (usually of steam ships).
  2. To supply with coal.
  3. To be converted to charcoal.
  4. To burn to charcoal; to char.
  5. To mark or delineate with charcoal.

coca

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Any of the four cultivated plants which belong to the family Erythroxylaceae, native to western South America.
  2. The dried leaf of one of these plants, the South American shrub (Erythroxylum coca), widely cultivated in Andean countries, which is the source of cocaine.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A pastry typically made and consumed in the Spanish Mediterranean coast.

cocci

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Any approximately spherical bacterium.
  2. One of the carpels or seed-vessels of a dry fruit.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Coccidioidomycosis

cocoa

Etymology 1

noun
  1. The dried and partially fermented fatty seeds of the cacao tree from which chocolate is made.
  2. An unsweetened brown powder made from roasted, ground cocoa beans, used in making chocolate, and in cooking.
  3. A hot drink made with milk, cocoa powder, and sugar.
  4. A serving of this drink.
  5. A light to medium brown colour.
adjective
  1. Of a light to medium brown colour, like that of cocoa powder.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Coconut palm.
  2. Coconut, the fruit of the coconut palm.

coil

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Something wound in the form of a helix or spiral.
  2. Any intrauterine device (Abbreviation: IUD)—the first IUDs were coil-shaped.
  3. A coil of electrically conductive wire through which electricity can flow.
  4. Entanglement; perplexity.
verb
  1. To wind or reel e.g. a wire or rope into regular rings, often around a centerpiece.
  2. To wind into loops (roughly) around a common center.
  3. To wind cylindrically or spirally.
  4. To encircle and hold with, or as if with, coils.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A noise, tumult, bustle, or turmoil.

cola

Etymology 1

noun
  1. The kola plant, genus Cola, famous for its nut, or one of these nuts.
  2. A beverage or a drink made with kola nut flavoring, caramel and carbonated water.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. The punctuation mark ":".
  2. The triangular colon (especially in context of not being able to type the actual triangular colon).
  3. A rhetorical figure consisting of a clause which is grammatically, but not logically, complete.
  4. A clause or group of clauses written as a line, or taken as a standard of measure in ancient manuscripts or texts.
noun
  1. Part of the large intestine; the final segment of the digestive system, after (distal to) the ileum and before (proximal to) the anus.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. A cluster of buds on a cannabis plant.

colic

noun
  1. Severe pains that grip the abdomen or the disease that causes such pains (due to intestinal or bowel-related problems).
  2. A medicinal plant used to relieve such symptoms.
adjective
  1. Relating to the colon; colonic.

cool

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A moderate or refreshing state of cold; moderate temperature of the air between hot and cold; coolness.
  2. A calm temperament.
  3. The property of being cool, popular or in fashion.
adjective
  1. Having a slightly low temperature; mildly or pleasantly cold.
  2. Allowing or suggesting heat relief.
  3. Of a color, in the range of violet to green.
  4. Of a person, not showing emotion; calm and in control of oneself.
  5. Unenthusiastic, lukewarm, skeptical.
  6. Calmly audacious.
  7. Applied facetiously to a sum of money, commonly as if to give emphasis to the largeness of the amount.
  8. Of a person, knowing what to do and how to behave; considered popular by others.
  9. In fashion, part of or fitting the in crowd; originally hipster slang.
  10. Of an action, all right; acceptable; that does not present a problem.
  11. Of a person, not upset by circumstances that might ordinarily be upsetting.
  12. Quietly impudent, defiant, or selfish; deliberately presuming: said of persons and acts.

Etymology 2

verb
  1. To lose heat, to get colder.
  2. To make cooler, less warm.
  3. To become less intense, e.g. less amicable or passionate.
  4. To make less intense, e.g. less amicable or passionate.
  5. To kill.

coolly

adjective
  1. Coolish; somewhat cool in temperature
adverb
  1. In a cool, unpanicked or collected manner.
  2. With calm impudence.

coyly

adverb
  1. In a coy manner.

cyclic

adjective
  1. Characterized by, or moving in cycles, or happening at regular intervals.
  2. (of a compound) Having chains of atoms arranged in a ring.
  3. Having parts arranged in a whorl.
  4. (of a group) Being generated by only one element.
  5. (of a polygon) Able to be inscribed in a circle.

cyclical

adjective
  1. Recurring at regular intervals

cyclically

No Definition Found.

glacial

noun
  1. A glacial period (colloquially known as an ice age).
adjective
  1. Of, or relating to glaciers.
  2. Very slow.
  3. Cold and icy.
  4. Having the appearance of ice.
  5. Cool and unfriendly.

glacially

No Definition Found.

glaciology

noun
  1. The study of ice and its effect on the landscape, especially the study of glaciers.

icily

No Definition Found.

iliac

adjective
  1. Of or pertaining to the ilium.

illogic

noun
  1. Lack of logic; unreasonableness; a fallacy.
adjective
  1. Contrary to logic; lacking sense or sound reasoning.

illogical

adjective
  1. Contrary to logic; lacking sense or sound reasoning.

illogically

No Definition Found.

lacy

adjective
  1. Made of lace or decorated with it.
  2. Looking like lace.

laic

noun
  1. A layperson, as opposed to a member of the clergy.
adjective
  1. Lay, relating to laypersons, as opposed to clerical.

laical

No Definition Found.

lilac

noun
  1. A large shrub of the genus Syringa, especially Syringa vulgaris, bearing white, pale-pink or purple flowers.
  2. A flower of the lilac shrub.
  3. (color) A pale purple color, the color of some lilac flowers.
adjective
  1. Having a pale purple colour.

local

noun
  1. A person who lives near a given place.
  2. A branch of a nationwide organization such as a trade union.
  3. A train that stops at all, or almost all, stations between its origin and destination, including very small ones.
  4. One's nearest or regularly frequented public house or bar.
  5. A locally scoped identifier.
  6. An item of news relating to the place where the newspaper is published.
adjective
  1. From or in a nearby location.
  2. (of a variable or identifier) Having limited scope (either lexical or dynamic); only being accessible within a certain portion of a program.
  3. (of a condition or state) Applying to each point in a space rather than the space as a whole.
  4. Of or pertaining to a restricted part of an organism.
  5. Descended from an indigenous population.
adverb
  1. In the local area; within a city, state, country, etc.
noun
  1. An anesthetic (anesthetic substance) that causes loss of sensation only to the area to which it is applied.

locally

adverb
  1. With respect to place; in place.
  2. In or from the local area.
  3. In a restricted part of the body.
  4. Within a sufficiently small sphere (or circle or interval) around a given point (sometimes, around any point).

loci

noun
  1. A place or locality, especially a centre of activity or the scene of a crime.
  2. The set of all points whose coordinates satisfy a given equation or condition.
  3. A fixed position on a chromosome that may be occupied by one or more genes.
  4. (chiefly in the plural) A passage in writing, especially in a collection of ancient sacred writings arranged according to a theme.

loco

Etymology 1

adverb
  1. A direction in written or printed music to be returning to the proper pitch after having played an octave higher or lower.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A certain species of Astragalus or Oxytropis, capable of causing locoism.
verb
  1. To poison with the loco plant; to affect with locoism.
  2. (by extension) To render insane.
adjective
  1. Crazy.
  2. Intoxicated by eating locoweed.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. A locomotive.

logic

noun
  1. A method of human thought that involves thinking in a linear, step-by-step manner about how a problem can be solved. Logic is the basis of many principles including the scientific method.
  2. The study of the principles and criteria of valid inference and demonstration.
  3. The mathematical study of relationships between rigorously defined concepts and of mathematical proof of statements.
  4. A formal or informal language together with a deductive system or a model-theoretic semantics.
  5. Any system of thought, whether rigorous and productive or not, especially one associated with a particular person.
  6. The part of a system (usually electronic) that performs the boolean logic operations, short for logic gates or logic circuit.
verb
  1. To engage in excessive or inappropriate application of logic.
  2. To apply logical reasoning to.
  3. To overcome by logical argument.
adjective
  1. Logical

logical

adjective
  1. In agreement with the principles of logic.
  2. Reasonable.
  3. Of or pertaining to logic.
  4. Non-physical or conceptual yet underpinned by something physical or actual.

logically

adverb
  1. In a logical manner, with logic.