Friday, January 31, 2020

Answers to yesterday's bee


The official answers for today's puzzle are:

  • alack
  • alibi
  • alit
  • alkali
  • atilt
  • bacilli
  • backlit
  • backtalk
  • bail
  • balalaika
  • balk
  • ball
  • biblical
  • bilabial
  • bilk
  • bill
  • blab
  • black
  • blackball
  • blat
  • cabal
  • cabala
  • call
  • calla
  • callback
  • catcall
  • cattail
  • cilia
  • clack
  • click
  • iliac
  • illicit
  • italic
  • kickball
  • kill
  • kilt
  • labia
  • labial
  • lack
  • lactic
  • laic
  • laical
  • licit
  • lick
  • lilac
  • lilt
  • tabla
  • tactical
  • tail
  • tailback
  • talc
  • tali
  • talk
  • tall
  • tibial
  • till
  • tilt


Number of Pangrams: 2

Maximum Puzzle Score: 257

Number of Answers: 57

Points Needed for Genius: 180

Genius requires between 24 and 50 words. You need at least a 8-letter word to reach genius. If you don't get the pangrams, you need 79% of the total points to reach genius. If you get the pangrams, you only need 66% of the remaining points to reach genius.



How does this puzzle compare to other puzzles?

Today's score of 257 was the in the 92nd percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there was a score this high was on December 19, 2019.
The highest score ever was 444 on April 6, 2019.
The lowest score ever was 50 on May 17, 2019.

This puzzle's 57 possible answers rank it in the 91st percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there were more answers than this was on December 15, 2019.
The highest number of answers was 81 on June 8, 2019.
The lowest number of answers was 21 on August 5, 2018.

It takes a 8-letter word for genius. This is pretty common.



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

  • loll 56
  • toot 53
  • naan 50
  • nana 50
  • noon 48
  • call 39
  • calla 39
  • ratatat 39
  • tart 39
  • tartar 39
  • attar 38
  • array 37
  • tatty 37
  • allay 36
  • ally 36
  • lilt 36
  • root 36
  • roto 36
  • rotor 36
  • till 36
  • tilt 36
  • toro 36
  • tort 36
  • trot 36
  • anal 35
  • nanny 33
  • natant 33
  • loot 32
  • lotto 32
  • poop 32
  • toll 32
  • tool 32
  • tint 31
  • onto 30
  • radar 30
  • tall 30
  • toon 30
  • itty 29
  • nene 29
  • baba 28
  • coot 28
  • loon 28
  • mono 28
  • moon 28
  • tact 28
  • ball 27
  • blab 27
  • hath 27
  • illy 27
  • lily 27


Valid dictionary words not in today's official answers

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

  • aalii
  • abbatial
  • alba
  • albata
  • albitic
  • albitical
  • alcaic
  • alkalic
  • alliak
  • atabal
  • atlatl
  • baal
  • baccala
  • balata
  • balti
  • battalia
  • biali
  • blacktail
  • cabbala
  • calcic
  • calcitic
  • calk
  • catalatic
  • cicala
  • clit
  • clitic
  • ilia
  • ilial
  • ilka
  • illitic
  • kabala
  • kabbala
  • kail
  • kibla
  • killick
  • klick
  • klik
  • lall
  • latakia
  • lati
  • latilla
  • liblab
  • litai
  • tala
  • talkback
  • tallit
  • tical
  • tilak

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