Wednesday, September 21, 2022

Answers to yesterday's bee


The official answers for today's puzzle are:

  • affect
  • affiliate
  • afflict
  • alfalfa
  • cafe
  • calf
  • clef
  • cleft
  • cliff
  • efface
  • effect
  • effete
  • face
  • facelift
  • facet
  • facial
  • facile
  • facilitate
  • fact
  • fail
  • falafel
  • fall
  • fatal
  • fate
  • feat
  • fecal
  • feel
  • feet
  • fell
  • fella
  • fellate
  • felt
  • feta
  • fetal
  • fete
  • fettle
  • fiat
  • fief
  • fife
  • file
  • filet
  • filial
  • fill
  • fillet
  • flail
  • flat
  • flatfeet
  • flea
  • flee
  • fleece
  • fleet
  • flit
  • icefall
  • leaf
  • leaflet
  • left
  • leftie
  • life
  • lift
  • taffeta
  • tiff


Number of Pangrams: 2

Maximum Puzzle Score: 243

Number of Answers: 61

Points Needed for Genius: 170

Genius requires between 24 and 54 words. You need at least a 7-letter word to reach genius. If you don't get the pangrams, you need 81% of the total points to reach genius. If you get the pangrams, you only need 65% of the remaining points to reach genius.



How does this puzzle compare to other puzzles?

Today's score of 243 was in the 85th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there was a score this high was on September 16, 2022.
The highest score ever was 537 on January 22, 2021.
The lowest score ever was 50 on May 17, 2019.

This puzzle's 61 possible answers rank it in the 93rd percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there were more answers than this was on September 4, 2022.
The highest number of answers was 81 on June 8, 2019.
The lowest number of answers was 18 on May 1, 2022.

It takes a 7-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

  • noon 132
  • loll 129
  • toot 122
  • naan 108
  • nana 108
  • lilt 95
  • till 95
  • tilt 95
  • tint 81
  • mama 79
  • mamma 79
  • onto 78
  • toon 78
  • nene 75
  • dodo 74
  • boob 72
  • booboo 72
  • call 72
  • calla 72
  • ratatat 72
  • tart 72
  • tartar 72
  • tatty 72
  • anal 71
  • array 71
  • attar 71
  • lull 71
  • lulu 71
  • olio 71
  • loon 70
  • allay 69
  • ally 69
  • mitt 67
  • mono 67
  • moon 67
  • poop 67
  • radar 67
  • loot 66
  • lotto 66
  • onion 66
  • papa 66
  • toll 66
  • tool 66
  • acacia 65
  • acai 65
  • anon 65
  • coot 65
  • loom 65
  • moll 65
  • baba 64


Valid dictionary words not in today's official answers

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

  • alef
  • alfa
  • alif
  • caff
  • caitiff
  • calcific
  • calif
  • califate
  • catface
  • catfall
  • clift
  • facete
  • facetiae
  • facia
  • faciae
  • facta
  • factice
  • faecal
  • faff
  • faille
  • falcate
  • fallal
  • feal
  • fecial
  • felafel
  • felicific
  • felicitate
  • fetial
  • fice
  • fictile
  • fila
  • filiate
  • fille
  • flatlet
  • flattie
  • flic
  • flite
  • lief
  • taffia
  • tafia
  • teff

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