Tuesday, August 6, 2024

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: 145

Number of Answers: 26

Points Needed for Genius: 102

Genius requires between 13 and 22 words. You need at least an 8-letter word to reach genius. If you don't get the pangram, you need 78% of the total points to reach genius. If you get the pangram, you only need 67% 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 145 was in the 39th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there was a score this low was on August 2, 2024.
The highest score ever was 537 on January 22, 2021.
The lowest score ever was 47 on March 27, 2023.

This puzzle's 26 possible answers rank it in the 15th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there were fewer answers than this was on August 2, 2024.
The highest number of answers was 81 on June 8, 2019.
The lowest number of answers was 16 on March 27, 2023.

It takes an 8-letter word for genius.
The last time this happened was on August 3, 2024.

Today's puzzle has an average word length of 6.0.
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 176
  • loll 171
  • toot 161
  • naan 158
  • nana 158
  • lilt 128
  • till 128
  • tilt 128
  • tint 119
  • mama 113
  • mamma 113
  • nene 108
  • acacia 107
  • acai 107
  • anal 105
  • onto 104
  • toon 104
  • anon 101
  • boob 101
  • booboo 101
  • onion 100
  • lull 99
  • lulu 99
  • olio 99
  • papa 97
  • call 96
  • calla 96
  • poop 95
  • allay 93
  • ally 93
  • baba 93
  • dodo 93
  • mitt 93
  • tatty 93
  • ratatat 91
  • tact 91
  • tart 91
  • tartar 91
  • attar 90
  • nanny 90
  • cocci 89
  • mono 89
  • moon 89
  • radar 89
  • tutu 89
  • loon 88
  • tattoo 88
  • array 87
  • epee 87
  • peep 87


How long are words in the Bee?

There have been 88,867 answers ever accepted in the Bee - with 10,189 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*:

  • crimini
  • crip
  • girn
  • girning
  • grig
  • grigri
  • griming
  • iring
  • miri
  • picric
  • pirn
  • prigging
  • primi
  • primming
  • principi
  • riming
  • rinning
  • riping

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

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.

crimp

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A fastener or a fastening method that secures parts by bending metal around a joint and squeezing it together, often with a tool that adds indentations to capture the parts.
  2. The natural curliness of wool fibres.
  3. (usually in the plural) Hair that is shaped so it bends back and forth in many short kinks.
  4. A card game.
verb
  1. To press into small ridges or folds, to pleat, to corrugate.
  2. To fasten by bending metal so that it squeezes around the parts to be fastened.
  3. To pinch and hold; to seize.
  4. To style hair into a crimp, to form hair into tight curls, to make it kinky.
  5. To bend or mold leather into shape.
  6. To gash the flesh, e.g. of a raw fish, to make it crisper when cooked.
adjective
  1. Easily crumbled; friable; brittle.
  2. Weak; inconsistent; contradictory.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. An agent who procures seamen, soldier, etc., especially by decoying, entrapping, impressing, or seducing them.
  2. (specifically) One who infringes sub-section 1 of the Merchant Shipping Act of 1854, applied to a person other than the owner, master, etc., who engages seamen without a license from the Board of Trade.
  3. A keeper of a low lodging house where sailors and emigrants are entrapped and fleeced.
verb
  1. To impress (seamen or soldiers); to entrap, to decoy.

crimping

verb
  1. To press into small ridges or folds, to pleat, to corrugate.
  2. To fasten by bending metal so that it squeezes around the parts to be fastened.
  3. To pinch and hold; to seize.
  4. To style hair into a crimp, to form hair into tight curls, to make it kinky.
  5. To bend or mold leather into shape.
  6. To gash the flesh, e.g. of a raw fish, to make it crisper when cooked.
verb
  1. To impress (seamen or soldiers); to entrap, to decoy.
noun
  1. The act by which something is crimped.

cringing

verb
  1. To shrink, cower, tense or recoil, as in fear, disgust or embarrassment.
  2. To bow or crouch in servility.
  3. To contract; to draw together; to cause to shrink or wrinkle; to distort.
noun
  1. Act of one who cringes.

grim

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Specter, ghost, haunting spirit
verb
  1. To make grim; to give a stern or forbidding aspect to.
adjective
  1. Dismal and gloomy, cold and forbidding
  2. Rigid and unrelenting
  3. Ghastly or sinister
  4. Disgusting; gross

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Anger, wrath.

grin

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A smile in which the lips are parted to reveal the teeth.
verb
  1. To smile, parting the lips so as to show the teeth.
  2. To express by grinning.
  3. To show the teeth, like a snarling dog.
  4. To grin as part of producing a particular facial expression, such as a smile or sneer.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A snare; a gin.

grinning

verb
  1. To smile, parting the lips so as to show the teeth.
  2. To express by grinning.
  3. To show the teeth, like a snarling dog.
  4. To grin as part of producing a particular facial expression, such as a smile or sneer.
noun
  1. The act or expression of one who grins.

grip

Etymology 1

verb
  1. To take hold of, particularly with the hand.
  2. To help or assist, particularly in an emotional sense.
  3. To do something with another that makes you happy/gives you relief.
  4. To trench; to drain.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A hold or way of holding, particularly with the hand.
  2. A handle or other place to grip.
  3. A visual component on a window etc. enabling it to be resized and/or moved.
  4. (film production) A person responsible for handling equipment on the set.
  5. A channel cut through a grass verge (especially for the purpose of draining water away from the highway).
  6. A lot of something.
  7. A long time.
  8. A small travelling-bag or gripsack.
  9. An apparatus attached to a car for clutching a traction cable.
  10. Assistance; help or encouragement.
  11. A helpful, interesting, admirable, or inspiring person.
  12. As much as one can hold in a hand; a handful.
  13. A tenacious grasp; a holding fast.
  14. A device for grasping or holding fast to something.
noun
  1. Influenza, the flu.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. A small ditch or trench; a channel to carry off water or other liquid; a drain.

Etymology 4

noun
  1. The griffin.

griping

verb
  1. To complain; to whine.
  2. To annoy or bother.
  3. To tend to come up into the wind, as a ship which, when sailing close-hauled, requires constant labour at the helm.
  4. To pinch; to distress. Specifically, to cause pinching and spasmodic pain to the bowels of, as by the effects of certain purgative or indigestible substances.
  5. To suffer griping pains.
  6. To make a grab (to, towards, at or upon something).
  7. To seize or grasp.
noun
  1. Pinching and spasmodic pain in the intestines; gripe.

gripping

verb
  1. To take hold of, particularly with the hand.
  2. To help or assist, particularly in an emotional sense.
  3. To do something with another that makes you happy/gives you relief.
  4. To trench; to drain.
noun
  1. Pinching and spasmodic pain in the intestines; gripe.
adjective
  1. Which catches someone's attention; exciting

mirin

noun
  1. A form of Japanese rice wine, less alcoholic than sake.

miring

verb
  1. To cause or permit to become stuck in mud; to plunge or fix in mud.
  2. To sink into mud.
  3. To weigh down.
  4. To soil with mud or foul matter.

pricing

verb
  1. To determine the monetary value of (an item); to put a price on.
  2. To pay the price of; to make reparation for.
  3. To set a price on; to value; to prize.
  4. To ask the price of.
noun
  1. The act of setting a price.
  2. The level at which a price is set.

prig

noun
  1. A tinker.
  2. A petty thief or pickpocket.
  3. A deliberately superior person; a person who demonstrates an exaggerated conformity or propriety, especially in an irritatingly arrogant or smug manner.
  4. A conceited dandy; a fop.
verb
  1. To filch or steal.
  2. To ride
  3. To copulate

prim

Etymology 1

verb
  1. To make affectedly precise or proper.
  2. To dress or act smartly.
adjective
  1. Prudish, straight-laced
  2. Formal; precise; affectedly neat or nice

Etymology 2

noun
  1. (plants) privet

priming

verb
  1. To prepare a mechanism for its main work.
  2. To apply a coat of primer paint to.
  3. To be renewed.
  4. To serve as priming for the charge of a gun.
  5. (of a steam boiler) To work so that foaming occurs from too violent ebullition, which causes water to become mixed with, and be carried along with, the steam that is formed.
  6. To apply priming to (a musket or cannon); to apply a primer to (a metallic cartridge).
  7. To prepare; to make ready; to instruct beforehand; to coach.
  8. To trim or prune.
  9. To mark with a prime mark.
noun
  1. The implicit memory effect in which exposure to a stimulus influences response to a subsequent stimulus.
  2. A substance used as a primer.
  3. The powder or other combustible used to communicate fire to a charge of gunpowder, as in a firearm.
  4. The first coating of colour, size, etc. laid on canvas, or on a building or other surface.
  5. The carrying over of water, with the steam, from the boiler, as into the cylinder.

primp

verb
  1. To spend time improving one's appearance, often in front of a mirror.
  2. To dress in an affected manner.

primping

verb
  1. To spend time improving one's appearance, often in front of a mirror.
  2. To dress in an affected manner.
noun
  1. The act of one who primps.

ricin

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

ricing

verb
  1. To squeeze through a ricer; to mash or make into rice-sized pieces (especially potatoes).
  2. To harvest wild rice (Zizania sp.)
  3. To throw rice at a person (usually at a wedding).
  4. To customize the user interface of a computer system, e.g. a desktop environment.
noun
  1. (soap-making) (Development of) undesirable, hard white granules in soap.

rigging

verb
  1. To fit out with a harness or other equipment.
  2. To equip and fit (a ship) with sails, shrouds, and yards.
  3. To dress or clothe in some costume.
  4. To make or construct something in haste or in a makeshift manner.
  5. To manipulate something dishonestly for personal gain or discriminatory purposes.
  6. To make free with; hence, to steal; to pilfer.
  7. To outfit a model with controls for animation.
verb
  1. To play the wanton; to act in an unbecoming manner; to play tricks.
noun
  1. Dress; tackle; especially , the ropes, chains, etc., that support the masts and spars of a sailing vessel, and serve as purchases for adjusting the sails, etc.
  2. Similar supporting material used for construction work, or in film, theater, etc.

rimming

verb
  1. To form a rim on.
  2. To follow the contours, possibly creating a circuit.
  3. (of a ball) To roll around a rim.
verb
  1. To lick the anus of a partner as a sexual act.
noun
  1. The act of performing a rim job; anilingus.

ring

Etymology 1

noun
  1. (physical) A solid object in the shape of a circle.
  2. (physical) A group of objects arranged in a circle.
  3. A piece of food in the shape of a ring.
  4. A place where some sports or exhibitions take place; notably a circular or comparable arena, such as a boxing ring or a circus ring; hence the field of a political contest.
  5. An exclusive group of people, usually involving some unethical or illegal practices.
  6. A group of atoms linked by bonds to form a closed chain in a molecule.
  7. A planar geometrical figure included between two concentric circles.
  8. A diacritical mark in the shape of a hollow circle placed above or under the letter; a kroužek.
  9. An old English measure of corn equal to the coomb or half a quarter.
  10. A hierarchical level of privilege in a computer system, usually at hardware level, used to protect data and functionality (also protection ring).
  11. Either of the pair of clamps used to hold a telescopic sight to a rifle.
  12. The twenty-fifth Lenormand card.
verb
  1. To enclose or surround.
  2. To make an incision around; to girdle.
  3. To attach a ring to, especially for identification.
  4. To surround or fit with a ring, or as if with a ring.
  5. To rise in the air spirally.
  6. To steal and change the identity of (cars) in order to resell them.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. The resonant sound of a bell, or a sound resembling it.
  2. A pleasant or correct sound.
  3. A sound or appearance that is characteristic of something.
  4. A telephone call.
  5. Any loud sound; the sound of numerous voices; a sound continued, repeated, or reverberated.
  6. A chime, or set of bells harmonically tuned.
verb
  1. Of a bell, etc., to produce a resonant sound.
  2. To make (a bell, etc.) produce a resonant sound.
  3. To produce (a sound) by ringing.
  4. To produce the sound of a bell or a similar sound.
  5. Of something spoken or written, to appear to be, to seem, to sound.
  6. To telephone (someone).
  7. To resound, reverberate, echo.
  8. To produce music with bells.
  9. To repeat often, loudly, or earnestly.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. An algebraic structure which consists of a set with two binary operations: an additive operation and a multiplicative operation, such that the set is an abelian group under the additive operation, a monoid under the multiplicative operation, and such that the multiplicative operation is distributive with respect to the additive operation.
  2. An algebraic structure as above, but only required to be a semigroup under the multiplicative operation, that is, there need not be a multiplicative identity element.

ringing

verb
  1. To enclose or surround.
  2. To make an incision around; to girdle.
  3. To attach a ring to, especially for identification.
  4. To surround or fit with a ring, or as if with a ring.
  5. To rise in the air spirally.
  6. To steal and change the identity of (cars) in order to resell them.
verb
  1. Of a bell, etc., to produce a resonant sound.
  2. To make (a bell, etc.) produce a resonant sound.
  3. To produce (a sound) by ringing.
  4. To produce the sound of a bell or a similar sound.
  5. Of something spoken or written, to appear to be, to seem, to sound.
  6. To telephone (someone).
  7. To resound, reverberate, echo.
  8. To produce music with bells.
  9. To repeat often, loudly, or earnestly.
noun
  1. The sound of something that rings.
  2. The quality of being resonant.
  3. A technique used in the study of wild birds, by attaching a small, individually numbered, metal or plastic tag to their legs or wings.
  4. The theft of cars and illegally changing their identities for resale.
adjective
  1. Loud and clear.
  2. Made forcefully; powerful.

ripping

verb
  1. To divide or separate the parts of (especially something flimsy such as paper or fabric), by cutting or tearing; to tear off or out by violence.
  2. To tear apart; to rapidly become two parts.
  3. To get by, or as if by, cutting or tearing.
  4. To move quickly and destructively.
  5. To cut wood along (parallel to) the grain.
  6. To copy data from CD, DVD, Internet stream, etc. to a hard drive, portable device, etc.
  7. (narcotics) To take a "hit" of marijuana.
  8. To fart.
  9. To mock or criticize (someone or something). (often used with on)
  10. To steal; to rip off.
  11. To move or act fast, to rush headlong.
  12. To tear up for search or disclosure, or for alteration; to search to the bottom; to discover; to disclose; usually with up.
  13. To surf extremely well.
noun
  1. The process of copying audio or video content from a CD, DVD, etc. to a hard disk.
  2. Wood that has been ripped (cut parallel to the grain).
  3. The process of ploughing a rabbit warren with deep furrows as a form of feral control.
  4. The use of diet and exercise to reduce body fat and emphasize muscle mass.
adjective
  1. That rips, or can be removed by ripping.
  2. Excellent.

nigiri

noun
  1. Regular sushi: a piece of raw fish (or other topping) on top of a small oblong brick of sticky white rice.