Saturday, September 21, 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: 79

Number of Answers: 28

Points Needed for Genius: 55

Genius requires between 8 and 26 words. You need at least a 6-letter word to reach genius. If you don't get the pangram, you need 85% of the total points to reach genius. If you get the pangram, you only need 63% 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 79 was in the 4th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there was a score this low was on August 15, 2024.
The highest score ever was 537 on January 22, 2021.
The lowest score ever was 47 on March 27, 2023.

This puzzle's 28 possible answers rank it in the 21st percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there were fewer answers than this was on September 18, 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 a 6-letter word for genius.
The last time this happened was on September 16, 2024.

Today's puzzle has an average word length of 4.6.
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 181
  • loll 172
  • toot 164
  • naan 161
  • nana 161
  • lilt 128
  • till 128
  • tilt 128
  • tint 122
  • mama 114
  • mamma 114
  • acacia 110
  • acai 110
  • nene 110
  • onto 107
  • toon 107
  • anal 106
  • boob 105
  • booboo 105
  • onion 105
  • anon 103
  • lull 101
  • lulu 101
  • olio 100
  • baba 99
  • papa 97
  • call 96
  • calla 96
  • dodo 96
  • mitt 96
  • poop 96
  • allay 94
  • ally 94
  • ratatat 94
  • tart 94
  • tartar 94
  • tatty 94
  • attar 93
  • cocci 93
  • tact 92
  • mono 90
  • moon 90
  • nanny 90
  • epee 89
  • loon 89
  • peep 89
  • radar 89
  • tattoo 89
  • tutu 89
  • array 87


How long are words in the Bee?

There have been 90,801 answers ever accepted in the Bee - with 10,252 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*:

  • aboon
  • ajowan
  • anabaena
  • anna
  • annona
  • anoa
  • bawn
  • beano
  • bene
  • benne
  • bonne
  • bwana
  • enow
  • jane
  • jawan
  • jeon
  • jnana
  • nabe
  • nanna
  • nano
  • nawab
  • newb
  • nona
  • nonane
  • wannabee
  • ween

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

aeon

noun
  1. (preferred spelling, with æon) A spirit being emanating from the Godhead.
  2. (Cosmology) Each universe in a series of universes, according to conformal cyclic cosmology.
noun
  1. Eternity.
  2. A period of 1,000,000,000 years.
  3. The longest time period used in geology.
  4. A long period of time.
  5. (usually spelled aeon or æon) A spirit being emanating from the Godhead.

anew

adverb
  1. Again, once more; afresh, in a new way, newly.

anon

Etymology 1

adverb
  1. Straight away; at once.
  2. Soon; in a little while.
  3. At another time; then; again.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. An anonymous person, especially an author.
  2. A work with an unknown author.
  3. A work without a title.
adjective
  1. Anonymous

baboon

noun
  1. An Old World monkey of the genus Papio, having dog-like muzzles and large canine teeth, cheek pouches, a short tail, and naked callosities on the buttocks.
  2. A foolish or boorish person.

banana

noun
  1. An elongated curved tropical fruit that grows in bunches and has a creamy flesh and a smooth skin.
  2. The tropical tree-like plant which bears clusters of bananas. The plant, usually of the genus Musa but sometimes also including plants from Ensete, has large, elongated leaves and is related to the plantain.
  3. A yellow colour, like that of a banana's skin.
  4. (mildly) A person of Asian descent, especially a Chinese American, who has assimilated into Western culture or married a Caucasian (from the "yellow" outside and "white" inside). Compare coconut or Oreo.
  5. A banana equivalent dose.
  6. A catamorphism (from the use of banana brackets in the notation).
  7. The penis.
  8. A banana kick.
adjective
  1. Curved like a banana, especially of a ball in flight.

bane

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A cause of misery or death.
  2. Poison, especially any of several poisonous plants.
  3. A killer, murderer, slayer.
  4. Destruction; death.
  5. A disease of sheep.
verb
  1. To kill, especially by poison; to be the poison of.
  2. To be the bane of.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Bone

banjo

noun
  1. A stringed musical instrument (chordophone), usually with a round body, a membrane-like soundboard and a fretted neck, played by plucking or strumming the strings.
  2. Any of various similar musical instruments, such as the Tuvan doshpuluur, with a membrane-like soundboard.
  3. An object shaped like a banjo, especially a frying pan or a shovel.
  4. (Dagenham) A cul-de-sac with a round end.
verb
  1. To play a banjo.
  2. To beat, to knock down.
  3. To shell or attack (a target).

bean

noun
  1. A reusable software component written in Java.
noun
  1. Any plant of several genera of the taxonomic family Fabaceae that produces large edible seeds or edible seedpods.
  2. The large edible seed of such a plant (for example, a broad bean, navy bean or garbanzo bean).
  3. The edible seedpod of such a plant.
  4. (by extension) The bean-like seed of certain other plants, such a a vanilla bean or (especially) a coffee bean.
  5. (by extension) An object resembling a pea or bean in shape, often made from plastic or styrofoam and used in large numbers as packing material or as stuffing for beanbags and similar items.
  6. The head or brain.
  7. The clitoris.
  8. A person.
  9. A guinea coin.
  10. (usually in the negative) Money.
verb
  1. To hit deliberately with a projectile, especially in the head.

been

noun
  1. A flying insect, of the clade Anthophila within the hymenopteran superfamily Apoidea, known for its organised societies (though only a minority have them), for collecting pollen and (in some species) producing wax and honey.

bonbon

noun
  1. A sweet, especially a small chocolate-covered candy.
  2. A small, spherical savory snack or canapé.
  3. A Christmas cracker.

bone

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A composite material consisting largely of calcium phosphate and collagen and making up the skeleton of most vertebrates.
  2. Any of the components of an endoskeleton, made of bone.
  3. A bone of a fish; a fishbone.
  4. A bonefish
  5. One of the rigid parts of a corset that forms its frame, the boning, originally made of whalebone.
  6. One of the fragments of bone held between the fingers of the hand and rattled together to keep time to music.
  7. Anything made of bone, such as a bobbin for weaving bone lace.
  8. The framework of anything.
  9. An off-white colour, like the colour of bone.
  10. A dollar.
  11. The wishbone formation.
  12. An erect penis; a boner.
  13. (chiefly in the plural) A domino or dice.
verb
  1. To prepare (meat, etc) by removing the bone or bones from.
  2. To fertilize with bone.
  3. To put whalebone into.
  4. To make level, using a particular procedure; to survey a level line.
  5. (usually of a man) To have sexual intercourse with.
  6. (in Aboriginal culture) To perform "bone pointing", a ritual that is intended to bring illness or even death to the victim.
  7. (usually with "up") To study.
  8. To polish boots to a shiny finish.
adjective
  1. Of an off-white colour, like the colour of bone.

Etymology 2

verb
  1. To apprehend, steal.

Etymology 3

verb
  1. To sight along an object or set of objects to check whether they are level or in line.

Etymology 4

noun
  1. A musical instrument in the brass family, having a cylindrical bore, and usually a sliding tube (but sometimes piston valves, and rarely both). Most often refers to the tenor trombone, which is the most common type of trombone and has a fundamental tone of B♭ˌ (contra B♭).
  2. The common European bittern.

bonobo

noun
  1. The pygmy chimpanzee, Pan paniscus, from Africa south of the Congo river.

boon

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A prayer; petition.
  2. That which is asked or granted as a benefit or favor; a gift or benefaction.
  3. A good thing; a blessing or benefit; a thing to be thankful for.
  4. An unpaid service due by a tenant to his lord.

Etymology 2

adjective
  1. Good; prosperous.
  2. Kind; bountiful; benign.
  3. (Now only in boon companion) gay; merry; jovial; convivial.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. The woody portion of flax, separated from the fiber as refuse matter by retting, braking, and scutching.

ebon

noun
  1. (now poetic) Ebony; an ebony tree.
adjective
  1. Made of ebony.
  2. Black in colour.

jawbone

noun
  1. The bone of the lower jaw; the mandible.
  2. Any of the bones in the lower or upper jaw.
  3. (singular or plural) A shaken musical instrument (an idiophone) made from the jawbone of an animal and shaken such that the teeth vibrate in their sockets to produce sound.
verb
  1. To talk persistently in an attempt to persuade somebody to cooperate.

jean

noun
  1. Denim.

naan

noun
  1. A type of round, flat bread baked in a tandoor popular in South and Central Asian cuisine.

nabob

noun
  1. An Indian ruler within the Mogul empire.
  2. (by extension) Someone of great wealth or importance.
  3. (by extension) A person with a grandiose style or manner.

nana

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A banana
  2. A fool

Etymology 2

noun
  1. (term of endearment) one's grandmother
  2. A nanny

nene

noun
  1. The Hawaiian goose, Branta sandvicensis, which was designated the state bird of Hawaii in 1957.

neon

noun
  1. The chemical element (symbol Ne) with an atomic number of 10. The lightest of the noble gases, it is a colourless, odorless inert gas.
  2. A form or sample of the element.
  3. Neon signs or lights, collectively.
  4. A neon tetra fish.
adjective
  1. (of a color) That resembles a neon light; extremely bright; fluorescent

none

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A person without religious affiliation.
adverb
  1. To no extent, in no way.
  2. Not at all, not very.
  3. No, not.
pronoun
  1. Not any of a given number or group.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Those without any religious affiliation: atheists and others outside any organized religion.
noun
  1. A light meal usually eaten around midday, notably when not as main meal of the day.
  2. A break in play between the first and second sessions.
  3. (Minnesota) Any small meal, especially one eaten at a social gathering.
noun
  1. The middle of the afternoon, normally between 2 and 4 pm.
noun
  1. (often capitalized) The notional first-quarter day of a Roman month, occurring on the 7th day of the four original 31-day months (March, May, Quintilis or July, and October) and on the 5th day of all other months.
  2. (sometimes capitalized) The ninth hour after dawn (about 3 pm).
  3. The divine office appointed to the hour.
noun
  1. The ninth hour of the day counted from sunrise; around three o'clock in the afternoon.
  2. Time of day when the sun is in its zenith; twelve o'clock in the day, midday.
  3. The corresponding time in the middle of the night; midnight.
  4. The highest point; culmination.
noun
  1. The letter ن in the Arabic script.

noon

Etymology 1

noun
  1. The ninth hour of the day counted from sunrise; around three o'clock in the afternoon.
  2. Time of day when the sun is in its zenith; twelve o'clock in the day, midday.
  3. The corresponding time in the middle of the night; midnight.
  4. The highest point; culmination.
verb
  1. To relax or sleep around midday

Etymology 2

noun
  1. The letter ن in the Arabic script.

wane

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A gradual diminution in power, value, intensity etc.
  2. The lunar phase during which the sun seems to illuminate less of the moon as its sunlit area becomes progressively smaller as visible from Earth.
  3. The end of a period.
  4. A rounded corner caused by lack of wood, often showing bark.
verb
  1. To progressively lose its splendor, value, ardor, power, intensity etc.; to decline.
  2. Said of light that dims or diminishes in strength.
  3. Said of the Moon as it passes through the phases of its monthly cycle where its surface is less and less visible.
  4. Said of a time period that comes to an end.
  5. To decrease physically in size, amount, numbers or surface.
  6. To cause to decrease.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A child.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. A house or dwelling.

wannabe

noun
  1. Someone who wishes to be or do something, but lacks the qualifications or talent; an overeager amateur; an aspirant.
  2. Someone who wishes to be part of, or to assimilate to, a majority group of which they are not a member.

wean

No Definition Found.

noob

noun
  1. (often pejorative) A newb or newbie; refers to the idea that someone is new to a game, concept, or idea; implying a lack of experience. Also, in some areas the word noob can mean someone is obsessed with things.

wanna

No Definition Found.