Saturday, October 19, 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: 159

Number of Answers: 39

Points Needed for Genius: 111

Genius requires between 16 and 34 words. You need at least a 7-letter word to reach genius. If you don't get the pangram, you need 77% of the total points to reach genius. If you get the pangram, you only need 67% 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 159 was in the 47th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there was a score this low was on October 18, 2024.
The highest score ever was 537 on January 22, 2021.
The lowest score ever was 47 on March 27, 2023.

This puzzle's 39 possible answers rank it in the 52nd percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there were more answers than this was on October 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 7-letter word for genius.
The last time this happened was on October 18, 2024.

Today's puzzle has an average word length of 5.2.
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 184
  • loll 176
  • toot 167
  • naan 162
  • nana 162
  • lilt 130
  • till 130
  • tilt 130
  • tint 123
  • mama 116
  • mamma 116
  • nene 112
  • acacia 110
  • acai 110
  • onto 110
  • toon 110
  • anal 107
  • onion 107
  • boob 106
  • booboo 106
  • anon 104
  • olio 103
  • lull 101
  • lulu 101
  • baba 99
  • papa 99
  • poop 98
  • dodo 97
  • call 96
  • calla 96
  • mitt 96
  • allay 95
  • ally 95
  • cocci 95
  • ratatat 95
  • tart 95
  • tartar 95
  • tatty 95
  • attar 94
  • mono 92
  • moon 92
  • tact 92
  • epee 91
  • loon 91
  • peep 91
  • tattoo 91
  • tutu 91
  • nanny 90
  • array 89
  • nada 89


How long are words in the Bee?

There have been 92,014 answers ever accepted in the Bee - with 10,299 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*:

  • chunnel
  • cohoe
  • cohune
  • cole
  • colone
  • cooee
  • eche
  • echelle
  • enol
  • enounce
  • eocene
  • helo
  • heuch
  • holocene
  • leno
  • leone
  • leucon
  • loche
  • locule
  • luce
  • lucence
  • lunule
  • nucleole
  • nuncle
  • oche
  • ochone

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

cell

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A single-room dwelling for a hermit.
  2. A small monastery or nunnery dependent on a larger religious establishment.
  3. A small room in a monastery or nunnery accommodating one person.
  4. A room in a prison or jail for one or more inmates.
  5. Each of the small hexagonal compartments in a honeycomb.
  6. Any of various chambers in a tissue or organism having specific functions.
  7. The discal cell of the wing of a lepidopteran insect.
  8. Specifically, any of the supposed compartments of the brain, formerly thought to be the source of specific mental capacities, knowledge, or memories.
  9. A section or compartment of a larger structure.
  10. Any small dwelling; a remote nook, a den.
  11. A device which stores electrical power; used either singly or together in batteries; the basic unit of a battery.
  12. The basic unit of a living organism, consisting of a quantity of protoplasm surrounded by a cell membrane, which is able to synthesize proteins and replicate itself.
  13. A small thunderstorm, caused by convection, that forms ahead of a storm front.
  14. The minimal unit of a cellular automaton that can change state and has an associated behavior.
  15. In FreeCell-type games, a space where one card can be placed.
  16. A small group of people forming part of a larger organization, often an outlawed one.
  17. (communication) A short, fixed-length packet as in asynchronous transfer mode.
  18. (communication) A region of radio reception that is a part of a larger radio network.
  19. A three-dimensional facet of a polytope.
  20. The unit in a statistical array (a spreadsheet, for example) where a row and a column intersect.
  21. The space between the ribs of a vaulted roof.
  22. A cella.
  23. An area of an insect wing bounded by veins
verb
  1. To place or enclose in a cell.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A cellular phone.

cello

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A large stringed instrument of the violin family with four strings, tuned from lowest to highest C-G-D-A, and played with a bow, also possessing an endpin to support the instrument's weight.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Cellophane

cellule

No Definition Found.

clench

noun
  1. Tight grip.
  2. A seal that is applied to formed thin-wall bushings.
  3. A local chapter of the Church of the SubGenius parody religion.
verb
  1. To grip or hold fast.
  2. To close tightly.

cloche

noun
  1. A glass covering, originally bell-shaped, for garden plants to prevent frost damage and promote early growth.
  2. A bell-shaped, close-fitting women’s hat with a deep rounded crown and narrow rim.
  3. A tableware cover, often resembling a bell.
  4. An apparatus used in controlling certain aeroplanes, consisting principally of a steering column mounted with a universal joint at the base, which is bell-shaped and has attached to it the cables for controlling the wing-warping devices, elevator planes, etc.

clone

noun
  1. A living organism (originally a plant) produced asexually from a single ancestor, to which it is genetically identical.
  2. A group of identical cells derived from a single cell.http//www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=2754
  3. A copy or imitation of something already existing, especially when designed to simulate it.
  4. Two people who are exactly alike, as far as looks or behavior.
verb
  1. To create a clone of.

clue

noun
  1. A strand of yarn etc. as used to guide one through a labyrinth; something which points the way, a guide.
  2. Information which may lead one to a certain point or conclusion.
  3. An object or a kind of indication which may be used as evidence.
  4. Insight or understanding ("to have a clue [about]" or "to have clue". See have a clue, clue stick)
verb
  1. To provide with a clue.
  2. To provide someone with information which he or she lacks (often used with "in" or "up").

colleen

noun
  1. Girl
  2. Young single woman

colonel

noun
  1. A commissioned officer in an armed military organization, typically the highest rank before flag officer ranks (generals). It is generally found in armies, air forces or naval infantry (marines).
verb
  1. To act as or like a colonel.

cone

noun
  1. A surface of revolution formed by rotating a segment of a line around another line that intersects the first line.
  2. A solid of revolution formed by rotating a triangle around one of its altitudes.
  3. A space formed by taking the direct product of a given space with a closed interval and identifying all of one end to a point.
  4. Anything shaped like a cone.
  5. The fruit of a conifer.
  6. A cone-shaped flower head of various plants, such as banksias and proteas.
  7. An ice cream cone.
  8. A traffic cone
  9. A unit of volume, applied solely to marijuana and only while it is in a smokable state; roughly 1.5 cubic centimetres, depending on use.
  10. Any of the small cone-shaped structures in the retina.
  11. The bowl piece on a bong.
  12. The process of smoking cannabis in a bong.
  13. A cone-shaped cannabis joint.
  14. A passenger on a cruise ship (so-called by employees after traffic cones, from the need to navigate around them)
  15. An object V together with an arrow going from V to each object of a diagram such that for any arrow A in the diagram, the pair of arrows from V which subtend A also commute with it. (Then V can be said to be the cone’s vertex and the diagram which the cone subtends can be said to be its base.)
  16. A shell of the genus Conus, having a conical form.
  17. A set of formal languages with certain desirable closure properties, in particular those of the regular languages, the context-free languages and the recursively enumerable languages.
verb
  1. To fashion into the shape of a cone.
  2. To form a cone shape.
  3. (frequently followed by "off") To segregate or delineate an area using traffic cones

coulee

noun
  1. A stream.
  2. A lava flow.
  3. A deep gulch or ravine, frequently dry in summer.

echelon

noun
  1. A level or rank in an organization, profession, or society.
  2. A line of riders seeking maximum drafting in a crosswind, resulting in a diagonal line across the road.
  3. A formation of troops, ships, etc., in diagonal parallel rows.
verb
  1. To form troops into an echelon.
adjective
  1. Of a matrix: having undergone Gaussian elimination with the result that the leading coefficient or pivot (that is, the first nonzero number from the left) of a nonzero row is to the right of the pivot of the row above it, giving rise to a stepped appearance in the matrix.

echo

noun
  1. A reflected sound that is heard again by its initial observer.
  2. An utterance repeating what has just been said.
  3. A device in verse in which a line ends with a word which recalls the sound of the last word of the preceding line.
  4. Sympathetic recognition; response; answer.
  5. The displaying on the command line of the command that has just been executed.
  6. The letter E in the ICAO spelling alphabet.
  7. (whist) A signal, played in the same manner as a trump signal, made by a player who holds four or more trumps (or, as played by some, exactly three trumps) and whose partner has led trumps or signalled for trumps.
  8. (whist) A signal showing the number held of a plain suit when a high card in that suit is led by one's partner.
verb
  1. (of a sound or sound waves) To reflect off a surface and return.
  2. To reflect back (a sound).
  3. (by extension) To repeat (another's speech, opinion etc.).
  4. To repeat its input as input to some other device or system.
  5. (whist) To give the echo signal, informing one's partner about cards one holds.
noun
  1. The visual image formed by an echocardiograph.
noun
  1. The use of ultrasound to produce images of the heart.

eunuch

noun
  1. A castrated human male.
  2. Such a man employed as harem guard or in certain (mainly Eastern) monarchies (e.g. late Roman and Chinese Empires) as court or state officials.
  3. (in translations of ancient texts) A man who is not inclined to marry and procreate.

heel

Etymology 1

noun
  1. The rear part of the foot, where it joins the leg.
  2. The part of a shoe's sole which supports the foot's heel.
  3. The rear part of a sock or similar covering for the foot.
  4. The part of the palm of a hand closest to the wrist.
  5. (usually in the plural) A woman's high-heeled shoe.
  6. The back, upper part of the stock.
  7. The last or lowest part of anything.
  8. A crust end-piece of a loaf of bread.
  9. The base of a bun sliced in half lengthwise.
  10. A contemptible, inconsiderate or thoughtless person.
  11. A headlining wrestler regarded as a "bad guy," whose ring persona embodies villainous or reprehensible traits and demonstrates characteristics of a braggart and a bully.
  12. The cards set aside for later use in a patience or solitaire game.
  13. Anything resembling a human heel in shape; a protuberance; a knob.
  14. The lower end of a timber in a frame, as a post or rafter.
  15. (specifically) The obtuse angle of the lower end of a rafter set sloping.
  16. (workman slang) A cyma reversa.
  17. The short side of an angled cut.
  18. The part of a club head's face nearest the shaft.
  19. The lower end of the bit (cutting edge) of an axehead; as opposed to the toe (upper end).
  20. In a carding machine, the part of a flat nearest the cylinder.
verb
  1. To follow at somebody's heels; to chase closely.
  2. To add a heel to, or increase the size of the heel of (a shoe or boot).
  3. To kick with the heel.
  4. To perform by the use of the heels, as in dancing, running, etc.
  5. To arm with a gaff, as a cock for fighting.
  6. To hit (the ball) with the heel of the club.
  7. To make (a fair catch) standing with one foot forward, the heel on the ground and the toe up.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. The act of inclining or canting from a vertical position; a cant.
verb
  1. To incline to one side; to tilt.

Etymology 3

verb
  1. To make better from a disease, wound, etc.; to revive or cure.
  2. To become better or healthy again.
  3. To reconcile, as a breach or difference; to make whole; to free from guilt.
verb
  1. To hide, conceal, and keep secret, especially for a secret society (such as the masons).
  2. (now especially in the phrase "hele in") To cover or conceal (a seedling, plant, roots, etc).

hell

No Definition Found.

hellhole

noun
  1. A place of intense hatred, misery, or turmoil.

hello

noun
  1. "Hello!" or an equivalent greeting.
verb
  1. To greet with "hello".
interjection
  1. A greeting (salutation) said when meeting someone or acknowledging someone’s arrival or presence.
  2. A greeting used when answering the telephone.
  3. A call for response if it is not clear if anyone is present or listening, or if a telephone conversation may have been disconnected.
  4. Used sarcastically to imply that the person addressed or referred to has done something the speaker or writer considers to be foolish.
  5. An expression of puzzlement or discovery.

hence

adverb
  1. From here, from this place, away
  2. From the living or from this world
  3. (of a length of time) in the future from now
  4. As a result; therefore, for this reason

hole

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A hollow place or cavity; an excavation; a pit; an opening in or through a solid body, a fabric, etc.; a perforation; a rent; a fissure.
  2. (heading) In games.
  3. An excavation pit or trench.
  4. A weakness; a flaw or ambiguity.
  5. A container or receptacle.
  6. In semiconductors, a lack of an electron in an occupied band behaving like a positively charged particle.
  7. A security vulnerability in software which can be taken advantage of by an exploit.
  8. An orifice, in particular the anus. When used with shut it always refers to the mouth.
  9. (particularly in the phrase "get one's hole") Sex, or a sex partner.
  10. (with "the") Solitary confinement, a high-security prison cell often used as punishment.
  11. An undesirable place to live or visit; a hovel.
  12. Difficulty, in particular, debt.
  13. A chordless cycle in a graph.
verb
  1. To make holes in (an object or surface).
  2. (by extension) To destroy.
  3. To go into a hole.
  4. To drive into a hole, as an animal, or a billiard ball or golf ball.
  5. To cut, dig, or bore a hole or holes in.

Etymology 2

adjective
  1. Entire, undivided.
  2. Sound, uninjured, healthy.
  3. (of food) From which none of its constituents has been removed.
  4. As yet unworked.

hone

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A sharpening stone composed of extra-fine grit used for removing the burr or curl from the blade of a razor or some other edge tool.
  2. A machine tool used in the manufacture of precision bores.
verb
  1. To sharpen with a hone; to whet.
  2. To use a hone to produce a precision bore.
  3. To refine or master (a skill).
  4. To make more acute, intense, or effective.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A kind of swelling in the cheek.

Etymology 3

verb
  1. To grumble.
  2. To pine, lament, or long.

lech

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A strong, lecherous desire or craving.
  2. A lecher.
verb
  1. To behave lecherously

Etymology 2

noun
  1. The capstone of a cromlech.

leech

Etymology 1

noun
  1. An aquatic blood-sucking annelid of class Hirudinea, especially Hirudo medicinalis.
  2. A person who derives profit from others in a parasitic fashion.
  3. A glass tube designed for drawing blood from damaged tissue by means of a vacuum.
verb
  1. To apply a leech medicinally, so that it sucks blood from the patient.
  2. To drain (resources) without giving back.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A physician.
  2. (Heathenry) A healer.

Etymology 3

verb
  1. To treat, cure or heal.

Etymology 4

noun
  1. The vertical edge of a square sail.
  2. The aft edge of a triangular sail.

lone

adjective
  1. Solitary; having no companion.
  2. Isolated or lonely; lacking companionship.
  3. Sole; being the only one of a type.
  4. Situated by itself or by oneself, with no neighbours.
  5. Unfrequented by human beings; solitary.
  6. Single; unmarried, or in widowhood.

louche

verb
  1. To make (an alcoholic beverage, e.g. absinthe or ouzo) cloudy by mixing it with water, due to the presence of anethole. This is known as the ouzo effect.
adjective
  1. Of questionable taste or morality; decadent.
  2. Not reputable or decent.
  3. Unconventional and slightly disreputable in an attractive manner; raffish, rakish.

luncheon

noun
  1. A formal meal served in the middle of the day.
  2. Any midday meal; lunch.
  3. A lump of food.
  4. A portion of food taken at any time except at a regular meal; an informal or light repast.
verb
  1. To eat luncheon.

lune

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A fit of lunacy or madness; a period of frenzy; a crazy or unreasonable freak.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A concave figure formed by the intersection of the arcs of two circles on a plane, or on a sphere the intersection between two great semicircles.
  2. Anything crescent-shaped.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. (hawking) A leash for a hawk.

nene

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

neocon

noun
  1. A neoconservative.

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

noel

noun
  1. Christmas
  2. A kind of hymn, or canticle, of mediaeval origin, sung in honor of the birth of Christ; a Christmas carol.

nonce

Etymology 1

noun
  1. The one or single occasion; the present reason or purpose (now only in for the nonce).
  2. A nonce word.
  3. A value constructed so as to be unique to a particular message in a stream, in order to prevent replay attacks.
adjective
  1. One-off; produced or created for a single occasion or use. Denoting something occurring once.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. (prisons) A sex offender, especially one who is guilty of sexual offences against children.
  2. (prisons) A police informer, one who betrays a criminal enterprise
  3. A stupid or worthless person.

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.

nucleon

noun
  1. One of the subatomic particles of the atomic nucleus, i.e. a proton or a neutron.

oleo

Etymology 1

noun
  1. The various fats and oils that go into the making of margarine.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Margarine

once

adverb
  1. (frequency) One and only one time.
  2. (temporal location) Formerly; during some period in the past.
  3. Multiplied by one: indicating that a number is multiplied by one.
  4. As soon as.
  5. At a future time.
conjunction
  1. As soon as; when; after.

ounce

Etymology 1

noun
  1. An avoirdupois ounce, weighing 1/16 of an avoirdupois pound, or 28.3495 grams.
  2. A troy ounce, weighing 1/12 of a troy pound, or 480 grains, or 31.1035 grams.
  3. A US fluid ounce, with a volume of 1/16 of a US pint, 1.8047 cubic inches or 29.5735 millilitres.
  4. A British imperial fluid ounce, with a volume of 1/20 of an imperial pint, 1.7339 cubic inches or 28.4131 millilitres.
  5. A little bit.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A large wild feline, such as a lynx or cougar.
  2. Now specifically, the snow leopard, Uncia uncia.

uncle

noun
  1. The brother or brother-in-law of one’s parent.
  2. The male cousin of one’s parent.
  3. A companion to one's (usually unmarried) mother.
  4. A source of advice, encouragement, or help.
  5. A pawnbroker.
  6. An affectionate term for a man of an older generation than oneself, especially a friend of one's parents, by means of fictive kin.
  7. An older male African-American person.
verb
  1. To address somebody by the term uncle.
  2. To act like, or as, an uncle.
interjection
  1. A cry used to indicate surrender.

unclench

verb
  1. To open (something that was clenched).
  2. To relax, especially one's muscles.