Friday, December 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: 165

Number of Answers: 38

Points Needed for Genius: 115

Genius requires between 18 and 33 words. You need at least a 7-letter word to reach genius. If you don't get the pangram, you need 76% 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 165 was in the 50th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there was a score this high was on December 3, 2024.
The highest score ever was 537 on January 22, 2021.
The lowest score ever was 47 on March 27, 2023.

This puzzle's 38 possible answers rank it in the 49th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there were fewer answers than this was on December 5, 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 December 5, 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 187
  • loll 180
  • toot 172
  • naan 165
  • nana 165
  • lilt 130
  • till 130
  • tilt 130
  • tint 125
  • mama 121
  • mamma 121
  • nene 118
  • acacia 114
  • acai 114
  • onto 113
  • toon 113
  • anal 110
  • onion 107
  • anon 106
  • boob 106
  • booboo 106
  • olio 103
  • papa 102
  • baba 101
  • lull 101
  • lulu 101
  • dodo 100
  • poop 100
  • mitt 99
  • tact 98
  • allay 97
  • ally 97
  • call 97
  • calla 97
  • ratatat 96
  • tart 96
  • tartar 96
  • attar 95
  • cocci 95
  • tatty 95
  • tutu 95
  • tattoo 94
  • ammo 93
  • epee 93
  • momma 93
  • mono 93
  • moon 93
  • peep 93
  • loon 91
  • roar 91


How long are words in the Bee?

There have been 94,096 answers ever accepted in the Bee - with 10,359 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*:

  • holp
  • hoopoo
  • hypopyon
  • lipin
  • lollopy
  • lollypop
  • loppy
  • nippily
  • phon
  • phonon
  • phylon
  • pili
  • pily
  • pinon
  • piny
  • pinyin
  • pinyon
  • pion
  • pipy
  • poly
  • polynyi
  • polyol
  • polypi
  • poon
  • poopy
  • popply
  • pyin

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

hiply

No Definition Found.

hippo

noun
  1. A large, semi-aquatic, herbivorous (plant-eating) African mammal (Hippopotamus amphibius)

hippy

Etymology 1

noun
  1. (1950s slang) A teenager who imitated the beatniks.
  2. (1960s slang; still widely used in reference to that era) One who chooses not to conform to prevailing social norms: especially one who subscribes to values or actions such as acceptance or self-practice of recreational drug use, liberal or radical sexual mores, advocacy of communal living, strong pacifism or anti-war sentiment, etc.
  3. (modern slang) A person who keeps an unkempt or sloppy appearance and wearing unusually long hair (for males), and because of it, often stereotyped as a deadbeat.
  4. Someone who dresses in a hippie style.
  5. One who is hip.

Etymology 2

adjective
  1. Having prominent or in any other way unusual hips.

hoop

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A circular band of metal used to bind a barrel.
  2. A ring; a circular band; anything resembling a hoop.
  3. A circular band of metal, wood, or similar material used for forming part of a framework such as an awning or tent.
  4. A circle, or combination of circles, of thin whalebone, metal, or other elastic material, used for expanding the skirts of ladies' dresses; (hence, by extension) a hoop petticoat or hoop skirt.
  5. A quart pot; so called because originally bound with hoops, like a barrel. Also, a portion of the contents measured by the distance between the hoops.
  6. An old measure of capacity, variously estimated at from one to four pecks.
  7. The rim part of a basketball net.
  8. (in plural, metonym) The game of basketball.
  9. A hoop earring.
  10. (metonym) A jockey; from a common pattern on the blouse.
  11. (usually in the plural) A horizontal stripe on the jersey
  12. (usually in the plural) A requirement that must be met in order to proceed.
verb
  1. To bind or fasten using a hoop.
  2. To clasp; to encircle; to surround.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A shout; a whoop, as in whooping cough.
  2. The hoopoe.
verb
  1. To utter a loud cry, or a sound imitative of the word, by way of call or pursuit; to shout.
  2. To whoop, as in whooping cough.

hoppy

No Definition Found.

hypo

noun
  1. Melancholy; a fit of ‘hypochondria’; a morbid depression.
  2. A hypochondriac.
  3. Sodium thiosulphate, a photographic fixing agent.
  4. A hypoglycaemia attack in a person with diabetes.
  5. The substance sodium hyposulfite.
  6. A hypodermic syringe.
  7. Hypothecation.
  8. (in the study of law) A hypothetical case.
  9. A hypomelanistic snake.

lipo

noun
  1. Liposuction

lippy

Etymology 1

adjective
  1. Having prominent lips.
  2. Having a tendency to talk back in a cheeky or impertinent manner.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Lip gloss or lipstick; a stick of this product.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. An old dry measure amounting to one quarter of a peck (for goods sold by weight, 1¾ pounds or about four-fifths of a kilogram); also, a container of that capacity.

lollipop

noun
  1. An item of confectionery consisting of a piece of candy/sweet attached to a stick.

lollop

verb
  1. To walk or move with a bouncing or undulating motion and at an unhurried pace.
  2. To act lazily, loll, lie around.

loop

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A length of thread, line or rope that is doubled over to make an opening.
  2. The opening so formed.
  3. A shape produced by a curve that bends around and crosses itself.
  4. A ring road or beltway.
  5. An endless strip of tape or film allowing continuous repetition.
  6. A complete circuit for an electric current.
  7. A programmed sequence of instructions that is repeated until or while a particular condition is satisfied.
  8. An edge that begins and ends on the same vertex.
  9. A path that starts and ends at the same point.
  10. A bus or rail route, walking route, etc. that starts and ends at the same point.
  11. A place at a terminus where trains or trams can turn round and go back the other way without having to reverse; a balloon loop, turning loop, or reversing loop.
  12. A quasigroup with an identity element.
  13. A loop-shaped intrauterine device.
  14. An aerobatic maneuver in which an aircraft flies a circular path in a vertical plane.
  15. A small, narrow opening; a loophole.
  16. A flexible region in a protein's secondary structure.
noun
  1. A mass of iron in a pasty condition gathered into a ball for the tilt hammer or rolls.

Etymology 2

verb
  1. To form something into a loop.
  2. To fasten or encircle something with a loop.
  3. To fly an aircraft in a loop.
  4. To move something in a loop.
  5. To join electrical components to complete a circuit.
  6. To duplicate the route of a pipeline.
  7. To create an error in a computer program so that it runs in an endless loop and the computer freezes up.
  8. To form a loop.
  9. To move in a loop.

loopily

No Definition Found.

loopy

adjective
  1. Having loops.
  2. Idiotic, crazy or drunk.

nippy

adjective
  1. Fast; speedy
  2. Of the weather, rather cold.
  3. Inclined to nip; bitey.
  4. Annoying; irritating
  5. Sharp in taste
  6. Curt
  7. Parsimonious

opinion

noun
  1. A subjective belief, judgment or perspective that a person has formed about a topic, issue, person or thing.
  2. The judgment or sentiment which the mind forms of persons or things; estimation.
  3. Favorable estimation; hence, consideration; reputation; fame; public sentiment or esteem.
  4. Obstinacy in holding to one's belief or impression; opiniativeness; conceitedness.
  5. The formal decision, or expression of views, of a judge, an umpire, a doctor, or other party officially called upon to consider and decide upon a matter or point submitted.
  6. (European Union law) a judicial opinion delivered by an Advocate General to the European Court of Justice where he or she proposes a legal solution to the cases for which the court is responsible
verb
  1. To have or express as an opinion.

phonily

adverb
  1. In a phony way, or to a phony extent

phono

noun
  1. A phonograph.

phony

noun
  1. A person who assumes an identity or quality other than their own.
  2. A person who professes beliefs or opinions that they do not hold.
  3. Anything fraudulent or fake.
adjective
  1. Fraudulent; fake; having a misleading appearance.

phyllo

noun
  1. A type of dough, originating in Mediterranean cuisine, that is used in thin layers to make pastries (such as baklava and apple strudel) and pies and becomes very flaky when cooked.

pill

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A small, usually round or cylindrical object designed for easy swallowing, usually containing some sort of medication.
  2. (definite, i.e. used with "the") Contraceptive medication, usually in the form of a pill to be taken by a woman; an oral contraceptive pill.
  3. A comical or entertaining person.
  4. A contemptible, annoying, or unpleasant person.
  5. A small piece of any substance, for example a ball of fibres formed on the surface of a textile by rubbing.
  6. A baseball.
  7. A bullet (projectile).
  8. A rounded rectangle indicating the tag or category that an item belongs to.
verb
  1. Of a woven fabric surface, to form small matted balls of fiber.
  2. To form into the shape of a pill.
  3. To medicate with pills.
  4. To persuade or convince someone of something.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. The peel or skin.
verb
  1. To peel; to remove the outer layer of hair, skin, or bark.
  2. To peel; to make by removing the skin.
  3. To be peeled; to peel off in flakes.
  4. To pillage; to despoil or impoverish.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. An inlet on the coast; a small tidal pool or bay.

pillion

noun
  1. A pad behind the saddle of a horse for a second rider.
  2. A similar second saddle on a motorcycle for a passenger.
  3. The person riding in the pillion.
  4. The cushion of a saddle.
verb
  1. To ride on a pillion.
  2. To put a pillion on a horse.
adverb
  1. Riding behind the driving rider, as when positioned on the rump of a mount.

pinion

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A wing.
  2. The joint of a bird's wing farthest from the body.
  3. Any of the outermost primary feathers on a bird's wing.
  4. A moth of the genus Lithophane.
  5. A fetter for the arm.
verb
  1. To cut off the pinion of a bird’s wing, or otherwise disable or bind its wings, in order to prevent it from flying.
  2. To bind the arms of someone, so as to deprive him of their use; to disable by so binding.
  3. (transferred sense) To restrain; to limit.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. The smallest gear in a gear train.

pinny

noun
  1. A sleeveless dress, often similar to an apron, generally worn over other clothes.
  2. A simple jersey worn to denote teams or groups.

pippin

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A seed

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Any of several varieties of eating apple that have a yellow or green skin with patches of red
  2. Any of several roundish or oblate apple varieties
  3. An apple tree raised from a seed (not grafted)

plop

noun
  1. A sound or action like liquid hitting a hard surface, or an object falling into a body of water.
  2. Excrement; derived from the "plop" sound made when it hits water in a toilet.
verb
  1. To make the sound of an object dropping into a body of liquid.
  2. To land heavily or loosely.
  3. To defecate; derived from the "plop" sound made when excrement hits water in a toilet.

ploy

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A tactic, strategy, or gimmick.
  2. Sport; frolic.
  3. Employment.

Etymology 2

verb
  1. To form a column from a line of troops on some designated subdivision.

polio

noun
  1. A sufferer from poliomyelitis.
noun
  1. Acute infection by the poliovirus, especially of the motor neurons in the spinal cord and brainstem, leading to muscle weakness, paralysis and sometimes deformity.

poll

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A survey of people, usually statistically analyzed to gauge wider public opinion.
  2. A formal election.
  3. A polling place (usually as plural, polling places)
  4. (now rare outside veterinary medicine contexts) The head, particularly the scalp or pate upon which hair (normally) grows.
  5. (in extended senses of the above) A mass of people, a mob or muster, considered as a head count.
  6. The broad or butt end of an axe or a hammer.
  7. The pollard or European chub, a kind of fish.
verb
  1. To take, record the votes of (an electorate).
  2. To solicit mock votes from (a person or group).
  3. To vote at an election.
  4. To register or deposit, as a vote; to elicit or call forth, as votes or voters.
  5. To cut off; to remove by clipping, shearing, etc.; to mow or crop.
  6. To cut the hair of (a creature).
  7. To remove the horns of (an animal).
  8. To remove the top or end of; to clip; to lop.
  9. (communication) To (repeatedly) request the status of something (such as a computer or printer on a network).
  10. (with adverb) To be judged in a poll.
  11. To extort from; to plunder; to strip.
  12. To impose a tax upon.
  13. To pay as one's personal tax.
  14. To enter, as polls or persons, in a list or register; to enroll, especially for purposes of taxation; to enumerate one by one.
  15. To cut or shave smooth or even; to cut in a straight line without indentation.
adjective
  1. (of kinds of livestock which typically have horns) Bred without horns, and thus hornless.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A pet parrot.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. (Cambridge University) One who does not try for honors at university, but is content to take a degree merely; a passman.

polo

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A ball game where two teams of players on horseback use long-handled mallets to propel the ball along the ground and into their opponent's goal.
  2. The ice polo, one of the ancestors of ice hockey; a similar game played on the ice, or on a prepared floor, by players wearing skates.
  3. A polo shirt.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A Spanish gypsy dance characterized by energetic movements of the body while the feet merely shuffle or glide, with unison singing and rhythmic clapping of hands.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. A dress shirt.

polyp

noun
  1. An abnormal growth protruding from a mucous membrane
  2. A cylindrical coelenterate, such as the hydra, having a mouth surrounded with tentacles

polyphony

noun
  1. Musical texture consisting of several independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice (monophony) or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords (homophony).
  2. The quality of a text of being capable of being read in more than one way.

pony

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A small horse; specifically, any of several small breeds of horse under 14.2 hands at the withers.
  2. A small serving of an alcoholic beverage, especially beer.
  3. (New South Wales, Victoria) A serving of 140 millilitres of beer (formerly 5 fl oz); a quarter pint.
  4. Twenty-five pounds sterling.
  5. A translation used as a study aid; loosely, a crib, a cheat-sheet.
  6. A ponytail hairstyle.
verb
  1. To lead (a horse) from another horse.
  2. To use a crib or cheat-sheet in translating.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Crap; rubbish, nonsense.
adjective
  1. Of little worth.

pooh

noun
  1. Feces.
  2. A piece of feces or an act of defecation.
  3. Cannabis resin.
  4. Champagne.
verb
  1. To defecate.
  2. To dirty something with feces.
interjection
  1. Expressing annoyance, frustration, etc.: a minced oath for 'shit'.
noun
  1. Short for shampoo.
noun
  1. An instance of saying "pooh".
verb
  1. To say "pooh".
  2. To say "pooh" to.
interjection
  1. Expressing dismissal, contempt, impatience, etc.
  2. Expressing disgust at an unpleasant smell.

pool

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A small and rather deep collection of (usually) fresh water, as one supplied by a spring, or occurring in the course of a stream; a reservoir for water.
  2. A small body of standing or stagnant water; a puddle.
  3. A supply of resources.
  4. (by extension) A set of resources that are kept ready to use.
  5. A small amount of liquid on a surface.
  6. A localized glow of light.
verb
  1. (of a liquid) To form a pool.
noun
  1. A pool of water used for swimming, usually one which has been artificially constructed.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. (game) A game at billiards, in which each of the players stakes a certain sum, the winner taking the whole; also, in public billiard rooms, a game in which the loser pays the entrance fee for all who engage in the game.
  2. A cue sport played on a pool table. There are 15 balls, 7 of one colour, 7 of another, and the black ball (also called the 8 ball). A player must pocket all their own colour balls and then the black ball in order to win.
  3. In rifle shooting, a contest in which each competitor pays a certain sum for every shot he makes, the net proceeds being divided among the winners.
  4. Any gambling or commercial venture in which several persons join.
  5. The stake played for in certain games of cards, billiards, etc.; an aggregated stake to which each player has contributed a share; also, the receptacle for the stakes.
  6. A combination of persons contributing money to be used for the purpose of increasing or depressing the market price of stocks, grain, or other commodities; also, the aggregate of the sums so contributed.
  7. A set of players in quadrille etc.
  8. A mutual arrangement between competing lines, by which the receipts of all are aggregated, and then distributed pro rata according to agreement.
  9. An aggregation of properties or rights, belonging to different people in a community, in a common fund, to be charged with common liabilities.
verb
  1. To put together; contribute to a common fund, on the basis of a mutual division of profits or losses; to make a common interest of.
  2. To combine or contribute with others, as for a commercial, speculative, or gambling transaction.

poop

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Fecal matter, feces.
  2. The sound of a steam engine's whistle; typically low pitch.
verb
  1. To make a short blast on a horn
  2. To break wind.
  3. To defecate.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A set of data or general information, written or spoken, usually concerning machinery or a process.

Etymology 3

verb
  1. To tire, exhaust. Often used with out.

Etymology 4

noun
  1. The stern of a ship.
  2. The poop deck.
verb
  1. To break seawater with the poop of a vessel, especially the poop deck.
  2. To embark a ship over the stern.

Etymology 5

noun
  1. A slothful person.

poplin

noun
  1. A fabric of many varieties, usually made of silk and worsted; used especially for women's dresses.

poppy

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Any plant of the genus Papaver or the family Papaveraceae, with crumpled, often red, petals and a milky juice having narcotic properties; especially the common poppy or corn poppy (Papaver rhoeas) which has orange-red flowers; the flower of such a plant.
  2. A bright red colour tinted with orange, like that of the common poppy flower.
  3. A simple artificial poppy flower worn in a buttonhole or displayed in other contexts to remember those who died in the two World Wars and other armed conflicts, especially around Remembrance Sunday.
adjective
  1. Of a bright red colour tinted with orange, like that of the common poppy flower (Papaver rhoeas).

Etymology 2

adjective
  1. Having a popping or bursting sound.
  2. Of a beverage: resembling soda pop; effervescent, fizzy.
  3. Of eyes: protruding, sticking out.

Etymology 3

adjective
  1. Popular.
  2. Typical, or in the style, of pop music.

Etymology 4

noun
  1. One's father or grandfather, or a male authority figure having similar standing.

pylon

noun
  1. A gateway to the inner part of an Ancient Egyptian temple.
  2. A tower-like structure, usually one of a series, used to support high-voltage electricity cables.
  3. A structure used to mount engines, missiles etc., to the underside of an aircraft wing or fuselage.
  4. A starting derrick for an aeroplane.
  5. A post, tower, etc. as on an aerodrome, or flying ground, serving to bound or mark a prescribed course of flight.
  6. An obelisk.
  7. A traffic cone.
  8. An orange marker designating one of the four corners of the end zone in American football.
  9. A rigid prosthesis for the lower leg.