Friday, December 20, 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: 178

Number of Answers: 47

Points Needed for Genius: 125

Genius requires between 18 and 42 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 178 was in the 56th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there was a score this high was on December 19, 2024.
The highest score ever was 537 on January 22, 2021.
The lowest score ever was 47 on March 27, 2023.

This puzzle's 47 possible answers rank it in the 71st percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there were more answers than this was on December 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 December 19, 2024.

Today's puzzle has an average word length of 5.1.
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 190
  • loll 180
  • toot 174
  • naan 165
  • nana 165
  • lilt 130
  • till 130
  • tilt 130
  • tint 126
  • mama 121
  • mamma 121
  • nene 119
  • acacia 115
  • acai 115
  • onto 114
  • toon 114
  • anal 110
  • onion 110
  • anon 107
  • boob 107
  • booboo 107
  • olio 103
  • baba 102
  • papa 102
  • lull 101
  • lulu 101
  • poop 101
  • tact 101
  • dodo 100
  • mitt 100
  • allay 98
  • ally 98
  • call 98
  • calla 98
  • ratatat 98
  • tart 98
  • tartar 98
  • attar 97
  • cocci 96
  • tattoo 96
  • tatty 96
  • tutu 96
  • mono 95
  • moon 95
  • ammo 94
  • epee 94
  • momma 94
  • peep 94
  • loon 91
  • roar 91


How long are words in the Bee?

There have been 94,692 answers ever accepted in the Bee - with 10,366 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*:

  • abba
  • abbe
  • abele
  • abolla
  • abollae
  • alba
  • baal
  • baboo
  • babool
  • balboa
  • bawbee
  • beal
  • beebee
  • beleap
  • beweep
  • blae
  • blaw
  • bleb
  • blowball
  • bobo
  • bole
  • bopeep
  • labelable
  • labella
  • obol
  • obole
  • peepbo
  • wabble
  • wooable

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

able

Etymology 1

adjective
  1. Easy to use.
  2. Suitable; competent.
  3. Liable to.
  4. Having the necessary powers or the needed resources to accomplish a task.
  5. Free from constraints preventing completion of task; permitted to; not prevented from.
  6. Having the physical strength; robust; healthy.
  7. Rich; well-to-do.
  8. Gifted with skill, intelligence, knowledge, or competence.
  9. Legally qualified or competent.
  10. Capable of performing all the requisite duties; as an able seaman.

Etymology 2

verb
  1. To make ready.
  2. To make capable; to enable.
  3. To dress.
  4. To give power to; to reinforce; to confirm.
  5. To vouch for; to guarantee.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. The letter "A" in Navy Phonetic Alphabet.

allowable

noun
  1. Permitted amount or activity.
adjective
  1. Appropriate; satisfactory; acceptable.
  2. Intellectually admissible; valid; probable.
  3. Able to be added or deducted in consideration of something.
  4. Permissible; tolerable; legitimate.
  5. Praiseworthy.

appealable

adjective
  1. (of a verdict etc.) That may be appealed, or sent to a higher court for judgement
  2. That may be accused or called to answer by appeal.

baba

noun
  1. A kind of sponge cake soaked in rum-flavoured syrup.
  2. (esp. among people of East European ancestry) A grandmother.
  3. An old woman, especially a traditional old woman from an eastern European culture.
  4. (esp. among people of Indian ancestry) A father.
  5. (Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism) A holy man, a spiritual leader.
  6. A baby, child.
  7. In baby talk, often used for a variety of words beginning with b, such as bottle or blanket.

babble

noun
  1. Idle talk; senseless prattle
  2. Inarticulate speech; constant or confused murmur.
  3. A sound like that of water gently flowing around obstructions.
verb
  1. To utter words indistinctly or unintelligibly; to utter inarticulate sounds
  2. To talk incoherently; to utter meaningless words.
  3. To talk too much; to chatter; to prattle.
  4. To make a continuous murmuring noise, like shallow water running over stones.
  5. To utter in an indistinct or incoherent way; to repeat words or sounds in a childish way without understanding.
  6. To reveal; to give away (a secret).

babe

noun
  1. A baby or infant; a very young human or animal.
  2. An attractive person, especially a young woman.
  3. Darling (term of endearment).

babel

noun
  1. A confused mixture of sounds and voices, especially in different languages.
  2. A place or scene of noise and confusion.
  3. A tall, looming structure.

bale

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Evil, especially considered as an active force for destruction or death.
  2. Suffering, woe, torment.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A large fire, a conflagration or bonfire.
  2. A funeral pyre.
  3. A beacon-fire.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. A rounded bundle or package of goods in a cloth cover, and corded for storage or transportation.
  2. A bundle of compressed wool or hay, compacted for shipping and handling.
  3. A measurement of hay equal to 10 flakes. Approximately 70-90 lbs (32-41 kg).
  4. A measurement of paper equal to 10 reams.

Etymology 4

verb
  1. To remove water from a boat with buckets etc.

ball

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A solid or hollow sphere, or roughly spherical mass.
  2. A round or ellipsoidal object.
  3. (mildly, usually in the plural) A testicle.
  4. A leather-covered cushion, fastened to a handle called a ballstock; formerly used by printers for inking the form, then superseded by the roller.
  5. A large pill, a form in which medicine was given to horses; a bolus.
verb
  1. To form or wind into a ball.
  2. To heat in a furnace and form into balls for rolling.
  3. To have sexual intercourse with.
  4. To gather balls which cling to the feet, as of damp snow or clay; to gather into balls.
  5. (usually in present participle) To be hip or cool.
  6. To play basketball.
  7. To punish by affixing a ball and chain
interjection
  1. An appeal by the crowd for holding the ball against a tackled player. This is heard almost any time an opposition player is tackled, without regard to whether the rules about "prior opportunity" to dispose of the ball are fulfilled.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A formal dance.
  2. A very enjoyable time.

baobab

noun
  1. A tree, Adansonia digitata (and similar species), native to tropical Africa, having a broad swollen trunk and edible gourd-like hanging fruits.

bawl

noun
  1. A loud, intense shouting or wailing.
verb
  1. To shout or utter in a loud and intense manner.
  2. To wail; to give out a blaring cry.

bebop

noun
  1. An early form of modern jazz played by small groups and featuring driving rhythms and complex, often dissonant harmonies.
verb
  1. To participate in bebop jazz, such as by dancing in a way associated with the genre.
  2. (usually with a directional preposition) To walk in an easygoing, carefree manner.

beep

noun
  1. The sound produced by the horn of a car, or any similar sound.
  2. A short, electronically produced tone.
verb
  1. To sound (something that makes a beep).
  2. To have sexual intercourse (with) - referring to the bleep tone used to censor obscene words in broadcasts
  3. To produce a beep.
  4. To contact (someone via) a pager device.
  5. Telephoning a person, but only allowing the phone to ring once, in order to request a call back.

bell

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A percussive instrument made of metal or other hard material, typically but not always in the shape of an inverted cup with a flared rim, which resonates when struck.
  2. The sounding of a bell as a signal.
  3. A telephone call.
  4. A signal at a school that tells the students when a class is starting or ending.
  5. The flared end of a brass or woodwind instrument.
  6. Any of a series of strokes on a bell (or similar), struck every half hour to indicate the time (within a four hour watch)
  7. The flared end of a pipe, designed to mate with a narrow spigot.
  8. A device control code that produces a beep (or rings a small electromechanical bell on older teleprinters etc.).
  9. Anything shaped like a bell, such as the cup or corolla of a flower.
  10. The part of the capital of a column included between the abacus and neck molding; also used for the naked core of nearly cylindrical shape, assumed to exist within the leafage of a capital.
  11. An instrument situated on a bicycle's handlebar, used by the cyclist to warn of his or her presence.
verb
  1. To attach a bell to.
  2. To shape so that it flares out like a bell.
  3. To telephone.
  4. To develop bells or corollas; to take the form of a bell; to blossom.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. The bellow or bay of certain animals, such as a hound on the hunt or a stag in rut.
verb
  1. To bellow or roar.
  2. To utter in a loud manner; to thunder forth.

belle

noun
  1. An attractive woman.

bellow

noun
  1. The deep roar of a large animal, or any similar loud noise.
verb
  1. To make a loud, deep, hollow noise like the roar of an angry bull.
  2. To shout in a deep voice.

below

adverb
  1. In a lower place.
  2. On a lower storey.
  3. Further down.
  4. On a lower deck.
  5. (of a temperature) Below zero.
preposition
  1. Lower in spatial position than.
  2. Within the writing of a given document which follows a particular appearance of the word "below".
  3. Lower in value, price, rank or concentration than.
  4. Downstream of.
  5. South of.
  6. Unsuitable to the rank or dignity of; beneath.
  7. (stage directions) Downstage of.

blab

noun
  1. One who blabs; a babbler; a telltale; a gossip or gossiper.
  2. Gossip; prattle.
verb
  1. To tell tales; to gossip without reserve or discretion.

bleep

noun
  1. A brief high-pitched sound, as from some electronic device.
  2. Something named by an explicit noun in the original, unedited version of the containing sentence.
  3. A broad genre of electronic music with goth and industrial influences, as opposed to traditional gothic rock.
verb
  1. To emit one or more bleeps.
  2. To edit out inappropriate spoken language in a broadcast by replacing offending words with bleeps.

blew

verb
  1. To produce an air current.
  2. To propel by an air current.
  3. To be propelled by an air current.
  4. To create or shape by blowing; as in to blow bubbles, to blow glass.
  5. To force a current of air upon with the mouth, or by other means.
  6. To clear of contents by forcing air through.
  7. To cause to make sound by blowing, as a musical instrument.
  8. To make a sound as the result of being blown.
  9. (of a cetacean) To exhale visibly through the spout the seawater which it has taken in while feeding.
  10. To explode.
  11. (with "up" or with prep phrase headed by "to") To cause to explode, shatter, or be utterly destroyed.
  12. To cause sudden destruction of.
  13. To suddenly fail destructively.
  14. (used to express displeasure or frustration) Damn.
  15. To be very undesirable. (See also suck.)
  16. To recklessly squander.
  17. To fellate; to perform oral sex on (usually a man)
  18. To leave, especially suddenly or in a hurry.
  19. To make flyblown, to defile, especially with fly eggs.
  20. To spread by report; to publish; to disclose.
  21. To inflate, as with pride; to puff up.
  22. To breathe hard or quick; to pant; to puff.
  23. To put out of breath; to cause to blow from fatigue.
  24. To talk loudly; to boast; to storm.
  25. To sing.
  26. To leave the Church of Scientology in an unauthorized manner.
verb
  1. To blossom; to cause to bloom or blossom.
noun
  1. The colour of the clear sky or the deep sea, between green and violet in the visible spectrum, and one of the primary additive colours for transmitted light; the colour obtained by subtracting red and green from white light using magenta and cyan filters; or any colour resembling this.
  2. A blue dye or pigment.
  3. Any of several processes to protect metal against rust.
  4. Blue clothing
  5. (in the plural) A blue uniform. See blues.
  6. A member of law enforcement
  7. The sky, literally or figuratively.
  8. The ocean; deep waters.
  9. The far distance; a remote or distant place.
  10. Anything blue, especially to distinguish it from similar objects differing only in color.
  11. A dog or cat with a slaty gray coat.
  12. One of the colour balls used in snooker, with a value of five points.
  13. Any of the butterflies of the subfamily Polyommatinae in the family Lycaenidae, most of which have blue on their wings.
  14. A bluefish.
  15. An argument.
  16. A liquid with an intense blue colour, added to a laundry wash to prevent yellowing of white clothes.
  17. A type of firecracker.
  18. A bluestocking.
  19. One of the three color charges for quarks.
adjective
  1. Of the colour blue.
  2. Depressed, melancholic, sad.
  3. Pale, without redness or glare; said of a flame.
  4. Supportive of, run by (a member of), pertaining to, or dominated by a political party represented by the colour blue.
  5. Of the higher-frequency region of the part of the electromagnetic spectrum which is relevant in the specific observation.
  6. (of steak) Extra rare; left very raw and cold.
  7. (of a dog or cat) Having a coat of fur of a slaty gray shade.
  8. Severe or overly strict in morals; gloomy.
  9. (of women) literary; bluestockinged.
  10. Having a color charge of blue.
  11. (entertainment) Risque or obscene
adjective
  1. (entertainment) Pornographic or profane.

blob

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A shapeless or amorphous mass; a vague shape or amount, especially of a liquid or semisolid substance; a clump, group or collection that lacks definite shape.
  2. In astronomy, a large cloud of gas. In particular, an extended Lyman-Alpha blob is a huge body of gas that may be the precursor to a galaxy.
  3. A bubble; a bleb.
  4. A small freshwater fish (Cottus bairdii); the miller's thumb.
  5. The partially inflated air bag used in the sport of blobbing.
  6. A score of zero.
verb
  1. To drop in the form of a blob or blobs
  2. To drop a blob or blobs onto, cover with blobs.
  3. To fall in the form of a blob or blobs.
  4. To relax idly and mindlessly; to veg out.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Acronym of binary large object. (a data type that allows storage of binary data often of indeterminate length).

bloop

noun
  1. A low-pitched beeping sound.
verb
  1. To make a hit just beyond the infield.
  2. To produce a low-pitched beeping sound.
  3. To cover up splices in a soundtrack tape to eliminate the unwanted noise they may produce.

blow

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A strong wind.
  2. A chance to catch one’s breath.
  3. Cocaine.
  4. Cannabis.
  5. (US Chicago Regional) Heroin.
verb
  1. To produce an air current.
  2. To propel by an air current.
  3. To be propelled by an air current.
  4. To create or shape by blowing; as in to blow bubbles, to blow glass.
  5. To force a current of air upon with the mouth, or by other means.
  6. To clear of contents by forcing air through.
  7. To cause to make sound by blowing, as a musical instrument.
  8. To make a sound as the result of being blown.
  9. (of a cetacean) To exhale visibly through the spout the seawater which it has taken in while feeding.
  10. To explode.
  11. (with "up" or with prep phrase headed by "to") To cause to explode, shatter, or be utterly destroyed.
  12. To cause sudden destruction of.
  13. To suddenly fail destructively.
  14. (used to express displeasure or frustration) Damn.
  15. To be very undesirable. (See also suck.)
  16. To recklessly squander.
  17. To fellate; to perform oral sex on (usually a man)
  18. To leave, especially suddenly or in a hurry.
  19. To make flyblown, to defile, especially with fly eggs.
  20. To spread by report; to publish; to disclose.
  21. To inflate, as with pride; to puff up.
  22. To breathe hard or quick; to pant; to puff.
  23. To put out of breath; to cause to blow from fatigue.
  24. To talk loudly; to boast; to storm.
  25. To sing.
  26. To leave the Church of Scientology in an unauthorized manner.

Etymology 2

adjective
  1. Blue.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. The act of striking or hitting.
  2. A sudden or forcible act or effort; an assault.
  3. A damaging occurrence.

Etymology 4

noun
  1. A mass or display of flowers; a yield.
  2. A display of anything brilliant or bright.
  3. A bloom, state of flowering.
verb
  1. To blossom; to cause to bloom or blossom.

bobble

noun
  1. A furry ball attached on top of a hat.
  2. Elasticated band used for securing hair (for instance in a ponytail), a hair tie
  3. A pill (a ball formed on the surface of the fabric, as on laundered clothes).
  4. A localized set of stitches forming a raised bump.
  5. A wobbling motion.
verb
  1. To bob up and down.
  2. To make a mistake in.
  3. To roll slowly.

bola

noun
  1. A throwing weapon made of weights on the ends of a cord.

boll

noun
  1. The rounded seed-bearing capsule of a cotton or flax plant.
  2. An old dry measure equal to six bushels.
verb
  1. To form a boll or seed vessel; to go to seed.

bolo

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A long, heavy, single-edged machete.
  2. A type of punch; an uppercut.
verb
  1. To attack or despatch with a bolo knife.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A soldier not capable of the minimum standards of marksmanship.
verb
  1. To fail to meet the minimum standards of marksmanship.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. A string or leather necktie secured with an ornamental slide.
verb
  1. To dress (somebody) in a bolo.

Etymology 4

noun
  1. A request for law enforcement officers to be on the lookout for a suspect.

boob

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Idiot, fool.
verb
  1. To behave stupidly; to act like a boob.
  2. To make a mistake
adjective
  1. Idiotic, foolish.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A breast, especially that of an adult or adolescent human female.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. A prison; jail.

booboo

noun
  1. A mistake or error.
  2. (by or to young children) A minor injury, such as a cut or a bruise.
  3. (by or to young children) Feces.

bowel

noun
  1. A part or division of the intestines, usually the large intestine.
  2. (in the plural) The entrails or intestines; the internal organs of the stomach.
  3. (in the plural) The (deep) interior of something.
  4. (in the plural) The seat of pity or the gentler emotions; pity or mercy.
  5. (in plural) offspring
verb
  1. To disembowel.

bowl

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A roughly hemispherical container used to hold, mix or present food, such as salad, fruit or soup, or other items.
  2. As much as is held by a bowl.
  3. A dish comprising a mix of different foods, not all of which need be cooked, served in a bowl.
  4. A haircut in which straight hair is cut at an even height around the edges, forming a bowl shape.
  5. The round hollow part of anything.
  6. A round crater (or similar) in the ground.
  7. An elliptical-shaped stadium or amphitheater resembling a bowl.
  8. A postseason football competition, a bowl game (i.e. Rose Bowl, Super Bowl)

Etymology 2

noun
  1. The ball rolled by players in the game of lawn bowls.
  2. The action of bowling a ball.
  3. (in the plural, but used with a singular verb) The game of bowls.
verb
  1. To roll or throw (a ball) in the correct manner in cricket and similar games and sports.
  2. To throw the ball (in cricket and similar games and sports).
  3. To roll or carry smoothly on, or as on, wheels.
  4. To pelt or strike with anything rolled.

bowwow

No Definition Found.

elbow

noun
  1. The joint between the upper arm and the forearm.
  2. (by extension) Any turn or bend like that of the elbow, in a wall, building, coastline, etc.; an angular or jointed part of any structure, such as the raised arm of a chair or sofa, or a short pipe fitting, turning at an angle or bent.
  3. A detective.
  4. Part of a basketball court located at the intersection of the free-throw line and the free-throw lane.
  5. A hit with the elbow.
verb
  1. To push with the elbow.
  2. (by extension) To nudge, jostle or push.

label

noun
  1. A small ticket or sign giving information about something to which it is attached or intended to be attached.
  2. A name given to something or someone to categorise them as part of a particular social group.
  3. A company that sells records.
  4. A user-defined alias for a numerical designation, the reverse of an enumeration.
  5. A named place in source code that can be jumped to using a GOTO or equivalent construct.
  6. A charge resembling the strap crossing the horse’s chest from which pendants are hung.
  7. A tassel.
  8. A piece of writing added to something, such as a codicil appended to a will.
  9. A brass rule with sights, formerly used with a circumferentor to take altitudes.
  10. The projecting moulding by the sides, and over the tops, of openings in mediaeval architecture.
  11. In mediaeval art, the representation of a band or scroll containing an inscription.
  12. A non-interactive control or widget displaying text, often used to describe the purpose of another control.
verb
  1. To put a label (a ticket or sign) on (something).
  2. (ditransitive) To give a label to (someone or something) in order to categorise that person or thing.
  3. To replace specific atoms by their isotope in order to track the presence or movement of this isotope through a reaction, metabolic pathway or cell.
  4. To add a detectable substance, either transiently or permanently, to a biological substance in order to track the presence of the label-substance combination either in situ or in vitro

lobe

noun
  1. Any projection or division, especially one of a somewhat rounded form.
  2. A clear division of an organ that can be determined at the gross anatomy level, especially one of the parts of the brain, liver or lung.
  3. A semicircular pattern left on the ice as the skater travels across it.

lobo

noun
  1. A wolf.

lowball

noun
  1. The position of the ball on an American railroad ball signal that indicated Stop.
  2. A form of poker in which the lowest-ranking poker hand wins the pot. Usually the ace is the lowest-ranking card, straights and flushes do not count making the best possible hand being A, 2, 3, 4, 5 regardless of suits (in contrast to deuce-to-seven lowball.)
  3. A form of cribbage in which the first to score 121 (or 61) is the loser.
  4. An unmixed alcohol drink served on ice or water in a short glass.
verb
  1. To give an intentionally low estimate of anything, not necessarily with deceptive intent.
  2. To give (a customer) a deceptively low price or cost estimate that one has no intention of honoring or to prepare a cost estimate deliberately and misleadingly low.
  3. To make an offer well below an item's true value, often to take advantage of the seller's desperation or desire to sell the item quickly.

oboe

noun
  1. A soprano and melody wind instrument in the modern orchestra and wind ensemble. It is a smaller instrument and generally made of grenadilla wood. It is a member of the double reed family.

palpable

adjective
  1. Capable of being touched, felt or handled; touchable, tangible.
  2. Obvious or easily perceived; noticeable.
  3. That can be detected by palpation.

pebble

noun
  1. A small stone, especially one rounded by the action of water.
  2. A particle from 4 to 64 mm in diameter, following the Wentworth scale.
  3. A small droplet of water intentionally sprayed on the ice that cause irregularities on the surface.
  4. Transparent and colourless rock crystal.
  5. A form of slow-burning gunpowder in large cubical grains.
verb
  1. To pave with pebbles.
  2. To deposit water droplets on the ice.
  3. To give (leather) a rough appearance with small rounded prominences.
  4. To place a pebble at (a vertex of a graph) according to certain rules; see pebble game.

peelable

No Definition Found.

pleb

noun
  1. A commoner, a member of the lower class of a society.
  2. A common person, an unsophisticated or cultureless person.
  3. (usually derogatory) A freshman cadet at a military academy.
adjective
  1. Of or concerning the lower class of a society.
  2. Undistinguished, commonplace, unsophisticated, vulgar, coarse.

plebe

noun
  1. (usually in the plural) A plebeian, a member of the lower class of Roman citizens.
  2. The plebs, the plebeian class.
  3. The similar lower class of any area.
  4. A freshman cadet at a military academy.

plowable

No Definition Found.

wobble

noun
  1. An unsteady motion.
  2. A tremulous sound.
  3. A low-frequency oscillation sometimes used in dubstep
verb
  1. To move with an uneven or rocking motion, or unsteadily to and fro.
  2. To tremble or quaver.
  3. To vacillate in one's opinions.
  4. To cause to wobble.

boba

noun
  1. Short for boba tea.
noun
  1. A small edible ball made primarily from tapioca starch; used in bubble tea.

boop

No Definition Found.