Saturday, December 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: 2

Maximum Puzzle Score: 288

Number of Answers: 50

Points Needed for Genius: 202

Genius requires between 25 and 43 words. You need at least an 8-letter word to reach genius. If you don't get the pangrams, you need 79% of the total points to reach genius. If you get the pangrams, you only need 66% 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 288 was in the 93rd percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there was a score this high was on December 7, 2024.
The highest score ever was 537 on January 22, 2021.
The lowest score ever was 47 on March 27, 2023.

This puzzle's 50 possible answers rank it in the 77th 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 an 8-letter word for genius.
The last time this happened was on December 18, 2024.

Today's puzzle has an average word length of 6.1.
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 94,742 answers ever accepted in the Bee - with 10,370 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*:

  • conduce
  • conduced
  • coude
  • deuced
  • douce
  • duce
  • duded
  • dudeen
  • duende
  • duffed
  • enounce
  • enounced
  • enuf
  • feued
  • fondu
  • fondued
  • funned
  • nonfunded
  • nuff
  • unco
  • uncoded
  • unconfounded
  • unde
  • undee
  • unended
  • unfence
  • unfenced
  • unfond
  • unfound

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

cofound

verb
  1. To found at the same time as another.
  2. To found with one or more other people.

cofounded

verb
  1. To found at the same time as another.
  2. To found with one or more other people.
adjective
  1. Founded at the same time as another, or by two or more people

confound

noun
  1. A confounding variable.
verb
  1. To perplex or puzzle.
  2. To fail to see the difference; to mix up; to confuse right and wrong.
  3. To make something worse.
  4. To combine in a confused fashion; to mingle so as to make the parts indistinguishable.
  5. To cause to be ashamed; to abash.
  6. To defeat, to frustrate, to thwart.
  7. To damn (a mild oath).
  8. To bring to ruination.
  9. To stun, amaze

confounded

verb
  1. To perplex or puzzle.
  2. To fail to see the difference; to mix up; to confuse right and wrong.
  3. To make something worse.
  4. To combine in a confused fashion; to mingle so as to make the parts indistinguishable.
  5. To cause to be ashamed; to abash.
  6. To defeat, to frustrate, to thwart.
  7. To damn (a mild oath).
  8. To bring to ruination.
  9. To stun, amaze
adjective
  1. Confused, astonished
  2. Defeated, thwarted
  3. Damned, accursed, bloody

cued

No Definition Found.

cuff

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Glove; mitten
  2. The end of a shirt sleeve that covers the wrist
  3. The end of a pants leg, folded up
  4. Handcuffs
verb
  1. To furnish with cuffs.
  2. To handcuff.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A blow, especially with the open hand; a box; a slap.
verb
  1. To hit, as a reproach, particularly with the open palm to the head; to slap.
  2. To fight; to scuffle; to box.
  3. To buffet.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. The scruff of the neck.

cuffed

verb
  1. To furnish with cuffs.
  2. To handcuff.
verb
  1. To hit, as a reproach, particularly with the open palm to the head; to slap.
  2. To fight; to scuffle; to box.
  3. To buffet.
adjective
  1. Fitted with a cuff.

deduce

verb
  1. To reach a conclusion by applying rules of logic to given premises.
  2. To take away; to deduct; to subtract.
  3. (Latinism) To lead forth.

deduced

verb
  1. To reach a conclusion by applying rules of logic to given premises.
  2. To take away; to deduct; to subtract.
  3. (Latinism) To lead forth.

defund

verb
  1. To cancel funding for.

defunded

verb
  1. To cancel funding for.

denounce

verb
  1. To make known in a formal manner; to proclaim; to announce; to declare.
  2. To criticize or speak out against (someone or something); to point out as deserving of reprehension, etc.; to openly accuse or condemn in a threatening manner; to invoke censure upon; to stigmatize; to blame.
  3. To make a formal or public accusation against; to inform against; to accuse.
  4. To proclaim in a threatening manner; to threaten by some outward sign or expression; make a menace of.
  5. To announce the termination of; especially a treaty or armistice.
  6. To claim the right of working a mine that is abandoned or insufficiently worked.

denounced

verb
  1. To make known in a formal manner; to proclaim; to announce; to declare.
  2. To criticize or speak out against (someone or something); to point out as deserving of reprehension, etc.; to openly accuse or condemn in a threatening manner; to invoke censure upon; to stigmatize; to blame.
  3. To make a formal or public accusation against; to inform against; to accuse.
  4. To proclaim in a threatening manner; to threaten by some outward sign or expression; make a menace of.
  5. To announce the termination of; especially a treaty or armistice.
  6. To claim the right of working a mine that is abandoned or insufficiently worked.

denude

verb
  1. To divest of all covering; to make bare or naked; to strip.

denuded

verb
  1. To divest of all covering; to make bare or naked; to strip.
adjective
  1. Exposed by erosion

deuce

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A card with two pips, one of four in a standard deck of playing cards.
  2. A side of a die with two spots.
  3. A cast of dice totalling two.
  4. The number two.
  5. A tied game where either player can win by scoring two consecutive points.
  6. A curveball.
  7. A '32 Ford.
  8. (in the plural) 2-barrel (twin choke) carburetors (in the phrase 3 deuces: an arrangement on a common intake manifold).
  9. (restaurants) A table seating two diners.
  10. A piece of excrement.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. (epithet) The Devil, used in exclamations of confusion or anger.

dude

noun
  1. A man, generally a younger man.
  2. (used in the vocative) A term of address for someone, typically a man, particularly when cautioning him or offering him advice.
  3. An inexperienced cowboy.
  4. A tourist.
  5. A man who is very concerned about his dress and appearance; a dandy, a fop.
verb
  1. To address someone as dude.
  2. To take a vacation in a dude ranch.
  3. Usually followed by up: to dress up, to wear smart or special clothes.
interjection
  1. A term of address, usually for a man, conveying awe, excitement, surprise, etc.

duff

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Dough.
  2. A stiff flour pudding, often with dried fruit, boiled in a cloth bag, or steamed.
  3. A pudding-style dessert, especially one made with plums.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Decaying vegetable matter on the forest floor.
  2. Coal dust, especially that left after screening or combined with other small, unsaleable bits of coal.
  3. Fine and dry coal in small pieces, usually anthracite.
  4. A mixture of coal and rock.
  5. The bits left in the bottom of the bag after the booty has been consumed, like crumbs.
  6. Something spurious or fake; a counterfeit, a worthless thing.
  7. (1800s) An error.
adjective
  1. Worthless; not working properly, defective.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. The buttocks.

Etymology 4

verb
  1. To disguise something to make it look new.
  2. To alter the branding of stolen cattle; to steal cattle.
  3. (with "up") To beat up.
  4. To hit the ground behind the ball.

Etymology 5

noun
  1. A large frame drum, resembling a tambourine, used to accompany popular and classical music in the Middle East.

dunce

noun
  1. An unintelligent person.

dune

noun
  1. A ridge or hill of sand piled up by the wind.

dunned

verb
  1. To ask or beset a debtor for payment.
  2. To harass by continually repeating e.g. a request.
verb
  1. To cure, as codfish, by laying them, after salting, in a pile in a dark place, covered with saltgrass or a similar substance.

dunno

noun
  1. An utterance of the word dunno.

educe

noun
  1. An inference.
verb
  1. To direct the course of (a flow, journey etc.); to lead in a particular direction.
  2. To infer or deduce (a result, theory etc.) from existing data or premises.
  3. To draw out or bring forth from some basic or potential state; to elicit, to develop.
  4. To isolate (a substance) from a compound; to extract.
  5. To cause or generate; to bring about.

educed

verb
  1. To direct the course of (a flow, journey etc.); to lead in a particular direction.
  2. To infer or deduce (a result, theory etc.) from existing data or premises.
  3. To draw out or bring forth from some basic or potential state; to elicit, to develop.
  4. To isolate (a substance) from a compound; to extract.
  5. To cause or generate; to bring about.
adjective
  1. Evoked
  2. Deduced

endue

verb
  1. To pass food into the stomach; to digest; also figuratively, to take on, absorb.
  2. To take on, to take the form of.
  3. To put on (a piece of clothing); to clothe (someone with something).
  4. To invest (someone) with a given quality, property etc.; to endow.

endued

verb
  1. To pass food into the stomach; to digest; also figuratively, to take on, absorb.
  2. To take on, to take the form of.
  3. To put on (a piece of clothing); to clothe (someone with something).
  4. To invest (someone) with a given quality, property etc.; to endow.

fecund

adjective
  1. Highly fertile; able to produce offspring.
  2. Leading to new ideas or innovation.

feud

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A state of long-standing mutual hostility.
  2. A staged rivalry between wrestlers.
  3. A combination of kindred to avenge injuries or affronts, done or offered to any of their blood, on the offender and all his race.
verb
  1. To carry on a feud.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. An estate granted to a vassal by a feudal lord in exchange for service.

feuded

verb
  1. To carry on a feud.

fondue

noun
  1. A dish made of melted cheese, chocolate etc., or of a boiling liquid into which food can be dipped.
verb
  1. To prepare or serve as a fondue.

found

Etymology 1

verb
  1. To encounter or discover by accident; to happen upon.
  2. To encounter or discover something being searched for; to locate.
  3. (ditransitive) To discover by study or experiment direct to an object or end.
  4. To gain, as the object of desire or effort.
  5. To attain to; to arrive at; to acquire.
  6. To point out.
  7. (ditransitive) To decide that, to discover that, to form the opinion that.
  8. To arrive at, as a conclusion; to determine as true; to establish.
  9. To supply; to furnish.
  10. To provide for
  11. To determine or judge.
  12. To discover game.
noun
  1. Food and lodging; board.

Etymology 2

verb
  1. To start (an institution or organization).
  2. To begin building.

Etymology 3

verb
  1. To melt, especially of metal in an industrial setting.
  2. To form by melting a metal and pouring it into a mould; to cast.

Etymology 4

noun
  1. A thin, single-cut file for comb-makers.

founded

verb
  1. To start (an institution or organization).
  2. To begin building.
verb
  1. To melt, especially of metal in an industrial setting.
  2. To form by melting a metal and pouring it into a mould; to cast.
adjective
  1. Having a basis.

fund

noun
  1. A sum or source of money.
  2. An organization managing such money.
  3. A money-management operation, such as a mutual fund.
  4. A large supply of something to be drawn upon.
verb
  1. To pay for.
  2. To place (money) in a fund.
  3. To form a debt into a stock charged with interest.

funded

verb
  1. To pay for.
  2. To place (money) in a fund.
  3. To form a debt into a stock charged with interest.
adjective
  1. Having received financial support; paid for.
  2. Invested in public funds; existing in the form of bonds.

noun

noun
  1. (grammar, narrow sense) A word that can be used to refer to a person, animal, place, thing, phenomenon, substance, quality, or idea; one of the basic parts of speech in many languages, including English.
  2. (grammar, now rare, broad sense) Either a word that can be used to refer to a person, animal, place, thing, phenomenon, substance, quality or idea, or a word that modifies or describes a previous word or its referent; a substantive or adjective, sometimes also including other parts of speech such as numeral or pronoun.
verb
  1. To convert a word to a noun.

nude

noun
  1. A painting, sculpture, photograph or other artwork or mass-media-reproduced image depicting one or more human figure(s) in a state of near or total undress.
  2. (with article, "the nude") The state of total nudity.
  3. A color that resembles or evokes bare flesh; a paint, dye, etc. of such color.
adjective
  1. Without clothing or other covering of the skin; without clothing on the genitals or female nipples.
  2. Characterized by the nudity of people concerned or to whom the described noun is attributed.
  3. (of clothing, makeup, etc) Of a color (such as beige or tan) that evokes bare flesh.
  4. Not valid; void.

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.

udon

noun
  1. A Japanese wheat noodle

unceded

No Definition Found.

uncuff

No Definition Found.

uncuffed

No Definition Found.

undefended

adjective
  1. Not defended.

undo

noun
  1. An operation that reverses a previous action.
verb
  1. To reverse the effects of an action.
  2. To unfasten.
  3. To impoverish or ruin, as in reputation; to cause the downfall of.

undone

Etymology 1

adjective
  1. Not done.

Etymology 2

verb
  1. To reverse the effects of an action.
  2. To unfasten.
  3. To impoverish or ruin, as in reputation; to cause the downfall of.
adjective
  1. Not fastened.
  2. Ruined; brought to nought.

undue

adjective
  1. Excessive; going beyond that what is natural or sufficient.
  2. That which ought not to be done; illegal; unjustified.
  3. (of a payment etc) Not owing or payable.

unfed

noun
  1. A mosquito that has not had a blood meal.
adjective
  1. Not fed.
  2. Unsupported.

unfounded

adjective
  1. Having no strong foundation; not based on solid reasons or facts.
  2. Not having been founded or instituted.
  3. Bottomless.

unfunded

adjective
  1. Not funded; having received no funding.

unneeded

adjective
  1. Not needed.

unoffended

adjective
  1. Not offended.