Friday, December 27, 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: 235

Number of Answers: 53

Points Needed for Genius: 165

Genius requires between 23 and 47 words. You need at least a 7-letter word to reach genius. If you don't get the pangrams, you need 80% of the total points to reach genius. If you get the pangrams, you only need 66% 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 235 was in the 79th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there was a score this high was on December 25, 2024.
The highest score ever was 537 on January 22, 2021.
The lowest score ever was 47 on March 27, 2023.

This puzzle's 53 possible answers rank it in the 82nd percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there were more answers than this was on December 25, 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 25, 2024.

Today's puzzle has an average word length of 5.4.
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 175
  • naan 165
  • nana 165
  • lilt 130
  • till 130
  • tilt 130
  • tint 127
  • mama 122
  • mamma 122
  • nene 120
  • 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 99
  • ally 99
  • call 99
  • calla 99
  • ratatat 99
  • tart 99
  • tartar 99
  • attar 98
  • tatty 97
  • tutu 97
  • cocci 96
  • tattoo 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 95,012 answers ever accepted in the Bee - with 10,379 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*:

  • aalii
  • acyl
  • agly
  • alcaic
  • alicyclic
  • aliya
  • allyl
  • allylic
  • alma
  • amylic
  • calami
  • calcic
  • camail
  • cicala
  • clag
  • clammily
  • cyclicly
  • gallic
  • gallica
  • gally
  • galyac
  • gamily
  • gayal
  • gilly
  • gimmal
  • glammy
  • glial
  • glim
  • glycyl
  • ilia
  • ilial
  • lacily
  • laically
  • lall
  • lamia
  • limy
  • maill
  • malacca
  • malm
  • malmy
  • mamaliga
  • mamilla
  • mammilla
  • milia
  • milligal
  • mimical
  • yill

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

acclaim

Etymology 1

verb
  1. To shout; to call out.
  2. To express great approval (for).
  3. To salute or praise with great approval; to compliment; to applaud; to welcome enthusiastically.
  4. To claim.
  5. To declare by acclamations.
  6. To elect to an office by having no opposition.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. An acclamation; a shout of applause.
  2. A claim.

acyclic

adjective
  1. Not cyclic; having an open chain structure.
  2. (of a graph) Containing no cycles.
  3. Of a flower, having its parts inserted spirally on the receptacle.

alga

noun
  1. Any of many aquatic photosynthetic organisms, including the seaweeds, whose size ranges from a single cell to giant kelps and whose biochemistry and forms are very diverse, some being eukaryotic.

algal

noun
  1. An alga.
adjective
  1. Pertaining to, or like, algae

allay

noun
  1. Alleviation; abatement; check.
  2. An alloy.
verb
  1. To make quiet or put at rest; to pacify or appease; to quell; to calm.
  2. To alleviate; to abate; to mitigate.
  3. To subside, abate, become peaceful.
  4. To mix (metals); to mix with a baser metal; to alloy; to deteriorate.
  5. (by extension) To make worse by the introduction of inferior elements.

ally

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A person, group, or state (etc) which is associated with another for a common cause; one united to another by treaty or common purpose; a confederate.
  2. A person, group, concept (etc) which is associated with another as a helper; a supporter; an auxiliary.
  3. Anything akin to something else by structure, etc.
  4. A closely related species, usually within the same family.
  5. A relative; a kinsman.
verb
  1. To unite, or form a connection between, as between families by marriage, or between princes and states by treaty, league, or confederacy.
  2. To connect or form a relation between by similitude, resemblance, friendship, or love.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A narrow street or passageway, especially one through the middle of a block giving access to the rear of lots or buildings.
  2. The area between the outfielders.
  3. An establishment where bowling is played.
  4. An elongated wooden strip of floor along which a bowling ball is rolled.
  5. The extra area between the sidelines or tramlines on a tennis court that is used for doubles matches.
  6. A walk or passage in a garden or park, bordered by rows of trees or bushes.
  7. A passageway between rows of pews in a church.
  8. (perspective drawing) Any passage having the entrance represented as wider than the exit, so as to give the appearance of length.
  9. The space between two rows of compositors' stands in a printing office.
noun
  1. A glass marble or taw.

amalgam

noun
  1. An alloy containing mercury.
  2. A combination of different things.
  3. One of the ingredients in an alloy.
verb
  1. To amalgamate.

amyl

noun
  1. Pentyl
adjective
  1. Of or pertaining to starch

cagily

adverb
  1. In a cagy manner.

call

noun
  1. A telephone conversation.
  2. A short visit, usually for social purposes.
  3. A visit by a ship or boat to a port.
  4. A cry or shout.
  5. A decision or judgement.
  6. The characteristic cry of a bird or other animal.
  7. A beckoning or summoning.
  8. The right to speak at a given time during a debate or other public event; the floor.
  9. An option to buy stock at a specified price during or at a specified time.
  10. The act of calling to the other batsman.
  11. The state of being the batsman whose role it is to call (depends on where the ball goes.)
  12. A work shift which requires one to be available when requested (see on call).
  13. The act of jumping to a subprogram, saving the means to return to the original point.
  14. A statement of a particular state, or rule, made in many games such as bridge, craps, jacks, and so on.
  15. The act of matching a bet made by a player who has previously bet in the same round of betting.
  16. A note blown on the horn to encourage the dogs in a hunt.
  17. A whistle or pipe, used by the boatswain and his mate to summon the sailors to duty.
  18. A pipe or other instrument to call birds or animals by imitating their note or cry. A game call.
  19. An invitation to take charge of or serve a church as its pastor.
  20. Vocation; employment; calling.
  21. A reference to, or statement of, an object, course, distance, or other matter of description in a survey or grant requiring or calling for a corresponding object, etc., on the land.
  22. (prostitution) A meeting with a client for paid sex; hookup; job.
verb
  1. (heading) To use one's voice.
  2. (heading) To visit.
  3. (heading) To name, identify or describe.
  4. (heading) Direct or indirect use of the voice.
  5. (sometimes with for) To require, demand.
  6. To announce the early extinction of a debt by prepayment, usually at a premium.
  7. To demand repayment of a loan.
  8. To jump to (another part of a program) to perform some operation, returning to the original point on completion.

calla

noun
  1. A marsh plant native to cooler areas throughout the northern hemisphere, Calla palustris, having pale green flowers in a white spathe.
  2. The calla lily, Zantedeschia aethiopica.

calm

noun
  1. (in a person) The state of being calm; peacefulness; absence of worry, anger, fear or other strong negative emotion.
  2. (in a place or situation) The state of being calm; absence of noise and disturbance.
  3. A period of time without wind.
verb
  1. To make calm.
  2. To become calm.
adjective
  1. (of a person) Peaceful, quiet, especially free from anger and anxiety.
  2. (of a place or situation) Free of noise and disturbance.
  3. (of water) with few or no waves on the surface; not rippled.
  4. Without wind or storm.

calmly

adverb
  1. In a calm manner.

cilia

noun
  1. Hairs or similar protrusions along the margin of a plant organ.
  2. A hairlike organelle projecting from a eukaryotic cell (such as a unicellular organism or one cell of a multicelled organism). These structures serve either for locomotion by moving or as sensors.
  3. One of the fine hairs along an insect's wing.

claim

noun
  1. A demand of ownership made for something.
  2. The thing claimed.
  3. The right or ground of demanding.
  4. A new statement of something one believes to be the truth, usually when the statement has yet to be verified or without valid evidence provided.
  5. A demand of ownership for previously unowned land.
  6. A legal demand for compensation or damages.
verb
  1. To demand ownership of.
  2. To state a new fact, typically without providing evidence to prove it is true.
  3. To demand ownership or right to use for land.
  4. To demand compensation or damages through the courts.
  5. To be entitled to anything; to deduce a right or title; to have a claim.
  6. To cause the loss of, usually by violent means.
  7. To proclaim.
  8. To call or name.

clam

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A bivalve mollusk of many kinds, especially those that are edible; for example the soft-shell clam (Mya arenaria), the hard clam (Mercenaria mercenaria), the sea clam or hen clam (Spisula solidissima), and other species. The name is said to have been given originally to the Tridacna gigas, a huge East Indian bivalve.
  2. Strong pincers or forceps.
  3. A kind of vise, usually of wood.
  4. A dollar (usually used in the plural).
  5. A Scientologist.
  6. A vagina.
  7. One who clams up; a taciturn person, one who refuses to speak.
verb
  1. To dig for clams.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A crash or clangor made by ringing all the bells of a chime at once.
verb
  1. To produce, in bellringing, a clam or clangor; to cause to clang.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. Clamminess; moisture
verb
  1. To be moist or glutinous; to stick; to adhere.
  2. To clog, as with glutinous or viscous matter.
adjective
  1. Clammy.

Etymology 4

noun
  1. Acronym of Clip-on Load Adjusting Mechanism. A device that can be fitted onto an oar to adjust set.

clammy

adjective
  1. Cold and damp, usually referring to hands or palms.
  2. The quality of normal skin signs, epidermis that is neither diaphoretic nor dry.

clay

noun
  1. A mineral substance made up of small crystals of silica and alumina, that is ductile when moist; the material of pre-fired ceramics.
  2. An earth material with ductile qualities.
  3. A tennis court surface made of crushed stone, brick, shale, or other unbound mineral aggregate.
  4. The material of the human body.
  5. A particle less than 3.9 microns in diameter, following the Wentworth scale.
  6. A clay pipe for smoking tobacco.
  7. A clay pigeon.
  8. Land or territory of a country or other political region, especially when subject to territorial claims
verb
  1. To add clay to, to spread clay onto.
  2. (of sugar) To purify using clay.

cyclic

adjective
  1. Characterized by, or moving in cycles, or happening at regular intervals.
  2. (of a compound) Having chains of atoms arranged in a ring.
  3. Having parts arranged in a whorl.
  4. (of a group) Being generated by only one element.
  5. (of a polygon) Able to be inscribed in a circle.

cyclical

adjective
  1. Recurring at regular intervals

cyclically

No Definition Found.

gaily

adverb
  1. Merrily.
  2. Showily.

gala

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Pomp, show, or festivity.
  2. A showy and festive party.
adjective
  1. Celebratory; festive.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A member of an androgynous class of priests of the Sumerian goddess Inanna.

gall

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Bile, especially that of an animal; the greenish, profoundly bitter-tasting fluid found in bile ducts and gall bladders, structures associated with the liver.
  2. The gall bladder.
  3. Great misery or physical suffering, likened to the bitterest-tasting of substances.
  4. A feeling of exasperation.
  5. Impudence or brazenness; temerity, chutzpah.
  6. A sore or open wound caused by chafing, which may become infected, as with a blister.
  7. A sore on a horse caused by an ill-fitted or ill-adjusted saddle; a saddle sore.
  8. A pit on a surface being cut caused by the friction between the two surfaces exceeding the bond of the material at a point.
verb
  1. To bother or trouble.
  2. To harass, to harry, often with the intent to cause injury.
  3. To chafe, to rub or subject to friction; to create a sore on the skin.
  4. To exasperate.
  5. To cause pitting on a surface being cut from the friction between the two surfaces exceeding the bond of the material at a point.
  6. To scoff; to jeer.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A blister or tumor-like growth found on the surface of plants, caused by burrowing of insect larvae into the living tissues, especially that of the common oak gall wasp Cynips quercusfolii.
  2. A bump-like imperfection resembling a gall.
verb
  1. To impregnate with a decoction of gallnuts in dyeing.

gayly

No Definition Found.

giggly

adjective
  1. Prone to giggling.

gill

Etymology 1

noun
  1. (animal anatomy) a breathing organ of fish and other aquatic animals
  2. (of a fish) a gill slit or gill cover
  3. One of the radial folds on the underside of the cap of a mushroom, on the surface of which the spore-producing organs are borne
  4. (animal anatomy) the fleshy flap that hangs below the beak of a fowl; a wattle
  5. The flesh under or about the chin; a wattle
  6. (spinning) one of the combs of closely ranged steel pins which divide the ribbons of flax fiber or wool into fewer parallel filaments
verb
  1. To remove the gills from a fish as part of gutting and cleaning it
  2. To catch (a fish) in a gillnet
  3. To be or become entangled in a gillnet

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A drink measure for spirits and wine (size varies regionally but it is about one quarter of a pint)
  2. A measuring jug holding a quarter or half a pint

Etymology 3

noun
  1. Rivulet
  2. Ravine

Etymology 4

noun
  1. A two-wheeled frame for transporting timber

Etymology 5

noun
  1. A leech

Etymology 6

noun
  1. A female ferret
  2. A promiscuous woman; harlot, wanton
  3. A prostitute
verb
  1. To act as a prostitute.

glacial

noun
  1. A glacial period (colloquially known as an ice age).
adjective
  1. Of, or relating to glaciers.
  2. Very slow.
  3. Cold and icy.
  4. Having the appearance of ice.
  5. Cool and unfriendly.

glacially

No Definition Found.

glam

noun
  1. Glamour.
  2. A style of rock music, glam rock, associated with an androgynous yet masculine look and a driving, pounding bluesy form of psychedelic rock; the fashion and culture associated with this genre.
verb
  1. To make glamorous or more glamorous.
adjective
  1. Glamorous.

glia

noun
  1. The network of glial cells that supports nervous system tissue.

icily

No Definition Found.

iliac

adjective
  1. Of or pertaining to the ilium.

illy

No Definition Found.

lacy

adjective
  1. Made of lace or decorated with it.
  2. Looking like lace.

laic

noun
  1. A layperson, as opposed to a member of the clergy.
adjective
  1. Lay, relating to laypersons, as opposed to clerical.

laical

No Definition Found.

lallygag

noun
  1. Horseplay, fooling around.
  2. A layabout, one who lallygags.
verb
  1. (See lollygag.) To dawdle; to be lazy or idle; to avoid necessary work or effort.
  2. To pet, kiss, or otherwise demonstrate overt affection, generally in public.

lama

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A master of Tibetan Buddhism.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A South American mammal of the camel family, Lama glama, used as a domestic beast of burden and a source of wool and meat.

lilac

noun
  1. A large shrub of the genus Syringa, especially Syringa vulgaris, bearing white, pale-pink or purple flowers.
  2. A flower of the lilac shrub.
  3. (color) A pale purple color, the color of some lilac flowers.
adjective
  1. Having a pale purple colour.

lily

noun
  1. Any of several flowers in the genus Lilium of the family Liliaceae, which includes a great many ornamental species.
  2. Any of several species of herbaceous flower which may or may not resemble the genus Lilium in some way, and which are not closely related to it or each other.
  3. The flower used as a heraldic charge; also commonly used to describe the fleur-de-lis.
  4. The end of a compass needle that should point north, traditionally often ornamented with the figure of a lily or fleur-de-lis.
  5. (usually in the plural) A royal spade in auction bridge.
  6. The thirtieth Lenormand card, representing calmness and maturity.
adjective
  1. White (as a racial epithet).

lima

No Definition Found.

llama

noun
  1. A South American mammal of the camel family, Lama glama, used as a domestic beast of burden and a source of wool and meat.

magical

adjective
  1. Of or relating to magic.
  2. Enchanting.

magically

adverb
  1. In a magical manner; by magic, or as if by magic.

mail

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A bag or wallet.
  2. A bag containing letters to be delivered by post.
  3. The material conveyed by the postal service.
  4. A stagecoach, train or ship that delivers such post.
  5. The postal service or system in general.
  6. The letters, parcels, etc. delivered to a particular address or person.
  7. Electronic mail, e-mail: a computer network–based service for sending, storing, and forwarding electronic messages.
  8. A trunk, box, or bag, in which clothing, etc., may be carried.
verb
  1. (ditransitive) To send (a letter, parcel, etc.) through the mail.
  2. (ditransitive) To send by electronic mail.
  3. To contact (a person) by electronic mail.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Armour consisting of metal rings or plates linked together.
  2. A contrivance of interlinked rings, for rubbing off the loose hemp on lines and white cordage.
  3. Any hard protective covering of an animal, as the scales and plates of reptiles, shell of a lobster, etc.
  4. A spot on a bird's feather; by extension, a spotted feather.
verb
  1. To arm with mail.
  2. To pinion.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. An old French coin worth half a denier.
  2. A monetary payment or tribute.
  3. Rent.
  4. Tax.

malic

No Definition Found.

mall

noun
  1. A pedestrianised street, especially a shopping precinct.
  2. An enclosed shopping centre.
  3. An alley where the game of pall mall was played.
  4. A public walk; a level shaded walk, a promenade.
  5. A heavy wooden mallet or hammer used in the game of pall mall.
  6. The game of polo.
  7. An old game played with malls or mallets and balls; pall mall.
verb
  1. To beat with a mall, or mallet; to beat with something heavy; to bruise
  2. To build up with the development of shopping malls
  3. To shop at the mall

mammal

noun
  1. An animal of the class Mammalia, characterized by being warm-blooded, having hair and feeding milk to its young.
  2. A vertebrate with three bones in the inner ear and one in the jaw.

mill

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A grinding apparatus for substances such as grains, seeds, etc.
  2. The building housing such a grinding apparatus.
  3. A machine used for expelling the juice, sap, etc., from vegetable tissues by pressure, or by pressure in combination with a grinding, or cutting process.
  4. A machine for grinding and polishing.
  5. The raised or ridged edge or surface made in milling anything, such as a coin or screw.
  6. A manufacturing plant for paper, steel, textiles, etc.
  7. A building housing such a plant.
  8. An establishment that handles a certain type of situation or procedure routinely, or produces large quantities of an item without much regard to quality, such as a divorce mill, a puppy mill, etc.
  9. An institution awarding educational certificates not officially recognised
  10. An engine.
  11. A boxing match, fistfight.
  12. (die sinking) A hardened steel roller with a design in relief, used for imprinting a reversed copy of the design in a softer metal, such as copper.
  13. An excavation in rock, transverse to the workings, from which material for filling is obtained.
  14. A passage underground through which ore is shot.
  15. A milling cutter.
  16. A treadmill.
  17. A typewriter used to transcribe messages received.
verb
  1. To grind or otherwise process in a mill or other machine.
  2. To shape, polish, dress or finish using a machine.
  3. To engrave one or more grooves or a pattern around the edge of (a cylindrical object such as a coin).
  4. (followed by around, about, etc.) To move about in an aimless fashion.
  5. To cause to mill, or circle around.
  6. (of air-breathing creatures) To swim underwater.
  7. (of a whale) To swim suddenly in a new direction.
  8. To beat; to pound.
  9. To pass through a fulling mill; to full, as cloth.
  10. To roll (steel, etc.) into bars.
  11. To make (drinking chocolate) frothy, as by churning.
  12. To undergo hulling.
  13. To take part in a fistfight; to box.
  14. To fill (a winze or interior incline) with broken ore, to be drawn out at the bottom.
  15. (thieves' cant) To commit burglary.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. An obsolete coin worth one thousandth of a US dollar, or one tenth of a cent.
  2. One thousandth part, particularly in millage rates of property tax.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. An angular mil, a unit of angular measurement equal to 1⁄6400 of a complete circle. At 1000 metres one mil subtends about one metre (0.98 m). Also 1⁄6000 and 1⁄6300 are used in other countries.
  2. A unit of measurement equal to 1⁄1000 of an inch, usually used for thin objects, such as sheets of plastic.
  3. A former subdivision (1/1000) of the Maltese lira
  4. (plural "mil") Abbreviation of million.
noun
  1. A unit of measure of capacity, being one thousandth of a litre. Symbol: ml

Etymology 4

noun
  1. A line of three matching pieces in nine men's morris and related games.

Etymology 5

noun
  1. (trading card games) Discarding a card from one's deck.
  2. (trading card games) A strategy centered on depleting the opponent's deck.
verb
  1. (trading card games) To move (a card) from a deck to the discard pile.
  2. (Hearthstone) To destroy (a card) due to having a full hand.

myalgia

noun
  1. Muscular pain or tenderness.

myalgic

No Definition Found.

laggy

adjective
  1. Having a delayed response to a change in the factors influencing it.
  2. Tending to lag, or respond slowly because of network latency.