Monday, December 30, 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: 236

Number of Answers: 42

Points Needed for Genius: 165

Genius requires between 21 and 35 words. You need at least an 8-letter word to reach genius. If you don't get the pangram, you need 75% of the total points to reach genius. If you get the pangram, you only need 68% 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 236 was in the 79th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there was a score this high was on December 28, 2024.
The highest score ever was 537 on January 22, 2021.
The lowest score ever was 47 on March 27, 2023.

This puzzle's 42 possible answers rank it in the 59th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there were more answers than this was on December 28, 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 23, 2024.

Today's puzzle has an average word length of 6.2.
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 190
  • loll 181
  • 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 104
  • 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 95,135 answers ever accepted in the Bee - with 10,382 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*:

  • figging
  • fillo
  • filo
  • finning
  • fino
  • firn
  • flir
  • flong
  • florin
  • foin
  • foining
  • folioing
  • frig
  • frigging
  • frilling
  • frogging
  • gliff
  • gonif
  • goniff
  • gonof
  • griff
  • logoff
  • loof
  • niff
  • niffing
  • rolf
  • rolfing

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

fifing

verb
  1. To play this instrument.

filing

verb
  1. To commit (official papers) to some office.
  2. To place in an archive in a logical place and order
  3. To store a file (aggregation of data) on a storage medium such as a disc or another computer.
  4. (with for) To submit a formal request to some office.
  5. To set in order; to arrange, or lay away.
verb
  1. To move in a file.
verb
  1. To smooth, grind, or cut with a file.
verb
  1. To defile
  2. To corrupt
noun
  1. Any particle that has been removed by a file or similar implement; a shaving.
  2. The act of storing documents in an archive; archiving.
  3. Something that has been officially filed; a document on file.

fill

Etymology 1

verb
  1. To occupy fully, to take up all of.
  2. To add contents to (a container, cavity or the like) so that it is full.
  3. To enter (something), making it full.
  4. To become full.
  5. To become pervaded with something.
  6. To satisfy or obey (an order, request or requirement).
  7. To install someone, or be installed, in (a position or office), eliminating a vacancy.
  8. To treat (a tooth) by adding a dental filling to it.
  9. To fill or supply fully with food; to feed; to satisfy.
  10. To trim (a yard) so that the wind blows on the after side of the sails.
  11. (of a male) To have sexual intercourse with (a female).

Etymology 2

noun
  1. (after a possessive) A sufficient or more than sufficient amount.
  2. An amount that fills a container.
  3. The filling of a container or area.
  4. Inexpensive material used to occupy empty spaces, especially in construction.
  5. Soil and/or human-created debris discovered within a cavity or cut in the layers and exposed by excavation; fill soil.
  6. An embankment, as in railroad construction, to fill a hollow or ravine; also, the place which is to be filled.
  7. A short passage, riff, or rhythmic sound that helps to keep the listener's attention during a break between the phrases of a melody.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. One of the thills or shafts of a carriage.

filling

verb
  1. To occupy fully, to take up all of.
  2. To add contents to (a container, cavity or the like) so that it is full.
  3. To enter (something), making it full.
  4. To become full.
  5. To become pervaded with something.
  6. To satisfy or obey (an order, request or requirement).
  7. To install someone, or be installed, in (a position or office), eliminating a vacancy.
  8. To treat (a tooth) by adding a dental filling to it.
  9. To fill or supply fully with food; to feed; to satisfy.
  10. To trim (a yard) so that the wind blows on the after side of the sails.
  11. (of a male) To have sexual intercourse with (a female).
noun
  1. Anything that is used to fill something.
  2. The contents of a pie, etc.
  3. Any material used to fill a cavity in a tooth or the result of using such material.
  4. The woof in woven fabrics.
  5. Prepared wort added to ale to cleanse it.
  6. A religious experience attributed to the Holy Ghost "filling" a believer.
adjective
  1. Of food, that satisfies the appetite by filling the stomach.

fining

verb
  1. To make finer, purer, or cleaner; to purify or clarify.
  2. To become finer, purer, or cleaner.
  3. To make finer, or less coarse, as in bulk, texture, etc.
  4. To change by fine gradations.
  5. To clarify (wine and beer) by filtration.
  6. To become gradually fine; to diminish; to dwindle (with away, down, or off).
verb
  1. To issue a fine as punishment to (someone).
  2. To pay a fine.
verb
  1. To finish; to cease.
  2. To cause to cease; to stop.

firing

verb
  1. To set (something, often a building) on fire.
  2. To heat as with fire, but without setting on fire, as ceramic, metal objects, etc.
  3. To drive away by setting a fire.
  4. To terminate the employment contract of (an employee), especially for cause (such as misconduct or poor performance).
  5. To shoot (a gun or analogous device).
  6. To shoot a gun, cannon, or similar weapon.
  7. To shoot; to attempt to score a goal.
  8. To cause an action potential in a cell.
  9. To forcibly direct (something).
  10. (computer sciences, software engineering) To initiate an event (by means of an event handler).
  11. To inflame; to irritate, as the passions.
  12. To animate; to give life or spirit to.
  13. To feed or serve the fire of.
  14. To light up as if by fire; to illuminate.
  15. To cauterize.
  16. To catch fire; to be kindled.
  17. To be irritated or inflamed with passion.
noun
  1. The process of applying heat or fire, especially to clay etc to produce pottery.
  2. The fuel for a fire.
  3. The act of adding fuel to a fire.
  4. The discharge of a gun or other weapon.
  5. The dismissal of someone from a job.
  6. Cauterization.

fling

Etymology 1

noun
  1. An act of throwing, often violently.
  2. An act of moving the limbs or body with violent movements, especially in a dance.
  3. An act or period of unrestrained indulgence.
  4. A short casual sexual relationship.
  5. An attempt, a try (as in "give it a fling").
  6. A severe or contemptuous remark; an expression of sarcastic scorn; a gibe or taunt.
  7. A lively Scottish country dance.
  8. A trifling matter; an object of contempt.

Etymology 2

verb
  1. To move (oneself) abruptly or violently; to rush or dash.
  2. To throw with violence or quick movement; to hurl.
  3. To throw; to wince; to flounce.
  4. To utter abusive language; to sneer.

flinging

verb
  1. To move (oneself) abruptly or violently; to rush or dash.
  2. To throw with violence or quick movement; to hurl.
  3. To throw; to wince; to flounce.
  4. To utter abusive language; to sneer.
noun
  1. The act by which something is flung.

flog

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A contemptible, often arrogant person.
verb
  1. To whip or scourge someone or something as punishment.
  2. To use something to extreme; to abuse.
  3. To sell.
  4. To steal something.
  5. To defeat easily or convincingly.
  6. To exploit.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A weblog designed to look authentic, but actually developed as part of a commercial marketing strategy to promote some product or service.

flogging

verb
  1. To whip or scourge someone or something as punishment.
  2. To use something to extreme; to abuse.
  3. To sell.
  4. To steal something.
  5. To defeat easily or convincingly.
  6. To exploit.
noun
  1. Infliction of punishment by dealing blows or whipping.

floor

noun
  1. The interior bottom or surface of a house or building; the supporting surface of a room.
  2. Ground (surface of the Earth, as opposed to the sky or water or underground).
  3. The lower inside surface of a hollow space.
  4. A structure formed of beams, girders, etc, with proper covering, which divides a building horizontally into storeys/stories.
  5. The supporting surface or platform of a structure such as a bridge.
  6. A storey/story of a building.
  7. In a parliament, the part of the house assigned to the members, as opposed to the viewing gallery.
  8. Hence, the right to speak at a given time during a debate or other public event.
  9. That part of the bottom of a vessel on each side of the keelson which is most nearly horizontal.
  10. The rock underlying a stratified or nearly horizontal deposit.
  11. A horizontal, flat ore body.
  12. The largest integer less than or equal to a given number.
  13. An event performed on a floor-like carpeted surface.
  14. A floor-like carpeted surface for performing gymnastic movements.
  15. A lower limit on the interest rate payable on an otherwise variable-rate loan, used by lenders to defend against falls in interest rates. Opposite of a cap.
  16. A dance floor.
  17. The area in which business is conducted at a convention or exhibition
verb
  1. To cover or furnish with a floor.
  2. To strike down or lay level with the floor; to knock down.
  3. (driving) To accelerate rapidly.
  4. To silence by a conclusive answer or retort.
  5. To amaze or greatly surprise.
  6. To finish or make an end of.
  7. To set a lower bound.

flooring

verb
  1. To cover or furnish with a floor.
  2. To strike down or lay level with the floor; to knock down.
  3. (driving) To accelerate rapidly.
  4. To silence by a conclusive answer or retort.
  5. To amaze or greatly surprise.
  6. To finish or make an end of.
  7. To set a lower bound.
noun
  1. A floor.
  2. A material used to make floors.
  3. The act of putting one's opponent on the floor; a knockdown.

fogging

verb
  1. To become covered with or as if with fog.
  2. To become obscured in condensation or water.
  3. To become dim or obscure.
  4. To make dim or obscure.
  5. To cover with or as if with fog.
  6. To disperse insecticide into (a forest canopy) so as to collect organisms.
  7. To obscure in condensation or water.
  8. To make confusing or obscure.
  9. To practice in a small or mean way; to pettifog.
verb
  1. To pasture cattle on the fog, or aftergrass, of; to eat off the fog from.
  2. To become covered with the kind of grass called fog.
noun
  1. The dispersal of insecticide into a forest canopy so as to collect organisms.

foil

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A very thin sheet of metal.
  2. Thin aluminium/aluminum (or, formerly, tin) used for wrapping food.
  3. A thin layer of metal put between a jewel and its setting to make it seem more brilliant.
  4. (authorship) In literature, theatre/theater, etc., a character who helps emphasize the traits of the main character and who usually acts as an opponent or antagonist.
  5. Anything that acts by contrast to emphasise the characteristics of something.
  6. A very thin sword with a blunted (or foiled) tip
  7. A thin, transparent plastic material on which marks are made and projected for the purposes of presentation. See transparency.
  8. A stylized flower or leaf.
  9. A hydrofoil.
  10. An aerofoil/airfoil.
verb
  1. To cover or wrap with foil.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Failure when on the point of attainment; defeat; frustration; miscarriage.
  2. One of the incorrect answers presented in a multiple-choice test.
verb
  1. To prevent (something) from being accomplished.
  2. To prevent (someone) from accomplishing something.
  3. To blunt; to dull; to spoil.
  4. To tread underfoot; to trample.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. The track of an animal.

Etymology 4

verb
  1. To expand a product of two or more algebraic expressions, typically binomials.

Etymology 5

verb
  1. To defile; to soil.

foiling

verb
  1. To cover or wrap with foil.
verb
  1. To prevent (something) from being accomplished.
  2. To prevent (someone) from accomplishing something.
  3. To blunt; to dull; to spoil.
  4. To tread underfoot; to trample.
verb
  1. To expand a product of two or more algebraic expressions, typically binomials.
verb
  1. To defile; to soil.
noun
  1. The act by which something is foiled; prevention of success.
  2. The track of game, such as deer, in the grass.
  3. A foil.

folio

noun
  1. A leaf of a book or manuscript
  2. A page of a book, that is, one side of a leaf of a book.
  3. A page number. The even folios are on the left-hand pages and the odd folios on the right-hand pages.
  4. A sheet of paper folded in half.
  5. (books) A book made of sheets of paper each folded in half (two leaves or four pages to the sheet); hence, a book of the largest kind, exceeding 30 cm in height.
  6. A page in an account book; sometimes, two opposite pages bearing the same serial number.
  7. (19th to early 20th century) A leaf containing a certain number of words; hence, a certain number of words in a writing, as in England, in law proceedings 72, and in chancery, 90; in New York, 100 words.
  8. A wrapper for loose papers.
verb
  1. To put a serial number on each folio or page of (a book); to page

fool

noun
  1. A person with poor judgment or little intelligence.
  2. A jester; a person whose role was to entertain a sovereign and the court (or lower personages).
  3. Someone who derives pleasure from something specified.
  4. Buddy, dude, man.
  5. A type of dessert made of puréed fruit and custard or cream.
  6. (often capitalized, Fool) A particular card in a tarot deck, representing a jester.
verb
  1. To trick; to deceive
  2. To act in an idiotic manner; to act foolishly
adjective
  1. Foolish.

fooling

verb
  1. To trick; to deceive
  2. To act in an idiotic manner; to act foolishly
noun
  1. The act of one who fools.

forging

verb
  1. To shape a metal by heating and hammering.
  2. To form or create with concerted effort.
  3. To create a forgery of; to make a counterfeit item of; to copy or imitate unlawfully.
  4. To make falsely; to produce, as that which is untrue or not genuine; to fabricate.
verb
  1. (often as forge ahead) To move forward heavily and slowly (originally as a ship); to advance gradually but steadily; to proceed towards a goal in the face of resistance or difficulty.
  2. (sometimes as forge ahead) To advance, move or act with an abrupt increase in speed or energy.
noun
  1. A component that is forged (shaped by heating and hammering).

forgo

verb
  1. To let pass, to leave alone, to let go.
  2. To do without, to abandon, to renounce.
  3. To refrain from, to abstain from, to pass up, to withgo.

forgoing

verb
  1. To let pass, to leave alone, to let go.
  2. To do without, to abandon, to renounce.
  3. To refrain from, to abstain from, to pass up, to withgo.

forlorn

verb
  1. To abandon, forsake.
noun
  1. A forlorn hope.
  2. A member of a forlorn hope.
adjective
  1. Abandoned, deserted, left behind.
  2. Miserable, as when lonely after being abandoned.
  3. Unlikely to succeed; hopeless.

frill

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A strip of pleated fabric or paper used as decoration or trim.
  2. A substance or material on the edge of something, resembling such a strip of fabric.
  3. A wrinkled edge to a film.
  4. Something extraneous or not essential; something purely for show or effect; a luxury.
  5. The relatively extensive margin seen on the back of the heads of reptiles, with either a bony support or a cartilaginous one.
verb
  1. To make into a frill.
  2. To become wrinkled.
  3. To provide or decorate with a frill or frills; to turn back in crimped plaits.

Etymology 2

verb
  1. To shake or shiver as with cold (with reference to a hawk).
  2. To cry (with reference to a bird of prey).

fringing

verb
  1. To decorate with fringe.
  2. To serve as a fringe.
noun
  1. A fringe or border.
  2. The appearance of false colours in an image as the result of poor registration of component monochrome images.
  3. Any anomalous electric or magnetic effect at the edges of a region.
adjective
  1. That fringes.

frog

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A small tailless amphibian of the order Anura that typically hops.
  2. The part of a violin bow (or that of other similar string instruments such as the viola, cello and contrabass) located at the end held by the player, to which the horsehair is attached.
  3. Road. Shorter, more common form of frog and toad.
  4. The depression in the upper face of a pressed or handmade clay brick.
  5. An organ on the bottom of a horse’s hoof that assists in the circulation of blood.
  6. The part of a railway switch or turnout where the running-rails cross (from the resemblance to the frog in a horse’s hoof).
verb
  1. To hunt or trap frogs.
  2. To use a pronged plater to transfer (cells) to another plate.
  3. To spatchcock (a chicken).

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A French person.
  2. A French-speaking person from Quebec.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. A leather or fabric loop used to attach a sword or bayonet, or its scabbard, to a waist or shoulder belt.
  2. An ornate fastener for clothing consisting of an oblong button (covered with netted thread), toggle, or knot, that fits through a loop.
verb
  1. To ornament or fasten a coat, etc. with frogs.

Etymology 4

verb
  1. To unravel part of (a knitted garment) while knitting it in order to correct a mistake.

golf

noun
  1. A ball game played by individuals competing against one another in which the object is to hit a ball into each of a series of (usually 18 or nine) holes in the minimum number of strokes.
  2. The letter G in the ICAO spelling alphabet.
verb
  1. To play the game of golf.
  2. To write something in as few characters as possible (e.g. in code golf, regex golf)

golfing

verb
  1. To play the game of golf.
  2. To write something in as few characters as possible (e.g. in code golf, regex golf)
noun
  1. A session of playing golf.

goof

noun
  1. A mistake or error.
  2. A foolish and/or silly person; a goofball.
  3. A child molester.
verb
  1. To make a mistake.
  2. To engage in mischief.

goofing

verb
  1. To make a mistake.
  2. To engage in mischief.

griffin

noun
  1. A mythical beast having the body of a lion and the wings and head of an eagle.
  2. A large vulture (Gyps fulvus) found in the mountainous parts of Southern Europe, North Africa, and Asia Minor, supposed to be the "eagle" of the Bible.
  3. An English variety of apple.
  4. A person who has just arrived from Europe.
  5. A cadet newly arrived in British India: half English, half Indian.
  6. A watchful guardian, especially a duenna in charge of a young woman.

griffon

noun
  1. A mythical beast having the body of a lion and the wings and head of an eagle.
  2. A large vulture (Gyps fulvus) found in the mountainous parts of Southern Europe, North Africa, and Asia Minor, supposed to be the "eagle" of the Bible.
  3. An English variety of apple.
  4. A person who has just arrived from Europe.
  5. A cadet newly arrived in British India: half English, half Indian.
  6. A watchful guardian, especially a duenna in charge of a young woman.
noun
  1. A breed of dog usually called the Brussels Griffon, reminiscent of the legendary creature.
  2. A griffon vulture.

infill

Etymology 1

noun
  1. That which fills in a space, hole or gap.
  2. The redecoration of a fingernail or toenail after it has grown, to prevent an unsightly gap.
verb
  1. To fill in a space, hole or gap.
  2. To rededicate land in an urban environment to new construction.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Infiltration, the act of going into a place.

infilling

Etymology 1

verb
  1. To fill in a space, hole or gap.
  2. To rededicate land in an urban environment to new construction.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Infilled material

info

noun
  1. Information.

infringing

verb
  1. Break or violate a treaty, a law, a right etc.
  2. Break in or encroach on something.

offing

verb
  1. To kill.
  2. To switch off.
noun
  1. The area of the sea in which a ship can be seen in the distance from land, excluding the parts nearest the shore, and beyond the anchoring ground.
  2. The distance that a ship at sea keeps away from land, often because of navigational dangers, fog and other hazards; a position at a distance from shore.
  3. The foreseeable future. Chiefly in the phrase in the offing.

riff

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A repeated instrumental melody line in a song.
  2. A clever or witty remark.
  3. A variation on something.
  4. A spoof.
verb
  1. To improvise in the performance or practice of an art, especially by expanding on or making novel use of traditional themes.
  2. To riffle.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. The belly; the bowels.

riffing

verb
  1. To lay off from work due to a reduction in force.
verb
  1. To improvise in the performance or practice of an art, especially by expanding on or making novel use of traditional themes.
  2. To riffle.

riffling

verb
  1. To flow over a swift, shallow part of a stream.
  2. To ruffle with a rippling action.
  3. To skim or flick through the pages of a book.
  4. To leaf through rapidly.
  5. To shuffle playing cards by separating the deck in two and sliding the thumbs along the edges of the cards to mix the two parts.
  6. To idly manipulate objects with the fingers.
  7. To prepare samples of material using a riffler.
noun
  1. Sampling by use of a riffler

rifling

verb
  1. To quickly search through many items (such as papers, the contents of a drawer, a pile of clothing). (See also rifflehttp//verbmall.blogspot.com/2008/05/riffle-or-rifle.html)
  2. To commit robbery or theft.
  3. To search with intent to steal; to ransack, pillage or plunder.
  4. To strip of goods; to rob; to pillage.
  5. To seize and bear away by force; to snatch away; to carry off.
  6. To add a spiral groove to a gun bore to make a fired bullet spin in flight in order to improve range and accuracy.
  7. To cause (a projectile, as a rifle bullet) to travel in a flat ballistic trajectory.
  8. To move in a flat ballistic trajectory (as a rifle bullet).
  9. To dispose of in a raffle.
  10. To engage in a raffle.
noun
  1. The act or process of making the grooves in a rifled cannon or gun barrel.
  2. The system of grooves in a rifled gun barrel or cannon. Shunt rifling, rifling for cannon, in which one side of the groove is made deeper than the other, to facilitate loading with shot having projections which enter by the deeper part of the grooves.
  3. The act or process of letting playing cards cascade down one at a time towards the table (or one's hand), controlling the speed and flow with one's thumb, which sits on the top edges of the cards.

roof

Etymology 1

noun
  1. The external covering at the top of a building.
  2. The top external level of a building.
  3. The upper part of a cavity.
  4. The surface or bed of rock immediately overlying a bed of coal or a flat vein.
  5. (rockclimbing) An overhanging rock wall

Etymology 2

verb
  1. To cover or furnish with a roof.
  2. To traverse buildings by walking or climbing across their roofs.
  3. To put into prison, to bird.
  4. To shelter as if under a roof.

roofing

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Material used on the outside of a roof, such as shingles.
  2. A way of travel which consists in clambering over the roofs of skyscrapers.

Etymology 2

verb
  1. To cover or furnish with a roof.
  2. To traverse buildings by walking or climbing across their roofs.
  3. To put into prison, to bird.
  4. To shelter as if under a roof.