Wednesday, January 29, 2025

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: 210

Number of Answers: 46

Points Needed for Genius: 147

Genius requires between 21 and 40 words. You need at least a 7-letter word to reach genius. If you don't get the pangrams, you need 82% of the total points to reach genius. If you get the pangrams, you only need 65% 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 210 was in the 70th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there was a score this high was on January 26, 2025.
The highest score ever was 537 on January 22, 2021.
The lowest score ever was 47 on March 27, 2023.

This puzzle's 46 possible answers rank it in the 68th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there were more answers than this was on January 28, 2025.
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 January 25, 2025.

Today's puzzle has an average word length of 5.3.
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 182
  • toot 179
  • naan 167
  • nana 167
  • lilt 133
  • till 133
  • tilt 133
  • tint 131
  • mama 124
  • mamma 124
  • nene 123
  • onto 117
  • toon 117
  • acacia 116
  • acai 116
  • anal 111
  • onion 110
  • boob 108
  • booboo 108
  • anon 107
  • baba 105
  • olio 104
  • papa 103
  • tact 103
  • lull 102
  • lulu 102
  • mitt 102
  • dodo 101
  • poop 101
  • allay 99
  • ally 99
  • call 99
  • calla 99
  • ratatat 99
  • tart 99
  • tartar 99
  • attar 98
  • tattoo 98
  • tatty 97
  • tutu 97
  • ammo 96
  • cocci 96
  • momma 96
  • mono 96
  • moon 96
  • epee 94
  • peep 94
  • coot 91
  • loon 91


How long are words in the Bee?

There have been 96,495 answers ever accepted in the Bee - with 10,421 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*:

  • avellan
  • avellane
  • cavalla
  • coaeval
  • coeval
  • convolve
  • elevon
  • elven
  • laevo
  • lavalava
  • leva
  • levo
  • neve
  • nonlevel
  • nonnaval
  • nonnovel
  • nonvocal
  • novelle
  • novena
  • novenae
  • ovolo
  • valval
  • veena
  • vela
  • veloce
  • vena
  • venae
  • venene
  • volva

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

alcove

noun
  1. A small recessed area set off from a larger room.
  2. A shady retreat.

calve

verb
  1. To give birth to a calf
  2. To assist in a cow's giving birth to a calf
  3. To give birth to (a calf)
  4. (especially of an ice shelf, a glacier, an ice sheet, or even an iceberg) to shed a large piece, e.g. an iceberg or a smaller block of ice (coming off an iceberg)
  5. (especially of an iceberg) to break off
  6. (especially of an ice shelf, a glacier, an ice sheet, or even an iceberg) to shed (a large piece, e.g. an iceberg); to set loose (a mass of ice), e.g. a block of ice (coming off an iceberg)

cava

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A Spanish white sparkling wine made using the méthode champenoise.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. The vena cava.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. A cavity

cave

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A large, naturally-occurring cavity formed underground or in the face of a cliff or a hillside.
  2. A hole, depression, or gap in earth or rock, whether natural or man-made.
  3. A storage cellar, especially for wine or cheese.
  4. A place of retreat, such as a man cave.
  5. A naturally-occurring cavity in bedrock which is large enough to be entered by an adult.
  6. A shielded area where nuclear experiments can be carried out.
  7. (drilling) Debris, particularly broken rock, which falls into a drill hole and interferes with drilling.
  8. A collapse or cave-in.
  9. The vagina.
  10. (often "Cave") A group that breaks from a larger political party or faction on a particular issue.
  11. Any hollow place, or part; a cavity.
  12. A code cave.
verb
  1. To surrender.
  2. To collapse.
  3. To hollow out or undermine.
  4. To engage in the recreational exploration of caves.
  5. In room-and-pillar mining, to extract a deposit of rock by breaking down a pillar which had been holding it in place.
  6. To work over tailings to dress small pieces of marketable ore.
  7. To dwell in a cave.

Etymology 2

interjection
  1. (public school slang) look out!; beware!

clave

Etymology 1

verb
  1. To split or sever something with, or as if with, a sharp instrument.
  2. To break a single crystal (such as a gemstone or semiconductor wafer) along one of its more symmetrical crystallographic planes (often by impact), forming facets on the resulting pieces.
  3. To make or accomplish by or as if by cutting.
  4. To split (a complex molecule) into simpler molecules.
  5. To split.
  6. Of a crystal, to split along a natural plane of division.
verb
  1. To cling, adhere or stick fast to something; used with to or unto.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A characteristic pattern of beats, especially the 3-2 son clave.
noun
  1. Singular of claves

cleave

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Flat, smooth surface produced by cleavage, or any similar surface produced by similar techniques, as in glass.
verb
  1. To split or sever something with, or as if with, a sharp instrument.
  2. To break a single crystal (such as a gemstone or semiconductor wafer) along one of its more symmetrical crystallographic planes (often by impact), forming facets on the resulting pieces.
  3. To make or accomplish by or as if by cutting.
  4. To split (a complex molecule) into simpler molecules.
  5. To split.
  6. Of a crystal, to split along a natural plane of division.

Etymology 2

verb
  1. To cling, adhere or stick fast to something; used with to or unto.

clove

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A very pungent aromatic spice, the unexpanded flower bud of the clove tree.
  2. A clove tree, of the species Syzygium aromaticum (syn. Caryophyllus aromaticus), native to the Moluccas (Indonesian islands), which produces the spice.
  3. An old English measure of weight, containing 7 pounds (3.2 kg), i.e. half a stone.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Any one of the separate bulbs that make up the larger bulb of garlic.

Etymology 3

verb
  1. To split or sever something with, or as if with, a sharp instrument.
  2. To break a single crystal (such as a gemstone or semiconductor wafer) along one of its more symmetrical crystallographic planes (often by impact), forming facets on the resulting pieces.
  3. To make or accomplish by or as if by cutting.
  4. To split (a complex molecule) into simpler molecules.
  5. To split.
  6. Of a crystal, to split along a natural plane of division.

Etymology 4

noun
  1. A narrow valley with steep sides, used in areas of North America first settled by the Dutch

cloven

verb
  1. To split or sever something with, or as if with, a sharp instrument.
  2. To break a single crystal (such as a gemstone or semiconductor wafer) along one of its more symmetrical crystallographic planes (often by impact), forming facets on the resulting pieces.
  3. To make or accomplish by or as if by cutting.
  4. To split (a complex molecule) into simpler molecules.
  5. To split.
  6. Of a crystal, to split along a natural plane of division.
adjective
  1. Split, sundered, or divided.

coevolve

verb
  1. To evolve, along with another organism, via coevolution.

concave

noun
  1. A concave surface or curve.
  2. The vault of the sky.
  3. One of the celestial spheres of the Ptolemaic or geocentric model of the world.
  4. An element of a curved grid used to separate desirable material from tailings or chaff in mining and harvesting.
  5. An indentation running along the base of a surfboard, intended to increase lift.
  6. An indented area on the top of a skateboard, providing a position for foot placement and increasing board strength.
verb
  1. To render concave, or increase the degree of concavity.
adjective
  1. Curved like the inner surface of a sphere or bowl
  2. (of a polygon) not convex; having at least one internal angle greater than 180 degrees.
  3. (of a real-valued function on the reals) satisfying the property that all segments connecting two points on the function's graph lie below the function.
  4. Hollow; empty

conclave

noun
  1. The set of apartments within which the cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church are continuously secluded while engaged in choosing a pope.
  2. The group of Roman Catholic cardinals locked in a conclave until they elect a new pope; the body of cardinals.
  3. A private meeting; a close or secret assembly.

convene

verb
  1. To come together; to meet; to unite.
  2. To come together, as in one body or for a public purpose; to meet; to assemble.
  3. To cause to assemble; to call together; to convoke.
  4. To summon judicially to meet or appear.

covalence

No Definition Found.

cove

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A hollow in a rock; a cave or cavern.
  2. A concave vault or archway, especially the arch of a ceiling.
  3. A small coastal inlet, especially one having high cliffs protecting vessels from prevailing winds.
  4. A strip of prairie extending into woodland.
  5. A recess or sheltered area on the slopes of a mountain.
  6. The wooden roof of the stern gallery of an old sailing warship.
  7. A thin line, sometimes gilded, along a yacht's strake below deck level.
verb
  1. To arch over; to build in a hollow concave form; to make in the form of a cove.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. (thieves' cant) A fellow; a man.
  2. A friend; a mate.

Etymology 3

verb
  1. To brood, cover, over, or sit over, as birds their eggs.

coven

noun
  1. A formal group or assembly of witches.
  2. A family, group or assembly of vampires.
  3. A clique that shares common interests or activities.

eave

noun
  1. Eaves: the underside of a roof that extends beyond the external walls of a building.

eleven

noun
  1. A cricket team of eleven players. Hence first eleven - the team of best cricket players (at a school), second eleven - the "B" team, etc.
  2. A football team of eleven players; the starting lineup.
  3. Used instead of ! to amplify an exclamation, imitating someone who forgets to press the shift key while typing exclamation points.
  4. A number off the charts of a hypothetical scale of one to ten.
numeral
  1. The cardinal number occurring after ten and before twelve. Represented as 11 in Arabic digits.

enclave

noun
  1. A political, cultural or social entity or part thereof that is completely surrounded by another.
  2. A group that is set off from a larger population by its characteristic or behavior.
  3. An isolated portion of an application's address space, such that data in an enclave can only be accessed by code in the same enclave.
verb
  1. To enclose within a foreign territory.

even

Etymology 1

noun
  1. (diminutive) An even number.
verb
  1. To make flat and level.
  2. To equal.
  3. To be equal.
  4. To place in an equal state, as to obligation, or in a state in which nothing is due on either side; to balance, as accounts; to make quits.
  5. To set right; to complete.
  6. To act up to; to keep pace with.
adjective
  1. Flat and level.
  2. Without great variation.
  3. Equal in proportion, quantity, size, etc.
  4. (of an integer) Divisible by two.
  5. (of a number) Convenient for rounding other numbers to; for example, ending in a zero.
  6. On equal monetary terms; neither owing nor being owed.
  7. On equal terms of a moral sort; quits.
  8. Parallel; on a level; reaching the same limit.
  9. Without an irregularity, flaw, or blemish; pure.
  10. Associate; fellow; of the same condition.
adverb
  1. Exactly, just, fully.
  2. In reality; implying an extreme example in the case mentioned, as compared to the implied reality.
  3. Emphasizing a comparative.
  4. Signalling a correction of one's previous utterance; rather, that is.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Evening.

evolve

verb
  1. To move in regular procession through a system.
  2. To change; transform.
  3. To come into being; develop.
  4. Of a population, to change genetic composition over successive generations through the process of evolution.
  5. To give off (gas, such as oxygen or carbon dioxide during a reaction).
  6. To cause something to change or transform.

lava

noun
  1. The molten rock ejected by a volcano from its crater or fissured sides.
  2. Magma.
  3. A shade of red, named after the volcanic lava.

lave

Etymology 1

verb
  1. To pour or throw out, as water; lade out; bail; bail out.
  2. To draw, as water; drink in.
  3. To give bountifully; lavish.
  4. To run down or gutter, as a candle.
  5. To hang or flap down.
  6. To wash.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. (archaic or dialectal) The remainder, rest; that which is left, remnant; others.
  2. (dialectal) A crowd

leave

Etymology 1

verb
  1. To have a consequence or remnant.
  2. To depart; to separate from.
  3. To transfer something.
  4. To remain (behind); to stay.
  5. To stop, desist from; to "leave off" (+ noun / gerund).

Etymology 2

noun
  1. The action of the batsman not attempting to play at the ball.
  2. The arrangement of balls in play that remains after a shot is made (which determines whether the next shooter — who may be either the same player, or an opponent — has good options, or only poor ones).

Etymology 3

noun
  1. Permission to be absent; time away from one's work.
  2. Permission.
  3. Farewell, departure.

Etymology 4

verb
  1. To give leave to; allow; permit; let; grant.

Etymology 5

verb
  1. To produce leaves or foliage.

Etymology 6

verb
  1. To raise; to levy.

leaven

noun
  1. Any agent used to make dough rise or to have a similar effect on baked goods.
  2. Anything that makes a general assimilating change in the mass.
verb
  1. To add a leavening agent.
  2. To cause to rise by fermentation.
  3. To temper an action or decision.
  4. To imbue; to infect; to vitiate.
  5. To rise or become larger.

levee

Etymology 1

noun
  1. An embankment to prevent inundation; as, the levees along the Mississippi.
  2. The steep bank of a river.
  3. The border of an irrigated field.
  4. A pier or other landing place on a river.
verb
  1. To keep within a channel by means of levees.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. The act of rising; getting up, especially in the morning after rest.
  2. A reception of visitors held after getting up.
  3. A formal reception, especially one given by royalty or other leaders.
verb
  1. To attend the levee or levees of.

level

noun
  1. A tool for finding whether a surface is level, or for creating a horizontal or vertical line of reference.
  2. A distance relative to a given reference elevation.
  3. Degree or amount.
  4. Achievement or qualification.
  5. Distance from the root node of a tree structure.
  6. One of several discrete segments of a game, generally increasing in difficulty and representing different locations in the game world.
  7. A numeric value that quantifies a character's experience and power.
  8. A floor of a multi-storey building.
  9. An area of almost perfectly flat land.
  10. A school grade or year.
verb
  1. To adjust so as to make as flat or perpendicular to the ground as possible.
  2. To destroy by reducing to ground level; to raze.
  3. To progress to the next level.
  4. To aim or direct (a weapon, a stare, an accusation, etc).
  5. To direct or impose (a penalty, fine, etc) at or upon (someone).
  6. To make the score of a game equal.
  7. To bring to a common level or plane, in respect of rank, condition, character, privilege, etc.
  8. To adjust or adapt to a certain level.
  9. (usually with "with") To speak honestly and openly with.
adjective
  1. The same height at all places; parallel to a flat ground.
  2. At the same height as some reference; constructed as level with.
  3. Unvaried in frequency.
  4. Unvaried in volume.
  5. Calm.
  6. In the same position or rank.
  7. Straightforward; direct; clear.
  8. Well balanced; even; just; steady; impartial.
  9. Of even tone; without rising or falling inflection; monotonic.
  10. Perpendicular to a gravitational force.

love

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Strong affection.
  2. A person who is the object of romantic feelings; a darling, a sweetheart, a beloved.
  3. A term of friendly address, regardless of feelings.
  4. A thing, activity etc which is the object of one's deep liking or enthusiasm.
  5. Sexual desire; attachment based on sexual attraction.
  6. Sexual activity.
  7. An instance or episode of being in love; a love affair.
  8. Used as the closing, before the signature, of a letter, especially between good friends or family members, or by the young.
  9. Alternative letter-case form of Love.
  10. A thin silk material.
  11. A climbing plant, Clematis vitalba.
verb
  1. (usually transitive, sometimes intransitive, stative) To have a strong affection for (someone or something).
  2. To need, thrive on.
  3. To be strongly inclined towards something; an emphatic form of like.
  4. (usually transitive, sometimes intransitive) To care deeply about, to be dedicated to (someone or something).
  5. To derive delight from a fact or situation.
  6. To have sex with (perhaps from make love).

Etymology 2

verb
  1. To praise; commend.
  2. To praise as of value; prize; set a price on.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. (racquet sports) Zero, no score.

naval

adjective
  1. Of or relating to a navy.
  2. Of or relating to ships in general.

nave

Etymology 1

noun
  1. The middle or body of a church, extending from the transepts to the principal entrances.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A hub of a wheel.
  2. The navel.

navel

noun
  1. The indentation or bump remaining in the abdomen of mammals where the umbilical cord was attached before birth.
  2. The central part or point of anything; the middle.
  3. A navel orange.
  4. An eye on the underside of a carronade for securing it to a carriage.

nova

noun
  1. Any sudden brightening of a previously inconspicuous star.

novae

noun
  1. Any sudden brightening of a previously inconspicuous star.

novel

Etymology 1

adjective
  1. Newly made, formed or evolved; having no precedent; of recent origin; new.
  2. Original, especially in an interesting way; new and striking; not of the typical or ordinary type.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A work of prose fiction, longer than a novella.
  2. A fable; a short tale, especially one of many making up a larger work.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. A novelty; something new.

Etymology 4

noun
  1. A new legal constitution in ancient Rome.

novella

noun
  1. A work of prose fiction, longer than a novella.
  2. A fable; a short tale, especially one of many making up a larger work.
noun
  1. A novelty; something new.
noun
  1. A new legal constitution in ancient Rome.
noun
  1. A short novel or long short story.

oval

noun
  1. An elongated round shape resembling an egg or ellipse.
  2. A thing having such a shape, such as an arena.
  3. In a projective plane, a set of points such that no three are collinear and there is a unique tangent line at each point.
adjective
  1. Having the shape of an oval.
  2. Of or pertaining to an ovum.

oven

noun
  1. A chamber used for baking or heating.

valance

noun
  1. A short curtain that usually hangs along the top edge of a window.
  2. A decorative framework used to conceal the curtain mechanism and so on at the top of a window.
  3. (bedding) A short, decorative edging of cloth that hangs from the mattress to the floor.
  4. The drooping edging of the lid of a trunk, which covers the joint when the lid is closed.

vale

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A valley.

Etymology 2

interjection
  1. (usually seen in obituaries) Farewell.

valence

Etymology 1

noun
  1. An extract; a preparation, now especially one effective against a certain number of strains of a pathogen.
  2. The combining capacity of an atom, radical or functional group determined by the number of electrons that it will lose, gain, or share when it combines with other atoms etc.
  3. The number of binding sites of a molecule, such as an antibody or antigen.
  4. The number of arguments that a verb can have, including its subject, ranging from zero (for the likes of "It rains") to three (for the likes of "He gives her a flower") or, less commonly, four.
  5. A one-dimensional value assigned to an object, situation, or state, that can usually be positive or negative.
  6. Value.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A short curtain that usually hangs along the top edge of a window.
  2. A decorative framework used to conceal the curtain mechanism and so on at the top of a window.
  3. (bedding) A short, decorative edging of cloth that hangs from the mattress to the floor.
  4. The drooping edging of the lid of a trunk, which covers the joint when the lid is closed.

valve

noun
  1. A device that controls the flow of a gas or fluid through a pipe.
  2. A device that admits fuel and air into the cylinder of an internal combustion engine, or one that allows combustion gases to exit.
  3. One or more membranous partitions, flaps, or folds, which permit the passage of the contents of a vessel or cavity in one direction, but stop or control the flow in the opposite direction
  4. One of the leaves of a folding-door, or a window-sash.
  5. A vacuum tube.
  6. One of the pieces into which certain fruits naturally separate when they dehisce.
  7. A small portion of certain anthers, which opens like a trapdoor to allow the pollen to escape, such as in the barberry.
  8. One of the pieces or divisions of bivalve or multivalve shells.
  9. One of the two similar portions of the shell of a diatom.
verb
  1. To control (flow) by means of a valve.

vane

noun
  1. A weather vane
  2. Any of several usually relatively thin, rigid, flat, or sometimes curved surfaces radially mounted along an axis, as a blade in a turbine or a sail on a windmill, that is turned by or used to turn a fluid
  3. The flattened, web-like part of a feather, consisting of a series of barbs on either side of the shaft
  4. A sight on a sextant or compass
  5. One of the metal guidance or stabilizing fins attached to the tail of a bomb or other missile

veal

noun
  1. The flesh of a calf (i.e. a young bovine) used for food.

venal

Etymology 1

adjective
  1. Venous; pertaining to veins.

Etymology 2

adjective
  1. For sale; available for purchase.
  2. Of a position, privilege etc.: available for purchase rather than assigned on merit.
  3. Capable of being bought (of a person); willing to take bribes.
  4. (of behaviour etc.) Corrupt, mercenary.

vocal

noun
  1. A vocal sound; specifically, a purely vocal element of speech, unmodified except by resonance; a vowel or a diphthong; a tonic element; a tonic; distinguished from a subvocal, and a nonvocal
  2. (Roman Catholic Church) A man who has a right to vote in certain elections.
adjective
  1. Of or pertaining to the voice or speech
  2. Having a voice
  3. Uttered or modulated by the voice; oral
  4. Of or pertaining to a voice sound; spoken
  5. Consisting of, or characterized by, voice, or tone produced in the larynx, which may be modified, either by resonance, as in the case of the vowels, or by obstructive action, as in certain consonants, such as v, l, etc., or by both, as in the nasals (m), (n), ng; sonant; intonated; voiced. See voice, and vowel
  6. Of or pertaining to a vowel; having the character of a vowel; vowel
  7. Loud; getting oneself heard.

volcano

noun
  1. A vent or fissure on the surface of a planet (usually in a mountainous form) with a magma chamber attached to the mantle of a planet or moon, periodically erupting forth lava and volcanic gases onto the surface.
  2. A form of firework.

vole

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Any of a large number of species of small rodents of the subfamily Arvicolinae of the family Cricetidae which are not lemmings or muskrats.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A deal in a card game, écarté, that draws all the tricks.
verb
  1. To win all the tricks by a vole.