Thursday, February 27, 2025

Answers to yesterday's Bee

Jump to answers for


The official answers for today's puzzle are:

Click on the arrow to show the definition.
Click outside the pop-up to close it.



Number of Pangrams: 1

Maximum Puzzle Score: 246

Number of Answers: 55

Points Needed for Genius: 172

Genius requires between 26 and 47 words. You need at least a 7-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.

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 246 was in the 82nd percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there was a score this high was on February 25, 2025.
The highest score ever was 537 on January 22, 2021.
The lowest score ever was 47 on March 27, 2023.

This puzzle's 55 possible answers rank it in the 85th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there were more answers than this was on February 23, 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 February 20, 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 192
  • loll 184
  • toot 181
  • naan 167
  • nana 167
  • lilt 135
  • till 135
  • tilt 135
  • tint 134
  • nene 126
  • mama 125
  • mamma 125
  • acacia 119
  • acai 119
  • onto 118
  • toon 118
  • anal 113
  • onion 113
  • anon 109
  • boob 109
  • booboo 109
  • baba 106
  • olio 105
  • dodo 103
  • lull 103
  • lulu 103
  • papa 103
  • tact 103
  • call 102
  • calla 102
  • mitt 102
  • poop 101
  • allay 99
  • ally 99
  • ratatat 99
  • tart 99
  • tartar 99
  • tattoo 99
  • tatty 99
  • tutu 99
  • attar 98
  • cocci 97
  • ammo 96
  • momma 96
  • mono 96
  • moon 96
  • epee 95
  • peep 95
  • loon 92
  • loot 92


How long are words in the Bee?

There have been 97,813 answers ever accepted in the Bee - with 10,476 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*:

  • acari
  • acro
  • alcaic
  • alcool
  • caca
  • caff
  • calcar
  • calcaria
  • calcic
  • calcific
  • calif
  • calo
  • caracal
  • caracara
  • caracol
  • carioca
  • carl
  • caroli
  • carr
  • cicala
  • claro
  • cloacal
  • coala
  • coccal
  • coccic
  • coco
  • coff
  • coocoo
  • coof
  • corf
  • coria
  • craal
  • criollo
  • facia
  • farci
  • fico
  • flic
  • floc
  • flocci
  • loca
  • locofoco
  • lorica
  • orificial
  • ricrac

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

acacia

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A shrub or tree of the tribe Acacieae.
  2. The thickened or dried juice of several species in Acacieae, in particular Vachellia nilotica (syn. Acacia nilotica), the Egyptian acacia.
  3. A false acacia; robinia tree, Robinia pseudoacacia.
  4. Gum arabic; gum acacia.
  5. Any of several related trees, such as the locust tree.
  6. A light to moderate greenish yellow with a hint of red.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. (history) A roll or bag, filled with dust, borne by Byzantine emperors, as a memento of mortality. It is represented on medals.

acai

noun
  1. Any of several South American palms, of the genus Euterpe, having a dark purple drupe.
  2. The fruit of these trees, harvested for its juice.

arco

adverb
  1. A note in string instrument musical notation indicating that the bow is to be used in the usual way, usually following a passage that is played pizzicato.

cacao

noun
  1. A tree, Theobroma cacao, whose seed is used to make chocolate.
  2. This tree's seed, the cocoa bean.

calf

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A young cow or bull.
  2. Leather made of the skin of the calf; especially, a fine, light-coloured leather used in bookbinding.
  3. A young deer, elephant, seal, whale or giraffe (also used of some other animals).
  4. A chunk of ice broken from a larger glacier, ice shelf, or iceberg.
  5. A small island, near a larger island.
  6. A cabless railroad engine.
  7. An awkward or silly boy or young man; any silly person; a dolt.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. The back of the leg below the knee.
  2. The muscle in the back of the leg below the knee.

calico

noun
  1. A kind of rough cloth made from unbleached and not fully processed cotton, often printed with a bright pattern.
adjective
  1. Having a pattern of red and contrasting areas, resembling the color of calico cloth.
noun
  1. A tortoiseshell and white domestic cat.

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.

callaloo

noun
  1. Any of various tropical plants grown in the Americas, especially of the genus Xanthosoma, cultivated for their edible leaves.
  2. A spicy soup or stew made from such leaves.

caloric

noun
  1. The hypothetical medium of heat.
adjective
  1. Relating to calories.
  2. Containing calories.
adjective
  1. Relating to calories.
  2. Relating to or producing heat or other energy.
  3. (of food) High in calories and thus likely fattening.

calorific

adjective
  1. Relating to calories.
  2. Relating to or producing heat or other energy.
  3. (of food) High in calories and thus likely fattening.

carol

noun
  1. A small closet or enclosure built against a window on the inner side, to sit in for study.
  2. Hence, a partially partitioned space for studying or reading, often in a library.

ciao

noun
  1. A greeting or farewell using the word "ciao".
interjection
  1. Hello, hi.
  2. Bye, goodbye.

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.

circa

preposition
  1. Approximately, about, around (typically in relation to time)

cirri

noun
  1. A tendril.
  2. A thin tendril-like appendage.
  3. A principal high-level cloud type characterised by white, delicate filaments or wisps, of white (or mostly white) patches, or of narrow bands, found at an altitude of above 7000 metres.

cliff

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A vertical (or nearly vertical) rock face.
  2. A point where something abruptly fails or decreases in value etc.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A symbol found on a musical staff that indicates the pitches represented by the lines and the spaces on the staff

cloaca

noun
  1. (sometimes figurative) A sewer.
  2. The duct in reptiles, amphibians and birds, as well as most fish and some mammals, which serves as the common outlet for urination, defecation, and reproduction.
  3. An outhouse or lavatory.
  4. A duct through which gangrenous material escapes a body.

coal

noun
  1. A black rock formed from prehistoric plant remains, composed largely of carbon and burned as a fuel.
  2. A piece of coal used for burning (this use is less common in American English)
  3. A type of coal, such as bituminous, anthracite, or lignite, and grades and varieties thereof.
  4. A glowing or charred piece of coal, wood, or other solid fuel.
  5. Charcoal.
verb
  1. To take on a supply of coal (usually of steam ships).
  2. To supply with coal.
  3. To be converted to charcoal.
  4. To burn to charcoal; to char.
  5. To mark or delineate with charcoal.

coca

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Any of the four cultivated plants which belong to the family Erythroxylaceae, native to western South America.
  2. The dried leaf of one of these plants, the South American shrub (Erythroxylum coca), widely cultivated in Andean countries, which is the source of cocaine.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A pastry typically made and consumed in the Spanish Mediterranean coast.

cocci

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Any approximately spherical bacterium.
  2. One of the carpels or seed-vessels of a dry fruit.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Coccidioidomycosis

cocoa

Etymology 1

noun
  1. The dried and partially fermented fatty seeds of the cacao tree from which chocolate is made.
  2. An unsweetened brown powder made from roasted, ground cocoa beans, used in making chocolate, and in cooking.
  3. A hot drink made with milk, cocoa powder, and sugar.
  4. A serving of this drink.
  5. A light to medium brown colour.
adjective
  1. Of a light to medium brown colour, like that of cocoa powder.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Coconut palm.
  2. Coconut, the fruit of the coconut palm.

coif

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A hairdo.
  2. A hood; a close-fitting cap covering much of the head, widespread until the 18th century; after that worn only by small children and country women.
  3. An item of chain mail headgear.
  4. An official headdress, such as that worn by certain judges in England.

Etymology 2

verb
  1. To style or arrange hair.

coil

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Something wound in the form of a helix or spiral.
  2. Any intrauterine device (Abbreviation: IUD)—the first IUDs were coil-shaped.
  3. A coil of electrically conductive wire through which electricity can flow.
  4. Entanglement; perplexity.
verb
  1. To wind or reel e.g. a wire or rope into regular rings, often around a centerpiece.
  2. To wind into loops (roughly) around a common center.
  3. To wind cylindrically or spirally.
  4. To encircle and hold with, or as if with, coils.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A noise, tumult, bustle, or turmoil.

coir

noun
  1. The fibre obtained from the husk of a coconut, used chiefly in making rope, matting and as a peat substitute.

cola

Etymology 1

noun
  1. The kola plant, genus Cola, famous for its nut, or one of these nuts.
  2. A beverage or a drink made with kola nut flavoring, caramel and carbonated water.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. The punctuation mark ":".
  2. The triangular colon (especially in context of not being able to type the actual triangular colon).
  3. A rhetorical figure consisting of a clause which is grammatically, but not logically, complete.
  4. A clause or group of clauses written as a line, or taken as a standard of measure in ancient manuscripts or texts.
noun
  1. Part of the large intestine; the final segment of the digestive system, after (distal to) the ileum and before (proximal to) the anus.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. A cluster of buds on a cannabis plant.

colic

noun
  1. Severe pains that grip the abdomen or the disease that causes such pains (due to intestinal or bowel-related problems).
  2. A medicinal plant used to relieve such symptoms.
adjective
  1. Relating to the colon; colonic.

collar

noun
  1. Anything that encircles the neck.
  2. A piece of meat from the neck of an animal.
  3. Any encircling device or structure.
  4. (in compounds) Of or pertaining to a certain category of professions as symbolized by typical clothing.
  5. The neck or line of junction between the root of a plant and its stem.
  6. A ringlike part of a mollusk in connection with the esophagus.
  7. An eye formed in the bight or bend of a shroud or stay to go over the masthead; also, a rope to which certain parts of rigging, as dead-eyes, are secured.
  8. An arrest.
  9. A trading strategy using options such that there is both an upper limit on profit and a lower limit on loss, constructed through taking equal but opposite positions in a put and a call with different strike prices.
verb
  1. To grab or seize by the collar or neck.
  2. To place a collar on, to fit with one.
  3. To seize, capture or detain.
  4. To preempt, control stringently and exclusively.
  5. (law enforcement) To arrest.
  6. To bind in conversation.
  7. To roll up (beef or other meat) and bind it with string preparatory to cooking.
  8. (BDSM) To bind (a submissive) to a dominant under specific conditions or obligations.

color

noun
  1. The spectral composition of visible light
  2. A subset thereof:
  3. A paint.
  4. Human skin tone, especially as an indicator of race or ethnicity.
  5. Skin color, noted as normal, jaundiced, cyanotic, flush, mottled, pale, or ashen as part of the skin signs assessment.
  6. A flushed appearance of blood in the face; redness of complexion.
  7. Richness of expression; detail or flavour that is likely to generate interest or enjoyment.
  8. A standard, flag, or insignia:
  9. (in the plural) An award for sporting achievement, particularly within a school or university.
  10. (in the plural) The morning ceremony of raising the flag.
  11. A property of quarks, with three values called red, green, and blue, which they can exchange by passing gluons.
  12. A third-order measure of derivative price sensitivity, expressed as the rate of change of gamma with respect to time, or equivalently the rate of change of charm with respect to changes in the underlying asset price.
  13. The relative lightness or darkness of a mass of written or printed text on a page. (See type color.)
  14. Any of the colored balls excluding the reds.
  15. A front or facade; an ostensible truth actually false; pretext.
  16. An appearance of right or authority; color of law.
verb
  1. To give something color.
  2. To apply colors to the areas within the boundaries of a line drawing using colored markers or crayons.
  3. (of a person or their face) To become red through increased blood flow.
  4. To affect without completely changing.
  5. To attribute a quality to; to portray (as).
  6. To assign colors to the vertices of a graph (or the regions of a map) so that no two vertices connected by an edge (regions sharing a border) have the same color.
adjective
  1. Conveying color, as opposed to shades of gray.

colorific

adjective
  1. That produces coloured precipitates
  2. Colourful
  3. Flowery; ornate

cool

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A moderate or refreshing state of cold; moderate temperature of the air between hot and cold; coolness.
  2. A calm temperament.
  3. The property of being cool, popular or in fashion.
adjective
  1. Having a slightly low temperature; mildly or pleasantly cold.
  2. Allowing or suggesting heat relief.
  3. Of a color, in the range of violet to green.
  4. Of a person, not showing emotion; calm and in control of oneself.
  5. Unenthusiastic, lukewarm, skeptical.
  6. Calmly audacious.
  7. Applied facetiously to a sum of money, commonly as if to give emphasis to the largeness of the amount.
  8. Of a person, knowing what to do and how to behave; considered popular by others.
  9. In fashion, part of or fitting the in crowd; originally hipster slang.
  10. Of an action, all right; acceptable; that does not present a problem.
  11. Of a person, not upset by circumstances that might ordinarily be upsetting.
  12. Quietly impudent, defiant, or selfish; deliberately presuming: said of persons and acts.

Etymology 2

verb
  1. To lose heat, to get colder.
  2. To make cooler, less warm.
  3. To become less intense, e.g. less amicable or passionate.
  4. To make less intense, e.g. less amicable or passionate.
  5. To kill.

coral

noun
  1. A hard substance made of the limestone skeletons of marine polyps.
  2. A colony of marine polyps.
  3. A somewhat yellowish pink colour, the colour of red coral.
  4. The ovaries of a cooked lobster; so called from their colour.
  5. A piece of coral, usually fitted with small bells and other appurtenances, used by children as a plaything.
adjective
  1. Made of coral.
  2. Having the yellowish pink colour of coral.

corolla

noun
  1. An outermost-but-one whorl of a flower, composed of petals, when it is not the same in appearance as the outermost whorl (the calyx); it usually comprises the petal, which may be fused.

corral

noun
  1. An enclosure for livestock, especially a circular one.
  2. An enclosure or area to concentrate a dispersed group.
  3. A circle of wagons, either for the purpose of trapping livestock, or for defense.
verb
  1. To capture or round up.
  2. To place inside of a corral.
  3. To make a circle of vehicles, as of wagons so as to form a corral.

croc

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A crocodile.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A plastic slip-on shoe.

croci

noun
  1. A perennial flowering plant (of the genus Crocus in the Iridaceae family). Saffron is obtained from the stamens of Crocus sativus.
  2. Any of various similar flowering plants, such as the autumn crocus and prairie crocus.
  3. A deep yellow powder, the oxide of some metal (especially iron), calcined to a red or deep yellow colour.
  4. A fraudulent doctor; a quack.

facial

noun
  1. A personal care beauty treatment which involves cleansing and moisturizing of the human face.
  2. A kind of early silent film focusing on the facial expressions of the actor.
  3. (in some contact sports) A foul play which involves one player hitting another in the face.
  4. A sex act of male ejaculation onto another person's face.
adjective
  1. Of or affecting the face.
  2. (by extension) (of a law or regulation validity) on its face; as it appears (as opposed to as it is applied)

farcical

adjective
  1. Resembling a farce; ludicrous; absurd.

focaccia

noun
  1. A flatbread similar in style, composition, and texture to modern pizza doughs and topped with herbs, cheese and other products. Focaccia typically consists of high-gluten flour, oil, water, sugar, salt and yeast.
  2. A sandwich made with this type of bread.

focal

adjective
  1. Belonging to, concerning, or located at a focus
  2. Limited to a small area

foci

noun
  1. A point at which reflected or refracted rays of light converge.
  2. A point of a conic at which rays reflected from a curve or surface converge.
  3. The fact of the convergence of light on the photographic medium.
  4. The quality of the convergence of light on the photographic medium.
  5. Concentration of attention.
  6. The exact point of where an earthquake occurs, in three dimensions (underneath the epicentre).
  7. The indicator of the currently active element in a user interface.
  8. The most important word or phrase in a sentence or passage, or the one that imparts information.
  9. An object used in casting a magic spell.

folic

No Definition Found.

frolic

noun
  1. Gaiety; merriment.
  2. A playful antic.
  3. A social gathering.
verb
  1. To make merry; to have fun; to romp; to behave playfully and uninhibitedly.
  2. To cause to be merry.
adjective
  1. Merry, joyous, full of mirth; later especially, frolicsome, sportive, full of playful mischief.
  2. Free; liberal; bountiful; generous.

iliac

adjective
  1. Of or pertaining to the ilium.

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.

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.

local

noun
  1. A person who lives near a given place.
  2. A branch of a nationwide organization such as a trade union.
  3. A train that stops at all, or almost all, stations between its origin and destination, including very small ones.
  4. One's nearest or regularly frequented public house or bar.
  5. A locally scoped identifier.
  6. An item of news relating to the place where the newspaper is published.
adjective
  1. From or in a nearby location.
  2. (of a variable or identifier) Having limited scope (either lexical or dynamic); only being accessible within a certain portion of a program.
  3. (of a condition or state) Applying to each point in a space rather than the space as a whole.
  4. Of or pertaining to a restricted part of an organism.
  5. Descended from an indigenous population.
adverb
  1. In the local area; within a city, state, country, etc.
noun
  1. An anesthetic (anesthetic substance) that causes loss of sensation only to the area to which it is applied.

loci

noun
  1. A place or locality, especially a centre of activity or the scene of a crime.
  2. The set of all points whose coordinates satisfy a given equation or condition.
  3. A fixed position on a chromosome that may be occupied by one or more genes.
  4. (chiefly in the plural) A passage in writing, especially in a collection of ancient sacred writings arranged according to a theme.

loco

Etymology 1

adverb
  1. A direction in written or printed music to be returning to the proper pitch after having played an octave higher or lower.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A certain species of Astragalus or Oxytropis, capable of causing locoism.
verb
  1. To poison with the loco plant; to affect with locoism.
  2. (by extension) To render insane.
adjective
  1. Crazy.
  2. Intoxicated by eating locoweed.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. A locomotive.

official

noun
  1. An office holder invested with powers and authorities.
  2. A person responsible for applying the rules of a game or sport in a competition.
adjective
  1. Of or pertaining to an office or public trust.
  2. Derived from the proper office or officer, or from the proper authority; made or communicated by virtue of authority
  3. Approved by authority; authorized.
  4. (pharmaceutical) Sanctioned by the pharmacopoeia; appointed to be used in medicine; officinal.
  5. Discharging an office or function.
  6. Relating to an office; especially, to a subordinate executive officer or attendant.
  7. Relating to an ecclesiastical judge appointed by a bishop, chapter, archdeacon, etc., with charge of the spiritual jurisdiction.
  8. True, real, beyond doubt.
  9. Listen in a national pharmacopeia.

orca

noun
  1. A sea mammal (Orcinus orca) related to dolphins and porpoises, commonly called the killer whale.

racial

noun
  1. A skill possessed by all characters of a certain race.
adjective
  1. Of or relating to a race (or a people).

railcar

noun
  1. A self-propelled railway vehicle for passengers.
  2. Any railway carriage or wagon, a railway car.

rococo

noun
  1. A style of baroque architecture and decorative art, from 18th-century France, having elaborate ornamentation.
adjective
  1. Of or relating to the rococo style.
  2. Over-elaborate or complicated; opulent.
  3. Old-fashioned.