Monday, April 21, 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: 3

Maximum Puzzle Score: 252

Number of Answers: 41

Points Needed for Genius: 176

Genius requires between 21 and 35 words. You need at least a 7-letter word to reach genius. If you don't get the pangrams, you need 86% of the total points to reach genius. If you get the pangrams, you only need 63% 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 252 was in the 84th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there was a score this high was on April 19, 2025.
The highest score ever was 537 on January 22, 2021.
The lowest score ever was 47 on March 27, 2023.

This puzzle's 41 possible answers rank it in the 55th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there were more answers than this was on April 19, 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 April 18, 2025.

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 196
  • loll 191
  • toot 185
  • naan 170
  • nana 170
  • lilt 137
  • till 137
  • tilt 137
  • tint 134
  • nene 131
  • mama 128
  • mamma 128
  • acacia 122
  • acai 122
  • onto 121
  • toon 121
  • onion 116
  • anal 114
  • anon 111
  • boob 111
  • booboo 111
  • olio 111
  • baba 108
  • papa 106
  • tact 106
  • dodo 105
  • call 104
  • calla 104
  • lull 104
  • lulu 104
  • poop 104
  • ratatat 103
  • tart 103
  • tartar 103
  • attar 102
  • mitt 102
  • tattoo 101
  • tatty 101
  • allay 100
  • ally 100
  • mono 100
  • moon 100
  • ammo 99
  • momma 99
  • tutu 99
  • cocci 98
  • epee 98
  • peep 98
  • loon 95
  • loot 95


How long are words in the Bee?

There have been 100,146 answers ever accepted in the Bee - with 10,565 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*:

  • agapai
  • agrapha
  • agraphia
  • aphagia
  • apiarian
  • gapping
  • gipping
  • hairgrip
  • happi
  • happing
  • harpin
  • hipping
  • napa
  • nappa
  • nipa
  • paan
  • panga
  • panging
  • papain
  • paphian
  • pappi
  • para
  • parang
  • paraph
  • parging
  • parian
  • parr
  • parring
  • pian
  • piani
  • piggin
  • piing
  • pina
  • pinang
  • pinna
  • pipa
  • pipping
  • pirana
  • pirn
  • prana
  • prang
  • pranging
  • priapi
  • prigging
  • raphia
  • raping
  • rappini
  • riping
  • riprap
  • riprapping

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

apian

noun
  1. (very rare) A bee.
adjective
  1. Relating to bees.

aping

verb
  1. To behave like an ape.
  2. To imitate or mimic, particularly to imitate poorly.
noun
  1. Foolish imitation or mimicry.

gaping

Etymology 1

verb
  1. To open the mouth wide, especially involuntarily, as in a yawn, anger, or surprise.
  2. To stare in wonder.
  3. To open wide; to display a gap.
  4. Of a cat: to open the passage to the vomeronasal organ, analogous to the flehming in other animals.
adjective
  1. Wide open.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. The act of one who gapes.
  2. Something gaping; something agape.

graph

noun
  1. (applied mathematics) A data chart (graphical representation of data) intended to illustrate the relationship between a set (or sets) of numbers (quantities, measurements or indicative numbers) and a reference set, whose elements are indexed to those of the former set(s) and may or may not be numbers.
  2. A set of points constituting a graphical representation of a real function; (formally) a set of tuples (x_1, x_2, \ldots, x_m, y)\in\R^{m+1}, where y=f(x_1, x_2, \ldots, x_m) for a given function f: \R^m\rightarrow\R.
  3. (formally) An ordered pair of sets (V,E), where the elements of V are called vertices or nodes and E is a set of pairs (called edges) of elements of V; (less formally) a set of vertices (or nodes) together with a set of edges that connect (some of) the vertices.
  4. A topological space which represents some graph (ordered pair of sets) and which is constructed by representing the vertices as points and the edges as copies of the real interval [0,1] (where, for any given edge, 0 and 1 are identified with the points representing the two vertices) and equipping the result with a particular topology called the graph topology.
  5. (of a morphism f) A morphism \Gamma_f from the domain of f to the product of the domain and codomain of f, such that the first projection applied to \Gamma_f equals the identity of the domain, and the second projection applied to \Gamma_f is equal to f.
  6. A graphical unit on the token-level, the abstracted fundamental shape of a character or letter as distinct from its ductus (realization in a particular typeface or handwriting on the instance-level) and as distinct by a grapheme on the type-level by not fundamentally distinguishing meaning.
verb
  1. To draw a graph.
  2. To draw a graph of a function.

graphing

verb
  1. To draw a graph.
  2. To draw a graph of a function.

grappa

noun
  1. An Italian grape-based spirit of between 80 and 100 proof, made from the distillation of pomace.
  2. A variety or serving of grappa.

grip

Etymology 1

verb
  1. To take hold of, particularly with the hand.
  2. To help or assist, particularly in an emotional sense.
  3. To do something with another that makes you happy/gives you relief.
  4. To trench; to drain.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A hold or way of holding, particularly with the hand.
  2. A handle or other place to grip.
  3. A visual component on a window etc. enabling it to be resized and/or moved.
  4. (film production) A person responsible for handling equipment on the set.
  5. A channel cut through a grass verge (especially for the purpose of draining water away from the highway).
  6. A lot of something.
  7. A long time.
  8. A small travelling-bag or gripsack.
  9. An apparatus attached to a car for clutching a traction cable.
  10. Assistance; help or encouragement.
  11. A helpful, interesting, admirable, or inspiring person.
  12. As much as one can hold in a hand; a handful.
  13. A tenacious grasp; a holding fast.
  14. A device for grasping or holding fast to something.
noun
  1. Influenza, the flu.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. A small ditch or trench; a channel to carry off water or other liquid; a drain.

Etymology 4

noun
  1. The griffin.

griping

verb
  1. To complain; to whine.
  2. To annoy or bother.
  3. To tend to come up into the wind, as a ship which, when sailing close-hauled, requires constant labour at the helm.
  4. To pinch; to distress. Specifically, to cause pinching and spasmodic pain to the bowels of, as by the effects of certain purgative or indigestible substances.
  5. To suffer griping pains.
  6. To make a grab (to, towards, at or upon something).
  7. To seize or grasp.
noun
  1. Pinching and spasmodic pain in the intestines; gripe.

gripping

verb
  1. To take hold of, particularly with the hand.
  2. To help or assist, particularly in an emotional sense.
  3. To do something with another that makes you happy/gives you relief.
  4. To trench; to drain.
noun
  1. Pinching and spasmodic pain in the intestines; gripe.
adjective
  1. Which catches someone's attention; exciting

hairpin

noun
  1. A pin or fastener for the hair.
  2. A kind of ribozyme; hairpin ribozyme.
  3. A very tight bend in a road.
  4. An elongated v-shaped sign placed underneath a staff to indicate a crescendo

harp

noun
  1. A musical instrument consisting of a body and a curved neck, strung with strings of varying length that are stroked or plucked with the fingers and are vertical to the soundboard when viewed from the end of the body
  2. A harmonica.
  3. A grain sieve.
verb
  1. (usually with on) To repeatedly mention a subject.
  2. To play on (a harp or similar instrument)
  3. To play (a tune) on the harp.
  4. To develop or give expression to by skill and art; to sound forth as from a harp; to hit upon.

harping

verb
  1. (usually with on) To repeatedly mention a subject.
  2. To play on (a harp or similar instrument)
  3. To play (a tune) on the harp.
  4. To develop or give expression to by skill and art; to sound forth as from a harp; to hit upon.

napping

verb
  1. To have a nap; to sleep for a short period of time, especially during the day.
  2. To be off one's guard.
verb
  1. To form or raise a soft or fuzzy surface on (fabric or leather).
verb
  1. To grab; to nab.
verb
  1. To cover (something) with a sauce (usually in passive).
noun
  1. The act of taking a nap or short sleep.
  2. The act or process of raising a nap, as on cloth.

nipping

verb
  1. To catch and enclose or compress tightly between two surfaces, or points which are brought together or closed; to pinch; to close in upon.
  2. To remove by pinching, biting, or cutting with two meeting edges of anything; to clip.
  3. To blast, as by frost; to check the growth or vigor of; to destroy.
  4. To annoy, as by nipping.
  5. To taunt.
  6. To squeeze or pinch.
  7. To steal; especially to cut a purse.
verb
  1. To make a quick, short journey or errand, usually a round trip.
noun
  1. The act or sensation of giving a nip.

pagan

noun
  1. A person not adhering to a main world religion; a follower of a pantheistic or nature-worshipping religion.
  2. (by extension) An uncivilized or unsocialized person.
  3. (by extension) An unruly, badly educated child.
adjective
  1. Relating to, characteristic of religions that differ from main world religions.
  2. (by extension) Savage, immoral, uncivilized, wild.

paging

verb
  1. To mark or number the pages of, as a book or manuscript.
  2. (often with “through”) To turn several pages of a publication.
  3. To furnish with folios.
verb
  1. To attend (someone) as a page.
  2. To call or summon (someone).
  3. To contact (someone) by means of a pager or other mobile device.
  4. To call (somebody) using a public address system so as to find them.
noun
  1. The arrangement of pages in a book or other publication.
  2. A transfer of pages between main memory and an auxiliary store, such as hard disk drive.

pain

Etymology 1

noun
  1. An ache or bodily suffering, or an instance of this; an unpleasant sensation, resulting from a derangement of functions, disease, or injury by violence; hurt.
  2. The condition or fact of suffering or anguish especially mental, as opposed to pleasure; torment; distress
  3. (from pain in the neck) An annoying person or thing.
  4. Suffering inflicted as punishment or penalty.
  5. (chiefly in the plural) Labour; effort; great care or trouble taken in doing something.
verb
  1. To hurt; to put to bodily uneasiness or anguish; to afflict with uneasy sensations of any degree of intensity; to torment; to torture.
  2. To render uneasy in mind; to disquiet; to distress; to grieve.
  3. To inflict suffering upon as a penalty; to punish.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Any of various breads stuffed with a filling.

paining

verb
  1. To hurt; to put to bodily uneasiness or anguish; to afflict with uneasy sensations of any degree of intensity; to torment; to torture.
  2. To render uneasy in mind; to disquiet; to distress; to grieve.
  3. To inflict suffering upon as a penalty; to punish.

pair

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Two similar or identical things taken together; often followed by of.
  2. Two people in a relationship, partnership or friendship.
  3. Used with binary nouns (often in the plural to indicate multiple instances, since such nouns are plural only, except in some technical contexts)
  4. A couple of working animals attached to work together, as by a yoke.
  5. A poker hand that contains two cards of identical rank, which cannot also count as a better hand.
  6. A score of zero runs (a duck) in both innings of a two-innings match.
  7. A double play, two outs recorded in one play.
  8. A doubleheader, two games played on the same day between the same teams
  9. A boat for two sweep rowers.
  10. A pair of breasts
  11. The exclusion of one member of a parliamentary party from a vote, if a member of the other party is absent for important personal reasons.
  12. Two members of opposite parties or opinion, as in a parliamentary body, who mutually agree not to vote on a given question, or on issues of a party nature during a specified time.
  13. A number of things resembling one another, or belonging together; a set.
  14. (kinematics) In a mechanism, two elements, or bodies, which are so applied to each other as to mutually constrain relative motion; named in accordance with the motion it permits, as in turning pair, sliding pair, twisting pair.
verb
  1. To group into one or more sets of two.
  2. To bring two (animals, notably dogs) together for mating.
  3. To engage (oneself) with another of opposite opinions not to vote on a particular question or class of questions.
  4. To suit; to fit, as a counterpart.

Etymology 2

verb
  1. To impair, to make worse.
  2. To become worse, to deteriorate.

pairing

verb
  1. To group into one or more sets of two.
  2. To bring two (animals, notably dogs) together for mating.
  3. To engage (oneself) with another of opposite opinions not to vote on a particular question or class of questions.
  4. To suit; to fit, as a counterpart.
verb
  1. To impair, to make worse.
  2. To become worse, to deteriorate.
noun
  1. The combination or union of two things.
  2. An agreement between two members of a legislative body holding opposite opinions to refrain from voting, so that both may absent themselves.

pang

noun
  1. (often in the plural) A paroxysm of extreme physical pain or anguish; a feeling of sudden and transitory agony; a throe.
  2. (often in the plural) A sudden sharp feeling of an emotional or mental nature, as of joy or sorrow.
verb
  1. To cause to have great pain or suffering; to torment, to torture.

panini

noun
  1. A type of grilled sandwich made of a small loaf of bread, cut horizontally, filled with meat such as salami or ham, cheese or other food.

panning

verb
  1. To wash in a pan (of earth, sand etc. when searching for gold).
  2. To disparage; to belittle; to put down; to criticise severely.
  3. With "out" (to pan out), to turn out well; to be successful.
  4. (of a contest) To beat one's opposition convincingly.
  5. To criticize harshly a work (like a book, movie, etc.)
verb
  1. Of a camera, etc.: to turn horizontally.
  2. To move the camera lens angle while continuing to expose the film, enabling a contiguous view and enrichment of context. In still-photography large-group portraits the film usually remains on a horizontal fixed plane as the lens and/or the film holder moves to expose the film laterally. The resulting image may extend a short distance laterally or as great as 360 degrees from the point where the film first began to be exposed.
  3. (audio) To spread a sound signal into a new stereo or multichannel sound field, typically giving the impression that it is moving across the sound stage.
verb
  1. To join or fit together; to unite.
noun
  1. The act of one who pans, as for gold.
  2. Material that has been panned.
  3. (audio) The act by which a sound is panned.
  4. Thorough criticism.

papa

noun
  1. Dad, daddy, father; a familiar or old-fashioned term of address to one’s father.
  2. A pet name for one's grandfather.
  3. A parish priest in the Greek Orthodox Church.
  4. The letter P in the ICAO spelling alphabet.

paragraph

noun
  1. A passage in text that is about a different subject from the preceding text, marked by commencing on a new line, the first line sometimes being indented.
  2. A mark or note set in the margin to call attention to something in the text, such as a change of subject.
  3. An offset of 16 bytes in Intel memory architectures.
verb
  1. To sort text into paragraphs.

paragraphing

verb
  1. To sort text into paragraphs.
noun
  1. A division into paragraphs.

pariah

noun
  1. A person who is rejected from society or home; an outcast.
  2. A demographic group, species, or community that is generally despised.
  3. Someone in exile.
  4. A member of one of the oppressed social castes in India.

paring

verb
  1. To remove the outer covering or skin of something with a cutting device, typically a knife
  2. (often with down or back) to reduce, diminish or trim gradually something as if by cutting off
  3. To trim the hoof of a horse
noun
  1. A fragment or shaving that has been pared.
  2. The cutting off of the surface of grassland for tillage.

pigging

Etymology 1

verb
  1. (of swine) to give birth.
  2. To greedily consume (especially food).
  3. To huddle or lie together like pigs, in one bed.
  4. To clean (a pipeline) using a pig (the device).
noun
  1. The use of a pig (the device) to clean a pipeline.
adjective
  1. Damned (used as a mild intensive).

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A small pail, can or ladle with the handle on the side; a lading-can. In the colonial era, some buckets were made like a small barrel, but with one stave left extra long. This stave would be carved into a handle so the bucket could be used as an oversized scoop for scattering grain, slopping the hogs, etc.

ping

noun
  1. A high-pitched, short and somewhat sharp sound.
  2. (submarine navigation) A pulse of high-pitched or ultrasonic sound whose echoes provide information about nearby objects and vessels.
  3. A packet which a remote host is expected to echo, thus indicating its presence.
  4. An email or other message sent requesting acknowledgement.
  5. Latency.
  6. A means of highlighting a feature on the game map so that allied players can see it.
  7. (WMF jargon) A notification.
verb
  1. To make a high-pitched, short and somewhat sharp sound.
  2. (submarine navigation) To emit a signal and then listen for its echo in order to detect objects.
  3. To send a packet in order to determine whether a host is present, particularly by use of the ping utility.
  4. (by extension) To send an email or other message to someone in hopes of eliciting a response.
  5. To flick.
  6. To bounce.
  7. To cause something to bounce.
  8. To call out audibly.
  9. To penalize.

pinging

verb
  1. To make a high-pitched, short and somewhat sharp sound.
  2. (submarine navigation) To emit a signal and then listen for its echo in order to detect objects.
  3. To send a packet in order to determine whether a host is present, particularly by use of the ping utility.
  4. (by extension) To send an email or other message to someone in hopes of eliciting a response.
  5. To flick.
  6. To bounce.
  7. To cause something to bounce.
  8. To call out audibly.
  9. To penalize.
noun
  1. The sound of a ping.
  2. The act of sending a ping, as by a submarine or over a computer network.

pining

verb
  1. To languish; to lose flesh or wear away through distress.
  2. To long, to yearn so much that it causes suffering.
  3. To grieve or mourn for.
  4. To inflict pain upon; to torment.
noun
  1. The act of one who pines.

pinning

verb
  1. To shape metal by striking it, especially with a peen.
verb
  1. (often followed by a preposition such as "to" or "on") To fasten or attach (something) with a pin.
  2. (usually in the passive) To cause (a piece) to be in a pin.
  3. To pin down (someone).
  4. To enclose; to confine; to pen; to pound.
  5. To attach (an icon, application, etc.) to another item.
  6. To fix (an array in memory, a security certificate, etc.) so that it cannot be modified.
  7. To cause an analog gauge to reach the stop pin at the high end of the range.
noun
  1. The action of the verb pin in any sense.
  2. A ceremony in which a pin badge is given.
  3. The establishment of the definite quantum state of a particle, or of the occupation number of a system of particles

piping

verb
  1. To play (music) on a pipe instrument, such as a bagpipe or a flute.
  2. To shout loudly and at high pitch.
  3. To emit or have a shrill sound like that of a pipe; to whistle.
  4. Of a metal ingot: to become hollow in the process of solidifying.
  5. To convey or transport (something) by means of pipes.
  6. To install or configure with pipes.
  7. To dab moisture away from.
  8. To lead or conduct as if by pipes, especially by wired transmission.
  9. To directly feed (the output of one program) as input to another program, indicated by the pipe character (pipe) at the command line.
  10. To create or decorate with piping (icing).
  11. To order or signal by a note pattern on a boatswain's pipe.
  12. (of a male) To have sexual intercourse with a female.
  13. To see.
noun
  1. The process of an animal just beginning to break out of its egg; precedes hatching.
  2. The sound of musical pipes.
  3. An act of making music or noise with pipes.
  4. A system of pipes that compose a structure; pipework.
  5. An ornamentation on the edges of a garment; a small cord covered with cloth.
  6. Icing extruded from a piping bag.
  7. A piece cut off to be set or planted; a cutting.
  8. Propagation by cuttings
adjective
  1. High-pitched.

pippin

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A seed

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Any of several varieties of eating apple that have a yellow or green skin with patches of red
  2. Any of several roundish or oblate apple varieties
  3. An apple tree raised from a seed (not grafted)

piranha

noun
  1. Any of the carnivorous freshwater fish living in South American rivers and belonging to the subfamily Serrasalminae.

prig

noun
  1. A tinker.
  2. A petty thief or pickpocket.
  3. A deliberately superior person; a person who demonstrates an exaggerated conformity or propriety, especially in an irritatingly arrogant or smug manner.
  4. A conceited dandy; a fop.
verb
  1. To filch or steal.
  2. To ride
  3. To copulate

rapini

noun
  1. A vegetable native to China, Brassica rapa subsp. rapa, with green spiky leaves and a bitter taste.

rapping

verb
  1. To strike something sharply with one's knuckles; knock.
  2. To strike with a quick blow; to knock on.
  3. To free (a pattern) in a mould by light blows on the pattern, so as to facilitate its removal.
  4. To speak (lyrics) in the style of rap music.
  5. To talk casually; to engage in conversation.
verb
  1. To seize and carry off.
  2. To transport out of oneself; to affect with rapture.
noun
  1. The sound of a rap or knock.
  2. Musical speech accompanied by a rhythm, most commonly as part of hip-hop music.
adjective
  1. Remarkably large; whopping.

riparian

noun
  1. A person or other entity that lives or owns property along the shore of a river.
adjective
  1. Of or relating to the bank of a river or stream.

ripping

verb
  1. To divide or separate the parts of (especially something flimsy such as paper or fabric), by cutting or tearing; to tear off or out by violence.
  2. To tear apart; to rapidly become two parts.
  3. To get by, or as if by, cutting or tearing.
  4. To move quickly and destructively.
  5. To cut wood along (parallel to) the grain.
  6. To copy data from CD, DVD, Internet stream, etc. to a hard drive, portable device, etc.
  7. (narcotics) To take a "hit" of marijuana.
  8. To fart.
  9. To mock or criticize (someone or something). (often used with on)
  10. To steal; to rip off.
  11. To move or act fast, to rush headlong.
  12. To tear up for search or disclosure, or for alteration; to search to the bottom; to discover; to disclose; usually with up.
  13. To surf extremely well.
noun
  1. The process of copying audio or video content from a CD, DVD, etc. to a hard disk.
  2. Wood that has been ripped (cut parallel to the grain).
  3. The process of ploughing a rabbit warren with deep furrows as a form of feral control.
  4. The use of diet and exercise to reduce body fat and emphasize muscle mass.
adjective
  1. That rips, or can be removed by ripping.
  2. Excellent.