Monday, May 12, 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: 1

Maximum Puzzle Score: 146

Number of Answers: 27

Points Needed for Genius: 102

Genius requires between 15 and 22 words. You need at least a 7-letter word to reach genius. If you don't get the pangram, you need 78% of the total points to reach genius. If you get the pangram, you only need 66% 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 146 was in the 38th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there was a score this low was on May 9, 2025.
The highest score ever was 537 on January 22, 2021.
The lowest score ever was 47 on March 27, 2023.

This puzzle's 27 possible answers rank it in the 17th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there were fewer answers than this was on April 17, 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 May 11, 2025.

Today's puzzle has an average word length of 5.7.
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 199
  • loll 193
  • toot 186
  • naan 171
  • nana 171
  • lilt 138
  • till 138
  • tilt 138
  • tint 136
  • nene 131
  • mama 130
  • mamma 130
  • acacia 123
  • acai 123
  • onto 122
  • toon 122
  • onion 119
  • anal 115
  • olio 113
  • anon 112
  • boob 112
  • booboo 112
  • baba 108
  • tact 108
  • dodo 107
  • papa 107
  • lull 105
  • lulu 105
  • poop 105
  • call 104
  • calla 104
  • ratatat 104
  • tart 104
  • tartar 104
  • attar 103
  • mitt 103
  • mono 103
  • moon 103
  • tatty 102
  • tattoo 101
  • allay 100
  • ally 100
  • ammo 100
  • momma 100
  • tutu 100
  • cocci 98
  • epee 98
  • peep 98
  • loon 97
  • loot 95


How long are words in the Bee?

There have been 101,072 answers ever accepted in the Bee - with 10,585 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*:

  • bibb
  • bibbing
  • biggin
  • bigging
  • bing
  • biog
  • bobo
  • boinging
  • bonging
  • boobing
  • boubou
  • bubo
  • bubu
  • bunging
  • bunn
  • gibbing
  • gobbing
  • gobo
  • nibbing

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

binging

Etymology 1

verb
  1. To engage in a short period of excessive consumption, especially of excessive alcohol consumption.

Etymology 2

verb
  1. To go; walk; come; run
verb
  1. Making the sound of a bounce
  2. To bounce

bingo

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A game of chance for two or more players, who mark off numbers on a grid as they are announced by the caller; the game is won by the first person to call out "bingo!" or "house!" after crossing off all numbers on the grid or in one line of the grid.
  2. A win in such a game.
  3. (Scrabble) A play where all seven of a player's letter tiles are played.
verb
  1. To play the game of bingo.
  2. To give the winning cry of "bingo!" in a game.
  3. To play all of one's seven tiles in one move in the game of Scrabble, earning a score bonus.
  4. To return to base.
adjective
  1. Just sufficient to return to base (or, alternatively, to divert to an alternative airfield). (also written Bingo or BINGO)
interjection
  1. Used by players of bingo to claim a win.
  2. Used when finding what one has been looking for or trying to recall, or on successful completion of a task.
  3. Used to declare "You've just made my point!" or "My point exactly!"

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Brandy.

binning

verb
  1. To dispose of (something) by putting it into a bin, or as if putting it into a bin.
  2. To throw away, reject, give up.
  3. To convert continuous data into discrete groups.
  4. To place into a bin for storage.
noun
  1. A data pre-processing technique in which original data values fall into a small interval ("bin") and are replaced by a value representative of that interval, often the central value. Wp
  2. The process of grouping reads or contigs and assigning them to operational taxonomic units. Wp
  3. The categorization of finished products based on their characteristics. Wp
  4. The process of combining charge from adjacent pixels in a CCD image sensor during readout.

bobbin

noun
  1. A spool or cylinder around which wire is coiled.
  2. In a sewing machine, the small spool that holds the lower thread.
  3. The little rounded piece of wood at the end of a latch string, which is pulled to raise the latch.
  4. (haberdashery) A fine cord or narrow braid.

bobbing

verb
  1. To move gently and vertically, in either a single motion or repeatedly up and down, at or near the surface of a body of water, or similar medium.
  2. To move (something) as though it were bobbing in water.
  3. To curtsy.
  4. To strike with a quick, light blow; to tap.
verb
  1. To cut (hair) into a bob haircut.
  2. To shorten by cutting; to dock; to crop
  3. To bobsleigh.
noun
  1. The motion of something that bobs.

bogging

verb
  1. (now often with "down") To sink or submerge someone or something into bogland.
  2. To prevent or slow someone or something from making progress.
  3. (now often with "down") To sink and stick in bogland.
  4. To be prevented or impeded from making progress, to become stuck.
  5. (originally vulgar Britain) To defecate, to void one's bowels.
  6. (originally vulgar Britain) To cover or spray with excrement.
  7. To make a mess of something.
verb
  1. To provoke, to bug.
verb
  1. (usually with "off") To go away.
adjective
  1. Stinking; disgusting.

boing

noun
  1. The sound made by an elastic object (such as a spring) when bouncing; the sound of a bounce.
verb
  1. To make a boing sound or bouncing motion.

bonbon

noun
  1. A sweet, especially a small chocolate-covered candy.
  2. A small, spherical savory snack or canapé.
  3. A Christmas cracker.

bong

Etymology 1

noun
  1. The clang of a large bell.
  2. Doorbell chimes.
verb
  1. To pull a bell.
  2. To ring a doorbell.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A vessel, usually made of glass or ceramic and filled with water, used in smoking various substances; especially marijuana or pot.
  2. An act of smoking one serving of drugs from a bong.
  3. A device for rapidly consuming beer, usually consisting of a funnel or reservoir of beer and a length of tubing.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. A very wide piton.

Etymology 4

noun
  1. (thieves' cant) A purse.

Etymology 5

noun
  1. An Australian Aboriginal person.

bongo

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A striped bovine mammal found in Africa, Tragelaphus eurycerus.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Either of a pair of small drums of Cuban origin, played by beating with the hands.
verb
  1. To play the bongo drums.
  2. Of the heart, etc.: to beat with an irregular rhythm.
  3. To hit something rhythmically with the hands.

boning

verb
  1. To prepare (meat, etc) by removing the bone or bones from.
  2. To fertilize with bone.
  3. To put whalebone into.
  4. To make level, using a particular procedure; to survey a level line.
  5. (usually of a man) To have sexual intercourse with.
  6. (in Aboriginal culture) To perform "bone pointing", a ritual that is intended to bring illness or even death to the victim.
  7. (usually with "up") To study.
  8. To polish boots to a shiny finish.
verb
  1. To apprehend, steal.
verb
  1. To sight along an object or set of objects to check whether they are level or in line.
noun
  1. The removal of bones from a carcass; filleting.
  2. The arrangement of bones in a corset.
  3. An act of sexual intercourse.
  4. Bone structure.
  5. The fertilization of a field with bone meal.
  6. The process or result of leveling using a boning rod.
  7. Placement of a curse by pointing with a bone, practiced by Australian aborigines; an act of pointing the bone.

bonobo

noun
  1. The pygmy chimpanzee, Pan paniscus, from Africa south of the Congo river.

boob

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Idiot, fool.
verb
  1. To behave stupidly; to act like a boob.
  2. To make a mistake
adjective
  1. Idiotic, foolish.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A breast, especially that of an adult or adolescent human female.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. A prison; jail.

booboo

noun
  1. A mistake or error.
  2. (by or to young children) A minor injury, such as a cut or a bruise.
  3. (by or to young children) Feces.

booing

verb
  1. To shout extended boos derisively.
  2. To shout extended boos at, as a form of derision.
noun
  1. A disapproving exclamation by a member of an audience.

boon

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A prayer; petition.
  2. That which is asked or granted as a benefit or favor; a gift or benefaction.
  3. A good thing; a blessing or benefit; a thing to be thankful for.
  4. An unpaid service due by a tenant to his lord.

Etymology 2

adjective
  1. Good; prosperous.
  2. Kind; bountiful; benign.
  3. (Now only in boon companion) gay; merry; jovial; convivial.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. The woody portion of flax, separated from the fiber as refuse matter by retting, braking, and scutching.

boxing

Etymology 1

verb
  1. To place inside a box; to pack in one or more boxes.
  2. Usually followed by in: to surround and enclose in a way that restricts movement; to corner, to hem in.
  3. To mix two containers of paint of similar colour to ensure that the color is identical.
  4. To make an incision or hole in (a tree) for the purpose of procuring the sap.
  5. To enclose with boarding, lathing, etc., so as to conceal (for example, pipes) or to bring to a required form.
  6. To furnish (for example, the axle of a wheel) with a box.
  7. To enclose (images, text, etc.) in a box.
  8. To place a value of a primitive type into a corresponding object.
verb
  1. To strike with the fists; to punch.
  2. To fight against (a person) in a boxing match.
  3. To participate in boxing; to be a boxer.
noun
  1. A sport where two opponents punch each other with gloved fists, the object being to score more points by the end of the match or by knockout, or technical knockout.

Etymology 2

verb
  1. To place inside a box; to pack in one or more boxes.
  2. Usually followed by in: to surround and enclose in a way that restricts movement; to corner, to hem in.
  3. To mix two containers of paint of similar colour to ensure that the color is identical.
  4. To make an incision or hole in (a tree) for the purpose of procuring the sap.
  5. To enclose with boarding, lathing, etc., so as to conceal (for example, pipes) or to bring to a required form.
  6. To furnish (for example, the axle of a wheel) with a box.
  7. To enclose (images, text, etc.) in a box.
  8. To place a value of a primitive type into a corresponding object.
verb
  1. To strike with the fists; to punch.
  2. To fight against (a person) in a boxing match.
  3. To participate in boxing; to be a boxer.
noun
  1. Material used for making boxes or casing.
  2. Casing.
  3. Automatic conversion of value types to objects by wrapping them within a heap-allocated reference type.

bugging

verb
  1. To annoy.
  2. To install an electronic listening device or devices in.
noun
  1. Electronic surveillance.

bung

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A stopper, alternative to a cork, often made of rubber used to prevent fluid passing through the neck of a bottle, vat, a hole in a vessel etc.
  2. A cecum or anus, especially of a slaughter animal.
  3. A bribe.
  4. The orifice in the bilge of a cask through which it is filled; bunghole.
  5. A sharper or pickpocket.
verb
  1. To plug, as with a bung.
  2. To put or throw somewhere without care; to chuck.
  3. To batter, bruise; to cause to bulge or swell.
  4. To pass a bribe.

Etymology 2

adjective
  1. Broken, not in working order.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. (thieves' cant) A purse.

bunion

noun
  1. A bump or bulge on the first joint of the big toe caused by the swelling of a sac of fluid under the skin.
  2. (by extension) Hallux valgus, deviation of the big toe from its normal position towards the other toes, the prime cause for the swelling of its first joint.

gibbon

noun
  1. A small ape of the family Hylobatidae with long limbs, which it uses to travel through rainforests by swinging from branch to branch.

gibing

verb
  1. Alternative spelling of gybe
  2. Alternative spelling of jibe
noun
  1. A gibe.

inbox

noun
  1. A container in which papers to be dealt with are put.
  2. An electronic folder serving the same purpose.
  3. The aggregate of items that demand one's attention or effort.
verb
  1. To put (something) in someone's inbox.
  2. To communicate with (a person) by writing to their electronic inbox.

nubbin

noun
  1. A stub, especially a stub of undeveloped corn or fruit or nipple.
  2. A small protuberance, bud, bump or knob.
  3. The clitoris.

unbox

verb
  1. To remove from a box.
  2. To retrieve (a value of a primitive type) from the object in which it is boxed.

unboxing

Etymology 1

verb
  1. To remove from a box.
  2. To retrieve (a value of a primitive type) from the object in which it is boxed.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. The removal of something from its box; an unpacking.
  2. Automatic conversion of objects back to value types.

noob

noun
  1. (often pejorative) A newb or newbie; refers to the idea that someone is new to a game, concept, or idea; implying a lack of experience. Also, in some areas the word noob can mean someone is obsessed with things.