Thursday, July 17, 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: 283

Number of Answers: 51

Points Needed for Genius: 198

Genius requires between 24 and 44 words. You need at least an 8-letter word to reach genius. If you don't get the pangrams, you need 80% of the total points to reach genius. If you get the pangrams, you only need 66% 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 283 was in the 91st percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there was a score this high was on July 13, 2025.
The highest score ever was 537 on January 22, 2021.
The lowest score ever was 47 on March 27, 2023.

This puzzle's 51 possible answers rank it in the 78th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there were more answers than this was on July 13, 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 an 8-letter word for genius.
The last time this happened was on July 13, 2025.

Today's puzzle has an average word length of 6.0.
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 205
  • loll 200
  • toot 193
  • naan 175
  • nana 175
  • lilt 143
  • till 143
  • tilt 143
  • tint 138
  • nene 135
  • mama 134
  • mamma 134
  • acacia 128
  • acai 128
  • onto 127
  • toon 127
  • onion 123
  • anon 119
  • anal 118
  • olio 116
  • boob 113
  • booboo 113
  • dodo 113
  • tact 112
  • papa 111
  • poop 111
  • baba 109
  • lull 108
  • lulu 108
  • call 107
  • calla 107
  • mitt 107
  • ratatat 106
  • tart 106
  • tartar 106
  • attar 105
  • tatty 105
  • tattoo 104
  • ammo 103
  • cocci 103
  • momma 103
  • mono 103
  • moon 103
  • tutu 103
  • allay 102
  • ally 102
  • epee 100
  • loon 100
  • peep 100
  • roar 98


How long are words in the Bee?

There have been 104,156 answers ever accepted in the Bee - with 10,676 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*:

  • acta
  • adit
  • adyta
  • atactic
  • atalaya
  • atlatl
  • calcitic
  • catalatic
  • clit
  • clitic
  • cyclicality
  • cyclicity
  • dactyli
  • dialytic
  • dicty
  • didactical
  • didactyl
  • dita
  • ictic
  • illitic
  • lati
  • latilla
  • litai
  • lytic
  • lytically
  • lytta
  • tala
  • talcy
  • tattily
  • tical
  • tictac
  • tiddly
  • titi
  • titty

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

acidity

noun
  1. The quality or state of being acid
  2. Sourness; tartness; sharpness to the taste
  3. Excessive acid quality, as in gastric secretions.

addict

noun
  1. A person who is addicted, especially to a harmful drug
  2. An adherent or fan (of something)
verb
  1. To deliver (someone or something) following a judicial decision.
  2. To devote (oneself) to a given activity, occupation, thing etc.
  3. To bind (a person or thing) to the service of something.
  4. To devote or pledge (oneself) to a given person, cause etc.
  5. To devote (one's mind, talent etc.) to a given activity, occupation, thing etc.
  6. To make (someone) become devoted to a given thing or activity; to cause to be addicted.

alit

No Definition Found.

atilt

adjective
  1. At an angle from the vertical or horizontal.
adverb
  1. At an angle from the vertical or horizontal; at the point of falling over.
  2. Tilting or as if tilting (charging with a lance, like a knight on horseback in a joust).
preposition
  1. Diagonally over or across.

attic

noun
  1. The space, often unfinished and with sloped walls, directly below the roof in the uppermost part of a house or other building, generally used for storage or habitation.

cacti

noun
  1. Any member of the family Cactaceae, a family of flowering New World succulent plants suited to a hot, semi-desert climate.
  2. Any succulent plant with a thick fleshy stem bearing spines but no leaves, such as euphorbs.

catalytic

adjective
  1. Of or relating to a catalyst; having properties facilitating chemical reaction or change.

catalytically

No Definition Found.

catcall

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A shout or whistle expressing dislike, especially from a crowd or audience; a jeer, a boo.
  2. A shout, whistle, or comment of a sexual nature, usually made toward a passing woman.
  3. A whistle blown by a theatre-goer to express disapproval.
verb
  1. To make such an exclamation.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. In the Eiffel programming language, a run-time error caused by use of the wrong data type.

cattail

noun
  1. Any of several perennial herbs, of the genus Typha, that have long flat leaves, and grow in marshy places

cattily

No Definition Found.

catty

Etymology 1

adjective
  1. (of a person or remark) With subtle hostility in an effort to hurt, annoy or upset, particularly among women.
  2. Resembling or characteristic of a cat.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A (unit of) weight used in China, generally standardized as half a kilogram.

city

noun
  1. A large settlement, bigger than a town; sometimes with a specific legal definition, depending on the place.
  2. A settlement granted special status by royal charter or letters patent; traditionally, a settlement with a cathedral regardless of size.
  3. The central business district; downtown.
  4. A large amount of something (used after the noun).

dactyl

noun
  1. A poetical foot of three syllables (— ⏑ ⏑), one long followed by two short, or one accented followed by two unaccented.

dactylic

noun
  1. A dactylic verse.
adjective
  1. Of or consisting of dactyls.

data

noun
  1. (plural: data) A measurement of something on a scale understood by both the recorder (a person or device) and the reader (another person or device). The scale is arbitrarily defined, such as from 1 to 10 by ones, 1 to 100 by 0.1, or simply true or false, on or off, yes, no, or maybe, etc.
  2. (plural: data) A fact known from direct observation.
  3. (plural: data) A premise from which conclusions are drawn.
  4. (plural: datums) A fixed reference point, or a coordinate system.

daylit

No Definition Found.

dicta

noun
  1. An authoritative statement; a dogmatic saying; a maxim, an apothegm.
  2. A judicial opinion expressed by judges on points that do not necessarily arise in the case, and are not involved in it.
  3. The report of a judgment made by one of the judges who has given it.
  4. An arbitrament or award.

didact

No Definition Found.

didactic

noun
  1. A treatise on teaching or education.
adjective
  1. Instructive or intended to teach or demonstrate, especially with regard to morality.
  2. Excessively moralizing.
  3. Teaching from textbooks rather than laboratory demonstration and clinical application.

didactically

No Definition Found.

ditty

noun
  1. A short verse or tune.
  2. A saying or utterance, especially one that is short and frequently repeated.
verb
  1. To sing; to warble a little tune.

illicit

noun
  1. A banned or unlawful item.
adjective
  1. Not approved by law, but not invalid.
  2. Breaking social norms.
  3. Unlawful.

illicitly

adverb
  1. In an illicit manner; illegally, immorally or inappropriately.

italic

noun
  1. A typeface in which the letters slant to the right.
  2. An oblique handwriting style, such as used by Italian calligraphers of the Renaissance.
adjective
  1. (of a typeface or font) Designed to resemble a handwriting style developed in Italy in the 16th century.
  2. (of a typeface or font) Having letters that slant or lean to the right; oblique.

lactic

adjective
  1. Of, relating to, or derived from milk
  2. (of fermentation) That produces lactic acid

laity

noun
  1. People of a church who are not ordained clergy or clerics.
  2. The common man or woman.
  3. The unlearned, untrained or ignorant.

licit

adjective
  1. Not forbidden by formal or informal rules.
  2. Explicitly established or constituted by law.

licitly

No Definition Found.

lilt

noun
  1. Animated, brisk motion; spirited rhythm; sprightliness.
  2. A lively song or dance; a cheerful tune.
  3. A cheerful or melodious accent when speaking.
verb
  1. To do something rhythmically, with animation and quickness, usually of music.
  2. To sing cheerfully, especially in Gaelic.
  3. To utter with spirit, animation, or gaiety; to sing with spirit and liveliness.

tacit

adjective
  1. Expressed in silence; implied, but not made explicit; silent.
  2. Not derived from formal principles of reasoning; based on induction rather than deduction.

tacitly

adverb
  1. In a tacit manner; done in silence or implied.

tact

noun
  1. The sense of touch; feeling.
  2. The stroke in beating time.
  3. Sensitive mental touch; special skill or faculty; keen perception or discernment; ready power of appreciating and doing what is required by circumstances; the ability to say the right thing.
  4. A verbal operant which is controlled by a nonverbal stimulus (such as an object, event, or property of an object) and is maintained by nonspecific social reinforcement (praise).
verb
  1. To use a tact (a kind of verbal operant; see noun sense).
noun
  1. A maneuver, or action calculated to achieve some end.
  2. A maneuver used against an enemy.
  3. A sequence of moves that limits the opponent's options and results in an immediate and tangible advantage, typically in the form of material.

tactic

noun
  1. A maneuver, or action calculated to achieve some end.
  2. A maneuver used against an enemy.
  3. A sequence of moves that limits the opponent's options and results in an immediate and tangible advantage, typically in the form of material.
adjective
  1. Tactical; of or relating to the art of military and naval tactics.
  2. Describing a polymer whose repeat units are identical.

tactical

noun
  1. A combinator of proof tactics.
  2. A private war reenactment event involving mock battles or skirmishes.
adjective
  1. Of, or relating to tactics
  2. Of, or relating to military operations that are smaller or more local than strategic ones
  3. Adroit, skilful or ingenious
  4. Having a military appearance, typically with accessories such as a bipod, adjustable stock, detachable magazine or black coloration

tactically

adverb
  1. In a tactical manner; in a manner calculated to achieve some end.
  2. Using tactics

tactility

No Definition Found.

tail

Etymology 1

noun
  1. The caudal appendage of an animal that is attached to its posterior and near the anus.
  2. An object or part of an object resembling a tail in shape, such as the thongs on a cat-o'-nine-tails.
  3. The back, last, lower, or inferior part of anything.
  4. The feathers attached to the pygostyle of a bird.
  5. The tail-end of an object, e.g. the rear of an aircraft's fuselage, containing the tailfin.
  6. The rear structure of an aircraft, the empennage.
  7. The visible stream of dust and gases blown from a comet by the solar wind.
  8. The latter part of a time period or event, or (collectively) persons or objects represented in this part.
  9. The part of a distribution most distant from the mode; as, a long tail.
  10. One who surreptitiously follows another.
  11. The lower order of batsmen in the batting order, usually specialist bowlers.
  12. The lower loop of the letters in the Roman alphabet, as in g, q or y.
  13. (chiefly in the plural) The side of a coin not bearing the head; normally the side on which the monetary value of the coin is indicated; the reverse.
  14. All the last terms of a sequence, from some term on.
  15. The buttocks or backside.
  16. The penis of a person or animal.
  17. Sexual intercourse.
  18. (kayaking) The stern; the back of the kayak.
  19. A train or company of attendants; a retinue.
  20. The distal tendon of a muscle.
  21. A filamentous projection on the tornal section of each hind wing of certain butterflies.
  22. A downy or feathery appendage of certain achens, formed of the permanent elongated style.
  23. A portion of an incision, at its beginning or end, which does not go through the whole thickness of the skin, and is more painful than a complete incision; called also tailing.
  24. One of the strips at the end of a bandage formed by splitting the bandage one or more times.
  25. A rope spliced to the strap of a block, by which it may be lashed to anything.
  26. The part of a note which runs perpendicularly upward or downward from the head; the stem.
  27. A tailing.
  28. The bottom or lower portion of a member or part such as a slate or tile.
  29. A tailcoat.
verb
  1. To follow and observe surreptitiously.
  2. To hold by the end; said of a timber when it rests upon a wall or other support; with in or into
  3. To swing with the stern in a certain direction; said of a vessel at anchor.
  4. To follow or hang to, like a tail; to be attached closely to, as that which can not be evaded.
  5. To pull or draw by the tail.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Limitation of inheritance to certain heirs.
adjective
  1. Limited; abridged; reduced; curtailed.

talc

noun
  1. Originally a large range of transparent or glistening foliated minerals. Examples include mica, selenite and the hydrated magnesium silicate that the term talc generally has referred to in modern times (see below). Also an item made of such a mineral and depending for its function on the special nature of the mineral (see next). Mediaeval writers adopted the term from the Arabic.
  2. A microscope slide made of a plate of mica, generally in use from the start of modern microscopy until the early nineteenth century, after which glass slides became the standard medium.
  3. A soft mineral, composed of hydrated magnesium silicate, that has a soapy feel and a greenish, whitish, or grayish color, and usually occurs in foliated masses.
  4. Talcum powder.
verb
  1. To apply talc to.

tali

noun
  1. The bone of the ankle.

tall

noun
  1. (possibly nonstandard) Someone or something that is tall.
adjective
  1. (of a person) Having a vertical extent greater than the average. For example, somebody with a height of over 6 feet would generally be considered to be tall.
  2. (of a building, etc.) Having its top a long way up; having a great vertical (and often greater than horizontal) extent; high.
  3. (of a story) Hard to believe, such as a tall story or a tall tale.
  4. (of a cup of coffee) A cup of coffee smaller than grande, usually 8 ounces.
  5. Obsequious; obedient.
  6. Seemly; suitable; fitting, becoming, comely; attractive, handsome.
  7. Bold; brave; courageous; valiant.
  8. Fine; proper; admirable; great; excellent.

tallit

No Definition Found.

tally

Etymology 1

interjection
  1. Target sighted.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. (by extension) One of two books, sheets of paper, etc., on which corresponding accounts were kept.
  2. (by extension) Any account or score kept by notches or marks, whether on wood or paper, or in a book, especially one kept in duplicate.
  3. One thing made to suit another; a match; a mate.
  4. A notch, mark, or score made on or in a tally; as, to make or earn a score or tally in a game.
  5. A tally shop.
  6. A ribbon on a sailor's cap bearing the name of the ship or the (part of) the navy to which they belong.
  7. A state of cohabitation, living with another individual in an intimate relationship outside of marriage.
noun
  1. A bone, or piece of wood, on which notches or scores are cut, as the marks of number, for account keeping.

Etymology 3

verb
  1. To count something.
  2. To record something by making marks.
  3. To make things correspond or agree with each other.
  4. To keep score.
  5. To correspond or agree.
  6. To check off, as parcels of freight going inboard or outboard.

Etymology 4

adverb
  1. In a tall way; stoutly; with spirit.

tatty

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Potato

Etymology 2

adjective
  1. Tattered; dilapidated, distressed, worn-out, torn

Etymology 3

noun
  1. A woven mat or screen hung at a door or window and kept wet to moisten and cool the air as it enters.

tidal

adjective
  1. Relating to tides

tidally

No Definition Found.

tidily

No Definition Found.

tidy

noun
  1. A tabletop container for pens and stationery.
  2. A cover, often of tatting, drawn work, or other ornamental work, for the back of a chair, the arms of a sofa, etc.
  3. A child's pinafore.
  4. The wren.
verb
  1. To make tidy; to neaten.
adjective
  1. Arranged neatly and in order.
  2. Not messy; neat and controlled.
  3. Satisfactory; comfortable.
  4. Generous, considerable.
  5. In good time; at the right time; timely; seasonable; opportune; favourable; fit; suitable.
  6. Brave; smart; skillful; fine; good.
  7. Appropriate or suitable as regards occasion, circumstances, arrangement, or order.
interjection
  1. Expression of positive agreement, usually in reply to a question.

till

Etymology 1

preposition
  1. Until; to, up to; as late as (a given time).
  2. To, up to (physically).
  3. To make it possible that.
conjunction
  1. Until, until the time that.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A cash register.
  2. A removable box within a cash register containing the money.
  3. The contents of a cash register, for example at the beginning or end of the day or of a cashier's shift.
  4. A tray or drawer in a chest.

Etymology 3

verb
  1. To develop so as to improve or prepare for usage; to cultivate (said of knowledge, virtue, mind etc.).
  2. To work or cultivate or plough (soil); to prepare for growing vegetation and crops.
  3. To cultivate soil.
  4. To prepare; to get.

Etymology 4

noun
  1. Glacial drift consisting of a mixture of clay, sand, pebbles and boulders
  2. Manure or other material used to fertilize land

Etymology 5

noun
  1. A vetch; a tare.

tilt

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A slope or inclination.
  2. The inclination of part of the body, such as backbone, pelvis, head, etc.
  3. The controlled vertical movement of a camera, or a device to achieve this.
  4. A jousting contest.
  5. An attempt at something, such as a tilt at public office.
  6. A thrust, as with a lance.
  7. A tilt hammer.
verb
  1. To slope or incline (something); to slant.
  2. (jousting) To charge (at someone) with a lance.
  3. To be at an angle.
  4. To point or thrust a weapon at.
  5. To point or thrust (a weapon).
  6. To forge (something) with a tilt hammer.
  7. To play worse than usual (often as a result of previous bad luck or losses).
  8. (of a machine) To intentionally let the ball fall down to the drain by disabling flippers and most targets, done as a punishment to the player when the machine is nudged too violently or frequently.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A canvas covering for carts, boats, etc.
  2. Any covering overhead; especially, a tent.
verb
  1. To cover with a tilt, or awning.

itty

No Definition Found.