Wednesday, August 27, 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: 238

Number of Answers: 50

Points Needed for Genius: 167

Genius requires between 24 and 42 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 238 was in the 79th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there was a score this high was on August 24, 2025.
The highest score ever was 537 on January 22, 2021.
The lowest score ever was 47 on March 27, 2023.

This puzzle's 50 possible answers rank it in the 76th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there were more answers than this was on August 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 August 23, 2025.

Today's puzzle has an average word length of 5.5.
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 210
  • loll 202
  • toot 195
  • naan 177
  • nana 177
  • lilt 144
  • till 144
  • tilt 144
  • nene 138
  • tint 138
  • mama 135
  • mamma 135
  • acacia 131
  • acai 131
  • onto 129
  • toon 129
  • onion 125
  • anal 120
  • anon 120
  • olio 116
  • dodo 115
  • tact 115
  • boob 113
  • booboo 113
  • baba 112
  • papa 112
  • poop 112
  • lull 111
  • lulu 111
  • call 108
  • calla 108
  • mitt 108
  • tutu 107
  • mono 106
  • moon 106
  • ratatat 106
  • tart 106
  • tartar 106
  • attar 105
  • cocci 105
  • tattoo 105
  • tatty 105
  • allay 104
  • ally 104
  • ammo 104
  • momma 104
  • loon 102
  • epee 100
  • peep 100
  • roar 99


How long are words in the Bee?

There have been 105,953 answers ever accepted in the Bee - with 10,736 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*:

  • aalii
  • adland
  • alan
  • aland
  • alanin
  • alanyl
  • alidad
  • aliya
  • allyl
  • anil
  • anilin
  • ilia
  • iliad
  • ilial
  • inly
  • laddy
  • lall
  • lallan
  • lalland
  • lavalava
  • layin
  • liana
  • lindy
  • linin
  • linn
  • linny
  • liny
  • nala
  • navally
  • nidal
  • nill
  • nival
  • nyala
  • vail
  • valval
  • vidalia
  • vill
  • villi
  • vinal
  • yald
  • yill

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

allay

noun
  1. Alleviation; abatement; check.
  2. An alloy.
verb
  1. To make quiet or put at rest; to pacify or appease; to quell; to calm.
  2. To alleviate; to abate; to mitigate.
  3. To subside, abate, become peaceful.
  4. To mix (metals); to mix with a baser metal; to alloy; to deteriorate.
  5. (by extension) To make worse by the introduction of inferior elements.

ally

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A person, group, or state (etc) which is associated with another for a common cause; one united to another by treaty or common purpose; a confederate.
  2. A person, group, concept (etc) which is associated with another as a helper; a supporter; an auxiliary.
  3. Anything akin to something else by structure, etc.
  4. A closely related species, usually within the same family.
  5. A relative; a kinsman.
verb
  1. To unite, or form a connection between, as between families by marriage, or between princes and states by treaty, league, or confederacy.
  2. To connect or form a relation between by similitude, resemblance, friendship, or love.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A narrow street or passageway, especially one through the middle of a block giving access to the rear of lots or buildings.
  2. The area between the outfielders.
  3. An establishment where bowling is played.
  4. An elongated wooden strip of floor along which a bowling ball is rolled.
  5. The extra area between the sidelines or tramlines on a tennis court that is used for doubles matches.
  6. A walk or passage in a garden or park, bordered by rows of trees or bushes.
  7. A passageway between rows of pews in a church.
  8. (perspective drawing) Any passage having the entrance represented as wider than the exit, so as to give the appearance of length.
  9. The space between two rows of compositors' stands in a printing office.
noun
  1. A glass marble or taw.

anal

noun
  1. Any of the anal scales of a reptile.
  2. Anal sex.
adjective
  1. Of, related to, intended for or involving the anus.
  2. Of the stage in psychosexual development when the child's interest is alleged to be concentrated on the anal region.
  3. Of a person, compulsive and stubborn, obsessed with neatness and accuracy, supposedly from not having progressed beyond the anal stage.
  4. (of a vein) Proximate to the thorax.

anally

No Definition Found.

annal

noun
  1. The record of a single event or item.

anvil

noun
  1. A heavy iron block used in the blacksmithing trade as a surface upon which metal can be struck and shaped.
  2. An incus bone in the middle ear.
  3. A stone or other hard surface used by a bird for breaking the shells of snails.
  4. The non-moving surface of a micrometer against which the item to be measured is placed.
verb
  1. To fashion on an anvil (often used figuratively).

avail

noun
  1. Effect in achieving a goal or aim; purpose, use (now usually in negative constructions).
  2. Proceeds; profits from business transactions.
  3. An advertising slot or package.
  4. A press avail.
  5. Non-binding notice of availability for work.
  6. A readily available stock of oil.
  7. Benefit; value, profit; advantage toward success.
  8. Effort; striving.
verb
  1. To turn to the advantage of.
  2. To be of service to.
  3. To promote; to assist.
  4. To be of use or advantage; to answer or serve the purpose; to have strength, force, or efficacy sufficient to accomplish the object.
  5. To provide; to make available.

avidly

adverb
  1. In an avid manner; greedily; eagerly.

daily

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Something that is produced, consumed, used, or done every day.
verb
  1. To drive an automobile frequently, on a daily basis, for regular and mundane tasks.
adjective
  1. That occurs every day, or at least every working day
  2. Diurnal, by daylight, as opposed to nightly

Etymology 2

adverb
  1. Quotidianly, every day
  2. Diurnally, by daylight

dally

Etymology 1

verb
  1. To waste time in trivial activities, or in idleness; to trifle.
  2. To caress, especially of a sexual nature; to fondle or pet
  3. To delay unnecessarily; to while away.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Several wraps of rope around the saddle horn, used to stop animals in roping.
verb
  1. To wind the lasso rope (ie throw-rope) around the saddle horn (the saddle horn is attached to the pommel of a western style saddle) after the roping of an animal

dandily

No Definition Found.

daylily

noun
  1. Any of several perennial plants, of the genus Hemerocallis, that have fleshy roots, grasslike leaves and colourful flowers that bloom for just one day.

dial

noun
  1. A graduated, circular scale over which a needle moves to show a measurement (such as speed).
  2. A clock face.
  3. A sundial.
  4. A panel on a radio etc showing wavelengths or channels; a knob that is turned to change the wavelength etc.
  5. A disk with finger holes on a telephone; used to select the number to be called.
  6. A person's face.
  7. A miner's compass.
verb
  1. To control or select something with a dial, or (figuratively) as if with a dial.
  2. To select a number, or to call someone, on a telephone.
  3. To use a dial or a telephone.

diddly

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A small amount of no worth.

Etymology 2

interjection
  1. A written representation of a trill sound.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. (sometimes childish) penis

dill

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Anethum graveolens (the type species of the genus Anethum), a herb, the seeds of which are moderately warming, pungent, and aromatic, formerly used as a soothing medicine for children; also known as dillseed.
  2. A cucumber pickled with dill flavoring
  3. A fool.
verb
  1. To cook or flavor with dill

Etymology 2

verb
  1. To still; to assuage; to calm; to soothe, as one in pain.

dilly

Etymology 1

adjective
  1. Redolent of dill (the herb).

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Someone or something that is remarkable or unusual.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. A dilly bag.

Etymology 4

noun
  1. A kind of stagecoach.

dillydally

No Definition Found.

idly

adverb
  1. In an idle manner.
  2. Without specific purpose, intent or effort.

idyl

noun
  1. Any poem or short written piece composed in the style of Theocritus' short pastoral poems, the Idylls.
  2. An episode or series of events or circumstances of pastoral or rural simplicity, fit for an idyll; a carefree or lighthearted experience.
  3. A composition, usually instrumental, of a pastoral or sentimental character, e.g. Siegfried Idyll by Richard Wagner.

idyll

noun
  1. Any poem or short written piece composed in the style of Theocritus' short pastoral poems, the Idylls.
  2. An episode or series of events or circumstances of pastoral or rural simplicity, fit for an idyll; a carefree or lighthearted experience.
  3. A composition, usually instrumental, of a pastoral or sentimental character, e.g. Siegfried Idyll by Richard Wagner.

illy

No Definition Found.

inlaid

adjective
  1. (of a design) Set into a surface in a decorative pattern.
  2. (of the surface of an item) Having an inset decorative pattern.
verb
  1. To place (pieces of a foreign material) within another material to form a decorative design.
  2. To place an inlay in a tooth.

inland

noun
  1. The interior part of a country.
adjective
  1. Within the land; relatively remote from the ocean or from open water; interior
  2. Limited to the land, or to inland routes; within the seashore boundary; not passing on, or over, the sea
  3. Confined to a country or state; domestic; not foreign.
adverb
  1. Into, or towards, the interior of the land, away from the coast.

inlay

noun
  1. The material placed within a different material in the form of a decoration.
  2. A filling for a tooth, made of ceramic or gold to fit the cavity and shape of tooth and cemented into place.
  3. The piece of paper or the booklet inside the case of a CD or DVD
verb
  1. To place (pieces of a foreign material) within another material to form a decorative design.
  2. To place an inlay in a tooth.

invalid

Etymology 1

adjective
  1. Not valid; not true, correct, acceptable or appropriate.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. (sometimes offensive) Any person with a disability or illness.
  2. (sometimes offensive) A person who is confined to home or bed because of illness, disability or injury; one who is too sick or weak to care for themselves.
  3. A disabled member of the armed forces; one unfit for active duty due to injury.
verb
  1. To exempt from duty because of injury or ill health.
  2. To make invalid or affect with disease.
adjective
  1. Intended for use by an invalid.

invalidly

No Definition Found.

lady

noun
  1. An aristocratic title for a woman; the wife of a lord and/or a woman who holds the position in her own right; a title for a peeress, the wife of a peer or knight, and the daughters and daughters-in-law of certain peers.
  2. A high priestess.
noun
  1. The mistress of a household.
  2. A woman of breeding or higher class, a woman of authority.
  3. The feminine of lord.
  4. A title for someone married to a lord or gentleman.
  5. A title that can be used instead of the formal terms of marchioness, countess, viscountess or baroness.
  6. (polite or used by children) A woman: an adult female human.
  7. (in the plural) A polite reference or form of address to women.
  8. Used to address a female.
  9. (ladies' or ladies) Toilets intended for use by women.
  10. (familiar) A wife or girlfriend; a sweetheart.
  11. A woman to whom the particular homage of a knight was paid; a woman to whom one is devoted or bound.
  12. A queen (the playing card).
  13. (with a professional title) Who is a woman.
  14. The triturating apparatus in the stomach of a lobster, consisting of calcareous plates; so called from a fancied resemblance to a seated female figure.
  15. A five-pound note. (Rhyming slang, Lady Godiva for fiver.)
  16. A woman’s breast.

laid

adjective
  1. (of paper) Marked with parallel lines, as if ribbed, from wires in the mould.
verb
  1. To place down in a position of rest, or in a horizontal position.
  2. To cause to subside or abate.
  3. To prepare (a plan, project etc.); to set out, establish (a law, principle).
  4. To install certain building materials, laying one thing on top of another.
  5. To produce and deposit an egg.
  6. To bet (that something is or is not the case).
  7. To deposit (a stake) as a wager; to stake; to risk.
  8. To have sex with.
  9. To take a position; to come or go.
  10. To state; to allege.
  11. To point; to aim.
  12. (ropemaking) To put the strands of (a rope, a cable, etc.) in their proper places and twist or unite them.
  13. To place and arrange (pages) for a form upon the imposing stone.
  14. To place (new type) properly in the cases.
  15. To apply; to put.
  16. To impose (a burden, punishment, command, tax, etc.).
  17. To impute; to charge; to allege.
  18. To present or offer.
verb
  1. To don or put on (tefillin (phylacteries)).

lain

Etymology 1

verb
  1. To rest in a horizontal position on a surface.
  2. To be placed or situated.
  3. To abide; to remain for a longer or shorter time; to be in a certain state or condition.
  4. Used with in: to be or exist; to belong or pertain; to have an abiding place; to consist.
  5. Used with with: to have sexual relations with.
  6. Used with on/upon: to be incumbent (on); to be the responsibility of a person.
  7. To lodge; to sleep.
  8. To be still or quiet, like one lying down to rest.
  9. To be sustainable; to be capable of being maintained.

Etymology 2

verb
  1. To conceal, keep quiet about.

lanai

noun
  1. (Florida) A Hawaiian-style roofed patio.

land

Etymology 1

noun
  1. The part of Earth which is not covered by oceans or other bodies of water.
  2. Real estate or landed property; a partitioned and measurable area which is owned and on which buildings can be erected.
  3. A country or region.
  4. A person's country of origin and/or homeplace; homeland.
  5. The soil, in respect to its nature or quality for farming.
  6. (often in combination) realm, domain.
  7. The ground left unploughed between furrows; any of several portions into which a field is divided for ploughing.
  8. A shock or fright.
  9. A conducting area on a board or chip which can be used for connecting wires.
  10. In a compact disc or similar recording medium, an area of the medium which does not have pits.
  11. (travel) The non-airline portion of an itinerary. Hotel, tours, cruises, etc.
  12. The ground or floor.
  13. The lap of the strakes in a clinker-built boat; the lap of plates in an iron vessel; called also landing.
  14. In any surface prepared with indentations, perforations, or grooves, that part of the surface which is not so treated, such as the level part of a millstone between the furrows.
  15. A group of dwellings or tenements under one roof and having a common entry.
verb
  1. To descend to a surface, especially from the air.
  2. To alight, to descend from a vehicle.
  3. To come into rest.
  4. To arrive at land, especially a shore, or a dock, from a body of water.
  5. To bring to land.
  6. To acquire; to secure.
  7. To deliver.
adjective
  1. Of or relating to land.
  2. Residing or growing on land.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Lant; urine

landlady

noun
  1. A female landlord.

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.

lily

noun
  1. Any of several flowers in the genus Lilium of the family Liliaceae, which includes a great many ornamental species.
  2. Any of several species of herbaceous flower which may or may not resemble the genus Lilium in some way, and which are not closely related to it or each other.
  3. The flower used as a heraldic charge; also commonly used to describe the fleur-de-lis.
  4. The end of a compass needle that should point north, traditionally often ornamented with the figure of a lily or fleur-de-lis.
  5. (usually in the plural) A royal spade in auction bridge.
  6. The thirtieth Lenormand card, representing calmness and maturity.
adjective
  1. White (as a racial epithet).

livid

adjective
  1. Having a dark, bluish appearance.
  2. Pale, pallid.
  3. So angry that one turns pale; very angry; furious.

lividly

No Definition Found.

nail

Etymology 1

noun
  1. The thin, horny plate at the ends of fingers and toes on humans and some other animals.
  2. The basal thickened portion of the anterior wings of certain hemiptera.
  3. The terminal horny plate on the beak of ducks, and other allied birds.
  4. The claw of a bird or other animal.
  5. A spike-shaped metal fastener used for joining wood or similar materials. The nail is generally driven through two or more layers of material by means of impacts from a hammer or other device. It is then held in place by friction.
  6. A round pedestal on which merchants once carried out their business, such as the four nails outside The Exchange, Bristol.
  7. An archaic English unit of length equivalent to 1/20 of an ell or 1/16 of a yard (2 1/4 inches or 5.715 cm).

Etymology 2

verb
  1. To fix (an object) to another object using a nail.
  2. To drive a nail.
  3. To stud or boss with nails, or as if with nails.
  4. To catch.
  5. To expose as a sham.
  6. To accomplish (a task) completely and successfully.
  7. To hit (a target) effectively with some weapon.
  8. Of a male, to engage in sexual intercourse with.
  9. To spike, as a cannon.
  10. To nail down: to make certain, or confirm.

naval

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

vainly

adverb
  1. In a vain pursuit; to no avail; She searched vainly for her reflection in the shattered mirror.
  2. With a vain attitude; in a self-approving manner; She stared vainly at her reflection in the mirror.

valid

adjective
  1. Well grounded or justifiable, pertinent.
  2. Acceptable, proper or correct; in accordance with the rules.
  3. Related to the current topic, or presented within context, relevant.
  4. Of a formula or system: such that it evaluates to true regardless of the input values.
  5. Of an argument: whose conclusion is always true whenever its premises are true.
  6. Effective.

validly

adverb
  1. In a valid manner.

vandal

noun
  1. A person who needlessly destroys, defaces, or damages other people's property.

vanilla

noun
  1. Any tropical, climbing orchid of the genus Vanilla (especially Vanilla planifolia), bearing podlike fruit yielding an extract used in flavoring food or in perfumes.
  2. The fruit or bean of the vanilla plant.
  3. The extract of the fruit of the vanilla plant.
  4. The distinctive fragrant flavour/flavor characteristic of vanilla extract.
  5. Any artificially produced homologue of vanilla extract, principally vanillin produced from lignin from the paper industry or from petrochemicals.
  6. (sexuality) Someone who is not into fetishism; a normophile
  7. An unmodded version of a game
  8. A yellowish-white colour, like that of vanilla ice cream.
adjective
  1. (of flavor, etc.) Of vanilla.
  2. (retronym) Standard, plain, default, unmodified, basic.
  3. (sexuality) Not kinky, not involving BDSM.
  4. Plain; conventional; unimaginative.

vanillin

noun
  1. A chemical compound, 4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzaldehyde, that is the primary constituent of vanilla.
  2. Synthetic compound used as a substitute for the extract of the vanilla bean.

vial

noun
  1. A glass vessel or bottle, especially a small tube-shaped bottle used to store medicine, perfume or other chemical.
verb
  1. To put or keep in, or as in, a vial.

villa

noun
  1. (plural "villas") A house, often larger and more expensive than average, in the countryside or on the coast, often used as a retreat.
  2. (plural "villas") A family house, often semi-detached, in a middle class street.
  3. (plural "villae") A country house, with farm buildings around a courtyard.

villain

noun
  1. A vile, wicked person.
  2. In fiction, a character who has the role of being bad, especially antagonizing the hero.
  3. Any opponent player, especially a hypothetical player for example and didactic purposes. Compare: hero.
verb
  1. To debase; to degrade.
noun
  1. A feudal tenant.

villainy

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Evil or wicked character or behaviour.
  2. A wicked or treacherous act.

Etymology 2

adjective
  1. Characteristic of a villain.

vinyl

noun
  1. The univalent radical CH2=CH−, derived from ethylene.
  2. Any of various compounds and substances containing the vinyl radical, especially various tough, flexible, shiny plastics.
  3. Phonograph records as a medium.
  4. A phonograph record.
adjective
  1. Containing the vinyl radical.
  2. Made of polyvinyl chloride.
  3. Pertaining to a phonograph record.

vividly

adverb
  1. In a vivid manner.