Friday, September 5, 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: 161

Number of Answers: 41

Points Needed for Genius: 113

Genius requires between 17 and 36 words. You need at least a 6-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 67% 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 161 was in the 45th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there was a score this low was on August 31, 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 54th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there were more answers than this was on September 2, 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 6-letter word for genius.
The last time this happened was on September 4, 2025.

Today's puzzle has an average word length of 5.1.
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 211
  • loll 203
  • toot 195
  • naan 179
  • nana 179
  • lilt 144
  • till 144
  • tilt 144
  • nene 138
  • tint 138
  • mama 136
  • mamma 136
  • acacia 132
  • acai 132
  • onto 129
  • toon 129
  • onion 125
  • anal 121
  • anon 121
  • tact 117
  • olio 116
  • dodo 115
  • boob 114
  • booboo 114
  • baba 113
  • papa 112
  • poop 112
  • lull 111
  • lulu 111
  • call 108
  • calla 108
  • mitt 108
  • tutu 107
  • cocci 106
  • mono 106
  • moon 106
  • ratatat 106
  • tart 106
  • tartar 106
  • allay 105
  • ally 105
  • attar 105
  • tattoo 105
  • tatty 105
  • ammo 104
  • momma 104
  • loon 103
  • epee 100
  • peep 100
  • roar 99


How long are words in the Bee?

There have been 106,401 answers ever accepted in the Bee - with 10,774 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*:

  • abaya
  • abba
  • abbe
  • abele
  • abye
  • ajee
  • alae
  • alan
  • alane
  • alanyl
  • alba
  • alee
  • allee
  • allyl
  • anabaena
  • anele
  • anna
  • ayaya
  • baal
  • bally
  • balneal
  • bannable
  • beal
  • blae
  • eyeable
  • jane
  • janney
  • janny
  • jellaba
  • jnana
  • labelable
  • labella
  • lall
  • lallan
  • lanely
  • leal
  • leally
  • nabe
  • nala
  • nanna
  • nyala
  • yabby
  • yean

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

abbey

noun
  1. The office or dominion of an abbot or abbess.
  2. A monastery or society of people, secluded from the world and devoted to religion and celibacy, which is headed by an abbot or abbess; also, the monastic building or buildings.
  3. The church of a monastery.
  4. A residence that was previously an abbatial building.

able

Etymology 1

adjective
  1. Easy to use.
  2. Suitable; competent.
  3. Liable to.
  4. Having the necessary powers or the needed resources to accomplish a task.
  5. Free from constraints preventing completion of task; permitted to; not prevented from.
  6. Having the physical strength; robust; healthy.
  7. Rich; well-to-do.
  8. Gifted with skill, intelligence, knowledge, or competence.
  9. Legally qualified or competent.
  10. Capable of performing all the requisite duties; as an able seaman.

Etymology 2

verb
  1. To make ready.
  2. To make capable; to enable.
  3. To dress.
  4. To give power to; to reinforce; to confirm.
  5. To vouch for; to guarantee.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. The letter "A" in Navy Phonetic Alphabet.

ably

adverb
  1. In an able manner; with great ability.

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.

allele

noun
  1. One of a number of alternative forms of the same gene occupying a given position, or locus, on a chromosome.

alley

Etymology 1

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.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A glass marble or taw.

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.

anneal

noun
  1. An act of annealing.
verb
  1. To subject to great heat and then (often slow) cooling, and sometimes reheating and further cooling, for the purpose of rendering less brittle; to temper; to toughen.
  2. To cool glass slowly, to minimize internal stress.
  3. To burn colors onto a glass or other surface.
  4. To make a double-stranded nucleic acid by pairing a single strand with a complementary strand.
  5. To strengthen or harden.

baba

noun
  1. A kind of sponge cake soaked in rum-flavoured syrup.
  2. (esp. among people of East European ancestry) A grandmother.
  3. An old woman, especially a traditional old woman from an eastern European culture.
  4. (esp. among people of Indian ancestry) A father.
  5. (Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism) A holy man, a spiritual leader.
  6. A baby, child.
  7. In baby talk, often used for a variety of words beginning with b, such as bottle or blanket.

babble

noun
  1. Idle talk; senseless prattle
  2. Inarticulate speech; constant or confused murmur.
  3. A sound like that of water gently flowing around obstructions.
verb
  1. To utter words indistinctly or unintelligibly; to utter inarticulate sounds
  2. To talk incoherently; to utter meaningless words.
  3. To talk too much; to chatter; to prattle.
  4. To make a continuous murmuring noise, like shallow water running over stones.
  5. To utter in an indistinct or incoherent way; to repeat words or sounds in a childish way without understanding.
  6. To reveal; to give away (a secret).

babe

noun
  1. A baby or infant; a very young human or animal.
  2. An attractive person, especially a young woman.
  3. Darling (term of endearment).

babel

noun
  1. A confused mixture of sounds and voices, especially in different languages.
  2. A place or scene of noise and confusion.
  3. A tall, looming structure.

baby

noun
  1. A very young human, particularly from birth to a couple of years old or until walking is fully mastered.
  2. Any very young animal, especially a vertebrate; many species have specific names for their babies, such as kittens for the babies of cats, puppies for the babies of dogs, and chickens for the babies of birds. See for more.
  3. Unborn young; a fetus.
  4. A person who is immature, infantile or feeble.
  5. A person who is new to or inexperienced in something.
  6. The lastborn of a family; the youngest sibling, irrespective of age.
  7. A term of endearment used to refer to or address one's girlfriend, boyfriend or spouse.
  8. A form of address to a man or a woman considered to be attractive.
  9. A pet project or responsibility.
  10. An affectionate term for anything.
  11. A small image of an infant; a doll.
verb
  1. To coddle; to pamper somebody like an infant.
  2. To tend (something) with care; to be overly attentive to (something), fuss over.
adjective
  1. Of a child: very young; of the age when he or she would be termed a baby or infant.
  2. Of an animal: young.
  3. Intended for babies.
  4. (of vegetables, etc.) Picked when small and immature (as in baby corn, baby potatoes).

bale

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Evil, especially considered as an active force for destruction or death.
  2. Suffering, woe, torment.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A large fire, a conflagration or bonfire.
  2. A funeral pyre.
  3. A beacon-fire.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. A rounded bundle or package of goods in a cloth cover, and corded for storage or transportation.
  2. A bundle of compressed wool or hay, compacted for shipping and handling.
  3. A measurement of hay equal to 10 flakes. Approximately 70-90 lbs (32-41 kg).
  4. A measurement of paper equal to 10 reams.

Etymology 4

verb
  1. To remove water from a boat with buckets etc.

baleen

noun
  1. The bony material that makes up the plates in the mouth of the baleen whale, Mysticeti, which it uses to trap its food; formerly used in corsetry
  2. A baleen whale

ball

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A solid or hollow sphere, or roughly spherical mass.
  2. A round or ellipsoidal object.
  3. (mildly, usually in the plural) A testicle.
  4. A leather-covered cushion, fastened to a handle called a ballstock; formerly used by printers for inking the form, then superseded by the roller.
  5. A large pill, a form in which medicine was given to horses; a bolus.
verb
  1. To form or wind into a ball.
  2. To heat in a furnace and form into balls for rolling.
  3. To have sexual intercourse with.
  4. To gather balls which cling to the feet, as of damp snow or clay; to gather into balls.
  5. (usually in present participle) To be hip or cool.
  6. To play basketball.
  7. To punish by affixing a ball and chain
interjection
  1. An appeal by the crowd for holding the ball against a tackled player. This is heard almost any time an opposition player is tackled, without regard to whether the rules about "prior opportunity" to dispose of the ball are fulfilled.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A formal dance.
  2. A very enjoyable time.

banal

adjective
  1. Common in a boring way, to the point of being predictable; containing nothing new or fresh.
  2. (history) Relating to a type of feudal jurisdiction or service.

banally

No Definition Found.

banana

noun
  1. An elongated curved tropical fruit that grows in bunches and has a creamy flesh and a smooth skin.
  2. The tropical tree-like plant which bears clusters of bananas. The plant, usually of the genus Musa but sometimes also including plants from Ensete, has large, elongated leaves and is related to the plantain.
  3. A yellow colour, like that of a banana's skin.
  4. (mildly) A person of Asian descent, especially a Chinese American, who has assimilated into Western culture or married a Caucasian (from the "yellow" outside and "white" inside). Compare coconut or Oreo.
  5. A banana equivalent dose.
  6. A catamorphism (from the use of banana brackets in the notation).
  7. The penis.
  8. A banana kick.
adjective
  1. Curved like a banana, especially of a ball in flight.

bane

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A cause of misery or death.
  2. Poison, especially any of several poisonous plants.
  3. A killer, murderer, slayer.
  4. Destruction; death.
  5. A disease of sheep.
verb
  1. To kill, especially by poison; to be the poison of.
  2. To be the bane of.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Bone

banyan

noun
  1. An Indian trader, merchant, cashier, or money changer.
  2. A tropical Indian fig tree, Ficus benghalensis, that has many aerial roots.
  3. A type of loose gown worn in India.
  4. A vest; an undershirt; a singlet.
  5. (Naval slang) A camping excursion on shore, to give a ship's crew a break from shipboard routine.

bean

noun
  1. A reusable software component written in Java.
noun
  1. Any plant of several genera of the taxonomic family Fabaceae that produces large edible seeds or edible seedpods.
  2. The large edible seed of such a plant (for example, a broad bean, navy bean or garbanzo bean).
  3. The edible seedpod of such a plant.
  4. (by extension) The bean-like seed of certain other plants, such a a vanilla bean or (especially) a coffee bean.
  5. (by extension) An object resembling a pea or bean in shape, often made from plastic or styrofoam and used in large numbers as packing material or as stuffing for beanbags and similar items.
  6. The head or brain.
  7. The clitoris.
  8. A person.
  9. A guinea coin.
  10. (usually in the negative) Money.
verb
  1. To hit deliberately with a projectile, especially in the head.

beanball

No Definition Found.

belay

noun
  1. The securing of a rope to a rock or other projection.
  2. The object to which a rope is secured.
  3. A location at which a climber stops and builds an anchor with which to secure their partner.
verb
  1. To surround; environ; enclose.
  2. To overlay; adorn.
  3. To besiege; invest; surround.
  4. To lie in wait for in order to attack; block up or obstruct.
  5. To make (a rope) fast by turning it around a fastening point such as a cleat or piton.
  6. To secure (a person) to a rope or (a rope) to a person.
  7. To lay aside; stop; cancel.
  8. The general command to stop or cease.

blab

noun
  1. One who blabs; a babbler; a telltale; a gossip or gossiper.
  2. Gossip; prattle.
verb
  1. To tell tales; to gossip without reserve or discretion.

blabby

No Definition Found.

elan

noun
  1. Ardor or zeal inspired by passion or enthusiasm.

enable

verb
  1. To make somebody able (to do, or to be, something); to give sufficient ability or power to do or to be; to give strength or ability to.
  2. To affirm; to make firm and strong.
  3. To qualify or approve for some role or position; to render sanction or authorization to; to confirm suitability for.
  4. To yield the opportunity or provide the possibility for something; to provide with means, opportunities, and the like.
  5. To imply or tacitly confer excuse for an action or a behavior.
  6. To put a circuit element into action by supplying a suitable input pulse.
  7. To activate, to make operational (especially of a function of an electronic or mechanical device).

eyeball

noun
  1. The ball of the eye
  2. (CB) a meeting
  3. As a synecdoche, a person's focus of attention
  4. (in the plural) readership or viewership
  5. A favourite or pet; the apple of someone's eye.
verb
  1. To gauge, estimate or judge by eye, rather than measuring precisely; to look or glance at.
  2. To scrutinize
  3. To stare at intently
  4. To roll one's eyes.

jean

noun
  1. Denim.

jellybean

noun
  1. A small, bean-shaped, chewy candy/sweet with a firm coating and a jelly-like center, made of sugar, flavoring, coloring and sometimes starch or other thickener, and usually sold assorted in a wide variety of flavors and bright colors.
adjective
  1. Of an electronic component: generic, standard, vanilla, easy to find

label

noun
  1. A small ticket or sign giving information about something to which it is attached or intended to be attached.
  2. A name given to something or someone to categorise them as part of a particular social group.
  3. A company that sells records.
  4. A user-defined alias for a numerical designation, the reverse of an enumeration.
  5. A named place in source code that can be jumped to using a GOTO or equivalent construct.
  6. A charge resembling the strap crossing the horse’s chest from which pendants are hung.
  7. A tassel.
  8. A piece of writing added to something, such as a codicil appended to a will.
  9. A brass rule with sights, formerly used with a circumferentor to take altitudes.
  10. The projecting moulding by the sides, and over the tops, of openings in mediaeval architecture.
  11. In mediaeval art, the representation of a band or scroll containing an inscription.
  12. A non-interactive control or widget displaying text, often used to describe the purpose of another control.
verb
  1. To put a label (a ticket or sign) on (something).
  2. (ditransitive) To give a label to (someone or something) in order to categorise that person or thing.
  3. To replace specific atoms by their isotope in order to track the presence or movement of this isotope through a reaction, metabolic pathway or cell.
  4. To add a detectable substance, either transiently or permanently, to a biological substance in order to track the presence of the label-substance combination either in situ or in vitro

lane

noun
  1. (used in street names) A road, street, or similar thoroughfare.
  2. A narrow passageway between fences, walls, hedges or trees.
  3. A narrow road, as in the country.
  4. A lengthwise division of roadway intended for a single line of vehicles.
  5. A similar division of a racetrack to keep runners apart.
  6. A course designated for ships or aircrafts.
  7. An elongated wooden strip of floor along which a bowling ball is rolled.
  8. An empty space in the tableau, formed by the removal of an entire row of cards.
  9. Any of the parallel slots in which values can be stored in a SIMD architecture.
  10. In MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) games, a particular path on the map that may be traversed by enemy characters.
  11. The homestretch.

lean

Etymology 1

noun
  1. (of an object taller than its width and depth) An inclination away from the vertical.
verb
  1. To incline, deviate, or bend, from a vertical position; to be in a position thus inclining or deviating.
  2. To incline in opinion or desire; to conform in conduct; often with to, toward, etc.
  3. Followed by against, on, or upon: to rest or rely, for support, comfort, etc.
  4. To hang outwards.
  5. To press against.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Meat with no fat on it.
  2. An organism that is lean in stature.
verb
  1. To thin out (a fuel-air mixture): to reduce the fuel flow into the mixture so that there is more air or oxygen.
adjective
  1. (of a person or animal) Slim; not fleshy.
  2. (of meat) Having little fat.
  3. Having little extra or little to spare; scanty; meagre.
  4. Having a low proportion or concentration of a desired substance or ingredient.
  5. Of a character which prevents the compositor from earning the usual wages; opposed to fat.
  6. Efficient, economic, frugal, agile, slimmed-down; pertaining to the modern industrial principles of "lean manufacturing"

Etymology 3

verb
  1. To conceal.

Etymology 4

noun
  1. A recreational drug based on codeine-laced promethazine cough syrup, popular in the hip hop community in the southeastern United States.

leanly

No Definition Found.

naan

noun
  1. A type of round, flat bread baked in a tandoor popular in South and Central Asian cuisine.

nana

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A banana
  2. A fool

Etymology 2

noun
  1. (term of endearment) one's grandmother
  2. A nanny

nanny

noun
  1. A child's nurse.
  2. A grandmother.
  3. A godmother.
  4. A female goat.
verb
  1. To serve as a nanny.
  2. To treat like a nanny's charges; to coddle.