Sunday, November 9, 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: 226

Number of Answers: 45

Points Needed for Genius: 158

Genius requires between 22 and 38 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.

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 226 was in the 74th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there was a score this high was on November 3, 2025.
The highest score ever was 537 on January 22, 2021.
The lowest score ever was 47 on March 27, 2023.

This puzzle's 45 possible answers rank it in the 64th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there were more answers than this was on November 5, 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 November 8, 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 221
  • loll 207
  • toot 201
  • naan 183
  • nana 183
  • lilt 147
  • till 147
  • tilt 147
  • nene 142
  • tint 142
  • mama 140
  • mamma 140
  • acacia 134
  • acai 134
  • onto 134
  • toon 134
  • onion 131
  • anal 125
  • anon 122
  • olio 121
  • dodo 119
  • tact 118
  • baba 116
  • boob 115
  • booboo 115
  • lull 114
  • lulu 114
  • papa 114
  • poop 114
  • mitt 111
  • call 110
  • calla 110
  • cocci 110
  • mono 110
  • moon 110
  • tutu 109
  • ratatat 108
  • tart 108
  • tartar 108
  • attar 107
  • loon 107
  • allay 106
  • ally 106
  • tattoo 106
  • tatty 106
  • ammo 105
  • momma 105
  • epee 102
  • peep 102
  • meme 101


How long are words in the Bee?

There have been 109,195 answers ever accepted in the Bee - with 10,854 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*:

  • acinar
  • acini
  • acinic
  • aclinic
  • airn
  • alan
  • alanin
  • alanyl
  • allicin
  • ancilla
  • anil
  • anilin
  • anna
  • ayin
  • cain
  • cairny
  • callan
  • calycinal
  • carina
  • carinal
  • carlin
  • carn
  • clinal
  • clinally
  • cranially
  • cyanic
  • cyanin
  • cyclin
  • inia
  • inly
  • lallan
  • laniary
  • larn
  • layin
  • liana
  • linac
  • linin
  • linn
  • linny
  • liny
  • naira
  • nala
  • nancy
  • nanna
  • narial
  • naric
  • nill
  • nyala
  • rainily

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

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.

ancillary

noun
  1. Something that serves an ancillary function, such as an easel for a painter.
  2. An auxiliary.
adjective
  1. Subordinate; secondary; auxiliary

annal

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

arcana

noun
  1. Specialized knowledge that is mysterious to the uninitiated.
noun
  1. A mystery or deep secret.
  2. An elixir or secret remedy.

arnica

noun
  1. Any of several plants, of the genus Arnica, considered to have medicinal properties, especially Arnica montana.

cairn

noun
  1. A rounded or conical heap of stones erected by early inhabitants of the British Isles, apparently as a sepulchral monument.
  2. A pile of stones heaped up as a landmark, to guide travelers on land or at sea, or to arrest attention, as in surveying, or in leaving traces of an exploring party, etc.
  3. A cairn terrier.

canal

noun
  1. An artificial waterway or artificially improved river used for travel, shipping, or irrigation.
  2. A tubular channel within the body.
  3. One of the faint, hazy markings resembling straight lines on early telescopic images of the surface of Mars.
verb
  1. To dig an artificial waterway in or to (a place), especially for drainage
  2. To travel along a canal by boat

canary

noun
  1. A small, usually yellow, finch (genus Serinus), a songbird native to the Canary Islands.
  2. Any of various small birds of different countries, most of which are largely yellow in colour.
  3. A light, slightly greenish, yellow colour.
  4. A light, sweet, white wine from the Canary Islands.
  5. A lively dance, possibly of Spanish origin (also called canaries).
  6. Any test subject, especially an inadvertent or unwilling one. (From the mining practice of using canaries to detect dangerous gases.)
  7. A value placed in memory such that it will be the first data corrupted by a buffer overflow, allowing the program to identify and recover from it.
  8. A female singer, soprano, a coloratura singer.
  9. An informer or snitch; a squealer.
  10. A (usually yellow) capsule of the short-acting barbiturate pentobarbital/pentobarbitone (Nembutal).
  11. A yellow sticker of unroadworthiness.
verb
  1. To dance nimbly (as in the canary dance)
  2. To inform or snitch, to betray secrets, especially about illegal activities.
adjective
  1. Of a light yellow colour.

cancan

noun
  1. A high-kicking chorus line dance originating in France.
  2. (motocross) A trick where one leg is brought over the seat, so that both legs are on one side.
verb
  1. To dance the cancan.

canna

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Any member of the genus Canna of tropical plants with large leaves and often showy flowers.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A measure of length in Italy, varying from six to seven feet.

cannily

No Definition Found.

canny

Etymology 1

adjective
  1. Careful, prudent, cautious.
  2. Knowing, shrewd, astute.
  3. Frugal, thrifty.
  4. Pleasant, fair, favorable or agreeable to deal with.
  5. Gentle, quiet, steady.
adverb
  1. Very, considerably; quite, rather.
  2. Gently, quietly; carefully, skilfully.

Etymology 2

adjective
  1. (especially of sound) Sounding as if it is coming through a tin can.

carnal

adjective
  1. Relating to the physical and especially sexual appetites.
  2. Worldly or earthly; temporal.
  3. Of or relating to the body or flesh.

carnally

No Definition Found.

carny

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A person who works in a carnival (often one who uses exaggerated showmanship or fraud).
  2. The jargon used by carnival workers.
  3. A carnival.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Flattery.
verb
  1. To cajole, wheedle, or coax.

clan

noun
  1. A group of people all descended from a common ancestor, in fact or belief.
  2. A traditional social group of families in the Scottish Highlands having a common hereditary chieftain
  3. Any group defined by family ties with some sort of political unity.
  4. A group of players who habitually play on the same team in multiplayer games.
  5. A badger colony.

clinic

noun
  1. A medical facility, such as a hospital, especially one for the treatment and diagnosis of outpatients.
  2. (by extension) A hospital session to diagnose or treat patients.
  3. A school, or a session of a school or class, in which medicine or surgery is taught by the examination and treatment of patients in the presence of the pupils.
  4. A group practice of several physicians.
  5. A meeting for the diagnosis of problems, or training, on a particular subject.
  6. A temporary office arranged on a regular basis to allow politicians to meet their constituents.
  7. A series of workouts used to build skills of practitioners regardless of team affiliation.
  8. One confined to bed by sickness.
  9. One who receives baptism on a sickbed.

clinical

noun
  1. A medical student's session spent in a real-world nursing environment.
adjective
  1. Of or pertaining to a medical clinic or facility.
  2. Dealing with practical management of patients; contrasting with prehealth sciences.
  3. Cool and emotionless.
  4. Of or relating to a bed.

clinically

adverb
  1. In a clinical manner; dispassionately or analytically.
  2. In the setting of a medical clinic; in a clinical setting.
  3. At a person's bedside.

clinician

noun
  1. A healthcare provider working in a clinic or hospital.

crania

noun
  1. The braincase or neurocranium; that part of the skull consisting of the bones enclosing the brain, but not including the bones of the face or jaw.
  2. The upper portion of the skull, including the neurocranium and facial bones, but not including the jawbone (mandible).
  3. The skull.

cranial

adjective
  1. Of or relating to the cranium, or to the skull.

cranny

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A small, narrow opening, fissure, crevice, or chink, as in a wall, or other substance.
  2. A tool for forming the necks of bottles, etc.
verb
  1. To break into, or become full of, crannies.
  2. To haunt or enter by crannies.

Etymology 2

adjective
  1. Quick; giddy; thoughtless

cyan

noun
  1. A vibrant pale greenish-blue colour between blue and green in the visible spectrum; the complementary colour of red; the colour obtained by subtracting red from white light.
adjective
  1. Of the colour cyan.

cynic

noun
  1. A person who believes that all people are motivated by selfishness.
  2. A person whose outlook is scornfully negative.
adjective
  1. Cynical (in all senses)
  2. Relating to the Dog Star.

cynical

adjective
  1. Of or relating to the belief that human actions are motivated only or primarily by base desires or selfishness.
  2. Skeptical of the integrity, sincerity, or motives of others.
  3. Bitterly or jadedly distrustful or contemptuous; mocking.
  4. Showing contempt for accepted moral standards by one's actions.
  5. Like the actions of a snarling dog, especially in reference to facial nerve paralysis.

cynically

adverb
  1. In a cynical manner

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.

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.

naan

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

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.

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.

narc

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A narcotics squad police officer.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A police spy or informer.
  2. An unpleasant person, especially one who makes things difficult for others.
verb
  1. To watch; to observe.
  2. To serve or behave as a spy or informer.
  3. To annoy or irritate.
  4. To complain.
  5. (often imperative) To stop.

Etymology 3

verb
  1. (underwater diving) To suffer from impaired judgment due to nitrogen narcosis (for example, while scuba diving).

Etymology 4

noun
  1. A narcissist.

nary

adjective
  1. Not, never.

niacin

noun
  1. A water-soluble vitamin, a component of vitamin B complex, found in meat, yeast, and dairy products; it is essential to metabolism.

ninny

noun
  1. A silly or foolish person.

rain

noun
  1. Condensed water falling from a cloud.
  2. Any matter moving or falling, usually through air, and especially if liquid or otherwise figuratively identifiable with raindrops.
  3. An instance of particles or larger pieces of matter moving or falling through air.
verb
  1. To have rain fall from the sky.
  2. To fall as or like rain.
  3. To issue (something) in large quantities.
  4. To reign.

rainy

adjective
  1. Pouring with rain; wet; showery

rani

noun
  1. The wife of a rajah.
  2. A Hindu princess or female ruler in India.

ricin

noun
  1. An extremely toxic protein extracted from the castor bean.

yarn

noun
  1. A twisted strand of fiber used for knitting or weaving.
  2. Bundles of fibers twisted together, and which in turn are twisted in bundles to form strands, which in their turn are twisted or plaited to form rope.
  3. A story, a tale, especially one that is incredible.
verb
  1. To tell a story or stories.

arancini

noun
  1. A baked rice ball, filled with cheese or other sauce, originally from Sicily.