Saturday, January 3, 2026

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: 207

Number of Answers: 43

Points Needed for Genius: 145

Genius requires between 21 and 37 words. You need at least a 6-letter word to reach genius. If you don't get the pangrams, you need 82% of the total points to reach genius. If you get the pangrams, you only need 65% 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 207 was in the 67th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there was a score this high was on January 1, 2026.
The highest score ever was 537 on January 22, 2021.
The lowest score ever was 47 on March 27, 2023.

This puzzle's 43 possible answers rank it in the 59th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there were more answers than this was on January 1, 2026.
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 January 2, 2026.

Today's puzzle has an average word length of 5.3.
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 227
  • loll 209
  • toot 206
  • naan 188
  • nana 188
  • lilt 150
  • till 150
  • tilt 150
  • nene 148
  • tint 145
  • mama 141
  • mamma 141
  • onion 137
  • onto 136
  • toon 136
  • acacia 134
  • acai 134
  • anal 129
  • anon 127
  • olio 124
  • dodo 120
  • tact 120
  • baba 119
  • papa 119
  • boob 116
  • booboo 116
  • lull 116
  • lulu 116
  • poop 115
  • cocci 114
  • call 112
  • calla 112
  • mitt 112
  • mono 112
  • moon 112
  • tutu 112
  • ratatat 110
  • tart 110
  • tartar 110
  • tattoo 110
  • attar 109
  • loon 109
  • allay 108
  • ally 108
  • ammo 107
  • momma 107
  • tatty 106
  • roar 104
  • coot 103
  • epee 103


How long are words in the Bee?

There have been 111,725 answers ever accepted in the Bee - with 10,890 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*:

  • cion
  • clon
  • clonic
  • clour
  • coccic
  • coco
  • colicin
  • colin
  • coloni
  • colour
  • coni
  • conin
  • conn
  • connor
  • coocoo
  • coon
  • cornu
  • couloir
  • councillor
  • criollo
  • cruor
  • cullion
  • curculio
  • curn
  • curr
  • inconnu
  • loculi
  • nicol
  • noncolor
  • nonconcur
  • nonionic
  • orcin
  • orcinol
  • unci
  • uncini
  • unco

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

cirri

noun
  1. A tendril.
  2. A thin tendril-like appendage.
  3. A principal high-level cloud type characterised by white, delicate filaments or wisps, of white (or mostly white) patches, or of narrow bands, found at an altitude of above 7000 metres.

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.

cocci

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Any approximately spherical bacterium.
  2. One of the carpels or seed-vessels of a dry fruit.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Coccidioidomycosis

cocoon

noun
  1. The silky protective case spun by the larvae of some insects in which they metamorphose, the pupa.
  2. Any similar protective case, whether real or metaphorical.
verb
  1. To envelop in a protective case
  2. To withdraw into such a case.

coil

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Something wound in the form of a helix or spiral.
  2. Any intrauterine device (Abbreviation: IUD)—the first IUDs were coil-shaped.
  3. A coil of electrically conductive wire through which electricity can flow.
  4. Entanglement; perplexity.
verb
  1. To wind or reel e.g. a wire or rope into regular rings, often around a centerpiece.
  2. To wind into loops (roughly) around a common center.
  3. To wind cylindrically or spirally.
  4. To encircle and hold with, or as if with, coils.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A noise, tumult, bustle, or turmoil.

coin

noun
  1. (money) A piece of currency, usually metallic and in the shape of a disc, but sometimes polygonal, or with a hole in the middle.
  2. A token used in a special establishment like a casino.
  3. That which serves for payment or recompense.
  4. Money in general, not limited to coins.
  5. One of the suits of minor arcana in tarot, or a card of that suit.
  6. A corner or external angle.
  7. A small circular slice of food.
  8. A cryptocurrency.
verb
  1. To make of a definite fineness, and convert into coins, as a mass of metal.
  2. (by extension) To make or fabricate.
  3. To acquire rapidly, as money; to make.

coir

noun
  1. The fibre obtained from the husk of a coconut, used chiefly in making rope, matting and as a peat substitute.

colic

noun
  1. Severe pains that grip the abdomen or the disease that causes such pains (due to intestinal or bowel-related problems).
  2. A medicinal plant used to relieve such symptoms.
adjective
  1. Relating to the colon; colonic.

colon

Etymology 1

noun
  1. The punctuation mark ":".
  2. The triangular colon (especially in context of not being able to type the actual triangular colon).
  3. A rhetorical figure consisting of a clause which is grammatically, but not logically, complete.
  4. A clause or group of clauses written as a line, or taken as a standard of measure in ancient manuscripts or texts.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Part of the large intestine; the final segment of the digestive system, after (distal to) the ileum and before (proximal to) the anus.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. A husbandman.
  2. A European colonial settler, especially in a French colony.

colonic

noun
  1. An enema.
adjective
  1. Of, relating to, affecting or within the colon.

color

noun
  1. The spectral composition of visible light
  2. A subset thereof:
  3. A paint.
  4. Human skin tone, especially as an indicator of race or ethnicity.
  5. Skin color, noted as normal, jaundiced, cyanotic, flush, mottled, pale, or ashen as part of the skin signs assessment.
  6. A flushed appearance of blood in the face; redness of complexion.
  7. Richness of expression; detail or flavour that is likely to generate interest or enjoyment.
  8. A standard, flag, or insignia:
  9. (in the plural) An award for sporting achievement, particularly within a school or university.
  10. (in the plural) The morning ceremony of raising the flag.
  11. A property of quarks, with three values called red, green, and blue, which they can exchange by passing gluons.
  12. A third-order measure of derivative price sensitivity, expressed as the rate of change of gamma with respect to time, or equivalently the rate of change of charm with respect to changes in the underlying asset price.
  13. The relative lightness or darkness of a mass of written or printed text on a page. (See type color.)
  14. Any of the colored balls excluding the reds.
  15. A front or facade; an ostensible truth actually false; pretext.
  16. An appearance of right or authority; color of law.
verb
  1. To give something color.
  2. To apply colors to the areas within the boundaries of a line drawing using colored markers or crayons.
  3. (of a person or their face) To become red through increased blood flow.
  4. To affect without completely changing.
  5. To attribute a quality to; to portray (as).
  6. To assign colors to the vertices of a graph (or the regions of a map) so that no two vertices connected by an edge (regions sharing a border) have the same color.
adjective
  1. Conveying color, as opposed to shades of gray.

concur

verb
  1. To unite or agree (in action or opinion); to have a common opinion; to coincide; to correspond.
  2. To meet in the same point; to combine or conjoin; to contribute or help towards a common object or effect.
  3. To run together; to meet.
  4. To converge.

conic

noun
  1. A conic section.
adjective
  1. Of or relating to a cone or cones.
  2. Shaped like a cone.
  3. Describing a map projection in which meridians are mapped to equally spaced lines radiating out from the apex and parallels of latitude are mapped to circular arcs centred on the apex.

cool

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A moderate or refreshing state of cold; moderate temperature of the air between hot and cold; coolness.
  2. A calm temperament.
  3. The property of being cool, popular or in fashion.
adjective
  1. Having a slightly low temperature; mildly or pleasantly cold.
  2. Allowing or suggesting heat relief.
  3. Of a color, in the range of violet to green.
  4. Of a person, not showing emotion; calm and in control of oneself.
  5. Unenthusiastic, lukewarm, skeptical.
  6. Calmly audacious.
  7. Applied facetiously to a sum of money, commonly as if to give emphasis to the largeness of the amount.
  8. Of a person, knowing what to do and how to behave; considered popular by others.
  9. In fashion, part of or fitting the in crowd; originally hipster slang.
  10. Of an action, all right; acceptable; that does not present a problem.
  11. Of a person, not upset by circumstances that might ordinarily be upsetting.
  12. Quietly impudent, defiant, or selfish; deliberately presuming: said of persons and acts.

Etymology 2

verb
  1. To lose heat, to get colder.
  2. To make cooler, less warm.
  3. To become less intense, e.g. less amicable or passionate.
  4. To make less intense, e.g. less amicable or passionate.
  5. To kill.

corn

Etymology 1

noun
  1. The main cereal plant grown for its grain in a given region, such as oats in parts of Scotland and Ireland, and wheat or barley in England and Wales.
  2. Maize, a grain crop of the species Zea mays.
  3. A grain or seed, especially of a cereal crop.
  4. A small, hard particle.
verb
  1. To granulate; to form a substance into grains
  2. To preserve using coarse salt, e.g. corned beef
  3. To provide with corn (typically maize; or, in Scotland, oats) for feed
  4. To render intoxicated

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A type of callus, usually on the feet or hands.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. Something (e.g. acting, humour, music, or writing) which is deemed old-fashioned or intended to induce emotion.

Etymology 4

noun
  1. A type of granular snow formed by repeated melting and re-freezing, often in mountain spring conditions.

council

noun
  1. A committee that leads or governs (e.g. city council, student council).
  2. Discussion or deliberation.

councilor

noun
  1. A member of a council.
  2. In particular, a representative elected to a local authority, such as a city council: a city councillor

croc

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A crocodile.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A plastic slip-on shoe.

croci

noun
  1. A perennial flowering plant (of the genus Crocus in the Iridaceae family). Saffron is obtained from the stamens of Crocus sativus.
  2. Any of various similar flowering plants, such as the autumn crocus and prairie crocus.
  3. A deep yellow powder, the oxide of some metal (especially iron), calcined to a red or deep yellow colour.
  4. A fraudulent doctor; a quack.

croon

noun
  1. A soft or sentimental hum or song.
verb
  1. To hum or sing softly or in a sentimental manner.
  2. To say softly or gently
  3. To soothe by singing softly.
  4. To make a continuous hollow moan, as cattle do when in pain.

cull

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A selection.
  2. An organised killing of selected animals.
  3. (farming) An individual animal selected to be killed, or item of produce to be discarded.
  4. (seafood industry) A lobster having only one claw.
  5. A piece unfit for inclusion within a larger group; an inferior specimen.
verb
  1. To pick or take someone or something (from a larger group).
  2. To gather, collect.
  3. To select animals from a group and then kill them in order to reduce the numbers of the group in a controlled manner.
  4. To kill (animals etc).
  5. To lay off in order to reduce the size of, get rid of.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A fool, gullible person; a dupe.

curio

noun
  1. A strange and interesting object; something that evokes curiosity.

curl

noun
  1. A piece or lock of curling hair; a ringlet.
  2. A curved stroke or shape.
  3. A spin making the trajectory of an object curve.
  4. Movement of a moving rock away from a straight line.
  5. Any exercise performed by bending the arm, wrist, or leg on the exertion against resistance, especially those that train the biceps.
  6. The vector field denoting the rotationality of a given vector field.
  7. (proper noun) The vector operator, denoted \rm{curl}\; or \vec{\nabla}\times\vec{\left(\cdot\right)}, that generates this field.
  8. Any of various diseases of plants causing the leaves or shoots to curl up; often specifically the potato curl.
  9. The contrasting light and dark figure seen in wood used for stringed instrument making; the flame.
  10. A pattern where the receiver appears to be running a fly pattern but after a set number of steps or yards quickly stops and turns around, looking for a pass.
verb
  1. To cause to move in a curve.
  2. To make into a curl or spiral.
  3. To assume the shape of a curl or spiral.
  4. To move in curves.
  5. To take part in the sport of curling.
  6. To exercise by bending the arm, wrist, or leg on the exertion against resistance, especially of the biceps.
  7. To twist or form (the hair, etc.) into ringlets.
  8. To deck with, or as if with, curls; to ornament.
  9. To raise in waves or undulations; to ripple.
  10. (hat-making) To shape (the brim of a hat) into a curve.

icon

noun
  1. An image, symbol, picture, or other representation usually as an object of religious devotion.
  2. (especially Eastern Christianity) A type of religious painting portraying a saint or scene from Scripture, often done on wooden panels.
  3. (by extension) A person or thing that is the best example of a certain profession or some doing.
  4. A small picture that represents something (such as an icon on a computer screen which when clicked performs some function.)
  5. A word, character, or sign whose form reflects and is determined by the referent; onomatopoeic words are necessarily all icons.

iconic

adjective
  1. Relating to, or having the characteristics of, an icon.
  2. Famously and distinctively representative of its type.
  3. Representing something; symbolic.

incur

verb
  1. To bring upon oneself or expose oneself to, especially something inconvenient, harmful, or onerous; to become liable or subject to
  2. To enter or pass into
  3. To fall within a period or scope; to occur; to run into danger

ionic

adjective
  1. Of, relating to, or containing ions

ironic

adjective
  1. Characterized by or constituting (any kind of) irony.
  2. Given to the use of irony; sarcastic.
  3. Contrary or opposite to what may be expected.
  4. Odd or coincidental; strange.

loci

noun
  1. A place or locality, especially a centre of activity or the scene of a crime.
  2. The set of all points whose coordinates satisfy a given equation or condition.
  3. A fixed position on a chromosome that may be occupied by one or more genes.
  4. (chiefly in the plural) A passage in writing, especially in a collection of ancient sacred writings arranged according to a theme.

loco

Etymology 1

adverb
  1. A direction in written or printed music to be returning to the proper pitch after having played an octave higher or lower.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A certain species of Astragalus or Oxytropis, capable of causing locoism.
verb
  1. To poison with the loco plant; to affect with locoism.
  2. (by extension) To render insane.
adjective
  1. Crazy.
  2. Intoxicated by eating locoweed.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. A locomotive.

nuncio

noun
  1. The ecclesiastic title of a permanent diplomatic representative of the Roman Catholic Church to a sovereign state or international organization, who is accorded a rank equivalent to an accredited ambassador, and may also be given additional privileges including recognition as Dean in a country's diplomatic corps.
  2. (by extension) One who bears a message; a messenger.
  3. Any member of any Sejm of the Kingdom of Poland, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Galicia (of the Austrian Partition), Duchy of Warsaw, Congress Poland, or Grand Duchy of Posen.

occur

verb
  1. To happen or take place.
  2. To present or offer itself.
  3. To come or be presented to the mind; to suggest itself.
  4. To be present or found.

oculi

noun
  1. A window or other opening that has an oval or circular shape (as of an eye).

ricin

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

rococo

noun
  1. A style of baroque architecture and decorative art, from 18th-century France, having elaborate ornamentation.
adjective
  1. Of or relating to the rococo style.
  2. Over-elaborate or complicated; opulent.
  3. Old-fashioned.

runic

No Definition Found.

uncoil

verb
  1. To unwind or untwist (something).
  2. To unwind or untwist oneself.

uncool

adjective
  1. Not in accord with the current fashion, standards or mores of a particular group; not cool

uncurl

verb
  1. To straighten out from being curled up.

unicolor

adjective
  1. Of one color; monochromatic.

unicorn

noun
  1. A mythical beast resembling a horse or deer with a single, straight, spiraled horn projecting from its forehead.
  2. In various Bible translations, used to render the Latin unicornis or rhinoceros (representing Hebrew רְאֵם): a reem or wild ox.
  3. Any large beetle having a horn-like prominence on the head or prothorax, especially the Hercules beetle, Dynastes tityus.
  4. A caterpillar, Schizura unicornis, with a large thorn-like spine on the back near its head.
  5. The kamichi, or unicorn bird.
  6. A howitzer.
  7. Someone or something that is rare and hard to find.
  8. Being many (especially pastel) colours; multicoloured.
  9. A 15th-century Scottish gold coin worth 18 shillings, bearing the image of a unicorn.
verb
  1. (sexual slang) To participate in a sexual threesome as a bisexual addition to an established heterosexual couple.
  2. To exceed a valuation of one billion U.S. dollars, while solely backed by venture capitalists.

unironic

adjective
  1. Not ironic; free of irony.

uric

adjective
  1. Pertaining to, contained in, or obtained from urine.