Thursday, September 26, 2024

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: 186

Number of Answers: 46

Points Needed for Genius: 130

Genius requires between 20 and 40 words. You need at least a 6-letter word to reach genius. If you don't get the pangram, you need 77% 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 186 was in the 60th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there was a score this high was on September 25, 2024.
The highest score ever was 537 on January 22, 2021.
The lowest score ever was 47 on March 27, 2023.

This puzzle's 46 possible answers rank it in the 68th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there were more answers than this was on September 20, 2024.
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 24, 2024.

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 181
  • loll 172
  • toot 164
  • naan 162
  • nana 162
  • lilt 129
  • till 129
  • tilt 129
  • tint 122
  • mama 114
  • mamma 114
  • acacia 110
  • acai 110
  • nene 110
  • anal 107
  • onto 107
  • toon 107
  • boob 105
  • booboo 105
  • onion 105
  • anon 103
  • lull 101
  • lulu 101
  • olio 100
  • baba 99
  • papa 97
  • poop 97
  • call 96
  • calla 96
  • dodo 96
  • mitt 96
  • allay 95
  • ally 95
  • ratatat 94
  • tart 94
  • tartar 94
  • tatty 94
  • attar 93
  • cocci 93
  • tact 92
  • mono 90
  • moon 90
  • nanny 90
  • tutu 90
  • epee 89
  • loon 89
  • nada 89
  • peep 89
  • radar 89
  • tattoo 89


How long are words in the Bee?

There have been 90,987 answers ever accepted in the Bee - with 10,264 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
  • alidad
  • alluvia
  • alula
  • ananda
  • anil
  • anilin
  • anna
  • audad
  • audial
  • auld
  • avidin
  • dada
  • diluvia
  • diluvial
  • diluvian
  • dividual
  • duad
  • dulia
  • ilia
  • iliad
  • ilial
  • illuvia
  • illuvial
  • induna
  • inia
  • lall
  • lallan
  • lalland
  • landau
  • lauan
  • lavalava
  • liana
  • nala
  • nandin
  • nandina
  • nanna
  • navaid
  • nidal
  • nival
  • ulan
  • ulnad
  • ulva
  • unai
  • unau
  • unnail
  • vail
  • valval
  • valvula
  • vanda
  • viand
  • vidalia
  • vina
  • vinal
  • viva

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

alluvial

noun
  1. A deposition of sediment over a long period of time by a river; an alluvial layer.
  2. Alluvial soil; specifically, in Australia, gold-bearing alluvial soil.
adjective
  1. Pertaining to the soil deposited by a stream.

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.

annal

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

annual

noun
  1. An annual publication; a book, periodical, journal, report, comic book, yearbook, etc., which is published serially once a year, which may or may not be in addition to regular weekly or monthly publication.
  2. An annual plant; a plant with a life span of just one growing season; a plant which naturally germinates, flowers and dies in one year. Compare biennial, perennial.
  3. A medical checkup taking place once a year.
  4. A pantomime taking place once a year.
adjective
  1. Happening once every year.
  2. Of, for, or relating to a whole year, often as a recurring cycle; determined or reckoned by the year; accumulating in the course of a year; performed, executed, or completed over the course of a year. See also circannual.
  3. (of a plant) Having a life cycle that is completed in only one growing season; e.g. beans, corn, marigold. See Annual plant in Wikipedia. Compare biennial, perennial.
  4. Living or lasting just one season or year, as certain insects or insect colonies.

annul

verb
  1. To formally revoke the validity of.
  2. To dissolve (a marital union) on the grounds that it is not valid.

annuli

noun
  1. A ring- or donut-shaped area or structure.
  2. The region in a plane between two concentric circles of different radii.
  3. Any topological space homeomorphic to the region in a plane between two concentric circles of different radius.
  4. The ring of the sun not covered by the moon in an annular solar eclipse.
  5. Structure in a fern that consists of differentially thick-walled cells on a sporangium that bend and distort as a result of drying.
  6. The membranous remnants of a partial veil which leaves a ring on the stem of a mushroom.
  7. (oil and gas production) The space contained between the centre well bore and any external tubing. Sometimes used for separated gas flow.

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.

avian

noun
  1. A bird.
  2. A bird-like or flying creature.
  3. (furry fandom) Someone who roleplays or describes themselves as being a bird or bird-like animal character with human characteristics.
adjective
  1. Characteristic of or pertaining to birds, or to bird-like or flying creatures.

avid

adjective
  1. Enthusiastic; keen; eager; showing great interest in something or desire to do something

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.

diva

noun
  1. Any female celebrity, usually a well known singer or actress.
  2. A person who may be considered or who considers herself (or by extension himself) much more important than others, has high expectations of others and who is extremely demanding and fussy when it comes to personal privileges.

divan

noun
  1. A Muslim council of state, specifically that of viziers of the Ottoman Empire that discussed and recommended new laws and law changes to a higher authority (the sultan).
  2. The council chamber where this court is held; (by extension), any court of justice.
  3. Any council or assembly.
  4. A couch- or sofa-like piece of furniture made of a mattress lying against the wall and either on the floor or an elevated structure.
  5. A smoking-room.
  6. A collection of poems, especially one written by one author in Arabic or Persian.

dual

noun
  1. Of an item that is one of a pair, the other item in the pair.
  2. Of a regular polyhedron with V vertices and F faces, the regular polyhedron having F vertices and V faces.
  3. (grammar) dual number The grammatical number of a noun marking two of something (as in singular, dual, plural), sometimes referring to two of anything (a couple of, exactly two of), or a chirality-marked pair (as in left and right, as with gloves or shoes) or in some languages as a discourse marker, "between you and me". A few languages display trial number.
  4. Of a vector in an inner product space, the linear functional corresponding to taking the inner product with that vector. The set of all duals is a vector space called the dual space.
verb
  1. To convert from single to dual; specifically, to convert a single-carriageway road to a dual carriageway.
adjective
  1. Exhibiting duality; characterized by having two (usually equivalent) components.
  2. Acting as a counterpart.
  3. Double.
  4. (grammar) Pertaining to grammatical number (as in singular and plural), referring to two of something, such as a pair of shoes, in the context of the singular, plural and, in some languages, trial grammatical number.
  5. Being the space of all linear functionals of (some other space).
  6. Being the dual of some other category; containing the same objects but with source and target reversed for all morphisms.

individual

noun
  1. A person considered alone, rather than as belonging to a group of people.
  2. A single physical human being as a legal subject, as opposed to a legal person such as a corporation.
  3. An object, be it a thing or an agent, as contrasted to a class.
  4. An element belonging to a population.
adjective
  1. Relating to a single person or thing as opposed to more than one.
  2. Intended for a single person as opposed to more than one person.
  3. Not divisible without losing its identity.

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.

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.

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

laud

noun
  1. Praise or glorification.
  2. Hymn of praise.
  3. (in the plural, also Lauds) A prayer service following matins.
verb
  1. To praise, to glorify

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.

luau

noun
  1. An elaborate Hawaiian feast featuring traditional foods and entertainment.

luna

No Definition Found.

lunula

noun
  1. Something shaped like a crescent or half-moon; especially the pale area at the base of the fingernail.

naan

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

nada

pronoun
  1. Nothing.

naiad

noun
  1. A female deity (nymph) associated with water, especially a spring, stream, or other fresh water.
  2. The aquatic larva (nymph) of a dragonfly or damselfly.
  3. Any of various aquatic plants of the genus Najas.

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

naval

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

ulna

noun
  1. The bone of the forearm that extends from the elbow to the wrist on the side opposite to the thumb, corresponding to the fibula of the hind limb. Also, the corresponding bone in the forelimb of any vertebrate.

unlaid

adjective
  1. Not laid, not placed
  2. Not laid by exorcism
  3. (of a person) not having had sexual intercourse
  4. Not laid out, as a corpse.
  5. (of paper) Not laid; not marked with parallel lines.
verb
  1. To untwist.

uvula

noun
  1. The fleshy appendage that hangs from the back of the palate, that closes the nasopharynx during swallowing.
  2. The slight elevation in the mucous membrane immediately behind the internal urethral orifice of the urinary bladder, caused by the middle lobe of the prostate.
  3. An object so suspended inside a bell that it may hit the bell and cause it to ring; a clapper.

vain

adjective
  1. Overly proud of oneself, especially concerning appearance; having a high opinion of one's own accomplishments with slight reason.
  2. Having no real substance, value, or importance; empty; void; worthless; unsatisfying.
  3. Effecting no purpose; pointless, futile.
  4. Showy; ostentatious.

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.

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.

vulva

noun
  1. The external female sexual organs, collectively.

vulval

No Definition Found.