Sunday, June 15, 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: 2

Maximum Puzzle Score: 237

Number of Answers: 47

Points Needed for Genius: 166

Genius requires between 21 and 42 words. You need at least an 8-letter word to reach genius. If you don't get the pangrams, you need 83% of the total points to reach genius. If you get the pangrams, you only need 64% 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 237 was in the 79th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there was a score this high was on June 13, 2025.
The highest score ever was 537 on January 22, 2021.
The lowest score ever was 47 on March 27, 2023.

This puzzle's 47 possible answers rank it in the 70th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there were more answers than this was on June 14, 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 an 8-letter word for genius.
The last time this happened was on June 12, 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 202
  • loll 198
  • toot 189
  • naan 172
  • nana 172
  • lilt 140
  • till 140
  • tilt 140
  • tint 136
  • nene 133
  • mama 132
  • mamma 132
  • acacia 124
  • acai 124
  • onto 124
  • toon 124
  • onion 121
  • anal 118
  • olio 116
  • anon 115
  • boob 112
  • booboo 112
  • dodo 112
  • baba 109
  • papa 109
  • poop 109
  • tact 109
  • call 106
  • calla 106
  • lull 106
  • lulu 106
  • mitt 105
  • ratatat 105
  • tart 105
  • tartar 105
  • attar 104
  • tatty 104
  • mono 103
  • moon 103
  • allay 102
  • ally 102
  • tattoo 102
  • ammo 101
  • cocci 101
  • momma 101
  • tutu 101
  • epee 99
  • loon 99
  • peep 99
  • roar 96


How long are words in the Bee?

There have been 102,690 answers ever accepted in the Bee - with 10,627 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
  • aclinic
  • alan
  • alanin
  • alba
  • albinal
  • albinic
  • alcaic
  • allicin
  • ancilla
  • anil
  • anilin
  • baal
  • baccala
  • biali
  • binal
  • blain
  • cabbala
  • cabbalah
  • calcic
  • callan
  • chalah
  • challa
  • chilblain
  • chilli
  • cicala
  • clach
  • clachan
  • clinal
  • halacha
  • halachic
  • halala
  • halalah
  • hallah
  • hallal
  • hila
  • hili
  • ilia
  • ilial
  • lahal
  • laich
  • lall
  • lallan
  • lanch
  • liana
  • liblab
  • lich
  • lichi
  • linac
  • linin
  • linn
  • nala
  • nihil
  • nill

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

alibi

noun
  1. The plea or mode of defense under which a person on trial for a crime proves or attempts to prove being in another place when the alleged act was committed
verb
  1. To provide an alibi for.
  2. To provide an excuse for.

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.

bacchanal

noun
  1. A devotee of Bacchus.
  2. Someone who indulges in drunken partying; someone noisy and riotous when intoxicated.
  3. (in the plural) The festival of Bacchus; the bacchanalia.
  4. Drunken revelry; an orgy.
  5. A song or a dance in honor of Bacchus.
adjective
  1. Relating to Bacchus or his festival.
  2. Engaged in drunken revels; drunken and riotous or noisy.

bacchanalia

noun
  1. Any wild, orgiastic party or celebration.

bacchanalian

noun
  1. A bacchanal; a drunken reveler.
adjective
  1. Of or pertaining to the festival of Bacchus; relating to or given to reveling and drunkenness.

bacilli

noun
  1. Any of various rod-shaped, spore-forming aerobic bacteria in the genus Bacillus, some of which cause disease.
  2. Any bacilliform (rod-shaped) bacterium.
  3. (by extension) Something which spreads like bacterial infection.

bail

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Security, usually a sum of money, exchanged for the release of an arrested person as a guarantee of that person's appearance for trial.
  2. Release from imprisonment on payment of such money.
  3. The person providing such payment.
  4. A bucket or scoop used for removing water from a boat etc.
  5. A person who bails water out of a boat.
  6. Custody; keeping.
verb
  1. To secure the release of an arrested person by providing bail.
  2. To release a person under such guarantee.
  3. To hand over personal property to be held temporarily by another as a bailment.
  4. To remove (water) from a boat by scooping it out.
  5. To remove water from (a boat) by scooping it out.
  6. To set free; to deliver; to release.

Etymology 2

verb
  1. To exit quickly.
  2. To fail to meet a commitment.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. A hoop, ring or handle (especially of a kettle or bucket).
  2. A stall for a cow (or other animal) (usually tethered with a semi-circular hoop).
  3. A hinged bar as a restraint for animals, or on a typewriter.
  4. A frame to restrain a cow during milking or feeding.
  5. A hoop, ring, or other object used to connect a pendant to a necklace.
  6. One of the two wooden crosspieces that rest on top of the stumps to form a wicket.
  7. (furniture) Normally curved handle suspended between sockets as a drawer pull. This may also be on a kettle or pail.
verb
  1. To secure the head of a cow during milking.

Etymology 4

verb
  1. To confine.
  2. To secure (a cow) by placing its head in a bail for milking.
  3. To keep (a traveller) detained in order to rob them; to corner (a wild animal); loosely, to detain, hold up. (Usually with up.)

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.

biblical

adjective
  1. Of or relating to the Bible.
  2. In accordance with the teachings of the Bible (according to some interpretation of it).
  3. Very great; especially, exceeding previous records in scale.

bilabial

noun
  1. A speech sound articulated with both lips.
adjective
  1. Articulated with both lips.

bill

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Any of various bladed or pointed hand weapons, originally designating an Anglo-Saxon sword, and later a weapon of infantry, especially in the 14th and 15th centuries, commonly consisting of a broad, heavy, double-edged, hook-shaped blade, with a short pike at the back and another at the top, attached to the end of a long staff.
  2. A cutting instrument, with hook-shaped point, and fitted with a handle, used in pruning, etc.; a billhook.
  3. Somebody armed with a bill; a billman.
  4. A pickaxe, or mattock.
  5. The extremity of the arm of an anchor; the point of or beyond the fluke (also called the peak).
verb
  1. To dig, chop, etc., with a bill.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. The beak of a bird, especially when small or flattish; sometimes also used with reference to a platypus, turtle, or other animal.
  2. A beak-like projection, especially a promontory.
  3. Of a cap or hat: the brim or peak, serving as a shade to keep sun off the face and out of the eyes.
verb
  1. To peck
  2. To stroke bill against bill, with reference to doves; to caress in fondness

Etymology 3

noun
  1. A written list or inventory. (Now obsolete except in specific senses or set phrases; bill of lading, bill of goods, etc.)
  2. A document, originally sealed; a formal statement or official memorandum. (Now obsolete except with certain qualifying words; bill of health, bill of sale etc.)
  3. A draft of a law, presented to a legislature for enactment; a proposed or projected law.
  4. A declaration made in writing, stating some wrong the complainant has suffered from the defendant, or a fault committed by some person against a law.
  5. A piece of paper money; a banknote.
  6. A written note of goods sold, services rendered, or work done, with the price or charge; an invoice.
  7. A paper, written or printed, and posted up or given away, to advertise something, as a lecture, a play, or the sale of goods
  8. A writing binding the signer or signers to pay a certain sum at a future day or on demand, with or without interest, as may be stated in the document; a bill of exchange. In the United States, it is usually called a note, a note of hand, or a promissory note.
  9. A set of items presented together.
verb
  1. To advertise by a bill or public notice.
  2. To charge; to send a bill to.

Etymology 4

noun
  1. The bell, or boom, of the bittern.

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.

blah

noun
  1. Nonsense; drivel; idle, meaningless talk.
  2. (in plural, the blahs) A general or ambiguous feeling of discomfort, dissatisfaction, uneasiness, boredom, mild depression, etc.
verb
  1. To utter idle, meaningless talk.
adjective
  1. Dull; uninteresting; insipid.
  2. Low in spirit or health; down.
interjection
  1. An expression of mild frustration.
  2. (When spoken repeatedly, often three times in succession: blah blah blah!) Imitative of idle, meaningless talk; used sometimes in a slightly derogatory manner to mock or downplay another's words, or to show disinterest in a diatribe, rant, instructions, unsolicited advice, parenting, etc. Also used when recalling and retelling another's words, as a substitute for the portions of the speech deemed irrelevant.
  3. Representing the sound of vomiting.

blanch

Etymology 1

verb
  1. To grow or become white
  2. To take the color out of, and make white; to bleach
  3. To cook by dipping briefly into boiling water, then directly into cold water.
  4. To whiten, for example the surface of meat, by plunging into boiling water and afterwards into cold, so as to harden the surface and retain the juices
  5. To bleach by excluding the light, for example the stalks or leaves of plants, by earthing them up or tying them together
  6. To make white by removing the skin of, for example by scalding
  7. To give a white lustre to (silver, before stamping, in the process of coining)
  8. (tntransitive) To cover (sheet iron) with a coating of tin.
  9. To give a favorable appearance to; to whitewash; to whiten;

Etymology 2

verb
  1. To avoid, as from fear; to evade; to leave unnoticed.
  2. To cause to turn aside or back.
  3. To use evasion.

blin

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Cessation; end.
verb
  1. To cease (from); to stop; to desist, to let up.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A blintz.

blini

noun
  1. A small pancake, of Russian origin, made from buckwheat flour; traditionally served with melted butter, sour cream and caviar or smoked salmon.

cabal

noun
  1. # A putative, secret organization of individuals gathered for a political purpose.
  2. A secret plot.
  3. An identifiable group within the tradition of Discordianism.
verb
  1. To engage in the activities of a cabal.

cabala

proper noun
  1. A body of mystical Jewish teachings based on an esoteric reading of the Hebrew scriptures.

call

noun
  1. A telephone conversation.
  2. A short visit, usually for social purposes.
  3. A visit by a ship or boat to a port.
  4. A cry or shout.
  5. A decision or judgement.
  6. The characteristic cry of a bird or other animal.
  7. A beckoning or summoning.
  8. The right to speak at a given time during a debate or other public event; the floor.
  9. An option to buy stock at a specified price during or at a specified time.
  10. The act of calling to the other batsman.
  11. The state of being the batsman whose role it is to call (depends on where the ball goes.)
  12. A work shift which requires one to be available when requested (see on call).
  13. The act of jumping to a subprogram, saving the means to return to the original point.
  14. A statement of a particular state, or rule, made in many games such as bridge, craps, jacks, and so on.
  15. The act of matching a bet made by a player who has previously bet in the same round of betting.
  16. A note blown on the horn to encourage the dogs in a hunt.
  17. A whistle or pipe, used by the boatswain and his mate to summon the sailors to duty.
  18. A pipe or other instrument to call birds or animals by imitating their note or cry. A game call.
  19. An invitation to take charge of or serve a church as its pastor.
  20. Vocation; employment; calling.
  21. A reference to, or statement of, an object, course, distance, or other matter of description in a survey or grant requiring or calling for a corresponding object, etc., on the land.
  22. (prostitution) A meeting with a client for paid sex; hookup; job.
verb
  1. (heading) To use one's voice.
  2. (heading) To visit.
  3. (heading) To name, identify or describe.
  4. (heading) Direct or indirect use of the voice.
  5. (sometimes with for) To require, demand.
  6. To announce the early extinction of a debt by prepayment, usually at a premium.
  7. To demand repayment of a loan.
  8. To jump to (another part of a program) to perform some operation, returning to the original point on completion.

calla

noun
  1. A marsh plant native to cooler areas throughout the northern hemisphere, Calla palustris, having pale green flowers in a white spathe.
  2. The calla lily, Zantedeschia aethiopica.

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

cannibal

noun
  1. An organism which eats others of its own species or kind, especially a human who eats human flesh.

challah

noun
  1. A traditional bread eaten by Ashkenazi Jews, usually braided for the Sabbath and round for Yom Tov.
  2. The commandment to separate a portion of bread or bread dough for the cohanim (Numbers 15:17–21); in contemporary practice, the portion is burned until inedible.
  3. The portion separated in fulfillment of the above.

chili

Etymology 1

noun
  1. The pungent, spicy fresh or dried fruit of any of several cultivated varieties of capsicum peppers, used in cooking.
  2. Powdered chili pepper, used as a spice or flavouring in cooking.
  3. (Indian Chinese cuisine) a spicy stew of chicken or paneer, capsicum and onion, eaten as an appetizer.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A dish made with chili peppers and other ingredients, such as beans and beef.
  2. (Cincinnati) Cincinnati chili.

chill

noun
  1. A moderate, but uncomfortable and penetrating coldness.
  2. A sudden penetrating sense of cold, especially one that causes a brief trembling nerve response through the body; the trembling response itself; often associated with illness: fevers and chills, or susceptibility to illness.
  3. An uncomfortable and numbing sense of fear, dread, anxiety, or alarm, often one that is sudden and usually accompanied by a trembling nerve response resembling the body's response to biting cold.
  4. An iron mould or portion of a mould, serving to cool rapidly, and so to harden, the surface of molten iron brought in contact with it.
  5. The hardened part of a casting, such as the tread of a carriage wheel.
  6. A lack of warmth and cordiality; unfriendliness.
  7. Calmness; equanimity.
  8. A sense of style; trendiness; savoir faire.
verb
  1. To lower the temperature of something; to cool
  2. To become cold
  3. To harden a metal surface by sudden cooling
  4. To become hard by rapid cooling
  5. To relax, lie back
  6. To "hang", hang out; to spend time with another person or group. Also chill out.
  7. To smoke marijuana
  8. To discourage, depress
adjective
  1. Moderately cold or chilly.
  2. Unwelcoming; not cordial.
  3. Calm, relaxed, easygoing.
  4. "Cool"; meeting a certain hip standard or garnering the approval of a certain peer group.
  5. Okay, not a problem.

chinchilla

noun
  1. Either of two small, crepuscular rodents of the genus Chinchilla, native to the Andes, prized for their very soft fur and often kept as pets.
  2. The fur of a chinchilla, used for clothing.
  3. A variety of Persian cat with white fur and green eyes.

cilia

noun
  1. Hairs or similar protrusions along the margin of a plant organ.
  2. A hairlike organelle projecting from a eukaryotic cell (such as a unicellular organism or one cell of a multicelled organism). These structures serve either for locomotion by moving or as sensors.
  3. One of the fine hairs along an insect's wing.

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.

clinch

noun
  1. Any of several fastenings.
  2. The act or process of holding fast; that which serves to hold fast; a grip or grasp.
  3. A pun.
  4. A hitch or bend by which a rope is made fast to the ring of an anchor, or the breeching of a ship's gun to the ringbolts.
  5. A passionate embrace.
  6. In combat sports, the act of one or both fighters holding onto the other to prevent being hit or engage in standup grappling.
verb
  1. To clasp; to interlock.
  2. To make certain; to finalize.
  3. To fasten securely or permanently.
  4. To bend and hammer the point of (a nail) so it cannot be removed.
  5. To embrace passionately.
  6. To hold firmly; to clench.
  7. To set closely together; to close tightly.

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.

clinician

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

hail

Etymology 1

noun
  1. Balls or pieces of ice falling as precipitation, often in connection with a thunderstorm.
verb
  1. Of hail, to fall from the sky.
  2. To send or release hail.
  3. To pour down in rapid succession.

Etymology 2

verb
  1. To greet; give salutation to; salute.
  2. To name; to designate; to call.
  3. To call out loudly in order to gain the attention of
  4. To signal in order to initiate communication with.
adjective
  1. Healthy, whole, safe.

halal

verb
  1. To make halal.
adjective
  1. Permissible, according to Muslim religious customs, to have or do.
  2. (of food) Fit to eat according to Muslim religious customs.
adverb
  1. In a halal manner; in accordance with Muslim religious customs.

hall

noun
  1. A corridor; a hallway.
  2. A meeting room.
  3. A manor house (originally because a magistrate's court was held in the hall of his mansion).
  4. A building providing student accommodation at a university.
  5. The principal room of a secular medieval building.
  6. Cleared passageway through a crowd, as for dancing.
  7. A place for special professional education, or for conferring professional degrees or licences.
  8. A living room.

hill

noun
  1. An elevated location smaller than a mountain.
  2. A sloping road.
  3. A heap of earth surrounding a plant.
  4. A single cluster or group of plants growing close together, and having the earth heaped up about them.
  5. The pitcher’s mound.
verb
  1. To form into a heap or mound.
  2. To heap or draw earth around plants.

iliac

adjective
  1. Of or pertaining to the ilium.

labia

noun
  1. The folds of tissue at the opening of the vulva, at either side of the vagina.
noun
  1. A liplike structure; especially one of the two pairs of folds of skin either side of the vulva.
  2. The lip of a labiate corolla.
  3. The lip against which pressured air is driven to produce sound in a recorder and in a pipe organ with flue pipes.

labial

noun
  1. A consonant articulated by the lips.
  2. An organ pipe having a lip that influences its sound.
  3. Any of the scales bordering the mouth opening of a reptile.
adjective
  1. Of or pertaining to the lips or labia.
  2. Articulated by the lips, as the consonants b, m and w.
  3. Of an incisor or canine, on the side facing the lips. See mesial.
  4. Furnished with lips.

laic

noun
  1. A layperson, as opposed to a member of the clergy.
adjective
  1. Lay, relating to laypersons, as opposed to clerical.

laical

No Definition Found.

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.

lilac

noun
  1. A large shrub of the genus Syringa, especially Syringa vulgaris, bearing white, pale-pink or purple flowers.
  2. A flower of the lilac shrub.
  3. (color) A pale purple color, the color of some lilac flowers.
adjective
  1. Having a pale purple colour.

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.