Thursday, July 16, 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: 1

Maximum Puzzle Score: 166

Number of Answers: 37

Points Needed for Genius: 116

Genius requires between 18 and 32 words. You need at least a 7-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 166 was in the 46th percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there was a score this low was on July 15, 2026.
The highest score ever was 537 on January 22, 2021.
The lowest score ever was 47 on March 27, 2023.

This puzzle's 37 possible answers rank it in the 43rd percentile of all puzzles.
The last time there were fewer answers than this was on July 14, 2026.
The highest number of answers was 81 on June 08, 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 July 15, 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 246
  • loll 227
  • toot 219
  • nana 204
  • naan 204
  • tilt 159
  • till 159
  • lilt 159
  • nene 158
  • mamma 158
  • mama 158
  • tint 153
  • onion 151
  • acai 148
  • acacia 148
  • toon 147
  • onto 147
  • olio 138
  • anon 138
  • anal 136
  • papa 129
  • tact 128
  • baba 127
  • dodo 126
  • lulu 125
  • lull 125
  • mitt 123
  • loon 123
  • poop 121
  • calla 121
  • call 121
  • booboo 121
  • boob 121
  • moon 119
  • mono 119
  • cocci 119
  • tattoo 117
  • tartar 117
  • tart 117
  • ratatat 117
  • attar 116
  • tutu 115
  • ally 114
  • allay 114
  • momma 113
  • cancan 113
  • aria 113
  • ammo 113
  • tatty 111
  • roar 111


How long are words in the Bee?

There have been 120,518 answers ever accepted in the Bee - with 11,058 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*:

  • acarid
  • accidia
  • adit
  • adyta
  • cadi
  • caid
  • caird
  • cardia
  • carditic
  • caryatid
  • cycad
  • dada
  • daric
  • datary
  • diacid
  • diacidic
  • dicty
  • didy
  • dita
  • dryadic
  • dyadic
  • irid
  • iridic
  • ritard
  • trad
  • triacid
  • triadic
  • yaird
  • yird

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

acid

noun
  1. A sour substance.
  2. Any of several classes of compound having the following properties:
  3. Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD)
adjective
  1. Sour, sharp, or biting to the taste; tart; having the taste of vinegar.
  2. Sour-tempered.
  3. Of or pertaining to an acid; acidic.
  4. Denoting a musical genre that is a distortion (as if hallucinogenic) of an existing genre, as in acid house, acid jazz, acid rock.

acidic

adjective
  1. Having a pH less than 7, or being sour, or having the strength to neutralize alkalis, or turning a litmus paper red.
  2. Containing a high percentage of silica; opposed to basic.
  3. Of or relating to acid; having the character of an acid.

acidity

noun
  1. The quality or state of being acid
  2. Sourness; tartness; sharpness to the taste
  3. Excessive acid quality, as in gastric secretions.

acidy

No Definition Found.

acrid

adjective
  1. Sharp and harsh, or bitter and not to the taste.
  2. Causing heat and irritation.
  3. Caustic; bitter; bitterly irritating.

acridity

No Definition Found.

addict

noun
  1. A person who is addicted, especially to a harmful drug
  2. An adherent or fan (of something)
verb
  1. To deliver (someone or something) following a judicial decision.
  2. To devote (oneself) to a given activity, occupation, thing etc.
  3. To bind (a person or thing) to the service of something.
  4. To devote or pledge (oneself) to a given person, cause etc.
  5. To devote (one's mind, talent etc.) to a given activity, occupation, thing etc.
  6. To make (someone) become devoted to a given thing or activity; to cause to be addicted.

arcadia

No Definition Found.

arid

adjective
  1. Very dry.
  2. Describing a very dry climate. Typically defined as less than 25 cm or 10 inches of rainfall annually.
  3. Devoid of value.

aridity

No Definition Found.

caddy

Etymology 1

noun
  1. One hired to assist another in playing the game of golf.
verb
  1. To serve as a caddy, carrying golf clubs etc.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A small box, can, or chest to keep things in.
  2. A movable tray or other mechanism for holding, securing, and transporting a removable component within a piece of machinery or equipment.

card

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A playing card.
  2. (in the plural) Any game using playing cards; a card game.
  3. A resource or an argument, used to achieve a purpose.
  4. Any flat, normally rectangular piece of stiff paper, plastic etc.
  5. A map or chart.
  6. An amusing or entertaining person, often slightly eccentrically so.
  7. A list of scheduled events or of performers or contestants.
  8. A tabular presentation of the key statistics of an innings or match: batsmen’s scores and how they were dismissed, extras, total score and bowling figures.
  9. A removable electronic device that may be inserted into a powered electronic device to provide additional capability.
  10. A greeting card.
  11. A business card.
  12. Title card / Intertitle: A piece of filmed, printed text edited into the midst of the photographed action at various points, generally to convey character dialogue or descriptive narrative material related to the plot.
  13. A test card.
  14. A published note, containing a brief statement, explanation, request, expression of thanks, etc.
  15. A printed programme.
  16. (by extension) An attraction or inducement.
  17. A paper on which the points of the compass are marked; the dial or face of the mariner's compass.
  18. A perforated pasteboard or sheet-metal plate for warp threads, making part of the Jacquard apparatus of a loom.
  19. An indicator card.
verb
  1. To check IDs, especially against a minimum age requirement.
  2. To play cards.
  3. To make (a stated score), as recorded on a scoring card.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. Material with embedded short wire bristles.
  2. A comb- or brush-like device or tool to raise the nap on a fabric.
  3. A hand-held tool formed similarly to a hairbrush but with bristles of wire or other rigid material. It is used principally with raw cotton, wool, hair, or other natural fibers to prepare these materials for spinning into yarn or thread on a spinning wheel, with a whorl or other hand-held spindle. The card serves to untangle, clean, remove debris from, and lay the fibers straight.
  4. A machine for disentangling the fibres of wool prior to spinning.
  5. A roll or sliver of fibre (as of wool) delivered from a carding machine.
verb
  1. To use a carding device to disentangle the fibres of wool prior to spinning.
  2. To scrape or tear someone’s flesh using a metal comb, as a form of torture.
  3. To comb with a card; to cleanse or disentangle by carding.
  4. To clean or clear, as if by using a card.
  5. To mix or mingle, as with an inferior or weaker article.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. One of the officials appointed by the pope in the Roman Catholic Church, ranking only below the pope and the patriarchs, constituting the special college which elects the pope. (See Wikipedia article on Catholic cardinals.)
  2. Any of a genus of songbirds of the finch family, Cardinalis.
  3. Any of various related passerine birds of the family Cardinalidae (See Wikipedia article on cardinals) and other similar birds that were once considered to be related.
  4. (color) A deep red color, somewhat less vivid than scarlet, the traditional colour of a Catholic cardinal's cassock. (same as cardinal red)
  5. Short for cardinal number, a number indicating quantity, or the size of a set (e.g., zero, one, two, three). (See Wikipedia article on Cardinal number.)
  6. (grammar) Short for cardinal numeral, a word used to represent a cardinal number.
  7. Short for cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis), a flowering plant.
  8. Short for cardinal tetra (Paracheirodon axelrodi), a freshwater fish.
  9. (bow) A woman's short cloak with a hood, originally made of scarlet cloth.
  10. Mulled red wine.

cardiac

noun
  1. A person with heart disease.
  2. Heart disease.
  3. A medicine that excites action in the stomach.
adjective
  1. Pertaining to the heart.
  2. Pertaining to the cardia.
  3. Exciting action in the heart, through the medium of the stomach; cordial; stimulant.

cicada

noun
  1. Any of several insects in the superfamily Cicadoidea, with small eyes wide apart on the head and transparent well-veined wings.

daddy

noun
  1. (usually childish) Father.
  2. A male lover.
  3. An informal term of address for a man.
  4. A male juvenile delinquent in a reformatory who dominates the other inmates through threats and violence.
verb
  1. To father; to sire.

dairy

noun
  1. (also dairy products or dairy produce) Products produced from milk.
noun
  1. A place, often on a farm, where milk is processed and turned into products such as butter and cheese.
  2. A dairy farm.
  3. A shop selling dairy products.
  4. A corner store, superette or minimart.
  5. (chiefly in the plural) A woman's breast.
adjective
  1. Referring to products produced from milk.
  2. Referring to the milk production and processing industries.
  3. On food labelling, containing fats only from dairy sources (e.g. dairy ice cream).

dart

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A pointed missile weapon, intended to be thrown by the hand, for example a short lance or javelin
  2. Any sharp-pointed missile weapon, such as an arrow.
  3. (sometimes figurative) Anything resembling such a missile; something that pierces or wounds like such a weapon.
  4. A small object with a pointed tip at one end and feathers at the other, which is thrown at a target in the game of darts.
  5. A dart-shaped target towed behind an aircraft to train shooters.
  6. A plan or scheme.
  7. A sudden or fast movement.
  8. A fold that is stitched on a garment.
  9. A fish, the dace.
  10. A cigarette.

Etymology 2

verb
  1. To throw with a sudden effort or thrust; to hurl or launch.
  2. To send forth suddenly or rapidly; to emit; to shoot
  3. To shoot with a dart, especially a tranquilizer dart
  4. To fly or pass swiftly, like a dart; to move rapidly in one direction; to shoot out quickly
  5. To start and run with speed; to shoot rapidly along

data

noun
  1. (plural: data) A measurement of something on a scale understood by both the recorder (a person or device) and the reader (another person or device). The scale is arbitrarily defined, such as from 1 to 10 by ones, 1 to 100 by 0.1, or simply true or false, on or off, yes, no, or maybe, etc.
  2. (plural: data) A fact known from direct observation.
  3. (plural: data) A premise from which conclusions are drawn.
  4. (plural: datums) A fixed reference point, or a coordinate system.

diacritic

noun
  1. A special mark added to a letter to indicate a different pronunciation, stress, tone, or meaning.
adjective
  1. Distinguishing
  2. Denoting a distinguishing mark applied to a letter or character.

diary

noun
  1. A daily log of experiences, especially those of the writer.
  2. A personal organizer or appointment diary.
verb
  1. To keep a diary or journal.
adjective
  1. Lasting for one day.

dicta

noun
  1. An authoritative statement; a dogmatic saying; a maxim, an apothegm.
  2. A judicial opinion expressed by judges on points that do not necessarily arise in the case, and are not involved in it.
  3. The report of a judgment made by one of the judges who has given it.
  4. An arbitrament or award.

didact

No Definition Found.

didactic

noun
  1. A treatise on teaching or education.
adjective
  1. Instructive or intended to teach or demonstrate, especially with regard to morality.
  2. Excessively moralizing.
  3. Teaching from textbooks rather than laboratory demonstration and clinical application.

dirt

noun
  1. Soil or earth.
  2. A stain or spot (on clothes etc); any foreign substance that worsens appearance.
  3. Previously unknown facts, or the invented "facts", about a person.
  4. Meanness; sordidness.
  5. In placer mining, earth, gravel, etc., before washing.
  6. Freckles
verb
  1. To make foul or filthy; soil; befoul; dirty

dirty

verb
  1. To make (something) dirty.
  2. To stain or tarnish (somebody) with dishonor.
  3. To debase by distorting the real nature of (something).
  4. To become soiled.
adjective
  1. Unclean; covered with or containing unpleasant substances such as dirt or grime.
  2. That makes one unclean; corrupting, infecting.
  3. Morally unclean; obscene or indecent, especially sexually.
  4. Dishonourable; violating accepted standards or rules.
  5. Corrupt, illegal, or improper.
  6. Out of tune.
  7. Of color, discolored by impurities.
  8. Containing data needing to be written back to memory or disk.
  9. Carrying illegal drugs among one's possessions or inside of one's bloodstream.
  10. Used as an intensifier, especially in conjunction with "great".
  11. Sleety; gusty; stormy.
  12. Of an alcoholic beverage, especially a cocktail or mixed drink: served with the juice of olives.
  13. Of food, indulgent in an unhealthy way.
adverb
  1. In a dirty manner.

ditty

noun
  1. A short verse or tune.
  2. A saying or utterance, especially one that is short and frequently repeated.
verb
  1. To sing; to warble a little tune.

drat

verb
  1. To damn or curse.
interjection
  1. Expressing anger, annoyance or frustration.

dray

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A low horse-drawn cart, often without sides, and used especially for heavy loads.
  2. A kind of sledge or sled.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A squirrel’s nest, built of twigs in a tree.
  2. A possum’s nest, built of twigs and leaves in a tree.

dryad

noun
  1. In Greek myth, a female tree spirit.

dyad

noun
  1. A set of two elements treated as one; a pair.
  2. Any set of two different pitch classes.
  3. A pair of things standing in particular relation; dyadic relation.
  4. An element, atom, or radical having a valence or combining power of two.
  5. A secondary unit of organisation consisting of an aggregate of monads.
  6. A tensor of order two and rank one.

radar

noun
  1. A method of detecting distant objects and determining their position, velocity, or other characteristics by analysis of sent radio waves (usually microwaves) reflected from their surfaces
  2. A type of system using such method, differentiated by platform, configuration, frequency, power, and other technical attributes.
  3. An installation of such a system or of the transmitting and receiving apparatus.
  4. A superior ability to detect something.
verb
  1. To scan with radar, or as if with radar.

radii

noun
  1. The long bone in the forearm, on the side of the thumb.
  2. The lighter bone (or fused portion of bone) in the forelimb of an animal.
  3. One of the major veins of the insect wing, between the subcosta and the media; the vein running along the costal edge of the discal cell.
  4. A line segment between any point of a circle or sphere and its center.
  5. The length of this line segment.
  6. Anything resembling a radius, such as the spoke of a wheel, the movable arm of a sextant, or one of the radiating lines of a spider's web.

raid

noun
  1. A quick hostile or predatory incursion or invasion in a battle.
  2. An attack or invasion for the purpose of making arrests, seizing property, or plundering
  3. An attacking movement.
  4. An activity initiated at or towards the end of a live broadcast by the broadcaster that sends its viewers to a different broadcast, primarily intended to boost the viewership of the receiving broadcaster. This is frequently accompanied by a message in the form of a hashtag that is posted in the broadcast's chat by the viewers.
  5. A large group in a massively multiplayer online game, consisting of multiple parties who team up to defeat a powerful enemy.
verb
  1. To engage in a raid against.
  2. To lure from another; to entice away from.
  3. To indulge oneself by taking from.

tardy

noun
  1. A piece of paper given to students who are late to class.
  2. An instance of a student being marked as tardy by a teacher in his or her attendance sheet.
verb
  1. To make tardy.
adjective
  1. Late; overdue or delayed.
  2. Moving with a slow pace or motion; not swift.
  3. Ineffectual; slow-witted, slow to act, or dull.
  4. Unwary; unready (especially in the phrase take (someone) tardy).
  5. Criminal; guilty.

tidy

noun
  1. A tabletop container for pens and stationery.
  2. A cover, often of tatting, drawn work, or other ornamental work, for the back of a chair, the arms of a sofa, etc.
  3. A child's pinafore.
  4. The wren.
verb
  1. To make tidy; to neaten.
adjective
  1. Arranged neatly and in order.
  2. Not messy; neat and controlled.
  3. Satisfactory; comfortable.
  4. Generous, considerable.
  5. In good time; at the right time; timely; seasonable; opportune; favourable; fit; suitable.
  6. Brave; smart; skillful; fine; good.
  7. Appropriate or suitable as regards occasion, circumstances, arrangement, or order.
interjection
  1. Expression of positive agreement, usually in reply to a question.

triad

noun
  1. A grouping of three.
  2. A word of three syllables.
  3. A branch of a Chinese underground criminal society, mostly based in Hong Kong.
  4. On a CRT display, a group of three neighbouring phosphor dots, coloured green, red, and blue.
  5. A chord consisting of a root tone, the tone two degrees higher, and the tone four degrees higher in a given scale.

yard

Etymology 1

noun
  1. A small, usually uncultivated area adjoining or (now especially) within the precincts of a house or other building.
  2. The property surrounding one's house, typically dominated by one's lawn.
  3. An enclosed area designated for a specific purpose, e.g. on farms, railways etc.
  4. A place where moose or deer herd together in winter for pasture, protection, etc.
  5. One’s house or home.
verb
  1. To confine to a yard.

Etymology 2

noun
  1. A unit of length equal to 3 feet in the US customary and British imperial systems of measurement, equal to precisely 0.9144 m since 1959 (US) or 1963 (UK).
  2. Units of similar composition or length in other systems.
  3. Any spar carried aloft.
  4. A branch, twig, or shoot.
  5. A staff, rod, or stick.
  6. A penis.
  7. 100 dollars.
  8. The yardland, an obsolete English unit of land roughly understood as 30 acres.
  9. The rod, a surveying unit of (once) 15 or (now) 16 1/2 feet.
  10. The rood, area bound by a square rod, 1/4 acre.

Etymology 3

noun
  1. 109, A short scale billion; a long scale thousand millions or milliard.