The Unofficial Hive

NYT Spelling Bee answers & analysis

CDEINUL

Wednesday, October 29, 2025

Words
59
Points
278
Genius
194
Pangrams
2

Official answers

Show the 59 answersHide answers

Pangrams highlighted. Click a word for its definition.

  • cell

    noun — The basic unit of a living organism, consisting of a quantity of protoplasm surrounded by a cell membrane, which is able to synthesize proteins and replicate itself.

    noun — A cellular phone.

    noun — A room in a prison or jail for one or more inmates.

    noun — The unit in a statistical array (a spreadsheet, for example) where a row and a column intersect.

    noun — A device which stores electrical power; used either singly or together in batteries; the basic unit of a battery.

    noun — Each of the small hexagonal compartments in a honeycomb.

    Appeared in 14 recorded puzzles.

  • celled

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • celli

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 11 recorded puzzles.

  • cellule

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • clinic

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 15 recorded puzzles.

  • clue

    noun — A strand of yarn etc. as used to guide one through a labyrinth; something which points the way, a guide.

    verb — To provide with a clue.

    noun — Information which may lead one to a certain point or conclusion.

    noun — An object or a kind of indication which may be used as evidence.

    noun — Insight or understanding ("to have a clue [about]" or "to have clue". See have a clue, clue stick)

    verb — To provide someone with information which he or she lacks (often used with "in" or "up").

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • clued

    verb — To provide with a clue.

    verb — To provide someone with information which he or she lacks (often used with "in" or "up").

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • cuddle

    noun — A snuggle; an affectionate embrace, often given to family members and close friends.

    verb — To embrace affectionately, lie together snugly.

    verb — To cradle in one's arms so as to give comfort, warmth.

    verb — To lie close or snug; to crouch; to nestle.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • cuddled

    verb — To embrace affectionately, lie together snugly.

    verb — To cradle in one's arms so as to give comfort, warmth.

    verb — To lie close or snug; to crouch; to nestle.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • cull

    noun — A selection.

    verb — To pick or take someone or something (from a larger group).

    noun — A fool, gullible person; a dupe.

    noun — An organised killing of selected animals.

    noun — (farming) An individual animal selected to be killed, or item of produce to be discarded.

    noun — (seafood industry) A lobster having only one claw.

    Appeared in 12 recorded puzzles.

  • culled

    verb — To pick or take someone or something (from a larger group).

    verb — To gather, collect.

    verb — To select animals from a group and then kill them in order to reduce the numbers of the group in a controlled manner.

    verb — To kill (animals etc).

    verb — To lay off in order to reduce the size of, get rid of.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • decline

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • declined

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • deli

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • dell

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • delude

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 7 recorded puzzles.

  • deluded

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 7 recorded puzzles.

  • diddle

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • diddled

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • dill

    noun — Anethum graveolens (the type species of the genus Anethum), a herb, the seeds of which are moderately warming, pungent, and aromatic, formerly used as a soothing medicine for children; also known as dillseed.

    verb — To cook or flavor with dill

    verb — To still; to assuage; to calm; to soothe, as one in pain.

    noun — A cucumber pickled with dill flavoring

    noun — A fool.

    Appeared in 19 recorded puzzles.

  • duel

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 7 recorded puzzles.

  • dueled

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 7 recorded puzzles.

  • dull

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 10 recorded puzzles.

  • dulled

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 7 recorded puzzles.

  • elide

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • elided

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • elude

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 7 recorded puzzles.

  • eluded

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 7 recorded puzzles.

  • icicle

    noun — A drooping, tapering shape of ice.

    Appeared in 11 recorded puzzles.

  • idle

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • idled

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • incline

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • inclined

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • include

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • included

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • lede

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • lend

    noun — The lumbar region; loin.

    verb — To allow to be used by someone temporarily, on condition that it or its equivalent will be returned.

    noun — (of a person or animal) The loins; flank; buttocks.

    verb — To make a loan.

    verb — To be suitable or applicable, to fit.

    verb — To afford; to grant or furnish in general.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • lenience

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • leucine

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • lice

    noun — A small parasitic wingless insect of the order Psocodea.

    noun — (not usually used in plural form) A contemptible person; one who is deceitful or causes harm.

    Appeared in 11 recorded puzzles.

  • lidded

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • lied

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 6 recorded puzzles.

  • lien

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 12 recorded puzzles.

  • lieu

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • line

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 12 recorded puzzles.

  • lined

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • linen

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 12 recorded puzzles.

  • lucid

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 2 recorded puzzles.

  • lull

    noun — A period of rest or soothing.

    verb — To cause to rest by soothing influences; to compose; to calm

    noun — A period of reduced activity; a respite

    noun — A period without waves or wind.

    noun — An extended pause between sets of waves.

    verb — To become gradually calm; to subside; to cease or abate.

    Appeared in 20 recorded puzzles.

  • lulled

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 7 recorded puzzles.

  • lulu

    noun — A remarkable person, object or idea.

    noun — A very attractive or alluring person.

    noun — A very bad mistake or error.

    noun — A fixed allowance paid to a legislator in lieu of reimbursement for actual expenses.

    Appeared in 20 recorded puzzles.

  • lune

    noun — A fit of lunacy or madness; a period of frenzy; a crazy or unreasonable freak.

    noun — A concave figure formed by the intersection of the arcs of two circles on a plane, or on a sphere the intersection between two great semicircles.

    noun — (hawking) A leash for a hawk.

    noun — Anything crescent-shaped.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • needle

    noun — A fine, sharp implement usually for piercing such as sewing, or knitting, acupuncture, tattooing, body piercing, medical injections, etc.

    verb — To pierce with a needle, especially for sewing or acupuncture.

    noun — Any slender, pointed object resembling a needle, such as a pointed crystal, a sharp pinnacle of rock, an obelisk, etc.

    noun — A fine measurement indicator on a dial or graph, e.g. a compass needle.

    noun — A sensor for playing phonograph records, a phonograph stylus.

    noun — A needle-like leaf found on some conifers.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • needled

    verb — To pierce with a needle, especially for sewing or acupuncture.

    adjective — Covered or armored with needles.

    verb — To tease in order to provoke; to poke fun at.

    verb — To form, or be formed, in the shape of a needle.

    Appeared in 8 recorded puzzles.

  • nuclei

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • nucleic

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

  • null

    noun — A non-existent or empty value or set of values.

    verb — To nullify; to annul.

    adjective — Having no validity; "null and void"

    noun — Zero quantity of expressions; nothing.

    noun — Something that has no force or meaning.

    noun — The ASCII or Unicode character (␀), represented by a zero value, that indicates no character and is sometimes used as a string terminator.

    Appeared in 12 recorded puzzles.

  • uncle

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

    Appeared in 4 recorded puzzles.

  • unlined

    No cached definition. Look it up on Wiktionary.

include is a perfect pangram — all seven letters, each used exactly once.

Hints, no spoilers

Words by first two letters

  • ce×4
  • cl×3
  • cu×4
  • de×6
  • di×3
  • du×4
  • el×4
  • ic×1
  • id×2
  • in×4
  • le×4
  • li×8
  • lu×5
  • ne×2
  • nu×3
  • un×2

Words by first letter and length

45678Σ
c 3242· 11
d 5·431 13
e ·22·· 4
i 11122 7
l 103211 17
n 1·22· 5
u ·1·1· 2
Σ 20915114 59

The numbers

Genius today takes 194 points of 278 available. The average answer runs 5.5 letters.

Total points vs. all 413 recorded puzzles
79th percentile
Word count vs. all recorded puzzles
81st percentile

Word lengths, today vs. 18686 recorded answers

420 today34.5% all-time59 today23.0% all-time615 today20.0% all-time711 today12.0% all-time84 today6.2% all-time92.6% all-time101.3% all-time110.3% all-time120.1% all-time130.0% all-time

History

Today's letters, last seen

LetterLast in a puzzleLast as center
c Thursday, October 23, 2025 Tuesday, September 16, 2025
d Monday, October 27, 2025 Monday, October 27, 2025
e Sunday, October 26, 2025 Friday, September 19, 2025
i Tuesday, October 28, 2025 Tuesday, October 28, 2025
l ● Tuesday, October 28, 2025 Friday, October 17, 2025
n Tuesday, October 28, 2025 Thursday, October 9, 2025
u Monday, October 27, 2025 Thursday, September 25, 2025

Most common answers, all recorded puzzles

  1. noon 44
  2. naan 33
  3. nana 33
  4. onion 31
  5. toot 29
  6. loll 29
  7. mama 27
  8. mamma 27
  9. nene 25
  10. cocoon 24
  11. acacia 24
  12. acai 24
  13. loon 24
  14. olio 24
  15. imam 23
  16. maim 23
  17. cancan 23
  18. canna 23
  19. mini 23
  20. minim 23
  21. neon 23
  22. none 23
  23. aria 22
  24. mitt 22
  25. bill 22

Valid words the Bee rejected

Accepted on other days, not today

These fit today's letters and have been official answers before — today the Bee said no.

Dictionary words the Bee never takes

Legitimate words (per the ENABLE list) that fit the letters but aren't official answers — usually judged too obscure.