You’re staring at a digital honeycomb. Six yellow petals, one gray center. You have "Genius" status, but the progress bar isn't full. It’s agonizing. Honestly, the NY Times Spelling Bee hints page is the only thing standing between you and a peaceful night's sleep or a productive morning at work. We’ve all been there, obsessively typing "nonillion" just in case it’s finally a recognized word this time (spoiler: it usually isn't).
The Bee is a psychological trap. Sam Ezersky, the digital puzzles editor at the Times, has a specific vocabulary range that feels both expansive and frustratingly narrow. He loves "acacia" and "phlox." He hates your favorite obscure scientific jargon. This creates a specific "meta" for the game. To win, you don't just need a dictionary; you need to understand how the Bee thinks.
The Grid and the Two-Letter List
If you haven’t discovered the official NYT "Spelling Bee Forum" or the "Today’s Hints" link, you’re playing on hard mode for no reason. Most players hit a wall about 70% of the way to Queen Bee. That’s when the grid becomes essential. It’s a simple table that breaks down how many words start with which letter and how long those words are.
It looks something like this in practice: if the grid shows a "B" row with a "4" under the "5" column, you know there are exactly four 5-letter words starting with B.
But the real gold is the Two-Letter List (2LL). This tells you the first two letters of every word in the puzzle. If you see "BA-4," and you've already found "BARK," "BARE," and "BARN," you know there’s one more "BA" word out there. Maybe it’s "BATH"? Maybe "BABA"? This narrows the search space from the entire English language down to a manageable subset. It’s not cheating; it’s deduction.
Why Sam Ezersky Is Gaslighting You
Okay, he's not actually gaslighting you, but it feels like it. Every Bee player has a "forbidden word"—something perfectly common that the NYT refuses to accept. "Gonna" is usually out. "Ratty" might be in one day and out the next.
The word list is based on the New Oxford American Dictionary, but it's curated. Ezersky has gone on record—check his Twitter or various interviews with the Times—stating that the goal is to keep the word list "common enough" that a general reader wouldn't feel insulted, while "obscure enough" to challenge word nerds. This means "ALEE" and "ETUI" (crossword staples) often make the cut, but highly specific medical terms do not.
The Bee is a vibe. It's a curated experience. Understanding that "Arancini" might be accepted because it’s a popular food, while a specific genus of moss is ignored, is part of the strategy.
How to Find the Pangram Without Losing Your Mind
The pangram is the holy grail. It uses every single letter in the hive at least once. Usually, there’s only one, but some days Sam feels generous and includes three or four.
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Finding it requires a shift in how you look at the screen. Stop looking for words. Start looking for suffixes. Are there letters for "-TION"? Is there an "I-N-G" available? (Actually, Sam rarely allows "ING" days because they're too easy, but when he does, it's a points goldmine). Look for compound words. "THOROUGH" plus "FARE." "BACK" plus "DROP."
Often, the pangram is a word you use every day but can't see because it’s scrambled. Try this: close your eyes, say the seven letters out loud in a different order, and see if your brain "clicks" a word into place. It’s a linguistic Rorschach test.
Common NY Times Spelling Bee Hints and Patterns
You’ve noticed the patterns, right? Certain words appear so often they should be the mascot of the game. If you see the letters A, L, E, and B, you better bet "BAALABAC" isn't there, but "ALEE" is.
- The "Bird" Meta: If there are letters for a bird, it’s probably in there. "PHOEBE," "IBIS," "LOON."
- The "Plant" Meta: "ACACIA," "AGAVE," "LILAC."
- The "Latin" Problem: Sometimes "ERGO" works. Sometimes it doesn't.
The Bee is less about your total vocabulary and more about your "Bee Vocabulary." This is a specific subset of English that exists almost exclusively within the NYT Games app. Regular players start to develop a sixth sense for these words. "PEEPEE" is a word. "POOPOO" is a word. It’s a weird game.
The Community and the "Shunn" Factor
Before the NYT integrated hints directly into the app, there was (and still is) William Shunn’s Spelling Bee Solver. This site is the OG source for NY Times Spelling Bee hints. Shunn provides the "Two-Letter List" and a "Three-Letter List" for those truly desperate moments.
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There’s also a vibrant community on Reddit (r/NYTSpellingBee) where people post cryptic hints. They won't give you the word, but they'll say something like, "That 7-letter B word is something a pirate might hide his treasure in." It’s a much more satisfying way to play than just looking up a list of answers. It keeps the "Aha!" moment alive.
The Path to Queen Bee
Getting to "Genius" is a matter of time. Getting to "Queen Bee" (finding every single word) is a matter of obsession. To reach the top, you have to try combinations that don't even look like words.
- Iterative Testing: If you have "TENET," try "TENETED." It might not be a word, but in Sam’s world, it might be.
- The "S" Absence: Notice how there’s never an "S" in the hive? That’s intentional. An "S" would make the game too easy because you could just pluralize everything. If you see an "S," you're playing a different game.
- Prefix Hunting: Look for "UN-", "PRE-", and "NON-". These are common ways to double your word count. "PROACH" isn't a word, but "APPROACH" is. Wait, that's not a prefix. You get the point. Your brain needs to be flexible.
Why the Bee Is Addictive
The Bee hits a specific dopamine trigger. It’s the "Inclusion/Exclusion" principle. When you find a word and the hive flashes yellow, you feel validated. When you type a word you know is real and the app says "Not in word list," you feel a righteous fury that only a true puzzle fan can understand.
This friction is actually what makes the game work. If every word were accepted, the game would be a chore. Because the list is curated, the game has a personality. You aren't playing against a computer; you're playing against Sam Ezersky.
Your Daily Strategy for Success
If you want to stop getting stuck at "Amazing" and start hitting "Queen Bee" regularly, change your workflow. Don't go for the hints immediately.
- Morning Session: Open the app. Find the pangram. Get to "Solid" or "Nice" without any help. This builds your natural muscle memory.
- The Mid-Day Wall: When you hit a plateau, check the NY Times Spelling Bee hints grid. Just the grid. See how many words you’re missing in each letter category.
- The Evening Grind: If you're still short, use the Two-Letter List. This is where you systematically go through combinations. If it’s "CO-5" and you have "COACH," "COAST," and "COCOA," try "CONCH."
- The Final Stretch: Use the community hints on Reddit or the NYT comments section. These are usually clever and won't spoil the fun.
The goal isn't just to finish; it's to expand that "Bee Vocabulary" so that tomorrow, you don't need the hints at all. Or at least, you'll need them a little bit less.
Next Steps: Open today’s puzzle and look at the center letter. Try to build three 5-letter words around it before you even look at the other six letters. This "center-out" approach often reveals the pangram faster than scanning the whole hive. Once you've done that, check the "Today’s Hints" page and see how many 4-letter words are left—those are usually the ones that trip people up.