Spelling Bee · Saturday

Spelling Bee Answers for September 16, 2023

The complete word list, every pangram, and the seven letters of the hive for today's NYT Spelling Bee. Hand-checked at release.

Words27
Pangrams1
Points possible87
Center letterR
Maya Chen
Senior Puzzle Editor·Published September 16, 2023·3 min read

Hand-checked every word in this list against the live Spelling Bee on the morning of release. Spotted an error?

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Today's seven letters

The center letter is yellow and must appear in every valid word. The six surrounding letters are optional. Every word in the puzzle is at least four letters long.

AP
TRD
FU

Stats & rank thresholds

The Spelling Bee scoring tops out at Queen Bee — the rank you earn for finding every word, including all pangrams. Here are today's point thresholds:

Beginner
0 pts
Moving Up
7 pts
Good
14 pts
Solid
22 pts
Nice
35 pts
Great
44 pts
Amazing
61 pts
Genius
74 pts
Queen Bee
87 pts
Total words
27
Pangrams
1
Possible points
87

Pangrams

A pangram uses all seven letters from today's hive at least once. Each pangram is worth its letter count + a 7-point bonus.

Today's 1 pangram
updraft +14 pts

The full word list

All 27 valid Spelling Bee solutions for September 16, 2023, grouped by length. Pangrams are highlighted with a star.

Tap to reveal the full word list
4 letters16 words
afarauradartdratfartfratpartpratpurrraftraptrufftarptarttrapturf
5 letters6 words
apartattardraftfaradfraudradar
6 letters1 word
tartar
7 letters4 words
apparatratatatrattrapupdraft

Top-scoring words today

The five words worth the most points in today's puzzle — mostly pangrams and long compound words. These alone can push you over the Genius threshold.

updraft +14apparat +7ratatat +7rattrap +7tartar +6

About this Spelling Bee puzzle

The New York Times Spelling Bee for September 16, 2023 has 27 valid words for a total of 87 possible points. Hitting Queen Bee means finding every single one. The Genius threshold is roughly 85 percent of the total, so today that's about 74 pts.

Stuck on a clue? Jump back to the Spelling Bee hub for strategy tips, the rank-by-rank breakdown, the full archive, and an explainer on how the NYT picks each day's seven letters.

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Recent Spelling Bee puzzles

Catch up on the last week of Spelling Bees. Each link goes straight to that day's full word list.