Spelling Bee · Friday

Spelling Bee Answers for September 17, 2021

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

Words32
Pangrams1
Points possible156
Center letterY
Maya Chen
Senior Puzzle Editor·Published September 17, 2021·3 min read

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

Share:

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.

AR
IYN
GC

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
13 pts
Good
24 pts
Solid
39 pts
Nice
63 pts
Great
78 pts
Amazing
110 pts
Genius
133 pts
Queen Bee
156 pts
Total words
32
Pangrams
1
Possible points
156

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
carrying +15 pts

The full word list

All 32 valid Spelling Bee solutions for September 17, 2021, grouped by length. Pangrams are highlighted with a star.

Tap to reveal the full word list
4 letters8 words
airycagycyangraynaryracyyangyarn
5 letters11 words
angryarraycannycarnycarrycynicnaggynannyninnyrainyrangy
6 letters8 words
canarycraggycrannycringycryinggrainygrannyraying
7 letters2 words
granarygraying
8 letters3 words
arrayingcarryingnannying

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.

carrying +15arraying +8nannying +8granary +7graying +7

About this Spelling Bee puzzle

The New York Times Spelling Bee for September 17, 2021 has 32 valid words for a total of 156 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 133 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.

Share:

Recent Spelling Bee puzzles

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