Spelling Bee · Wednesday

Spelling Bee Answers for September 23, 2020

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

Words74
Pangrams1
Points possible305
Center letterT
Maya Chen
Senior Puzzle Editor·Published September 23, 2020·3 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.

PA
RTO
HY

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
25 pts
Good
46 pts
Solid
77 pts
Nice
122 pts
Great
153 pts
Amazing
214 pts
Genius
260 pts
Queen Bee
305 pts
Total words
74
Pangrams
1
Possible points
305

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
atrophy +14 pts

The full word list

All 74 valid Spelling Bee solutions for September 23, 2020, grouped by length. Pangrams are highlighted with a star.

Tap to reveal the full word list
4 letters29 words
artyatopharthathhootoathoatypartpathphatportpratraptrootrototapatarotarptartthattoottorotorttraptraytrottroytypotyro
5 letters19 words
aortaapartaportarhatattarhathapartypattyphotopottyrattyrotortarottarrytattytoothtorahtrooptroth
6 letters13 words
apathyhotpotoratorparrotpotatoraptorrotarytartartattoothroattoothytorportrophy
7 letters10 words
apparatatrophyoratoryportrayrapportratatatrattraprotatortaprootthroaty
8 letters1 word
rotatory
9 letters2 words
hortatoryparatroop

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.

atrophy +14hortatory +9paratroop +9rotatory +8apparat +7

About this Spelling Bee puzzle

The New York Times Spelling Bee for September 23, 2020 has 74 valid words for a total of 305 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 260 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.