Spelling Bee · Sunday

Spelling Bee Answers for September 27, 2020

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

Words56
Pangrams2
Points possible248
Center letterB
Maya Chen
Senior Puzzle Editor·Published September 27, 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.

OD
YBA
RL

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
20 pts
Good
38 pts
Solid
62 pts
Nice
100 pts
Great
124 pts
Amazing
174 pts
Genius
211 pts
Queen Bee
248 pts
Total words
56
Pangrams
2
Possible points
248

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 2 pangrams
adorably +15 ptsbroadly +14 pts

The full word list

All 56 valid Spelling Bee solutions for September 27, 2020, grouped by length. Pangrams are highlighted with a star.

Tap to reveal the full word list
4 letters22 words
ablybabababybaldballbarbbardblabblobboarbobabodybolaboldbollboloboobboorbradbraydrablobo
5 letters10 words
adoboarborbadlybloodboardboobybroadbroodlaborlobby
6 letters13 words
aboardabroadbaldlyballadbaobabblabbyblobbybloodyboldlybooboobroodybyroaddrably
7 letters5 words
ballboybollardbroadlyoddballrollbar
8 letters5 words
adorablyballadryballyardlarboardloblolly
9 letters1 word
bodyboard

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.

adorably +15broadly +14bodyboard +9balladry +8ballyard +8

About this Spelling Bee puzzle

The New York Times Spelling Bee for September 27, 2020 has 56 valid words for a total of 248 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 211 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.