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Saturday, January 17, 2026

Welcome to today’s New York Times Spelling Bee hints and answers. Today’s puzzle features a substantially larger than average board today, promising plenty of opportunities with a center letter of “Y”. With a total of 59 words to find resulting in 292 total possible points, we are looking at a massively high scoring ceiling. There is just a single pangram hiding in today’s letter set. Whether you’re stuck looking for those elusive final few words to reach Genius rank, or simply seeking a gentle nudge to get the ball rolling, you’re in the right place. Dive into our comprehensive two-letter lists, explore our word length grid, and uncover targeted Merriam-Webster definitions tailored specifically to help you without giving the entire game away immediately. Good luck mastering the hive!

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Puzzle Stats

Total Words :

59

Total Pangrams :

1

Total Points:

292

Genius Score :

204

Pangram

Finding the nyt pangram is key to reaching “Genius” status.
Below is progressive reveal to help you achieve it.

9-letter pangram 0 / 9 letters revealed
?????????

NYT Spelling Bee Hints & Grid

Maximize your score without ruining the fun.

The grid shows how many words start with each letter, broken down by word length.

4 5 6 7 8 9 Σ
A 2 5 1 8
L 3 2 5
O 1 1 1 3
P 4 8 7 3 1 23
R 1 3 3 2 1 10
T 4 3 1 1 9
Y 1 1
Σ 12 23 13 9 1 1 59

Knowing the first two letters of a missing word is often the perfect clue. Here is the two letter list for today’s puzzle.

  • AL 3
  • AP 2
  • AR 3
  • LO 5
  • OA 1
  • OR 2
  • PA 12
  • PL 2
  • PO 7
  • PR 1
  • PY 1
  • RA 4
  • RO 6
  • TA 4
  • TO 1
  • TR 2
  • TY 2
  • YA 1

Dictionary Clues for Todays List.

AL

  1. AL5 — to make more bearable or less severe; alleviate; assuage; ease; help sounds like away, clay, fillet, lay, play
  2. AL5 — a distinct entity formed by the combining of two or more different things; admixture; amalgam; amalgamation; blend sounds like cloy, ploy
  3. AL4 — someone associated with another to give assistance or moral support; abettor; backer; bedfellow; confederate sounds like fly, lie, lye, ply, sleigh

AP

  1. AP5 — to have a relation or connection; to occupy (oneself) diligently or with close attention; to put a layer of on a surface; appertain; bear sounds like ply, supply
  2. AP5 — as in fluently; fluently; ably; adeptly; adroitly sounds like alley, amply, ante, antsy, curtly

AR

  1. AR5 — a number of things considered as a unit; a usually small number of persons considered as a unit; dressy clothing; assemblage; band sounds like awry, bay, day, earl, earn
  2. AR6 — as in runoff, freshet; billabong; fresh; freshet; runoff
  3. AR4sounds like he****, p****

LO

  1. LO5 — as in dotty, touched; dotty; fey; off; potty sounds like lucy, rupee, soupy
  2. LO5sounds like glory, gory, leery
  3. LO5 — firm in one’s allegiance to someone or something; constant; dedicated; devoted; devout sounds like lull, royal
  4. LO7 — firm in one’s allegiance to someone or something; constant; dedicated; devoted; devout
  5. LO7 — adherence to something to which one is bound by a pledge or duty; adhesion; allegiance; attachment; commitment sounds like royalty

OA

  1. OA4sounds like eighty, goatee, tea, tee

OR

  1. OR6 — expressed or communicated by voice; made or carried on through speaking rather than in writing; spoken; uttered; vocal sounds like aural, eerily, m******
  2. OR7 — the art of speaking in public eloquently and effectively; language that is impressive-sounding but not meaningful or sincere; elocution; public speaking; bombast sounds like dormitory, laudatory

PA

  1. PA6 — arousing or deserving of one’s loathing and disgust; falling short of a standard; not following or in accordance with standards of honor and decency; cheap; contemptible sounds like poultry
  2. PA7sounds like bodily, happily, people, policy, polity
  3. PA6sounds like pecan, pup, puppet, puppy, upon
  4. PA5sounds like happy, peppy, poppy, puppy
  5. PA6 — to use or develop (something) to get something else that has greater value; follow up; accelerate; add (to); aggrandize
  6. PA5 — as in avoid, evade; avoid; elude; escape; evade sounds like airy, berry, bury, cherry, dairy
  7. PA6 — in some measure or degree; half; halfway; incompletely; part sounds like portly
  8. PA5 — a social gathering; a group of people acting together within a larger group; a group of people working together on a task; affair; bash sounds like arty, hearty, potty
  9. PA5
  10. PA5 — a small usually rounded mass of minced food that has been fried; cake; croquette; cutlet; fritter sounds like catty, chatty, fatty, natty
  11. PA6sounds like cola, polar, pole
  12. PA7 — as in inventory, agenda; agenda; bibliography; catalogue raisonné; compendium sounds like enroll, peril, peso

PL

  1. PL4 — to engage in activity for amusement; to present a portrayal or performance of; to pretend to be (what one is not) in appearance or behavior; dally; disport sounds like allay, clay, lay, pay
  2. PL4 — a clever often underhanded means to achieve an end; a time or instance of carefree fun; artifice; device; dodge sounds like alloy, cloy

PO

  1. PO5 — as in cancer, carcinoma; cancer; carcinoma; lymphoma; malignancy
  2. PO6 — in an unsatisfactory way; bad; badly; deficiently; inadequately sounds like parley, pulley, purely, surely
  3. PO5sounds like choppy, copy, peppy, puppy
  4. PO6 — having an excess of body fat; having or showing a formal and serious or reserved manner; blubbery; chubby; corpulent sounds like courtly, partly, shortly
  5. PO7 — to give a representation or account of in words; to point out the chief quality or qualities of an individual or group; to present a picture of; delineate; depict sounds like paltry
  6. PO9 — a vivid representation in words of someone or something; definition; delineation; depiction; description
  7. PO5 — being or characteristic of a person who has an offensive air of superiority and tends to ignore or disdain anyone regarded as inferior; aristocratic; elitist; high-hat; persnickety sounds like knotty, party, patty, petty, pity

PR

  1. PR4 — to make a request to (someone) in an earnest or urgent manner; appeal (to); beg; beseech; besiege sounds like fray, gray, grey, pay, play

PY

  1. PY4sounds like gyro, pro

RA

  1. RA5 — an act of gathering forces together to renew or attempt an effort; a mass meeting for the purpose of displaying or arousing support for a cause or person; the process or period of gradually regaining one’s health and strength; marshaling; mobilization sounds like alley, dally, galley, really, sally
  2. RA6 — experiencing or marked by overwhelming usually pleasurable emotion; having the mind fixed on something; ecstatic; elated; elevated sounds like ghastly, happily, lastly, rightly
  3. RA6sounds like rightly
  4. RA5 — showing signs of advanced wear and tear and neglect; worn or torn into or as if into rags; easily irritated or annoyed; beat-up; bombed-out sounds like catty, chatty, fatty, natty, patty

RO

  1. RO4 — being of a consistency that resists flow; syrupy; thick; viscid; viscous sounds like choppy, copy, poppy, rupee
  2. RO6 — as in circle, roundabout; circle; roundabout; traffic circle; cloverleaf sounds like coterie
  3. RO8sounds like category, laudatory, lavatory, oratory, poetry
  4. RO5 — fit for or worthy of a royal ruler; large and impressive in size, grandeur, extent, or conception; involving minimal difficulty or effort; kingly; monarchal sounds like loyal
  5. RO7 — fit for or worthy of a royal ruler; large and impressive in size, grandeur, extent, or conception; involving minimal difficulty or effort; kingly; monarchal
  6. RO7 — a dignified bearing or appearance befitting someone of royal status; individuals carefully selected as being the best of a class; augustness; kingliness; majesty sounds like loyalty

TA

  1. TA5 — a total number obtained or recorded by noting each thing as it was being added; census; count; tale sounds like alley, dally, galley, rally, sally
  2. TA5 — a temporary residing as another’s guest; sojourn; stay; visit sounds like airy, berry, bury, cherry, dairy
  3. TA6 — causing or characterized by the one of the basic taste sensations that is produced chiefly by acids; marked by the use of wit that is intended to cause hurt feelings; acid; acidic; acidulous sounds like partly
  4. TA5 — showing signs of advanced wear and tear and neglect; beat-up; bombed-out; dilapidated; dog-eared sounds like catty, chatty, fatty, natty, patty

TO

  1. TO7 — to a full extent or degree; with attention to all aspects or details; all; all of; all over

TR

  1. TR4 — as in plate, bowl; bowl; casserole; charger; cup sounds like fray, gray, grey, pray, prey
  2. TR4sounds like toy

TY

  1. TY4
  2. TY4 — a person who is just starting out in a field of activity; abecedarian; apprentice; babe; beginner sounds like gyro

YA

  1. YA5sounds like happy, yuppie

The Complete Word List (Spoiler Alert!)

Ready to see the words? Use the toggles below to reveal today’s nyt spelling bee answers.

  • ally
  • arty
  • oaty
  • play
  • ploy
  • pray
  • pyro
  • ropy
  • tray
  • troy
  • typo
  • tyro

  • allay
  • alloy
  • apply
  • aptly
  • array
  • arroyo
  • loopy
  • lorry
  • loyal
  • loyally
  • loyalty
  • orally
  • oratory
  • paltry
  • papally
  • papaya
  • pappy
  • parlay
  • parry
  • partly
  • party
  • patly
  • patty
  • payola
  • payroll
  • polyp
  • poorly
  • poppy
  • portly
  • portray
  • portrayal
  • potty
  • rally
  • raptly
  • rattly
  • ratty
  • rotary
  • rotatory
  • royal
  • royally
  • royalty
  • tally
  • tarry
  • tartly
  • tatty
  • totally
  • yappy

Valid dictionary words not in today’s official answers

Today’s puzzle have total of 92 valid dictionary words that are excluded. If you found a valid dictionary word that wasn’t accepted, it’s likely due to the New York Times Spelling Bee’s strict editorial criteria. Sam Ezersky, the puzzle’s editor, manually curates the daily word list to balance difficulty and fairness.

  • Obscure or Highly Technical Words: Medical, legal, and intensely specific scientific jargon is frequently omitted to keep the puzzle accessible to a general audience.
  • Offensive Language: Vulgar or derogatory words are universally banned.
  • Proper Nouns: Capitalized names of people or places are never allowed.
  • Hyphenated Words: Multi-word combinations containing hyphens are excluded.
  • Letter S / Plurals: The letter “S” is generally never included on a Spelling Bee board to avoid making the game too simple by tacking plurals onto every word.

  • ALARY
  • ALAY
  • ALLOPATRY
  • ALLOTROPY
  • ALLOTYPY
  • ALLYL
  • APAY
  • APPAY
  • ARRAYAL
  • ARYL
  • ATALAYA
  • ATOPY
  • LAPTRAY
  • LOLLOPY
  • LOLLY
  • LOLLYPOP
  • LOPPY
  • LORY
  • LYART
  • LYRA
  • LYTTA
  • OARY
  • OTARY
  • PALATALLY
  • PALAY
  • PALLY
  • PALPATORY
  • PALY
  • PAPYRAL
  • PARLY
  • PARROTRY
  • PARROTY
  • PATY
  • PAYOR
  • PLATY
  • PLAYA
  • PLOTTY
  • POLLY
  • POLY
  • POLYOL
  • POLYPARY
  • POPPLY
  • PORTY
  • PORY
  • POTATORY
  • PRATY
  • PROPYL
  • PROPYLA
  • PROTOTYPAL
  • PROTYL
  • PYAT
  • PYOT
  • PYRAL
  • PYROLA
  • PYROLATRY
  • PYRROL
  • RAYA
  • ROARY
  • ROOPY
  • ROOTY
  • RORTY
  • RORY
  • RYAL
  • RYOT
  • TALAYOT
  • TARTARLY
  • TARTY
  • TAYRA
  • TOLLY
  • TOLYL
  • TOPPY
  • TORY
  • TOTTY
  • TOYO
  • TRAPPY
  • TROLLOPY
  • TROLLY
  • TROTYL
  • TRYP
  • TYPAL
  • TYPP
  • TYPTO
  • TYPY
  • YAAR
  • YAPP
  • YARR
  • YARTA
  • YARTO
  • YOOP
  • YORP
  • YOYO
  • YRAPT