GamePlay: Bee Buzz
Spoiler Alert: These reports discuss the daily Spelling Bee and reveal the pangram(s) and some of the words.
As an informal supplement to our monthly and annual data reports, LexiConnexxions also offers Bee Buzz, a mostly-daily feature that offers insights about the Bee of the day, with information that might inform a player's solving experience, such as changes to the Bee lexicon, relevant bits of Bee history, solving tips or insights, notes about new or particularly interesting Bee words, and more. Develop a new reading habit HERE.
BEE BUZZ 2026-09-19
Today's Bee: B G I L N O TToday's sbsolver.com report: https://www.sbsolver.com/s/Bgilnot Today's Spelling Bee Forum: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/19/crosswords/spelling-bee-forum.html#commentsContainer Today's Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/NYTSpellingBee/comments/1wkf50f/september_19_2026_b_g_i_l_n_o_t/
PANGRAM(S) AND LETTER SET
Today’s letter set B G I L N O T makes its debut today, and introduces four new pangrams: BILTONG, BLOTTING, BOLTING, BOTTLING.
INS AND OUTS
Debut words: BILTONG, BLOTTING, BOLTING, BOTTLING
As has happened with increasing frequency in the past few years, this new letter set brought new pangram(s) but no other new words. And three of the four pangrams are present participles of words already in the Bee lexicon (blot, bolt, bottle). Only “biltong” is an entirely new word in the Bee lexicon, being unrelated to any words used in the Bee thus far.
DESIGN NOTES
Today’s letter set includes I+N+G, the third Bee in September to do so.
In Spelling Bee lingo, the term "BINGO" means that each of the seven letters is used to start at least one word in the day’s word list. It is a characteristic of some, but not all, Bee puzzles. (Click HERE to learn more about BINGO.) A BINGO "indicator" is given in the puzzle data that's published at the top of the official Hints page, as explained HERE. Today’s puzzle is not a BINGO puzzle, but the word “bingo” is in the solution set, and in fact makes its 11th appearance today. One of those 11 Bees – that of March 25, 2024 – was, in fact, a BINGO puzzle, meaning that the puzzle data section on the Hints page showed the word. A spoiler. Of course, the official Hints page includes other words that show up in the Spelling Bee puzzle from time to time — WORD, POINT, FORUM, GRID — but given that BINGO is both a less common word and more particular to the Spelling Bee than the other words, the co-incidence of the word BINGO with the BINGO puzzle was interesting. (The word PANGRAM has not yet appeared in a Spelling Bee.)
Today’s solution set comprises 58 words. A very high proportion of that list – 45, or 77.6% -- begin with the center letter B. This is similar to a Bee from several days ago: 2026-09-06, letter set B A D E G N O: 51 of the 68 words (75%) began with the center letter B. WORD NOTES
One of today’s debut pangrams, BILTONG, is an interesting addition to the Bee lexicon. It’s a dried meat product similar to beef jerky, but its base meats – not only beef, but ostrich, kudu, or other game meats – and its lively seasonings of vinegar, coriander, and other spices set it apart. Merriam-Webster (abridged) gives its etymology as "Afrikaans, from bil rump + tong tongue." A review of news articles and other recent publications shows that biltong may be found in many American grocery stores, including major chains. LexiConnexxions has added biltong to the LexiTopics report on Food and Drink.
Today's Bee: B G I L N O TToday's sbsolver.com report: https://www.sbsolver.com/s/Bgilnot Today's Spelling Bee Forum: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/19/crosswords/spelling-bee-forum.html#commentsContainer Today's Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/NYTSpellingBee/comments/1wkf50f/september_19_2026_b_g_i_l_n_o_t/
PANGRAM(S) AND LETTER SET
Today’s letter set B G I L N O T makes its debut today, and introduces four new pangrams: BILTONG, BLOTTING, BOLTING, BOTTLING.
INS AND OUTS
Debut words: BILTONG, BLOTTING, BOLTING, BOTTLING
As has happened with increasing frequency in the past few years, this new letter set brought new pangram(s) but no other new words. And three of the four pangrams are present participles of words already in the Bee lexicon (blot, bolt, bottle). Only “biltong” is an entirely new word in the Bee lexicon, being unrelated to any words used in the Bee thus far.
DESIGN NOTES
Today’s letter set includes I+N+G, the third Bee in September to do so.
In Spelling Bee lingo, the term "BINGO" means that each of the seven letters is used to start at least one word in the day’s word list. It is a characteristic of some, but not all, Bee puzzles. (Click HERE to learn more about BINGO.) A BINGO "indicator" is given in the puzzle data that's published at the top of the official Hints page, as explained HERE. Today’s puzzle is not a BINGO puzzle, but the word “bingo” is in the solution set, and in fact makes its 11th appearance today. One of those 11 Bees – that of March 25, 2024 – was, in fact, a BINGO puzzle, meaning that the puzzle data section on the Hints page showed the word. A spoiler. Of course, the official Hints page includes other words that show up in the Spelling Bee puzzle from time to time — WORD, POINT, FORUM, GRID — but given that BINGO is both a less common word and more particular to the Spelling Bee than the other words, the co-incidence of the word BINGO with the BINGO puzzle was interesting. (The word PANGRAM has not yet appeared in a Spelling Bee.)
Today’s solution set comprises 58 words. A very high proportion of that list – 45, or 77.6% -- begin with the center letter B. This is similar to a Bee from several days ago: 2026-09-06, letter set B A D E G N O: 51 of the 68 words (75%) began with the center letter B. WORD NOTES
One of today’s debut pangrams, BILTONG, is an interesting addition to the Bee lexicon. It’s a dried meat product similar to beef jerky, but its base meats – not only beef, but ostrich, kudu, or other game meats – and its lively seasonings of vinegar, coriander, and other spices set it apart. Merriam-Webster (abridged) gives its etymology as "Afrikaans, from bil rump + tong tongue." A review of news articles and other recent publications shows that biltong may be found in many American grocery stores, including major chains. LexiConnexxions has added biltong to the LexiTopics report on Food and Drink.
If you cite information from this LexiConnexxions report, please give credit and a link to this page. These reports and analyses are compiled and prepared by a human being, not a machine. Thank you.
ESSENTIAL SPELLING BEE RESOURCES
The Spelling Bee Puzzlehttps://www.nytimes.com/puzzles/spelling-bee
The Spelling Bee Forumhttps://www.nytimes.com/spotlight/spelling-bee-forum
The Spelling Bee Forum https://www.nytimes.com/spotlight/spelling-bee-forum Glossary of Spelling Bee Termshttps://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/26/crosswords/spelling-bee-forum-introduction.html
Spelling Bee Buddyhttps://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/upshot/spelling-bee-buddy.htmlAn interactive tool that provides personalized hints and statistics for your daily Spelling Bee solve.
NYT Help page for Spelling Beehttps://help.nytimes.com/23675493312404-Spelling-Bee
NYT Help page for all gameshttps://help.nytimes.com/360011158491-New-York-Times-Games
Suggest a word for Spelling BeeWithin the Bee puzzle, open the "More" dropdown and choose "Suggest a Word. This links to form by which players may suggest words to be included in the Bee. A direct link is here: https://nyti.ms/4pG5SOFPlayers may also email their suggestions to buzzwords@nytimes.com, especially if they wish to include more information than the form allows.
Provide feedback to the NYT about the Spelling Beehttps://iteratehq.com/nytimes/6776de5d8b6862943a0fb831
The Spelling Bee Forumhttps://www.nytimes.com/spotlight/spelling-bee-forum
The Spelling Bee Forum https://www.nytimes.com/spotlight/spelling-bee-forum Glossary of Spelling Bee Termshttps://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/26/crosswords/spelling-bee-forum-introduction.html
Spelling Bee Buddyhttps://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/upshot/spelling-bee-buddy.htmlAn interactive tool that provides personalized hints and statistics for your daily Spelling Bee solve.
NYT Help page for Spelling Beehttps://help.nytimes.com/23675493312404-Spelling-Bee
NYT Help page for all gameshttps://help.nytimes.com/360011158491-New-York-Times-Games
Suggest a word for Spelling BeeWithin the Bee puzzle, open the "More" dropdown and choose "Suggest a Word. This links to form by which players may suggest words to be included in the Bee. A direct link is here: https://nyti.ms/4pG5SOFPlayers may also email their suggestions to buzzwords@nytimes.com, especially if they wish to include more information than the form allows.
Provide feedback to the NYT about the Spelling Beehttps://iteratehq.com/nytimes/6776de5d8b6862943a0fb831