GamePlay: The Official Hints Page
Each day, the New York Times offers a new Spelling Bee puzzle. The puzzle goes “live” at 3AM ET, and at the same moment, a new official “Hints” page is published that is specific to that new puzzle. This page explains the essential information on the New York Times Spelling Bee’s Official Hints page: the puzzle data, grid, and two-letter list, using examples from several actual Spelling Bee puzzles.
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At the top right of the Spelling Bee puzzle page (shown at right), a horizontal menu offers several resources, including “Hints.” The little arrow pointing up and to the right indicates that clicking on "Hints" will open a new page or tab.
When you open the link, you’ll see that the “Hints” page is essentially an article published in the New York Times with new information specific to the day’s puzzle. Here’s the URL for the “Hints” article for November 10, 2023; note that the URL shows the date; this will be unique to each day's Hint page:https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/10/crosswords/spelling-bee-forum.html
When you open the link, you’ll see that the “Hints” page is essentially an article published in the New York Times with new information specific to the day’s puzzle. Here’s the URL for the “Hints” article for November 10, 2023; note that the URL shows the date; this will be unique to each day's Hint page:https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/10/crosswords/spelling-bee-forum.html
The puzzle information on the Hints page is presented in three sections under the title Spelling Bee Grid. It always follows the same format:
Puzzle Data
Grid
Two-letter List
Puzzle Data
The first portion of the data block includes the essential information about the puzzle: the letters, points, pangram(s), and whether the puzzle has the BINGO characteristic. Letter Set: First we see the seven letters used for the day’s puzzle, with the center letter first and highlighted in bold, followed by the other six in alphabetical order. In this example, the letter set is C A G H I M N
Word count: The line that follows displays the total number of words in the puzzle (here, 43), the total points (249), and the number of pangrams (2), and indicates if this puzzle incorporates the BINGO characteristic (it does).
In the Spelling Bee, a “pangram” is a word that contains all seven letters of the day’s letter set. A perfect pangram uses each letter just once, and is thus exactly seven letters long. The term "BINGO" means that each of the seven letters is used to start at least one word in the day’s word list. So, if the seven letters were ABCDEFG, there would be at least one word that starts with A, at least one word that starts with B, etc. It is a characteristic of some, but not all, Bee puzzles.
(For a more detailed explanation of pangrams and BINGO, read the LexiConnexxions guide to “Understanding Pangrams and BINGO” here.)
The first portion of the data block includes the essential information about the puzzle: the letters, points, pangram(s), and whether the puzzle has the BINGO characteristic. Letter Set: First we see the seven letters used for the day’s puzzle, with the center letter first and highlighted in bold, followed by the other six in alphabetical order. In this example, the letter set is C A G H I M N
Word count: The line that follows displays the total number of words in the puzzle (here, 43), the total points (249), and the number of pangrams (2), and indicates if this puzzle incorporates the BINGO characteristic (it does).
In the Spelling Bee, a “pangram” is a word that contains all seven letters of the day’s letter set. A perfect pangram uses each letter just once, and is thus exactly seven letters long. The term "BINGO" means that each of the seven letters is used to start at least one word in the day’s word list. So, if the seven letters were ABCDEFG, there would be at least one word that starts with A, at least one word that starts with B, etc. It is a characteristic of some, but not all, Bee puzzles.
(For a more detailed explanation of pangrams and BINGO, read the LexiConnexxions guide to “Understanding Pangrams and BINGO” here.)
The Grid
The grid organizes data about the numbers of words and the lengths of all the words in the day’s puzzle.
The numbers across the top row of the grid refer to the lengths of words in the puzzle (4 letters, 5 letters, etc.) This information will vary every day, because it describes the words in each puzzle, and each puzzle has a unique number of words of different lengths. In the example shown, we see that this puzzle has words with 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 letters. The bottom row shows the total numbers of words of each length. In the example shown, we see that the puzzle has 18 4-letter words, 19 5-letter words, etc.
The grid organizes data about the numbers of words and the lengths of all the words in the day’s puzzle.
The numbers across the top row of the grid refer to the lengths of words in the puzzle (4 letters, 5 letters, etc.) This information will vary every day, because it describes the words in each puzzle, and each puzzle has a unique number of words of different lengths. In the example shown, we see that this puzzle has words with 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 letters. The bottom row shows the total numbers of words of each length. In the example shown, we see that the puzzle has 18 4-letter words, 19 5-letter words, etc.
The left vertical column shows the starting letters of all the words in that day’s, in alphabetical order. When the puzzle is a BINGO puzzle, this column will have all seven letters. When it is not a BINGO puzzle, this column will show only the letters that are used to begin words. The example shown here is for a BINGO puzzle; all seven letters are listed here, because there is at least one word that begins with each of the seven letters.
The rightmost column shows the total number of words that begin with each letter. In the example shown, we see that there are six words that begin with the letter “A," six words that begin with the letter "D,", etc. The right-most colum shows the tota numbers of words that start with each letter. In the example shown we see that the puzzle has four words that begin with "I," twelve words that begin with "R," etc.
Within each row, the cells show the number of words of a particular length that start with the letter in the left column. In the example shown here, the numbers on the “O” line mean that of the four words that begin with “O,” one has five letters, two have six letters, and one has eight letters.
The Σ (sigma) symbols mean totals, shown in the bottom row and in the right-most column.
The rightmost column shows the total number of words that begin with each letter. In the example shown, we see that there are six words that begin with the letter “A," six words that begin with the letter "D,", etc. The right-most colum shows the tota numbers of words that start with each letter. In the example shown we see that the puzzle has four words that begin with "I," twelve words that begin with "R," etc.
Within each row, the cells show the number of words of a particular length that start with the letter in the left column. In the example shown here, the numbers on the “O” line mean that of the four words that begin with “O,” one has five letters, two have six letters, and one has eight letters.
The Σ (sigma) symbols mean totals, shown in the bottom row and in the right-most column.
Two-letter List
Beneath the grid is the two-letter list (2LL) showing the the numbers of words that begin with the same first two letters. The list always has one line for each of the letters used to begin words. The example shown here is for a BINGO puzzle, with one line for each of the seven letters.
In the example shown here, the third line means that there are two words that begin with DA, two words that begin with DI, one word that begins with DO, and one word that begins with DR.
In the example shown here, the third line means that there are two words that begin with DA, two words that begin with DI, one word that begins with DO, and one word that begins with DR.
Further Reading
Below the two-letter list is a section for “Further Reading,” with links to additional resources and items of interest within the New York Times site, including...
The Spelling Bee Buddy, a live grid and two letter list that updates as you find words
Getting to Genius, the NYT’s guide to getting better at the game
A Glossary of Spelling Bee Terms
Tips and Tricks: How the HiveMind Conquers the Spelling Bee
How to submit a photo for the Spelling Bee forum
Email address where players can submit suggestions for words to add to the Bee lexicon (buzzwords@nytimes.com)
For even more resources about the Spelling Bee, visit the LexiConnexxions Big Bee Bibliography.
Below the two-letter list is a section for “Further Reading,” with links to additional resources and items of interest within the New York Times site, including...
The Spelling Bee Buddy, a live grid and two letter list that updates as you find words
Getting to Genius, the NYT’s guide to getting better at the game
A Glossary of Spelling Bee Terms
Tips and Tricks: How the HiveMind Conquers the Spelling Bee
How to submit a photo for the Spelling Bee forum
Email address where players can submit suggestions for words to add to the Bee lexicon (buzzwords@nytimes.com)
For even more resources about the Spelling Bee, visit the LexiConnexxions Big Bee Bibliography.