GamePlay: Understanding Pangrams and Bingo
New players are often confused about pangrams, BINGO, and how they might intersect. Here’s a simple explanation of what they are, how they are related, and how knowing their secrets can make you a better solver.
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On the official Hints page that the New York Times provides for each of its Spelling Bee puzzles, a player will see an array of information like that shown at right, which is the puzzle data for the Spelling Bee of December 8, 2023. (You can visit the page HERE.)
The seven letters for this puzzle are L A D I N O R; the center letter is L, which is why it is shown first and in bold.
It’s clear enough that this refers to a Bee with 49 words totaling 169 points, 2 pangrams, and …. Wait, what? A perfect BINGO? And what does BINGO have to do with the pangram, anyway?
Let’s sort this out.
What is a pangram? In the Spelling Bee, a “pangram” is a word that contains all seven letters of the day’s letter set. A pangram is always at least seven letters long. A pangram that uses each letter just once is called a “perfect pangram” and is always exactly seven letters long. A pangram may also contain repeated letters and thus may be longer than seven letters. There’s not a special name for these longer pangrams.
Each Spelling Bee always contains at least one pangram, sometimes two, three or four, and occasionally six or even more. Any of them might be perfect, or not. With that in mind, let’s look again at that puzzle data again:
WORDS: 49, POINTS: 169, PANGRAMS: 2 (1 perfect), BINGO
This means that this particular puzzle has one pangram, and it is a perfect pangram that is exactly seven letters long, using each of the seven letters (L A D I N O R) just once.
A note about the word "pangram:" In real life, a "pangram" is (per Merriam-Webster) "a short sentence containing all 26 letters of the English alphabet. Perhaps our best-known real pangram is "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." In the context of the Spelling Bee, the word has been adopted, or adapted, to mean "a word that contains all 7 letters in today's Spelling Bee puzzle." The word itself is just a combo of PAN (meaning "all or completely") + GRAM (meaning "drawing, writing, record").
What is BINGO? 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.
Looking again at that sample text, then:
WORDS: 49, POINTS: 169, PANGRAMS: 2 (1 perfect), BINGO
This means that this particular puzzle does have the BINGO characteristic: in other words, there will be at least one word that begins with each of the seven puzzle letters: L A D I N O R.
BINGO is not a thing that needs to be “solved;” it doesn't much affect the puzzle or how you solve it, other than offering this one hint: When looking for words to solve the puzzle, it can be helpful to know if the Bee you’re solving is a BINGO puzzle; if so, then you know that you will need to find at least one word that starts with each of the seven letters. If not, then you can cross that off your mental list.
How are the pangram and BINGO related, then? They aren’t, except in this very narrow way: BINGO refers to all the letters, and a pangram contains all the letters. BINGO is not a pangram; a pangram is not BINGO. Every Bee puzzle contains at least one pangram; some Bee puzzles have the BINGO characteristic.
The occasional confusion over BINGO probably arises from the way the info is presented on the Hints page. Looking again at our example again:
WORDS: 49, POINTS: 169, PANGRAMS: 2 (1 perfect), BINGO
The commas function here to guide us through a series of four elements (words, points, pangram, BINGO), but the colons within three of those elements override the commas. Think of the four elements as a vertical list, and all will become clear:
WORDS: 49 POINTS: 169 PANGRAMS: 2 (1 perfect) BINGO
The list format makes clear that this puzzle has 49 words, worth a total of 169 points, and there are two pangrams, and one of them is a perfect pangram, and the puzzle has the BINGO characteristic, meaning that there is at least one word that begins with each of the seven puzzle letters.
It’s clear enough that this refers to a Bee with 49 words totaling 169 points, 2 pangrams, and …. Wait, what? A perfect BINGO? And what does BINGO have to do with the pangram, anyway?
Let’s sort this out.
What is a pangram? In the Spelling Bee, a “pangram” is a word that contains all seven letters of the day’s letter set. A pangram is always at least seven letters long. A pangram that uses each letter just once is called a “perfect pangram” and is always exactly seven letters long. A pangram may also contain repeated letters and thus may be longer than seven letters. There’s not a special name for these longer pangrams.
Each Spelling Bee always contains at least one pangram, sometimes two, three or four, and occasionally six or even more. Any of them might be perfect, or not. With that in mind, let’s look again at that puzzle data again:
WORDS: 49, POINTS: 169, PANGRAMS: 2 (1 perfect), BINGO
This means that this particular puzzle has one pangram, and it is a perfect pangram that is exactly seven letters long, using each of the seven letters (L A D I N O R) just once.
A note about the word "pangram:" In real life, a "pangram" is (per Merriam-Webster) "a short sentence containing all 26 letters of the English alphabet. Perhaps our best-known real pangram is "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." In the context of the Spelling Bee, the word has been adopted, or adapted, to mean "a word that contains all 7 letters in today's Spelling Bee puzzle." The word itself is just a combo of PAN (meaning "all or completely") + GRAM (meaning "drawing, writing, record").
What is BINGO? 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.
Looking again at that sample text, then:
WORDS: 49, POINTS: 169, PANGRAMS: 2 (1 perfect), BINGO
This means that this particular puzzle does have the BINGO characteristic: in other words, there will be at least one word that begins with each of the seven puzzle letters: L A D I N O R.
BINGO is not a thing that needs to be “solved;” it doesn't much affect the puzzle or how you solve it, other than offering this one hint: When looking for words to solve the puzzle, it can be helpful to know if the Bee you’re solving is a BINGO puzzle; if so, then you know that you will need to find at least one word that starts with each of the seven letters. If not, then you can cross that off your mental list.
How are the pangram and BINGO related, then? They aren’t, except in this very narrow way: BINGO refers to all the letters, and a pangram contains all the letters. BINGO is not a pangram; a pangram is not BINGO. Every Bee puzzle contains at least one pangram; some Bee puzzles have the BINGO characteristic.
The occasional confusion over BINGO probably arises from the way the info is presented on the Hints page. Looking again at our example again:
WORDS: 49, POINTS: 169, PANGRAMS: 2 (1 perfect), BINGO
The commas function here to guide us through a series of four elements (words, points, pangram, BINGO), but the colons within three of those elements override the commas. Think of the four elements as a vertical list, and all will become clear:
WORDS: 49 POINTS: 169 PANGRAMS: 2 (1 perfect) BINGO
The list format makes clear that this puzzle has 49 words, worth a total of 169 points, and there are two pangrams, and one of them is a perfect pangram, and the puzzle has the BINGO characteristic, meaning that there is at least one word that begins with each of the seven puzzle letters.