GamePlay: Understanding Pangrams and Bingo
Here’s a simple explanation of pangrams and BINGO in the Spelling Bee: What they are, how to understand them in the context of solving the Bee, how they are (and are not) related, and how knowing their secrets can make you a better solver.
On the official Hints page that the New York Times provides for each of its Spelling Bee puzzles, there is an array of information like that shown here:
This are the basic data elements for the Spelling Bee of December 8, 2023. (You can visit the page HERE.) The seven letters for this particular puzzle are L A D I N O R. The center letter is L, which is why it is shown first and in bold; the other six letters are, as always, arranged alphabetically.
It's clear enough that this array refers to a Splling Bee with 49 words totaling 169 points, 2 pangrams, and …. Wait, what? A perfect BINGO? A BINGO pangram? 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 (naturally) 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 all of them, or none of them. With that in mind, let’s look again at that puzzle data:
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.
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, in this sample Bee where the letters are L A D I N O R, there will be at least one word that starts with L, at least one word that starts with A, at least one word that starts with D, and so on.
Looking again at that sample, 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," nor are there any points associated with it. BINGO doesn't affect the puzzle or how you solve it, other than offering this marginal 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 begins with each of the seven letters. If it is not a BINGO puzzle, then you can cross that off your mental list. About half of all Spelling Bees have the BINGO characteristic.
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; about half the Bee puzzles have the BINGO characteristic.
The occasional confusion over BINGO probably arises from the way the information 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. If these four elements were arranged as a vertical list, it would be perfectly 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; that there are two pangrams, one of which is perfect; and that 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 array refers to a Splling Bee with 49 words totaling 169 points, 2 pangrams, and …. Wait, what? A perfect BINGO? A BINGO pangram? 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 (naturally) 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 all of them, or none of them. With that in mind, let’s look again at that puzzle data:
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.
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, in this sample Bee where the letters are L A D I N O R, there will be at least one word that starts with L, at least one word that starts with A, at least one word that starts with D, and so on.
Looking again at that sample, 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," nor are there any points associated with it. BINGO doesn't affect the puzzle or how you solve it, other than offering this marginal 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 begins with each of the seven letters. If it is not a BINGO puzzle, then you can cross that off your mental list. About half of all Spelling Bees have the BINGO characteristic.
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; about half the Bee puzzles have the BINGO characteristic.
The occasional confusion over BINGO probably arises from the way the information 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. If these four elements were arranged as a vertical list, it would be perfectly 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; that there are two pangrams, one of which is perfect; and that the puzzle has the BINGO characteristic, meaning that there is at least one word that begins with each of the seven puzzle letters.
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 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.
New York Times Help page for Spelling Beehttps://help.nytimes.com/23675493312404-Spelling-Bee
New York Times 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 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.
New York Times Help page for Spelling Beehttps://help.nytimes.com/23675493312404-Spelling-Bee
New York Times 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
Where's the quick brown fox? And the lazy dog?
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 "pangram" 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").