If you’ve played a lot of Scrabble, you are familiar with the concept of a bingo, which is when you use all of your tiles. On the New York Times Spelling Bee, when you find a word that uses all seven of the available letters, that’s called a Pangram.
When you have a Spelling Bee Pangram, you get a bonus of seven points, on top of the one-point per letter. This means the Pangram is worth at least seven points, with some pangrams able to push 18 or 19 points, depending on the length of the word.
Unlike Scrabble, there is at least one pangram in every puzzle. Sometimes there are two, and even three on some days. With multiple pangrams, sometimes they are easy to get because they are derivative of each other.
Do You Have to Get the Spelling Bee Bingo?
No, you do not. Spelling Bee is just much harder if you don’t get the pangram. If the Genius level that day is in the 50s or 60s, the minimum 14 points gets you there a lot faster. It’s not as big a deal when Genius is 200 points, not getting 14 points is a little more affordable. But, if Genius is in the 200s, you are going to stumble on to that Pangram pretty quickly.
Searching out Pangrams is often its own joy. If I don’t have a lot of time one day to do the Spelling Bee, but if I get the pangram, I feel like I have already achieved something, and I am more than content with my low point total.
How do you feel about getting a pangram?
The Panagram and the Bingo are not exactly the same thing. It’s my understanding the the Bingo is a Panagram where all 7 letters are used only once. Please correct if I’m wrong
I hadn’t heard that distinction. Bingo isn’t a word spelling bee uses at all, just a word that has carried over scrabble. I like it.
It does telll you on the forum page how many BINGOS there are.
Actually BINGO is a word spelling bee uses.
I wish I knew. The forum today says there is one bingo, but I think that is really a Pangram.
From their article:https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/26/crosswords/spelling-bee-forum-introduction.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article
BINGO — All seven letters in the puzzle are used to start at least one word in the word list.
Pangram — A word that uses all seven letters at least once. Some puzzles will have more than one pangram. A pangram is worth seven extra points.
Perfect Pangram — A pangram that uses each letter only once, e.g., a seven-letter pangram.
So a perfect pangram is also a bingo but that same world with a suffix would also be a bingo and a pangram but not a perfect pangram
THANK YOU, THANK YOU. These terms have puzzled me for years, but I have never taken the time to think about them. Yours is the first answer I’ve spotted that gives me the definitions
K
Today’s pangram is considered a bingo. It uses each of 6 letters once but one letter twice. Sooo?
I thought that was a Perfect Panagram. I also am not sure about Bingo. My personal interpretation to this point was that Bingo only applies for 2 or more where two of them have similar letters… like, Vincible and Invisible. 🤔😎
If all the letters are used only once, then that’s a Perfect Pangram. I still haven’t figured out what a Bingo is.
There isn’t a bingo. I think it’s just a word that some people carryover from Scrabble, where a bingo is using all your letters.
And i like the idea of a perfect pangram!
So a perfect pangram is also a bingo but that same world with a suffix would also be a bingo and a pangram but not a perfect pangram
Sounds right to me…will test your theory. 😎
I think pangram (perfect) uses each letter only once, and bingo means there’s all seven letters are used to start at least one word in the days answers.
Bingo means that all of the letters are used at least once as the beginning letter of the answers
Aha! Thank so much.
William Shunn’s Spelling Bee Solver does indicate a “bingo” on some days but not on others, which means it does not directly equate with the pangram. So, what’s he referring to?
I heard someone say a bingo is when each letter is used only once. I’ve also heard that called a perfect pangram. NYT Spelling Bee does not make the distinction that’s Shunn’s Spelling Bee Solver does.
The irony then is that a perfect pangram, aka bingo word, is the lowest scoring pangram one can find. So being able to call it a perfect pangram is something of a consolation prize, I suppose.
I think Bingo is when there are words that begin with each of the seven letters.
Yes Nancy, that is a bingo–every letter is used as the first letter of a word at least one time.
Wow thank you!! I’ve been my for a clear definition and this is the first definitive one I’ve found!!
Nancy, I think you are right! Only on days when there are words that begin with each letter is there a “Bingo” in the forum. I have been racking my brain about this…why some days there is bingo and others not. Thank you!!!
Can anyone tell me how to resize the bee in my app? The font is so big now that the hive is on differnet line than enter/delete and its driving me crazy! I already deleted and reinstalled the app.
You need to change the font size in the settings of your phone.
If you have an iPhone, go to:
-Settings
-Display & Brightness
-Scroll down to Text Size
-Move the circle at the bottom of the screen between the smaller A on the left, and the larger A on the right, to change the size of your text for any apps you may have that support Dynamic Type.
If you have an Android, or another type of phone, please Google for instructions. Good luck!
Why doesn’t the Bee ever use the latter “s”?
Aha!! This makes sense. I will check out the next bingo. I think there should be some term or recognition when you find ALL the words -much more of an accomplishment than just “genius”. While I am at it- it is quite frustrating when common words, such as those often found in crossword puzzles, are not included in the word. At the same time, some slangy words are in the list. “Beeatrice” has added only one of my many many suggestions. I have given up on her.
When you fine ALL the words, you are called a Queen Bee!
How do you use this:
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Σ
A: 1 2 4 1 – 1 1 10
C: 3 6 4 5 1 – – 19
I: – 1 2 – – – – 3
N: 1 – 2 – – – – 3
R: – 2 – – – – – 2
T: 1 4 2 2 1 1 – 11
U: 1 1 – – – – – 2
Σ: 7 16 14 8 2 2 1 50
To help you find out more works in the Spelling Bee?
It tells you the distribution of the words by first letter and word length. So in this example, there is 1 4-letter word beginning with A, 2 5-letter, 1 6-letter, etc ..