Friday, October 23, 2026
Spelling Bee answers for October 23, 2026
The Friday NYT Spelling Bee had 29 words, 88 points and 1 pangram. Every answer is listed below, with the letter grid and the points for each rank.
Puzzle by Sam Ezersky
The pangram
Words that use all seven letters, worth 7 bonus points each.
Showing all 1 words.
Pangrams1
All 29 answers
Grouped by first letter, shortest first.
Showing all 29 words.
c6
g4
i3
l9
o1
t6
At a glance
- Words
- 29
- Points
- 88
- Pangram
- 1
- Longest word
- 11 letters
- No perfect pangram
- No bingo
- Average word: 4.8 letters
Maximum score 88. Genius takes 62 points: the fastest route is 9 words, starting with the longest ones, all 5 letters or longer.
Points for each rank
Genius takes 62 of 88 points.
| Rank | Share | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Beginner | 0% | 0 |
| Good Start | 2% | 2 |
| Moving Up | 5% | 4 |
| Good | 8% | 7 |
| Solid | 15% | 13 |
| Nice | 25% | 22 |
| Great | 40% | 35 |
| Amazing | 50% | 44 |
| Genius | 70% | 62 |
| Queen Bee | 100% | 88 |
Letter grid
| First letter | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 11 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| c | 5 | 1 | - | - | - | 6 |
| g | 2 | - | 2 | - | - | 4 |
| i | - | 1 | - | 2 | - | 3 |
| l (center letter) | 6 | 3 | - | - | - | 9 |
| o | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 |
| t | 5 | - | - | - | 1 | 6 |
| Total | 19 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 29 |
Two-letter list
- cl2 words
- co4 words
- gi3 words
- go1 word
- ig1 word
- il2 words
- li2 words
- lo7 words
- ol1 word
- ti2 words
- to4 words
How the Oct 23, 2026 puzzle played
The center letter was L with C, G, I, O, T, X around it. Answers ran from 4 to 11 letters, 4.8 on average. There was no perfect pangram (a seven-letter word using each letter once). It was not a bingo day: some letters started no word at all.
Genius needed 62 points. Browse other days in the Spelling Bee archive, try today's Spelling Bee hints or play a fresh puzzle in unlimited mode.