NYT Spelling Bee Answers for January 15, 2020

Jan 15, 2020 · 5 min read · spelling bee ·

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Spelling Bee "Hive" Board for January 15, 2020

Game Summary

Center Letter	H
Outer Letters	c, e, f, i, l, y
# of Pangrams	1 (Perfect: 1)
Total Words	22 words
Total Points	97 points
Genius Level	68 points
Bingo?	No

As you scroll down this page, the clues get progressively more revealing. So scroll slowly!

Spelling Bee Grid
Two-Letter List (2LL) Hints
Three-Letter List (3LL) Hints
Extra Letter Hints (Incrementally Revealing) 🤯
Today's Complete Solution
Answer Definitions

If you're just here for a list of NYT Spelling Bee answers, Jump down to the answers ↓ (Spoiler Alert!).

Spelling Bee Grid

The following table shows the standard Spelling Bee summary grid, which lists word lengths across the top and letters down the left-hand side. The cell where the word lengths and letters intersect displays the number of words in today's puzzle with the corresponding first letter and word length.

	4</th><th>5</th><th>6</th><th>7	Σ
C	2	3	5	1	11
E	-	-	-	-	-
F	-	2	-	-	2
H	3	1	-	-	4
I	-	-	-	-	-
L	1	1	1	-	3
Y	1	1	-	-	2
Σ	7	8	6	1	22

Two-Letter List (2LL) Hints

The following list shows the number of solution words that begin with the corresponding two letters.

C	CH×10 CL×1
E
F	FI×2
H	HE×2 HI×2
I
L	LE×2 LY×1
Y	YE×2

Three-Letter List (3LL) Hints

The following list shows the number of solution words that begin with the corresponding three letters.

C	CHE×1 CHI×9 CLI×1
E
F	FIC×1 FIL×1
H	HEE×1 HEL×1 HIL×2
I
L	LEC×1 LEE×1 LYC×1
Y	YEC×2

Extra Letter Hints (Incrementally Revealing)

The table below lists all of the solutions to today's puzzle, but they're concealed. You can click the plus button (+) to reveal additional letters, one-by-one.

Concealed definitions are provided as additional clues. You can toggle concealment of the definitions by clicking on the concealer bar or the text that appears when the definition is visible.

Pangrams are marked with a dagger symbol (^†).

Word	2L Ref	Definition (click to reveal)
ch..	CH4	The presiding cook in the kitchen of a large household.
ch..	CH4	Elegant, stylish.
ch....	CH6	Affectedly trendy; chic and stylish in a pretentious way.
ch....	CH6	The milky latex of the sapodilla tree, used after coagulation as the principal ingredient of chewing gum
ch....	CH6	In a chic or fashionable way
ch...	CH5	A leader or head of a group of people, organisation, etc.
ch..... ^†	CH7	Especially or primarily; above all.
ch...	CH5	The pungent, spicy fresh or dried fruit of any of several cultivated varieties of capsicum peppers, used in cooking.
ch...	CH5	A moderate, but uncomfortable and penetrating coldness.
ch....	CH6	Cold enough to cause discomfort.
cl....	CL6	Alternative form of cliché
fi...	FI5	a microfiche
fi...	FI5	To illegally take possession of (something, especially items of low value); to pilfer, to steal.
he..	HE4	The rear part of the foot, where it joins the leg.
he..	HE4	A place of torment where some or all sinners and evil spirits are believed to go after death.
hi..	HI4	An elevated landmass smaller than a mountain.
hi...	HI5	Abundant in hills; having many hills.
le..	LE4	A strong, lecherous desire or craving.
le...	LE5	An aquatic blood-sucking annelid of class Hirudinea, especially Hirudo medicinalis.
ly....	LY6	The Chinese tropical fruit tree Litchi chinensis, of the soapberry family.
ye...	YE5	Alternative spelling of yech
ye..	YE4	An exclamation of disgust.

Today's Complete Solution

The words that follow are a complete listing of all acceptable words in today's New York Time Spelling Bee puzzle.

Next to the answer word you'll see the two-letter reference (2L Ref) in parentheses. We added that 2L Ref for easier translation of the spoiler-avoidant language you see on the Spelling Bee Forum and Twitter. The 2L Ref signifies a word's two start letters followed by the total number of letters in the word.

chef (CH4)
chic (CH4)
chichi (CH6)
chicle (CH6)
chicly (CH6)
chief (CH5)
chiefly^† (CH7)
chili (CH5)
chill (CH5)
chilly (CH6)
cliche (CL6)
fiche (FI5)
filch (FI5)
heel (HE4)
hell (HE4)
hill (HI4)
hilly (HI5)
lech (LE4)
leech (LE5)
lychee (LY6)
yecch (YE5)
yech (YE4)

Answer Definitions

chef (noun): The presiding cook in the kitchen of a large household.
chic (adjective): Elegant, stylish.
chichi (adjective): Affectedly trendy; chic and stylish in a pretentious way.
chicle (noun): The milky latex of the sapodilla tree, used after coagulation as the principal ingredient of chewing gum
chicly (adverb): In a chic or fashionable way
chief (noun): A leader or head of a group of people, organisation, etc.
chiefly^† (adverb): Especially or primarily; above all.
chili (noun): The pungent, spicy fresh or dried fruit of any of several cultivated varieties of capsicum peppers, used in cooking.
chill (noun): A moderate, but uncomfortable and penetrating coldness.
chilly (adjective): Cold enough to cause discomfort.
cliche (noun): Alternative form of cliché
fiche (noun): a microfiche
filch (verb): To illegally take possession of (something, especially items of low value); to pilfer, to steal.
heel (noun): The rear part of the foot, where it joins the leg.
hell (proper noun): A place of torment where some or all sinners and evil spirits are believed to go after death.
hill (noun): An elevated landmass smaller than a mountain.
hilly (adjective): Abundant in hills; having many hills.
lech (noun): A strong, lecherous desire or craving.
leech (noun): An aquatic blood-sucking annelid of class Hirudinea, especially Hirudo medicinalis.
lychee (noun): The Chinese tropical fruit tree Litchi chinensis, of the soapberry family.
yecch (interjection): Alternative spelling of yech
yech (interjection): An exclamation of disgust.