NYT Spelling Bee Answers for October 17, 2020
Game Summary
| Center Letter | H |
|---|---|
| Outer Letters | a, c, e, l, m, y |
| # of Pangrams | 1 (Perfect: 1) |
| Total Words | 25 words |
| Total Points | 82 points |
| Genius Level | 57 points |
| Bingo? | Yes |
Table of Contents
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 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 3 | - | - | 1 | 4 |
| C | - | 1 | - | 1 | 2 |
| E | 1 | - | - | - | 1 |
| H | 7 | 3 | - | - | 10 |
| L | 1 | 2 | 1 | - | 4 |
| M | - | - | 1 | - | 1 |
| Y | 2 | 1 | - | - | 3 | Σ | 14 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 25 |
Two-Letter List (2LL) Hints
The following list shows the number of solution words that begin with the corresponding two letters.
| A | AC×2 AH×1 AL×1 |
|---|---|
| C | CA×1 CH×1 |
| E | EA×1 |
| H | HA×4 HE×6 |
| L | LE×3 LY×1 |
| M | MA×1 |
| Y | YE×3 |
Three-Letter List (3LL) Hints
The following list shows the number of solution words that begin with the corresponding three letters.
| A | ACH×2 AHE×1 ALC×1 |
|---|---|
| C | CAC×1 CHA×1 |
| E | EAC×1 |
| H | HAL×3 HAM×1 HEA×1 HEE×1 HEL×2 HEM×2 |
| L | LEA×1 LEC×1 LEE×1 LYC×1 |
| M | MAY×1 |
| Y | YEA×1 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) |
|---|---|---|
| ac.. | AC4 | To suffer pain; to be the source of, or be in, pain, especially continued dull pain; to be distressed. |
| ac.. | AC4 | Suffering from aches, sore. |
| ah.. | AH4 | the sound of a quiet cough or of clearing one's throat |
| al..... † | AL7 | The premodern and early modern study of physical changes, particularly in Europe, Arabia, and China and chiefly in pursuit of an elixir of immortality, a universal panacea, and/or a philosopher's stone able to transmute base metals into gold, eventually developing into chemistry. |
| ca... | CA5 | A store of things that may be required in the future, which can be retrieved rapidly, protected or hidden in some way. |
| ch..... | CH7 | A traditional bread eaten by Ashkenazi Jews, usually braided for the Sabbath and round for a yom tov. |
| ea.. | EA4 | All; every; qualifying a singular noun, indicating all examples of the thing so named seen as individual or separate items (compare every). |
| ha... | HA5 | Permissible, according to Muslim religious customs, to have or do. |
| ha.. | HA4 | Sound, entire, healthy; robust, not impaired. |
| ha.. | HA4 | A corridor; a hallway. |
| ha... | HA5 | Resembling or characteristic of ham. |
| he.. | HE4 | To make better from a disease, wound, etc.; to revive or cure. |
| 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. |
| he.. | HE4 | The steering apparatus of a ship, especially the tiller or wheel. |
| he... | HE5 | US standard spelling of haemal. |
| he.. | HE4 | The component of hemoglobin (and other hemoproteins) responsible for binding oxygen. It consists of an iron ion that binds oxygen and a porphyrin ring that binds the globin molecules; one molecule binds one molecule of oxygen. |
| le... | LE5 | A quantity of wood ashes, through which water passes, and thus imbibes the alkali. |
| 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. |
| ma.... | MA6 | A state or situation of great confusion, disorder, trouble or destruction; chaos. |
| ye.. | YE4 | yes. |
| 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.
- ache (AC4)
- achy (AC4)
- ahem (AH4)
- alchemy† (AL7)
- cache (CA5)
- challah (CH7)
- each (EA4)
- halal (HA5)
- hale (HA4)
- hall (HA4)
- hammy (HA5)
- heal (HE4)
- heel (HE4)
- hell (HE4)
- helm (HE4)
- hemal (HE5)
- heme (HE4)
- leach (LE5)
- lech (LE4)
- leech (LE5)
- lychee (LY6)
- mayhem (MA6)
- yeah (YE4)
- yecch (YE5)
- yech (YE4)
Answer Definitions
- ache (verb): To suffer pain; to be the source of, or be in, pain, especially continued dull pain; to be distressed.
- achy (adjective): Suffering from aches, sore.
- ahem (interjection): the sound of a quiet cough or of clearing one's throat
- alchemy† (noun): The premodern and early modern study of physical changes, particularly in Europe, Arabia, and China and chiefly in pursuit of an elixir of immortality, a universal panacea, and/or a philosopher's stone able to transmute base metals into gold, eventually developing into chemistry.
- cache (noun): A store of things that may be required in the future, which can be retrieved rapidly, protected or hidden in some way.
- challah (noun): A traditional bread eaten by Ashkenazi Jews, usually braided for the Sabbath and round for a yom tov.
- each (determiner): All; every; qualifying a singular noun, indicating all examples of the thing so named seen as individual or separate items (compare every).
- halal (adjective): Permissible, according to Muslim religious customs, to have or do.
- hale (adjective): Sound, entire, healthy; robust, not impaired.
- hall (noun): A corridor; a hallway.
- hammy (adjective): Resembling or characteristic of ham.
- heal (verb): To make better from a disease, wound, etc.; to revive or cure.
- 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.
- helm (noun): The steering apparatus of a ship, especially the tiller or wheel.
- hemal (adjective): US standard spelling of haemal.
- heme (noun): The component of hemoglobin (and other hemoproteins) responsible for binding oxygen. It consists of an iron ion that binds oxygen and a porphyrin ring that binds the globin molecules; one molecule binds one molecule of oxygen.
- leach (noun): A quantity of wood ashes, through which water passes, and thus imbibes the alkali.
- 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.
- mayhem (noun): A state or situation of great confusion, disorder, trouble or destruction; chaos.
- yeah (particle): yes.
- yecch (interjection): Alternative spelling of yech
- yech (interjection): An exclamation of disgust.