NYT Spelling Bee Answers for May 17, 2022
Game Summary
| Center Letter | K |
|---|---|
| Outer Letters | a, b, c, f, i, l |
| # of Pangrams | 1 (Perfect: none) |
| Total Words | 24 words |
| Total Points | 119 points |
| Genius Level | 83 points |
| Bingo? | No |
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</th><th>8</th><th>9 | Σ | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | - | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | 3 |
| B | 3 | 2 | - | - | 1 | 2 | 8 |
| C | - | 2 | - | - | 1 | - | 3 |
| F | 1 | 2 | - | - | 1 | - | 4 |
| I | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| K | 2 | - | - | - | 2 | - | 4 |
| L | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | 2 | Σ | 8 | 8 | 1 | - | 5 | 2 | 24 |
Two-Letter List (2LL) Hints
The following list shows the number of solution words that begin with the corresponding two letters.
| A | AB×1 AL×2 |
|---|---|
| B | BA×5 BI×1 BL×2 |
| C | CA×1 CL×2 |
| F | FA×1 FL×3 |
| I | |
| K | KI×4 |
| L | LA×1 LI×1 |
Three-Letter List (3LL) Hints
The following list shows the number of solution words that begin with the corresponding three letters.
| A | ABA×1 ALA×1 ALK×1 |
|---|---|
| B | BAB×1 BAC×2 BAL×2 BIL×1 BLA×2 |
| C | CAL×1 CLA×1 CLI×1 |
| F | FAL×1 FLA×2 FLI×1 |
| I | |
| K | KIC×3 KIL×1 |
| L | LAC×1 LIC×1 |
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) |
|---|---|---|
| ab... | AB5 | Toward the rear; Phrase: 'to be taken ____', meaning 'surprised'. |
| al... | AL5 | An expression of sorrow or mourning. |
| al.... | AL6 | One of a class of caustic bases, such as soda, soda ash, caustic soda, potash, ammonia, and lithia, whose distinguishing peculiarities are solubility in alcohol and water, uniting with oils and fats to form soap, neutralizing and forming salts with acids, turning to brown several vegetable yellows, and changing reddened litmus to blue. |
| ba... | BA5 | A Central and Eastern European coffee cake flavored with orange rind, rum, almonds, and raisins. |
| ba.. | BA4 | At or near the rear. |
| ba...... † | BA8 | To refill a hole with the material dug out of it. |
| ba....... | BA9 | A plucked stringed instrument with a triangular body, short neck and three strings, of Russian origin. |
| ba.. | BA4 | An uncultivated ridge formed in the open field system, caused by the action of ploughing. |
| bi.. | BI4 | The spoiling of someone's score in the crib. |
| bl... | BL5 | Absorbing all light and reflecting none; dark and hueless. |
| bl....... | BL9 | A rejection; a vote against admitting someone. |
| ca...... | CA8 | The return of a situation to a previous position or state. |
| cl... | CL5 | An abrupt, sharp sound, especially one made by two hard objects colliding repetitively; a sound midway between a click and a clunk. |
| cl... | CL5 | A brief, sharp, not particularly loud, relatively high-pitched sound produced by the impact of something small and hard against something hard, such as by the operation of a switch, a lock, or a latch. |
| fa...... | FA8 | An act of falling back. |
| fl... | FL5 | To flutter; palpitate. |
| fl.. | FL4 | Ground-based anti-aircraft guns firing explosive shells. |
| fl... | FL5 | A short, quick movement, especially a brush, sweep, or flip. |
| ki.. | KI4 | To strike or hit with the foot or other extremity of the leg. |
| ki...... | KI8 | A backward kick, a retrograde movement of an extremity. |
| ki...... | KI8 | A sport similar to baseball, where a ball is kicked rather than hit. |
| ki.. | KI4 | To put to death; to extinguish the life of. |
| la.. | LA4 | A deficiency or need (of something desirable or necessary); an absence, want. |
| li.. | LI4 | To stroke with the tongue. |
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.
- aback (AB5)
- alack (AL5)
- alkali (AL6)
- babka (BA5)
- back (BA4)
- backfill† (BA8)
- balalaika (BA9)
- balk (BA4)
- bilk (BI4)
- black (BL5)
- blackball (BL9)
- callback (CA8)
- clack (CL5)
- click (CL5)
- fallback (FA8)
- flack (FL5)
- flak (FL4)
- flick (FL5)
- kick (KI4)
- kickback (KI8)
- kickball (KI8)
- kill (KI4)
- lack (LA4)
- lick (LI4)
Answer Definitions
- aback (adverb): Toward the rear; Phrase: 'to be taken ____', meaning 'surprised'.
- alack (interjection): An expression of sorrow or mourning.
- alkali (noun): One of a class of caustic bases, such as soda, soda ash, caustic soda, potash, ammonia, and lithia, whose distinguishing peculiarities are solubility in alcohol and water, uniting with oils and fats to form soap, neutralizing and forming salts with acids, turning to brown several vegetable yellows, and changing reddened litmus to blue.
- babka (noun): A Central and Eastern European coffee cake flavored with orange rind, rum, almonds, and raisins.
- back (adjective): At or near the rear.
- backfill† (verb): To refill a hole with the material dug out of it.
- balalaika (noun): A plucked stringed instrument with a triangular body, short neck and three strings, of Russian origin.
- balk (noun): An uncultivated ridge formed in the open field system, caused by the action of ploughing.
- bilk (noun): The spoiling of someone's score in the crib.
- black (adjective): Absorbing all light and reflecting none; dark and hueless.
- blackball (noun): A rejection; a vote against admitting someone.
- callback (noun): The return of a situation to a previous position or state.
- clack (noun): An abrupt, sharp sound, especially one made by two hard objects colliding repetitively; a sound midway between a click and a clunk.
- click (noun): A brief, sharp, not particularly loud, relatively high-pitched sound produced by the impact of something small and hard against something hard, such as by the operation of a switch, a lock, or a latch.
- fallback (noun): An act of falling back.
- flack (verb): To flutter; palpitate.
- flak (noun): Ground-based anti-aircraft guns firing explosive shells.
- flick (noun): A short, quick movement, especially a brush, sweep, or flip.
- kick (verb): To strike or hit with the foot or other extremity of the leg.
- kickback (noun): A backward kick, a retrograde movement of an extremity.
- kickball (noun): A sport similar to baseball, where a ball is kicked rather than hit.
- kill (verb): To put to death; to extinguish the life of.
- lack (noun): A deficiency or need (of something desirable or necessary); an absence, want.
- lick (verb): To stroke with the tongue.