NYT Spelling Bee Answers for December 15, 2022
Game Summary
| Center Letter | N |
|---|---|
| Outer Letters | d, e, g, h, l, t |
| # of Pangrams | 1 (Perfect: none) |
| Total Words | 34 words |
| Total Points | 159 points |
| Genius Level | 111 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</th><th>8</th><th>9</th><th>10 | Σ | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D | 1 | - | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | 3 |
| E | - | 1 | - | 1 | - | - | - | 2 |
| G | 3 | - | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | 6 |
| H | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | 1 |
| L | 2 | - | 2 | - | 1 | - | 1 | 6 |
| N | 2 | - | 4 | 2 | - | - | - | 8 |
| T | 4 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | 8 | Σ | 12 | 4 | 10 | 6 | 1 | - | 1 | 34 |
Two-Letter List (2LL) Hints
The following list shows the number of solution words that begin with the corresponding two letters.
| D | DE×3 |
|---|---|
| E | EN×2 |
| G | GE×5 GL×1 |
| H | HE×1 |
| L | LE×6 |
| N | NE×8 |
| T | TE×7 TH×1 |
Three-Letter List (3LL) Hints
The following list shows the number of solution words that begin with the corresponding three letters.
| D | DEN×2 DET×1 |
|---|---|
| E | END×1 ENT×1 |
| G | GEN×5 GLE×1 |
| H | HEN×1 |
| L | LEG×1 LEN×5 |
| N | NEE×4 NEN×1 NET×3 |
| T | TEE×1 TEN×6 THE×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) |
|---|---|---|
| le........ † | LE10 | simple past tense and past participle of lengthen |
| de.. | DE4 | A shallow deformation in the surface of an object, produced by an impact. |
| de.... | DE6 | simple past tense and past participle of dent |
| de..... | DE7 | Alternative form of détente |
| en... | EN5 | simple past tense and past participle of end |
| en..... | EN7 | An informal alliance or friendly understanding between two states. |
| ge.. | GE4 | A theoretical unit of heredity of living organisms; a gene may take several values and in principle predetermines a precise trait of an organism's form (phenotype), such as hair color. |
| ge.. | GE4 | A gentleman. |
| ge..... | GE7 | Affectedly proper or refined; somewhat prudish refinement; excessively polite. |
| ge.... | GE6 | Tender and amiable; of a considerate or kindly disposition. |
| ge..... | GE7 | simple past tense and past participle of gentle |
| gl.. | GL4 | A secluded and narrow valley, especially one with a river running through it; a dale; a depression between hills. |
| he... | HE5 | A prehistoric enclosure in the form of a circle or circular arc defined by a raised circular bank and a circular ditch usually running inside the bank, with one or more entrances leading into the enclosed open space. |
| le.... | LE6 | An unrealistic story depicting past events. A story of unknown origin describing plausible but extraordinary past events. |
| le.. | LE4 | To allow to be used by someone temporarily, on condition that it or its equivalent will be returned. |
| le.... | LE6 | The distance measured along the longest dimension of an object. |
| le...... | LE8 | To make longer, to extend the length of. |
| le.. | LE4 | Alternative letter-case form of Lent |
| ne.. | NE4 | A requirement for something; something needed. |
| ne.... | NE6 | Necessary; being required. |
| ne.... | NE6 | A long, thin, sharp implement usually for piercing as in sewing, embroidery, acupuncture, tattooing, body piercing, medical injections, sutures, etc; or a blunt but otherwise similar implement used for forming loops or knots in crafts such as darning, knitting, tatting, etc. |
| ne..... | NE7 | Covered or armored with needles. |
| ne.. | NE4 | The Hawaiian goose, Branta sandvicensis, which was designated the state bird of Hawaii in 1957. |
| ne.... | NE6 | simple past tense and past participle of net |
| ne.... | NE6 | Any plant whose foliage is covered with stinging, mildly poisonous hairs, causing an instant rash. Especially, most species of herb genus Urtica, the stinging nettles: Most, but not all, subspecies of Urtica dioica (common nettle), Urtica incisa (Australian nettle); Wood nettle (Laportea canadensis); Bull nettles and spurge nettles of genus Cnidoscolus: Cnidoscolus stimulosus, bull nettle, spurge nettle, Cnidoscolus texanus, Texas bull nettle, Cnidoscolus urens, bull nettle, Nettle trees or tree nettles: Various species of the genus Dendrocnide: Urera baccifera (scratchbush), Urtica ferox (tree nettle); rock nettle (Eucnide); small-leaved nettle (Dendrocnide photinophylla). |
| ne..... | NE7 | simple past tense and past participle of nettle |
| te.. | TE4 | Synonym of teenager: a person between 13 and 19 years old. |
| te.. | TE4 | To make a tender of; to offer or tender. |
| te.... | TE6 | simple past tense and past participle of tend |
| te... | TE5 | An opinion, belief, or principle that is held as absolute truth by someone or especially an organization. |
| te.. | TE4 | A pavilion or portable lodge consisting of skins, canvas, or some strong cloth, stretched and sustained by poles, used for sheltering people from the weather. |
| te.... | TE6 | simple past tense and past participle of tent |
| te... | TE5 | The ordinal numeral form of ten; next in order after that which is ninth. |
| th.. | TH4 | At that time. |
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.
- lengthened† (LE10)
- dent (DE4)
- dented (DE6)
- detente (DE7)
- ended (EN5)
- entente (EN7)
- gene (GE4)
- gent (GE4)
- genteel (GE7)
- gentle (GE6)
- gentled (GE7)
- glen (GL4)
- henge (HE5)
- legend (LE6)
- lend (LE4)
- length (LE6)
- lengthen (LE8)
- lent (LE4)
- need (NE4)
- needed (NE6)
- needle (NE6)
- needled (NE7)
- nene (NE4)
- netted (NE6)
- nettle (NE6)
- nettled (NE7)
- teen (TE4)
- tend (TE4)
- tended (TE6)
- tenet (TE5)
- tent (TE4)
- tented (TE6)
- tenth (TE5)
- then (TH4)
Answer Definitions
- lengthened† (verb): simple past tense and past participle of lengthen
- dent (noun): A shallow deformation in the surface of an object, produced by an impact.
- dented (verb): simple past tense and past participle of dent
- detente (noun): Alternative form of détente
- ended (verb): simple past tense and past participle of end
- entente (noun): An informal alliance or friendly understanding between two states.
- gene (noun): A theoretical unit of heredity of living organisms; a gene may take several values and in principle predetermines a precise trait of an organism's form (phenotype), such as hair color.
- gent (noun): A gentleman.
- genteel (adjective): Affectedly proper or refined; somewhat prudish refinement; excessively polite.
- gentle (adjective): Tender and amiable; of a considerate or kindly disposition.
- gentled (verb): simple past tense and past participle of gentle
- glen (noun): A secluded and narrow valley, especially one with a river running through it; a dale; a depression between hills.
- henge (noun): A prehistoric enclosure in the form of a circle or circular arc defined by a raised circular bank and a circular ditch usually running inside the bank, with one or more entrances leading into the enclosed open space.
- legend (noun): An unrealistic story depicting past events. A story of unknown origin describing plausible but extraordinary past events.
- lend (verb): To allow to be used by someone temporarily, on condition that it or its equivalent will be returned.
- length (noun): The distance measured along the longest dimension of an object.
- lengthen (verb): To make longer, to extend the length of.
- lent (noun): Alternative letter-case form of Lent
- need (noun): A requirement for something; something needed.
- needed (adjective): Necessary; being required.
- needle (noun): A long, thin, sharp implement usually for piercing as in sewing, embroidery, acupuncture, tattooing, body piercing, medical injections, sutures, etc; or a blunt but otherwise similar implement used for forming loops or knots in crafts such as darning, knitting, tatting, etc.
- needled (adjective): Covered or armored with needles.
- nene (noun): The Hawaiian goose, Branta sandvicensis, which was designated the state bird of Hawaii in 1957.
- netted (verb): simple past tense and past participle of net
- nettle (noun): Any plant whose foliage is covered with stinging, mildly poisonous hairs, causing an instant rash. Especially, most species of herb genus Urtica, the stinging nettles: Most, but not all, subspecies of Urtica dioica (common nettle), Urtica incisa (Australian nettle); Wood nettle (Laportea canadensis); Bull nettles and spurge nettles of genus Cnidoscolus: Cnidoscolus stimulosus, bull nettle, spurge nettle, Cnidoscolus texanus, Texas bull nettle, Cnidoscolus urens, bull nettle, Nettle trees or tree nettles: Various species of the genus Dendrocnide: Urera baccifera (scratchbush), Urtica ferox (tree nettle); rock nettle (Eucnide); small-leaved nettle (Dendrocnide photinophylla).
- nettled (verb): simple past tense and past participle of nettle
- teen (noun): Synonym of teenager: a person between 13 and 19 years old.
- tend (verb): To make a tender of; to offer or tender.
- tended (verb): simple past tense and past participle of tend
- tenet (noun): An opinion, belief, or principle that is held as absolute truth by someone or especially an organization.
- tent (noun): A pavilion or portable lodge consisting of skins, canvas, or some strong cloth, stretched and sustained by poles, used for sheltering people from the weather.
- tented (verb): simple past tense and past participle of tent
- tenth (adjective): The ordinal numeral form of ten; next in order after that which is ninth.
- then (adverb): At that time.