Spelling Bee Answers for Thursday, February 16, 2023
Feb 16, 2023, Thursday Spelling Bee Answers for the Y, I, R, L, K, P, C honeycomb (center letter C) feature 17 words, a 71-point total, 1 Pangram (1 Perfect Pangram perfect), and the 7-letter longest word: PRICKLY.
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Thursday, February 16, 2023 NYT Spelling Bee Puzzle Insights
A closer look at this NYT puzzle difficulty, word patterns, scoring, and solve time.
Difficulty
3/10
Medium28th percentile
Avg Word Length
4.82
Short wordsAll-time avg: 5.4
Rarity
56/100
RareRarer than 56% of puzzles
Avg Solve Time
14 minutes
Quicker than usualTo reach Genius
2LL
11
Few pairsUnique two-letter openings
Bingo Status
No
Missing: YAll 7 letters start at least 1 word
GN4L
8
words to GeniusGN4L OTN
Yes
Exact 50 ptsVowel Split
23%
Consonant-heavy puzzle19 vowels · 63 consonants
Score Milestones
- 0%Beginner0 PTS
- 5%Good Start4 PTS
- 15%Moving Up11 PTS
- 25%Good18 PTS
- 40%Solid28 PTS
- 50%Nice36 PTS
- 60%Great43 PTS
- 65%Amazing46 PTS
- 70%Genius50 PTS
- 100%Queen Bee71 PTS
Full List of NYT Spelling Bee Answers
Here is the complete list of 17 answers for the New York Times Spelling Bee puzzle for Thursday, February 16, 2023. The answers are organized by word length and point value, along with today's pangram. Prefer a spoiler-free approach? Try the spelling bee hints for today or browse the full list of NYT spelling bee words.
Common openings
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Puzzle Letters
Pangrams
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Complete Answers
Sort it your way: longest words or highest scores.
7-Letter Words 1 word
6-Letter Words 1 word
5-Letter Words 9 words
4-Letter Words 6 words
Browse calendar of past puzzles
Word Length Distribution
Share of 17 answers at each word length.
Letter Coverage
Share of 17 words using each hive letter.
Points by Length
Total points available at each word length.
Letter Frequency Distribution
Share of 17 words starting with each letter.
How does this puzzle compare to other puzzles?
- Today’s score of 71 ranks in the 1st percentile among all puzzles.
- The last time a score this low appeared was on —.
- The highest score recorded is 506, seen on 2023-09-24.
- The lowest score recorded is 47, seen on 2023-03-27.
- With 17 possible answers, this puzzle falls in the 0th percentile overall.
- The last puzzle with fewer answers occurred on —.
- The highest number of answers in any puzzle is 80, on 2026-02-01.
- The lowest number of answers in any puzzle is 16, on 2023-03-27.
- This puzzle ranks among the Medium puzzles, based on overall difficulty scoring.
- Compared to recent puzzles, today’s challenge is easier than usual.
- The letter set in this puzzle is considered Medium, compared to typical puzzles.
- Puzzles with similar letter rarity last appeared on 2023-02-10.
- The estimated solve time of 11–17 min is faster than typical puzzles.
- Players can expect a steady solving experience.
Other Dictionary Words Not on This Puzzle's Official List
Wondering why these words aren't on the official list*:
- cill
- cippi
- circ
- cirl
- clicky
- cric
- crip
- cripply
- cyclicly
- cyril
- cyrillic
- ickily
- illyric
- killick
- klick
- lipic
- pici
- picric
- picryl
- pricky
- pyic
- pyric
- ricky
*Every word here uses only the hive's seven letters, includes the center letter, and appears in our dictionary, but it was never published in the NYT's official answer list.