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The Tuesday, September 23, 2025, NYT Spelling Bee uses T as its required center letter, with A, B, C, E, I and K around it. The dated archive lists 37 answers, including two pangrams: BACKBITE and CIABATTA. Hints and the complete archived answer list are below.
September 23 hive letters and rules
The center letter is T; the six outer letters are A, B, C, E, I and K. Each word must contain T, use only letters from the hive, and have at least four letters. Letters may be reused.
Nerd’s Chalk’s September 23, 2025 guide confirms the hive and describes the basic rules. Its general solving suggestions are to start with the center letter, look for repeated letters, rearrange letters from words you have found, and search for a word using all seven letters. These are approaches to try, not a guaranteed or tested optimal method.
Hints for this puzzle
- Begin with short words that include T, then try adding hive letters to build longer words.
- Check for repeated letters as you explore combinations; a word may use a hive letter more than once.
- When you find a word using all seven letters, keep looking: the archive lists two pangrams for this grid.
Pangrams
The two pangrams listed for this puzzle are BACKBITE and CIABATTA. Each uses all seven hive letters at least once.
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The dated NYTBee.com archive lists these answers:
ABATE, ABET, ACETATE, ACETIC, ATTACK, ATTIC, BACKBIT, BACKBITE, BAIT, BATE, BATIK, BEAT, BEET, BETA, BETAKE, BITE, CACTI, CIABATTA, CITE, KITE, TACET, TACIT, TACK, TACT, TACTIC, TAKE, TAKEBACK, TEACAKE, TEAK, TEAT, TIBIA, TIBIAE, TICK, TICKET, TIEBACK, TIKI, TIKKA.
Points and the Genius threshold
NYTBee.com’s 2025 archive reports 37 answers, 2 pangrams, a maximum of 158 points, and a Genius threshold of 111 points. It also says a seven-letter word is needed for Genius. These are figures from a secondary puzzle archive, not independently verified New York Times figures.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why a plausible word may not appear
Following the letter rules does not guarantee that the puzzle will accept a word. NYTBee.com separates its answer list from dictionary words it says were left out because the New York Times considers them obscure or offensive. Its list is a secondary archive, not a direct New York Times puzzle page.
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