The New York Times Spelling Bee always finds a way to challenge and surprise word lovers. Today’s puzzle for August 21, 2025 had L as the mandatory center letter, with the outer letters M, D, N, I, G, P. At first glance, the puzzle looked consonant-heavy, but once I started playing around with clusters and endings, it became clear that there were some gems hiding here.

And the ultimate prize—the pangram—turned out to be: DIMPLING.

How I Found the Pangram

When solving Spelling Bee, I always look for recurring letter patterns. With today’s set, I noticed:

• -ing was an obvious ending. With M, D, N, G, and P in play, there were multiple opportunities for -ling, -ming, and -ping.

• Shorter words like mind, gild, and limp gave me momentum early on.

• Eventually, while exploring -ing possibilities, the word “dimpling” popped into my head—a delightful word that means forming small dimples or indentations. Not only did it fit perfectly, but it also used nearly all the available letters, confirming it as the pangram.

That “aha!” moment of spotting the pangram is always the highlight of my solving process.

 Today’s Pangram: DIMPLING

NYT Spelling Bee word combinations for high score

Here’s a breakdown of the playable words I discovered, always including L:

4-Letter Words

• Limp

• Dill

• Mind

• Pile

• Lend

• Gild

• Gill

• Lind

• Limn

• Pill

5-Letter Words

• Blind

• Dingo

• Lined

• Limed

• Piled

• Glint

• Lipid

6-Letter Words

• Mingle

• Lading

•  Idling

• Lining

• Piling

• Dingle

• Limped

7-Letter Words

• Melding

• Gilding

• Gilling

• Gliding

• Lipping

• Milling

• Limping

• Pending

• Pilling

• Lending

8-Letter Pangram

• Dimpling (pangram)

• Diddling

• Giggling

• Middling

• Mingling

• Niggling

• Piddling

My Solving Process

1. Warm-up with short words – Starting with limp, mind, and pile helped me build confidence.

2. Focus on endings – Spotting -ing quickly opened up options like piling, limping, and mingled.

3. Test consonant blends – I tried combinations like pl-, gl-, and dl-, which revealed words like glint and dingle.

4. Find the pangram – After building a cluster around -ling, the word dimpling appeared, which was the final confirmation I was on the right track.

Reflections on Today’s Puzzle

Today’s puzzle was both tricky and rewarding. With only one main vowel (I), it was easy to get stuck in repetitive combinations. But that also made finding dimpling more satisfying—it’s not a common word, but it’s a beautiful one.

I especially enjoyed uncovering words like mingle, limped, and dingle, alongside the more straightforward ones like mind and pile. The balance between easy and challenging words made today’s puzzle engaging without being overwhelming.

Lessons from the Letters

The pangram dimpling gave today’s Bee a playful edge, reminding us how even unusual words can emerge when you stick with the puzzle long enough. With around 30–35 total words available, the puzzle leaned toward medium-hard difficulty, but persistence definitely paid off.

Did you find dimpling quickly, or did it take you a while to piece together? Share how you approached the puzzle—I’d love to hear different solving strategies.