Every day, the New York Times Spelling Bee presents solvers with a fresh hive of letters to test their vocabulary and persistence. Today’s puzzle featured C as the center letter, surrounded by L, A, N, I, G, K. At first, the mix seemed heavy on consonants, but after some searching, the breakthrough pangram turned out to be CACKLING—a lively word that perfectly captures the joy of solving.

Step 1: Starting With the Center Letter

Since C was the required center letter, I began by pairing it with nearby vowels (A, I) and looking for simple, obvious words. Quickly, small entries like can, cat, clan, coin, lick, and icon appeared. These short words help warm up and establish letter combinations that might expand into longer words.

Step 2: Building Momentum With Short Words

Shorter finds provided momentum:

• can, cat, kin, lac, nil, nag, gal, ani.

From there, I started forming four-letter words such as clan, lick, gain, link, and icon. With every small step, the hive opened up more possibilities.

Step 3: Spotting Patterns

Patterns are crucial in Spelling Bee. Today’s hive offered a few important ones:

• -ing ending: Words like cling, icing, acing came naturally.

• cl- starter: clan, cling, clinic.

• ca- starter: cain, canal (though missing letters for full form), cack.

Working through these groupings built a bridge toward the longer words.

Step 4: Discovering the Pangram – CACKLING

The “aha” moment arrived when I pieced together cackling. I had already spotted cling and icing, so extending the pattern into cackling clicked right away. It used nearly all the available letters, felt like a natural fit, and carried the playful energy of the puzzle itself.

Finding the pangram is always the highlight—it’s both a relief and a spark of excitement.

Step 5: Expanding the Word List

After securing the pangram, I swept back over the hive systematically, ensuring I hadn’t missed any gems. Here’s the compiled list of words possible from today’s hive:

Word List

4-letter words:

• clan
• lick
• gain
• link
• icon
• nail
• acai
• call
• cack
• kick
• lack
• nick

• acing
• clingy
• calin
• alack
• calla
• canal
• canna
• clack
• clang
• click
• cling
• lilac

• inking
• laical
• niacin
• lacing
• acacia
• caging
• caking
• cancan
• caning
• clinic

• calling
• angling
• canning
• glacial
• variant
• kicking
• lacking
• lancing
• licking
• nicking

• Pangram: cackling
• clacking
• clanging
• clanking
• clicking
• clinging
• clinical
• clinician
• glancing
• inclining
• knickknack

(Note: As always, the NYT word list may differ slightly, depending on which obscure or scientific terms they allow.)

Step 6: Lessons From Today’s Puzzle

Today’s hive was a classic case of persistence paying off. At first glance, the abundance of consonants seemed daunting, but the presence of two solid vowels (A and I) meant that vowel-consonant blends could unlock longer terms. The key was leaning into the -ing suffix, which produced several longer words and eventually revealed the pangram.

Lessons from the Letters

September 11, 2025, gave solvers a fun and lively puzzle. The pangram CACKLING stood out not just as the longest solution but also as a fitting description of the joy many players feel when the final word falls into place.

From short words like can and kin to longer constructions like clacking and icing, this puzzle balanced accessibility with challenge. If you struggled, don’t worry—the trick was recognizing that -ing endings would be central to solving.

Tomorrow, a new hive awaits, with more surprises and another pangram waiting to be discovered. Until then, keep practicing, keep experimenting with letter patterns, and don’t be afraid to let the puzzle make you “cackling” with delight.