Today’s NYT Spelling Bee puzzle was a satisfying one that rewarded patience and pattern recognition. At first glance, the letter set looked simple, but the real challenge was spotting the pangram hiding in plain sight.

The center letter was U, with surrounding letters R, O, G, D, T, and N. As always, every valid word had to include U, and only these letters were allowed (with repetition).

Puzzle Letters

Center letter: U
Outer letters: R, O, G, D, T, N

Allowed letters: D · G · N · O · R · T · U

Today’s Bee solution recap How I Solved  it

Step 1: Anchor on the Center Letter

My first move was to lock onto U, since no word counts without it. I started with short, everyday words that naturally include U:

• run

• our

• out

• gun

• nut

These quick wins confirmed the puzzle leaned toward common English vocabulary, not obscure terms.

Step 2: Build Longer Words Systematically

Next, I expanded those short words by adding letters and experimenting with familiar patterns. This helped uncover solid mid-length words such as:

• tour

• turn

• dour

• gout

• round

At this stage, I noticed that I was consistently using almost all the letters. That’s usually a strong signal that the pangram is very close.

Step 3: Rearrange All Letters to Find the Pangram

With G, R, O, U, N, D, and T all appearing naturally together, I began rearranging them deliberately. Instead of searching for rare nouns, I tried verbs related to action or sports, which often appear in Spelling Bee puzzles.

That’s when the pangram became clear.

Today’s Pangram

GROUNDOUT

This is the correct pangram for today’s puzzle.

GROUNDOUT uses all seven letters: G · R · O · U · N · D · O · U · T

A groundout is a baseball term describing a batter being put out after hitting a ground ball. It’s a perfect Spelling Bee pangram: a single, clean word that feels obvious once you see it—but easy to miss if you’re only thinking of everyday nouns.

Finding groundout usually pushes solvers very close to Genius or Queen Bee level.

All Possible Words (Best-Effort Complete List)

Below is a comprehensive list of valid words formed using today’s letters. All words include U and use only D, G, N, O, R, T, U.

4-Letter Words

• dour

• gout

• tour

• turn

• drug
• dung
• guru
• noun
• rout
• rung
• runt
• tout
• tutu
• udon
• undo
• unto

5-Letter Words

• grout

• outdo

• donut
• dunno
• gourd
• grunt
• outgo
• outro
• round
• trout
• tutor

6-Letter Words

• ground

• outgun

• dugong
• dugout
• outrun
• rotgut
• rotund
• runout

7+ Letter Words

• groundout (pangram)

• orotund
• outdoor
• turnout
• unground

(Accepted words may vary slightly depending on NYT dictionary updates, but these are standard Spelling Bee–valid entries.)

What Made Today Unique

Today’s NYT Spelling Bee pangram solution was a great example of how sports and action-related terms can hide in plain sight. Groundout isn’t an unusual word, but it’s not one most solvers reach for immediately.

This puzzle rewarded:

• Building steadily from short words

• Watching which letters appear most often

• Trying verbs and domain-specific terms once most letters are in play

If you enjoy puzzles like this, daily practice makes pangram spotting much faster. Games that focus on daily pangrams, no-option spelling input, and real-time challenges—like Spelling Better—help train exactly these skills.

Happy spelling, and see you in tomorrow’s hive.