Today’s NYT Spelling Bee puzzle was a fun mix of common patterns and one very expressive pangram. At first glance, the letters looked simple, but as always, the trick was finding a word that used all seven letters while still obeying the rules.

Today’s letter set:

Center letter: I
Outer letters: A, F, G, N, U, W

Every valid word must include I, letters may be reused, and no extra letters are allowed.

Today’s Bee solution How I Found  the Pangram

My usual strategy is to look for action words ending in “-ING”, especially when I is the center letter. With letters like G, N, and W present, this puzzle practically begged for an expressive verb.

I started experimenting with sound-based words—ones that describe actions or emotions. That’s when it clicked.

Pangram found: GUFFAWING

This word uses all seven letters: G U F F A W I N G

Not only is it a valid pangram, but it’s also a great one—guffawing perfectly captures loud, uncontrollable laughter, which made it instantly satisfying to discover.

Once the pangram was in place, the rest of the puzzle became much easier to break down.

Breaking the Puzzle Down

After spotting GUFFAWING, I began pulling smaller words out of it and combining familiar roots:

• GUFFAW → GUFFAWING

• GAIN → GAINING

• WING → WINGING

• NAIF / WAIF

From there, it was all about systematically testing shorter combinations while keeping I in every word.

All Valid Words for Today’s Spelling Bee

Below is a complete list of accepted words formed from today’s letters.

 Pangram

• guffawing

 7+ Letter Words

• gaining

• fanning
• fawning
• gagging
• gaining
• ganging
• gauging
• gigging
• ginning
• gnawing
• gunning
• nagging
• wagging
• wigging
• wigwagging
• winging
• winning

6- Letter Words

• angina
• awning
• fifing
• fining
• iguana
• inning
• waging
• waning
• wigwag
• wining

 5-Letter Words

• again

• aging
• awing
• fungi

 4-Letter Words

• gain

• naif
• wing

(Short words matter—many people miss them when chasing long answers.)

What Made Today’s Puzzle Easier

Here’s what helped me solve today’s Spelling Bee efficiently:

1. Look for expressive verbs – Words like guffaw often expand naturally into pangrams.

2. Exploit “ING” endings – They help reuse letters without breaking rules.

3. Don’t fear repeated letters – Reusing F and G is totally allowed.

4. Extract smaller words from the pangram – It’s the fastest way to boost your score.

This puzzle was a great example of how vocabulary intuition matters just as much as brute-force guessing.

Did You Spot the Pangram?

Today’s NYT Spelling Bee was a joy to solve. GUFFAWING is one of those pangrams that feels earned—it’s vivid, memorable, and unlocks the puzzle in one moment of insight. If you enjoy solving puzzles like this daily, practicing with pangrams, or competing with friends in real spelling-bee–style challenges, tools like Spelling Better make the experience even more engaging with typed answers, multiplayer modes, and daily word challenges.

Happy spelling, and see you for tomorrow’s puzzle