The New York Times Spelling Bee for August 25, 2025 brought us a fascinating challenge. The center letter was T, and the outer letters were U, L, A, H, G, O. At first glance, this puzzle looked vowel-rich and fairly flexible, but unlocking the pangram required careful observation of patterns.

After working through a mix of shorter words and testing different prefixes, the pangram finally revealed itself: LAUGHTO? No — the correct pangram is ALTHOUGH.

Word-building tips for NYT Spelling Bee players

Like most days, I started with the basics. My process usually looks like this:

1. Begin with simple four-letter words – Words like tall, halt, and goal came up quickly. These are great warm-ups and help me get into the rhythm of the puzzle.

2. Search for common endings – With -al, -th, and -ot available, I experimented with combinations like goth, tall, and alto.

3. Test longer word stems – Noticing clusters like alth- and though in the letter set gave me a strong clue.

4. The breakthrough – Finally, I pieced together ALTHOUGH, the pangram of the day. It used almost all the letters, fit beautifully, and felt like the perfect solution.

Word List for August 25, 2025

Here’s a breakdown of the words I uncovered from today’s set:

4-Letter Words

• Tall

• Halt

• Alto

• Goat

• Tool

• Loot

• Goth

• Thug

• Auto

• Hath

• Tout

5-Letter Words

• Latch

• Allot

• Atoll

• Aught

• Hatha

• Lotto

• Ought

• Outgo

• Tough

• Gloat

• Total

• Loath

6-Letter Words

• Ought

• Taught

• Galoot

• Tattoo

• Though

• Gallot

7-Letter Words

• Thought

• Glottal

8+-Letter Pangram

• Although (pangram)

• Outthought

Reflections on the Puzzle

This puzzle was particularly fun because of its balance between easy entry points and a challenging, less obvious pangram. Short words like tall and halt gave me momentum, but I had to pause and rethink patterns before arriving at although.

The trickiest part was dealing with repeated letters. It was tempting to keep forming short combinations like tall and loot, but that only took me so far. The key to success was expanding into longer clusters like alth- and -ough, which immediately opened up possibilities for more advanced words.

The joy of discovering although is that it’s such a natural, everyday word. It’s not obscure, but it’s also not the kind of word you stumble across easily without piecing together the longer fragments. That’s the magic of the Spelling Bee: the puzzle trains you to see not just words, but structures.

Buzzing Off with a Bang

The pangram “although” was a perfect fit for today’s challenge. With about 35–40 playable words, the puzzle leaned toward medium difficulty. It gave enough entry points to keep solvers engaged while still requiring persistence to uncover the pangram.

This puzzle reminded me why I love the Spelling Bee. It’s not just about finding words—it’s about training the brain to recognize patterns, prefixes, and endings. And when the pangram finally clicks, it feels like solving a riddle.

Did you spot although early on, or did it take you a while to reach it? Share your solving strategy in the comments—I’d love to hear your approach!

Tip for solvers: Whenever you see letter clusters like -ough, always test them. They often lead to pangrams and high-scoring words in puzzles like the Spelling Bee.