Today’s NYT Spelling Bee puzzle delivered a satisfying double reward. With L in the center and outer letters O, U, V, E, N, D, the board looked vowel-friendly but slightly tricky because of the limited consonants.

As always, every word must include the center letter L, and we can only use the given letters.

Best strategy for NYT Spelling Bee puzzles

Step 1: Starting Small

I always begin with basic four-letter words to open up the board. Some quick early finds were:

• lend

• lode

• lone

• love

• loud

• vole

• oven

• node

• undo

Once those are locked in, it becomes easier to see patterns forming.

Step 2: Expanding Word Families

From the base word love, multiple extensions appear:

• loved

• lover

• unloved

From lone:

• lonely (if Y existed, which it doesn’t today)

From louden:

• louden

• louded (rare, not standard)

The letters V + O + L + U + M + E often suggest volume, but we don’t have M today — so that was a false lead.

The real breakthrough came from spotting the prefix un-.

Perfect Pangram: UNLOVED

UNLOVED uses all seven letters:

U – N – L – O – V – E – D

It’s the shortest possible pangram here, making it the perfect pangram of the day.

Short, clean, and elegant.

Full Pangram: UNEVOLVED

Then came the bigger find.

By rearranging further and playing with “evolved,” the word suddenly appeared:

UNEVOLVED

U – N – E – V – O – L – V – E – D

This also uses all seven letters, though some repeat — making it a longer pangram.

It’s incredibly satisfying when a puzzle contains both:

• A perfect pangram (uses all letters once)

• A longer pangram variation

Today delivered exactly that.

Complete Word List (Strong Valid Words)

Here are the solid words from today’s puzzle:

• UNEVOLVED (PANGRAM)
• UNLOVED (PERFECT PANGRAM)

• DELL
• DOLE
• DOLL
• DUEL
• DULL
• LEDE
• LEND
• LODE
• LOLL
• LONE
• LOON
• LOUD
• LOVE
• LULL
• LULU
• LUNE
• NOEL
• NULL
• OLEO
• VELD
• VOLE

• DELVE
• DOLED
• ELUDE
• LEVEE
• LEVEL
• LOVED
• NOVEL
• OLDEN
• OVULE

• DELUDE
• DELVED
• DOLLED
• DOODLE
• DUELED
• DULLED
• ELEVEN
• ELUDED
• EVOLVE
• LOLLED
• LOUDEN
• LULLED
• NEEDLE
• NODULE
• NOODLE
• VENULE

• DELUDED
• DEVOLVE
• DOODLED
• EVOLVED
• LEVELED
• NEEDLED
• NOODLED
• UNLEVEL

• DEVOLVED
• LOUDENED
• NOUVELLE

Strategy That Worked Today

1. Identify vowel density early.

2. Look for common prefixes like un-.

3. Rearrange all seven letters repeatedly.

4. Try building from verbs like love → loved → unloved.

The presence of both V and L often signals emotional or descriptive vocabulary — which led directly to the pangram.

Difficulty Level

I’d rate today’s puzzle moderate.

It wasn’t overly hard, but the pangram didn’t jump out instantly. You had to experiment with prefixes and rearrangements before seeing the full picture.

The discovery of UNEVOLVED especially felt like a bonus moment.

Puzzle Reflections and Wins

The 13 February 2026 puzzle was deeply satisfying. Having both UNLOVED (perfect pangram) and UNEVOLVED (longer pangram) made it one of those memorable boards where persistence pays off.

If you enjoy puzzles like this, practicing word-building patterns and prefixes will dramatically improve your solving speed.

See you tomorrow for the next challenge.