The New York Times Spelling Bee for December 26, 2025 delivers a puzzle that rewards patience and pattern-spotting. As always, every word must be at least four letters long and include the center letter. Today’s letter set mixes soft consonants with a sharp outlier, making the hive feel approachable at first, then quietly demanding as you dig deeper.
About today’s puzzle
With n locked in the center, this hive leans heavily on repeats and word extensions. The mix of a, c, d, e, y, and j gives you some friendly building blocks, but also limits flashy options. It feels moderately restrictive, pushing solvers toward longer, layered words rather than lots of quick hits.
NYT Spelling Bee Words and Answers: 26 December 2025
Here’s a best-effort list of words that fit today’s rules. Keep in mind: some are rare or unusual, so the official NYT list may vary.
- acne
- addend
- addenda
- danced
- dandy
- deaden
- dyne
- ended
- ennead
- jean
- jenny
- naan
- nada
- nana
- nanny
- need
- needed
- needy
- nene
- yenned
Pangram of the day
The pangram today is adjacency, and it’s a satisfying one to uncover. It works because it smoothly weaves together every letter in the hive without feeling forced. The word naturally relies on the central n while pulling in j and y, which are easy to overlook. Its length and flow make it a rewarding milestone once spotted.
Quick tactics for any puzzle
- Start with the center letter
- Play with prefixes and suffixes
- Anagram your discoveries
- Use repeated letters
- Begin with easy 4-letter words
Final thoughts
This puzzle rewards calm exploration more than speed. If you stuck with it, you likely found a few elegant longer words hiding in plain sight. How many did you get—and did adjacency jump out early or late for you?
Discussion