The NYT Spelling Bee for Thursday, August 13, 2026 has N as the center letter and O, Y, A, C, H, L as the outer letters. Every valid word must include N. Today’s puzzle has two pangrams: HALCYON and COLCANNON. There are 36 accepted words in total.
NYT Spelling Bee Hints – August 13, 2026
Hint 1: Both pangrams contain a double letter. One is a seven-letter adjective meaning peacefully calm or happy; the other is a nine-letter traditional Irish dish made from mashed potatoes mixed with cabbage or kale.
Hint 2: One five-letter word is a Mexican condiment and appetizer that shares a near-identical spelling with the pepper it is often made from. Both appear in today’s puzzle.
Hint 3: Two six-letter words refer to a seed oil used in cooking and a geographic formation carved by rivers. A third six-letter word is informal for the person in charge.
NYT Spelling Bee Answers – August 13, 2026
9 letters: COLCANNON
8 letters: NONLOCAL
7 letters: HALCYON
6 letters: CANCAN, CANNON, CANOLA, CANYON, CHANCY, CLONAL, COCOON, COLONY, HONCHO
5 letters: ANCHO, ANNAL, ANNOY, CANAL, CANNA, CANNY, CANON, COLON, CONCH, LLANO, LOONY, NACHO, NANNY, NYLON, ONLAY
4 letters: ANON, CLAN, CYAN, LOAN, LOON, NAAN, NANA, NOON, ONLY
HALCYON is the puzzle’s most rewarding find. It comes from the Greek word for a kingfisher, the bird said in mythology to calm the seas during its nesting period in winter. The word entered English to describe that specific stretch of calm weather and then broadened to mean any period of happiness and peace. COLCANNON, the nine-letter pangram, is an Irish staple made from mashed potatoes mixed with cabbage or kale. It uses all seven letters and doubles the N, which makes it hard to spot without working the letter count. NONLOCAL is the puzzle’s most unexpected entry: a technical term from physics and mathematics describing properties or interactions that cannot be explained by nearby causes alone. LLANO, the flat grassland found across South America and the American Southwest, is one of three words in today’s grid that stack a double letter, alongside ANNAL and NANNY. HONCHO arrived in English from Japanese through American soldiers who heard the word during the postwar occupation and brought it home as slang for a squad leader.
Yesterday’s puzzle and its full word list are in the NYT Spelling Bee answers for August 12, 2026, which had center letter T and the pangram WEIGHTY.
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