The NYT Spelling Bee answers today, for Saturday, August 22, 2026, run off a centre letter of I with A, C, N, R, T and U around the outside. There are two pangrams, CURTAIN and TACITURN, and 56 accepted words worth 304 points in total.
CURTAIN is the one worth pausing on. It is seven letters long, and the puzzle has seven letters, and it uses each of them exactly once. That is a perfect pangram, and it turns up only a handful of times a year. If you find it, you have effectively been handed the letter set in a single word.
NYT Spelling Bee Hints for August 22, 2026
- The only vowels in play are A, I, and U. Nothing today contains an E or an O, which is why so many familiar words refuse to work.
- Both pangrams describe something closed off: one is a piece of fabric, the other is a person who does not say much.
- Seventeen of the 56 answers begin with T, and eight of those start TA.
- One six-letter answer is built from only three different letters.
- Two answers are named dishes, one Italian and one South Asian.
NYT Spelling Bee Pangrams Today, August 22, 2026
CURTAIN, seven letters, a perfect pangram.
TACITURN, eight letters, which repeats the T.
NYT Spelling Bee Answers Today, August 22, 2026: Full Word List
Four letters: ACAI, ANTI, ARIA, RAIN, RANI, RUIN, TINT, UNIT, URIC
Five letters: ANTIC, ATRIA, ATTIC, CACTI, CAIRN, CIRCA, CIRRI, INCUR, INURN, RAITA, RICIN, RUNIC, TACIT, TAINT, TIARA, TINCT, TITAN, TRAIN, TRAIT, TUNIC, TUTTI
Six letters: ACACIA, ARCTIC, ARNICA, ATTAIN, CITRIC, CRANIA, CRITIC, INCANT, INTACT, INTUIT, NIACIN, NITRIC, TACTIC, TANNIC, TANNIN
Seven letters: CANTINA, CIRCUIT, CURTAIN, TANTRIC, TITANIC
Eight letters: ARANCINI, IRRITANT, TACITURN
Nine letters: ANTARCTIC, TACTICIAN, UNITARIAN
ACACIA is the answer from the fourth hint, six letters drawn from only A, C and I. TUTTI, CIRRI and TANNIN lean on the same trick. A vowel set of A, I and U leaves a constructor very little room, and repeated letters are how the gap gets filled.
Score, Genius, and One Word Missing From the Lists
The 56 words are worth 304 points once the two pangram bonuses are added. Genius is seventy percent of the maximum, which comes to 212.8, so 213 points in practice. Queen Bee is the full 304. Neither figure is published by the puzzle itself or by most of the pages carrying the answers, so those are our calculations.
One of those pages is also short a word. A widely syndicated answer list runs to 55 words and 297 points, exactly seven points and one seven-letter entry light. The missing word is TITANIC, and it is confirmed elsewhere. If your own count came to 55, that is why.
What we cannot tell you is which of these the puzzle will still accept tomorrow. The Spelling Bee dictionary quietly adds and drops words, and TINCT and INURN are the kind of entries that sit close to the line.
Today’s other puzzles are solved as well. The Wordle answer today is #1890, Connections #1168 hides a fourth kind of water, and the Strands spangram for #902 runs to thirteen letters.
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