The New York Times’ Spelling Bee game had a rare mistake, leaving avid players frustrated.
Spelling Bee is a word puzzle in The New York Times Games collection that prompts players to come up with as many words as possible from a set of seven letters presented in a honeycomb. Each puzzle also includes one or more “pangrams,” which contain every letter at least once.
But users noticed Wednesday that the game would not validate one pangram—“headpin”—as a correct answer.
The New York Times Games addressed the mistake on X, noting that “while today’s puzzle was intended to have three pangrams, only two made it into the live version.”
“We’ve identified the issue, but a fix would erase your hard-earned progress, so we’re opting to leave the puzzle and grid as-is,” it added.
Hi Spelling Bee solvers! While today’s puzzle was intended to have three pangrams, only two made it into the live version. We’ve identified the issue, but a fix would erase your hard-earned progress, so we’re opting to leave the puzzle and grid as-is. https://t.co/rKpUj2pHOZ pic.twitter.com/teUYJKFlZj
— New York Times Games (@NYTGames) May 14, 2025
Players immediately took to social media and the Times’ online Spelling Bee forum to share their confusion.
One X user joked, “I don’t get it, what Hapined? Cheers.”
Another posted a meme of Patrick Star from Spongebob that read: “Who you callin pinhead?’
— Tim (@corvid19_) May 14, 2025
Times’ associate editor of wordplay, Isaac Aronow, apologized for the mistake on the Spelling Bee forum.
Players were quick to point out that The New York Times Game Connections, in which users form groups of four items with things in common out of a grid of 16 words, also had an error.
The category “Titular Talking Animals of Film” included the character Dumbo, who doesn’t speak in either the 1941 or 2019 films.
A player asked on X: “Not sure who to ask this of, but why does today’s connections have Dumbo in the category he’s in?”
@nytimes Not sure who to ask this of, but why does today’s connections have Dumbo in the category he’s in? pic.twitter.com/5Sy8kwZYrq
— 🇪🇺 Thomas (@Novawulfen) May 14, 2025
The New York Times Games have garnered a cult following, originally blowing up after they acquired the game Wordle in 2022.
People share their scores on X daily, Reddit groups have formed around the games, and the editors of the games have been elevated to the status of micro-celebrities online.
Sam Ezersky, the 29-year-old editor behind Spelling Bee, has more than 23,000 followers on X.
Spelling Bee also recently celebrated its seven-year anniversary on May 9. Ezersky posted that it “truly is a privilege to offer a new puzzle each and every day … but all credit goes to the #hivemind for bringing everything to life!”
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