New Delhi, Aug. 16 -- Today's NYT Spelling Bee for Sunday, August 16, 2026 has center letter C and outer letters B, D, E, L, O, and U. There are two pangrams, BECLOUD and BECLOUDED, and 52 words in total for a perfect score of 257 points.

The letter set is the story here. Of the seven letters, only three are vowels, and they are E, O, and U. There is no A and no I anywhere on the board, which strips out most of the common four-letter filler that usually pads a Bee grid and pushes the puzzle toward a narrow band of verbs.

That constraint produces the most useful shortcut of the day. Roughly twenty of the 52 answers are simply another answer with ED added. CEDE and CEDED, CODE and CODED, CUBE and CUBED, CLUE and CLUED, COOL and COOLED, CU...