What Time Does the NYT Spelling Bee Come Out?
Updated
3 a.m. Eastern Time, every day.
A new New York Times Spelling Bee goes live at 3 a.m. New York time, seven days a week. The time does not change on weekends or holidays.
Release time in US time zones
The release is fixed to New York clocks, and the mainland US zones change for daylight time on the same night, so these hold all year.
| Time zone | Release |
|---|---|
| Eastern (New York) | 3:00 a.m. |
| Central (Chicago) | 2:00 a.m. |
| Mountain (Denver) | 1:00 a.m. |
| Pacific (Los Angeles) | Midnight |
Arizona and Hawaii do not use daylight time, so their local release time moves by an hour across the year. The live line above always shows it in your own zone.
Release time in UTC
Because the release stays at 3 a.m. on New York clocks, its UTC time shifts twice a year:
- 07:00 UTC during US daylight time, from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November.
- 08:00 UTC during US standard time, the rest of the year.
Is it the same every day?
Yes. The NYT help center says new Spelling Bee puzzles are released “every day of the week”, and there is no separate weekend schedule.
Where this comes from
The NYT Games help center states that new Spelling Bee puzzles are released at 3 a.m. EST every day of the week. Wikipedia, citing the NYT, puts it as 3 a.m. Eastern Time.
One honest wrinkle: the help center writes “EST”, which strictly means standard time only. Our own data shows it is New York clock time all year. Our update picked up the October 5, 2026 puzzle at 3:06 a.m. Eastern daylight time, which could not happen if the release were 3 a.m. standard time (4 a.m. in summer).
While you wait
Questions
What time does the NYT Spelling Bee come out?
3 a.m. Eastern Time (New York time), every day. That is 2 a.m. Central, 1 a.m. Mountain and midnight Pacific.
Is the Spelling Bee release time the same every day?
Yes. The New York Times says new puzzles are released at 3 a.m. every day of the week, so weekends and holidays follow the same schedule.
What time does the Spelling Bee reset in UTC?
07:00 UTC while the US is on daylight time (from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November) and 08:00 UTC the rest of the year, because the release stays at 3 a.m. on New York clocks.
Does the Spelling Bee come out at midnight?
Only if you live on Pacific time. The release is 3 a.m. Eastern, which is midnight in Los Angeles but later everywhere east of it.
When are the answers posted here?
Our update checks for the new puzzle every hour, so today's answers appear here within a few hours of the 3 a.m. Eastern release, often within the first hour.