Here are the Letter Boxed September 17, 2026 Answers from New York Times Games. Our solutions and answers are 100% valid and accurate. We suggest trying to solve the game on your own before using the help of our website.
Sides of this Letter Box are:
SYJRCMAEBLIO
The answers are:
EMOJIIRASCIBLY
NYT LETTER BOXED
September 17, 2026
Sides: SYJ | RCM | AEB | LIO
Verified 2-word solutions: 4
Sort: alphabetically by Word1, then Word2
⚠ SPOILER ALERT — SOLUTIONS BELOW ⚠
1 BICYCLERS — SEMIMAJOR
2 BICYCLES — SEMIMAJOR
3 CARBYLS — SEMIMAJOR
4 EMOJI — IRASCIBLY
HALF SOLUTIONS
September 17, 2026
Sides: SYJ | RCM | AEB | LIO
Verified half solutions: 7
Sort: alphabetically by Word1, then Word2
Each pair contains exactly one NYT-accepted word and one non-NYT word
verified as a lowercase dictionary entry.
ʷ = Wiktionary | ° = OED | ᵐ = Merriam-Webster
1 ASCORBYLSʷ — SEMIMAJOR
2 BICYCLAMʷ — MAJORISE
3 BICYCLASESʷ — SEMIMAJOR
4 BICYCLERS — SOMAJʷ
5 BICYCLERS — SOMAJESʷ
6 CARBOCYCLEʷ — EMOJIS
7 CARBOCYCLESʷ — SEMIMAJOR
Late entries for half-solutions:
CAJISʷ — SOMBRELY
JEROBOAM — MYOSCLEROSISʷ
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ʷ Wiktionary
PSEUDO SOLUTIONS
September 17, 2026
Sides: SYJ | RCM | AEB | LIO
Verified pairs: 12
Sort: alphabetically by Word1, then Word2
ʷ = Wiktionary | ° = OED | ᵐ = Merriam-Webster
01 JAMBIYAʷ — ALBICORESʷ
02 JAMBIYASʷ — SCLEROMALACIAʷ
03 JAMBIYASʷ — SCLEROMALACIASʷ
04 JAMBIYASʷ — SCLEROMASʷ
05 JAMBYAʷ — ALBICORESʷ
06 JAMBYASʷ — SCLEROMALACIAʷ
07 JAMBYASʷ — SCLEROMALACIASʷ
08 JIBOYASʷ — SCLEREMAʷ
09 JIBOYASʷ — SCLEROMALACIAʷ
10 JIBOYASʷ — SCLEROMALACIASʷ
11 JIBOYASʷ — SCLEROMASʷ
12 JIBOYASʷ — SEMICLERICALʷ
☕
BICYCLES – SEMIMAJOR My personal non-computer-generated winner in the category “Settling for the first solution found, no matter how long” 🙂
It’s a great solution, along with the OA, for thematic integrity. Riding a bike around an ellipse.
I would never have thought of semimajor as a single word, so I call BS on Sam. I have only ever seen it hyphenated, and to have it the basis of so many solutions is ridiculous. Yet somehow, myosclerosis, a real single word, wasn’t an option?
Ugh. Anyway…solution below! Thank you, Mark, for the nicely divided lists!
Thanks Irim. I see semimajor and semiminor in analytic geometry contexts, specifically with the ellipse. But you’re right, it can also appear hyphenated.
I failed to notice SEMIMAJOR despite studying about ellipses very recently in Kepler’s laws of motion- oh well!
@Kanishk, yes they are prominent there. A good exercise you may encounter is to prove Kepler’s three laws from Newton’s Laws: F=ma and F=Gm₁m₂/r²
Same! Non cheating answer
Have you ever written a single line of code? 😄
EMOJI-IRASCIBLY finally, and I AM irascible and irimtated by this! That grid cut off some fantastic words, and SEMIMAJOR is in no way a single word. Sam is too clever for his own good.
*grumble grumble* RF and Kanishk, hope to see you soonest!
Good luck, all, and happy Thursday!
EMOJI – IRASCIBLY as well, after being annoyed that JAMBALAYA wasn’t an option – tried pairing BICYCLES, but never saw SEMIMAJOR.
Somehow I had this feeling that EMOJI was going to be part of the OA- but it took me way longer than it should have, because I was trying to connect the E instead of I- not that often you get to have I as the pivot letter!
Well done, Irim – congrats on the solve, and waiting for you, RF, to join us and complete the triumvirate.
Yes, when I finally saw ‘irascibly’, I had that feeling when I just KNOW (not just want it to be!) it’s part of the solution, but in the moment, couldn’t think of what would end in an ‘i’, so erased it. It took a bit to think, ‘Emoji has the j tucked in, maybe…oh, duh, of course!’
Hope midterms are going well and you get a proper break, hon!