- Letters: I/ACNRTU
- Words: 56
- Points: 304
- Pangrams: 2
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The table provides clues for the roots of words in today's NY Times Spelling Bee. You're responsible for prefixes, suffixes,
tense changes, plurals, doubling consonants before suffixes, and alternate spellings of roots. An exception:
since Sam won't allow S, when the root contains an S, the clue may be for a plural or suffixed form. "Mice" for example.
If a clue isn't self-explanatory, try googling it. And if AI tries to be too helpful, try prefixing your search with "word for" or "word meaning".
The TL;DR about the site comes after the table.
Past clues are available here |
Today's puzzle
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Table content
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| root # | answers covered | answer's first letter | clue for root (answer may need prefix, suffix, tense change, alt spelling, ...) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | A | African or Australian wattle tree |
| 2 | 1 | A | Trendy smoothie berry |
| 3 | 1 | A | Opposed to (prefix), NOT uncle’s wife's nickname |
| 4 | 1 | A | Childish or playful tomfoolery, usually plural |
| 5 | 1 | A | Deep-fried sicilian rice balls |
| 6 | 2 | A | North Pole adj. (… Circle or Ocean) |
| 7 | 1 | A | Opera solo |
| 8 | 1 | A | Yellow daisy used to treat bruises |
| 9 | 1 | A | Large open-air or skylight covered space surrounded by a building, common in ancient Roman houses; an upper cavity of the heart |
| 10 | 1 | A | Succeed in getting, or reach; verb (… nirvana) |
| 11 | 1 | A | Unfinished room below roof; garret |
| 12 | 1 | C | Succulent plant with a thick stem that usually has spines, lacks leaves, and occasionally has brilliantly colored flowers |
| 13 | 1 | C | Pile of commemorative stones, or terrier (dog) breed |
| 14 | 1 | C | Mexican or Spanish bar, or the Mos Eisley bar on Tatooine in “Star Wars” |
| 15 | 1 | C | “Around” when used before a year, Latin |
| 16 | 1 | C | Closed electrical path (breaker), or ○ journey with same start & end |
| 17 | 1 | C | Cloud forming wispy streaks (“mare's tails”) at high altitude |
| 18 | 1 | C | Tree genus that includes lemon, lime, orange, and grapefruit, or the fruit of those trees |
| 19 | 1 | C | Scientific name for skull |
| 20 | 1 | C | Fault-finder (“everyone’s a …”), or arts & dining reviewer |
| 21 | 1 | C | Fabric used to cover a window, pangram |
| 22 | 1 | I | Recite a spell or a prayer; chant or intone, verb, usually occurs in its -ation noun form |
| 23 | 1 | I | Become subject to (something unwelcome or unpleasant) as a result of one's own behavior or action (… debt) |
| 24 | 1 | I | Not damaged or impaired in any way; complete (I left with my dignity …), adj. |
| 25 | 1 | I | TurboTax company, or know by feeling rather than evidence |
| 26 | 1 | I | Make someone annoyed, impatient, or angry; or cause inflammation |
| 52 | 1 | I | Vase used for storing ashes |
| 27 | 1 | N | Vitamin B3 |
| 28 | 1 | N | Adj. for element 7, most abundant one in air (acid) |
| 29 | 1 | R | Liquid precipitation |
| 30 | 1 | R | Indian yogurt veg dip |
| 31 | 1 | R | Hindu queen, anagram of liquid precipitation |
| 32 | 1 | R | Poison from castor beans, NOT a pilaf grain |
| 33 | 1 | R | Destroy, verb (eating snacks before dinner will … your appetite) |
| 34 | 1 | R | Letter of an ancient Germanic alphabet |
| 35 | 1 | T | Understood without being stated (… agreement), adj. |
| 36 | 1 | T | Reserved or uncommunicative, adj., pangram |
| 37 | 2 | T | Action planned to achieve a specific end (negotiating …) |
| 38 | 1 | T | Smear of corruption or pollution, noun/verb |
| 39 | 2 | T | Brown chemical in tea & wine used to preserve leather, noun |
| 40 | 1 | T | Hindu/Buddhist mystical text, involving sex |
| 41 | 1 | T | Jeweled, ornamental ½ crown |
| 42 | 1 | T | Archaic for shade of color, seen now only in “–URE of iodine” |
| 43 | 1 | T | Shade of color, noun; or darken car windows, verb |
| 44 | 2 | T | Pre-Olympic god, largest Saturn moon, or industry bigwig |
| 45 | 1 | T | Choo-choo, or prep for athletic event |
| 46 | 1 | T | Characteristic, often genetically determined (left-handedness, e.g.) |
| 47 | 1 | T | Upper body garment in a uniform or in ancient Greece & Rome |
| 48 | 1 | T | All together, musically (Italian); Little Richard “Wop bop a loo bop” song |
| 49 | 1 | U | Something whole on its own but part of larger thing (apartment, Army squad, e.g.) |
| 50 | 1 | U | Someone who rejects the doctrine of trinity |
| 51 | 1 | U | Medical adj. for pee (… acid) |
This site provides clues for a day's New York Times Spelling Bee puzzle. It follows in Kevin Davis' footsteps. The original set of 4,500 clues came from him, and they still make up about three quarters of the current clue set.
The "Bee Roots" approach is to provide explicit clues for root words, not every word. As logophiles, we are pretty good at putting on prefixes and suffixes, changing tense, and forming plurals (including Latin plurals!). The clues cover root words, arranged alphabetically by root word, with a count of words in the puzzle that come from each root. For example, if a puzzle includes ROAM and ROAMING, there will be a clue for ROAM and a count of 2. The root may not appear in the puzzle at all; for example, the 2021-07-23 Bee included ICED, DEICE, and DEICED. For such a puzzle, the clue would be for ICE with a word count of 3.
The Bee Roots approach involves judgement sometimes. For example, if a puzzle includes LOVE, LOVED, and LOVELY, how many roots are needed to cover them? LOVE and LOVED share the root LOVE, certainly, but LOVELY is tricky. LOVE is part of its etymology, but by now, the word means "exquisitely beautiful," which is a lot farther from the meaning of LOVE than swithcing to past tense. I'm inclined to treat LOVE and LOVELY as separate roots. You may not agree, which is fine. Another thing we logophiles share is a LOVE of arguing about words on social media.
A few words can have one meaning as a suffixed form and another as a stand-alone word. EVENING, for example. In those cases I will use the meaning that I think is more common.
One last complication, until another one pops up: a few roots have multiple spellings, for example LOLLYGAG and LALLYGAG. Depending on the day's letters, and maybe even the editor's whims, one or both could be in the puzzle's answer list. With such roots, you could see a word count of 2, even if there are no applicable prefixes or suffixes.
I will do my best to keep this site up to date and helpful (I hope). Check it out, and tweet feedback to @donswartwout Tweet to @donswartwout