- Letters: T/AILMNP
- Words: 56
- Points: 257
- Pangrams: 1
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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 | Opposed to (prefix), NOT uncle’s wife's nickname |
| 3 | 1 | A | Succeed in getting, or reach; verb (… nirvana) |
| 7 | 1 | A | Illumination, noun/verb (Let there be …), past tense is a pangram |
| 52 | 1 | A | Move into a sloping position, or fight windmills (… at) |
| 2 | 1 | I | Appropriate or suitable in the circumstances; or likely to do something, adj. (negated adverb form is a pangram) |
| 4 | 1 | I | Pacemaker or IUD, e.g., pangram |
| 5 | 1 | I | First (letter, as in J.R.R. Tolkien), verb form is a pangram |
| 6 | 1 | L | Tropical perennial flowering plant in the verbena family |
| 8 | 1 | L | Singsong accent |
| 9 | 1 | L | Size, speed, or amount restriction |
| 10 | 1 | L | Dryer fluff |
| 11 | 1 | M | Keep up (appearances), or support; verb |
| 12 | 1 | M | Convert grain for brewing (…–ed milk), noun/verb |
| 13 | 1 | M | Ray (fish) |
| 14 | 1 | M | Light scarf worn over the head and shoulders, especially by Spanish and Latin American women |
| 15 | 1 | M | Combative & aggressive in support of a political or social cause, adj. |
| 16 | 1 | M | Armed vigilante group; 2nd Amendment's “Well-regulated …” |
| 17 | 1 | M | ♂ armed vigilante group member, compound |
| 18 | 1 | M | Breath candy or its flavor or plant source, noun; or create coins, verb |
| 19 | 1 | M | Catcher’s glove, or former Sen. Romney |
| 20 | 1 | N | Latin adj. relating to place or time of birth |
| 21 | 1 | N | Swimming or floating adj. from Latin |
| 22 | 1 | P | Latex or oil-based wall coating |
| 23 | 1 | P | Roof of the mouth |
| 24 | 1 | P | Resembling a royal residence (Buckingham?); spacious & splendid, adj. |
| 25 | 1 | P | What a dog does when it’s hot, verb; or singular of trousers, noun |
| 26 | 1 | P | Green film from aging on copper, or sheen on wood from polishing |
| 27 | 1 | P | Stuffed añimal with toys & cañdy that you hit with a stick |
| 28 | 1 | P | 16 fluid oz., or typical UK beer serving |
| 29 | 1 | P | Large duck named for its hind feathers; compound; think “… the … on the donkey” kid’s party game |
| 30 | 1 | P | Ground-dwelling bird that wags its tail & is named for its song |
| 31 | 1 | P | Flat bread with a pocket, often dipped in hummus or filled with falafel |
| 32 | 1 | P | Rhyming, usually hyphenated, adv. for rapid beating (my heart went …) |
| 33 | 1 | P | Legal term for an accusation, or literary noun for a grievance; usually starts with COM– |
| 34 | 1 | P | Hair braid, noun/verb |
| 35 | 1 | P | It has leaves, roots, & flowers (potted …), noun; or place a seed in the ground, verb |
| 36 | 1 | P | Banana variety |
| 37 | 1 | P | Construction map; omit end vowel in dish synonym |
| 38 | 1 | P | Flexible, often has COM– prefix; anagram of legal term for an accusation, adverb form is a pangram |
| 39 | 1 | T | Dogs wag this hind appendage |
| 40 | 1 | T | Red light at back of car, compound |
| 41 | 1 | T | Smear of corruption or pollution, noun/verb |
| 42 | 1 | T | Of greater than average height, adj. |
| 43 | 1 | T | Fringed prayer shawl |
| 44 | 1 | T | Ankle bone |
| 45 | 1 | T | Pack down (start of Florida city on a bay) |
| 46 | 1 | T | Brown chemical in tea & wine used to preserve leather, noun |
| 47 | 1 | T | Spanish bar snack (usually plural) |
| 48 | 1 | T | Japanese & dojo floor mats (畳) |
| 49 | 1 | T | Native Am conical hut; Spelling Bee accepts 3 spellings |
| 50 | 1 | T | Common bland-tasting fish |
| 51 | 1 | T | Cash register or drawer, noun; “up to,” preposition; or prep soil for planting, verb |
| 52 | 1 | T | Move into a sloping position, or fight windmills (… at) |
| 53 | 1 | T | Kettledrums, Latin plural |
| 54 | 1 | T | Shade of color, noun; or darken car windows, verb |
| 55 | 1 | T | Pre-Olympic god, largest Saturn moon, or industry bigwig |
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