- Letters: I/ACEFLT
- Words: 66
- Points: 309
- 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 | Vinegar adj., or acid it contains |
| 4 | 1 | A | Officially attach or connect to an organization, verb/noun, gerund form is a pangram |
| 5 | 1 | A | Cause pain or suffering; or trouble, verb |
| 6 | 1 | A | Unfinished room below roof; garret |
| 44 | 1 | A | Illumination, noun/verb (Let there be …), past tense is a pangram |
| 58 | 1 | A | Move into a sloping position, or fight windmills (… at) |
| 7 | 1 | C | Succulent plant with a thick stem that usually has spines, lacks leaves, and occasionally has brilliantly colored flowers |
| 8 | 1 | C | Mineral that’s the principal component of marble; similar to milk nutrient mineral |
| 9 | 1 | C | Domestic feline hind appendage; or a tall, reedlike marsh plant with a dark brown, velvety cylindrical head of numerous tiny flowers, compound |
| 10 | 1 | C | Gluten intolerance disease |
| 11 | 1 | C | Yo-Yo Ma’s instrument (also Pablo Casals') |
| 12 | 1 | C | Short microscopic hairlike vibrating structure found in large numbers on the surface of certain cells; (anatomy) eyelash |
| 13 | 1 | C | Quote as evidence, adj. form meaning this can be done is a pangram |
| 14 | 1 | C | Steep rock face (white ones of Dover) |
| 15 | 1 | E | Wide-ranging tastes, styles, or ideas; adj. |
| 16 | 1 | E | Draw out a response, verb |
| 17 | 1 | E | Select group that’s superior |
| 18 | 1 | F | Front part of head containing eyes, nose, & mouth 😀; noun/verb |
| 19 | 1 | F | Cosmetic surgery to remove wrinkles by tightening skin, compound pangram |
| 20 | 1 | F | Easy (… victory), or simplistic (… argument), adj.; French for “easy” |
| 21 | 1 | F | Make something easier, pangram |
| 22 | 1 | F | Don’t pass a test, negated gerund form is a pangram |
| 23 | 1 | F | Italian car brand (part of Chrysler/Stellantis), formal decree, or arbitrary order |
| 24 | 1 | F | Medieval for feudal land or area of control; often has –DOM suffix |
| 25 | 1 | F | Small flute used with a drum in military bands, noun/verb |
| 26 | 1 | F | Folder of related papers, or tool for smoothing edges (fingernails, e.g.), noun/verb |
| 27 | 2 | F | Remove the bones from (fish), verb; or cut of meat, noun |
| 28 | 1 | F | Of or due from a son or daughter, adj. |
| 29 | 1 | F | Add material until the container or hole is at capacity |
| 30 | 1 | F | Swing (arms) wildly |
| 31 | 1 | F | Move swiftly & lightly, as a bird, e.g. (… about) |
| 32 | 1 | I | What happens when glaciers flow over a steep drop; compound noun (frozen water + plummet) |
| 33 | 1 | I | Frozen water spear formed from drips |
| 34 | 1 | I | Hip bone |
| 35 | 1 | I | 𝑆𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑒𝑥𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑅𝑜𝑚𝑒’𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑦, to make it so is a pangram |
| 41 | 1 | I | Not forbidden by law or custom |
| 36 | 1 | L | Milk adj. (think acid in yogurt or sore muscles) |
| 37 | 2 | L | Non-clerical |
| 38 | 1 | L | Structure such as a pie top crust with strips of dough, e.g. |
| 39 | 1 | L | ←; remaining (only 1 cookie …); or departed |
| 40 | 1 | L | Itchy hair parasites |
| 41 | 1 | L | Not forbidden by law or custom |
| 42 | 1 | L | Cereal Mikey prefers, board game, or “death” antonym |
| 43 | 1 | L | Raise up (fork…), not Uber competitor |
| 45 | 1 | L | Purple flower or shade |
| 46 | 1 | L | Singsong accent |
| 47 | 1 | L | Low-calorie or low-fat in ad-speak (Miller … beer) |
| 48 | 1 | L | Small (Stuart or Chicken …), adj. |
| 49 | 1 | T | Understood without being stated (… agreement), adj. |
| 50 | 2 | T | Action planned to achieve a specific end (negotiating …) |
| 51 | 1 | T | Perceptible by touch, adj. |
| 52 | 1 | T | Dogs wag this hind appendage |
| 53 | 1 | T | Fringed prayer shawl |
| 54 | 1 | T | Ankle bone |
| 55 | 1 | T | Petty quarrel, or computer image format |
| 56 | 1 | T | Thin ceramic wall, counter, flooring, or roofing square |
| 57 | 1 | T | Cash register or drawer, noun; “up to,” preposition; or prep soil for planting, verb |
| 58 | 1 | T | Move into a sloping position, or fight windmills (… at) |
| 59 | 1 | T | Stimulate or excite, especially in a sexual way |
| 60 | 1 | T | Name of a book, movie, or job, noun/verb; or a document showing you own a car or house |
| 61 | 1 | T | Dot above an i or j, or really small amount |
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