- Letters: G/HINOPW
- Words: 51
- 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 | G | Live performance by or engagement for a musician or group, especially playing pop or jazz; noun/verb |
| 2 | 1 | G | Clear alcoholic spirit flavored with juniper berries; or card game, noun/verb; or device for separating cotton seeds from fibers, noun/verb |
| 3 | 1 | G | Leave; move from one place to another |
| 4 | 2 | G | Orchestra chime or dinner bell |
| 5 | 1 | G | Ruffian |
| 6 | 1 | G | Gwyneth Paltrow’s brand, or unpleasant messy gel |
| 7 | 2 | G | Long dress worn on formal occasions, noun/verb |
| 8 | 1 | H | Opposite of low; or greater than normal (… definition TV), or stoned (… as a kite), adj. |
| 9 | 1 | H | Door fastener to frame that lets it swing open & closed, noun/verb |
| 10 | 1 | H | Large pig, noun; refuse to share, verb |
| 11 | 1 | H | Sharpen (a blade or skill) |
| 12 | 1 | H | O you jump through or spin around your waist (hula …) |
| 13 | 1 | H | Move by jumping on one foot |
| 14 | 1 | H | Fervently wish (I … it doesn’t rain today) |
| 15 | 1 | I | A baseball game is divided into 9 of these |
| 16 | 1 | N | Near, archaic (“Repent, the end is …!”) |
| 17 | 1 | N | Pinch, squeeze, or bite sharply, verb/noun |
| 18 | 1 | N | Head, slang (use your …) |
| 3 | 1 | O | Leave; move from one place to another |
| 19 | 1 | O | Express a belief or judgement |
| 20 | 1 | O | Have an obligation to pay or repay |
| 21 | 1 | O | Possess, verb; or something that belongs to you, pronoun (I got QB on my …) |
| 22 | 1 | P | Device to make calls (tele…) |
| 23 | 1 | P | Animal that is the source of bacon, noun/verb |
| 24 | 1 | P | Thin piece of metal with a sharp point at one end, used especially for securing fabric, noun/verb |
| 25 | 1 | P | Evergreen tree with cones, noun; or to long for, verb |
| 26 | 2 | P | Query a computer to determine connection speed; or get a sonar hit; or first word of informal name for table tennis |
| 27 | 1 | P | Part of bird wing, or small gear engaging with large one (as in “rack & …” steering) |
| 28 | 1 | P | Copper or plastic tube that carries water, noun; or to move liquid in one, verb; decorate a cake with icing |
| 29 | 2 | P | Bouncy “stick”, noun/verb |
| 30 | 1 | P | Early Atari table tennis game |
| 31 | 1 | P | Tire out (I’m …ed); or defecate, slang verb/noun |
| 32 | 1 | P | Make a light explosive sound (… the cork, … the question) |
| 33 | 1 | W | Long, high-pitched complaining cry (“You want some cheese with that …?”), noun/verb, turn the gerund form into an adverb and get a pangram |
| 34 | 1 | W | Complain persistently and peevishly (British) |
| 35 | 1 | W | A strip of leather fastened to a handle, noun/verb |
| 36 | 1 | W | Loud cry of joy or excitement, noun/verb, gerund form is a pangram |
| 37 | 1 | W | Hit hard, or the sound of a hard hit (American informal - drop an O from loud cry of joy or excitement), gerund form is a pangram |
| 38 | 1 | W | Head covering made of hair |
| 39 | 1 | W | Be victorious in a game or battle |
| 40 | 1 | W | Fermented grape juice, (Merlot, e.g.), noun/verb |
| 41 | 2 | W | What birds, bats, & planes use to fly |
| 42 | 1 | W | Separate chaff from grain, or narrow down to the best (… out) |
| 43 | 1 | W | Clean or dry something by rubbing it with a cloth, a piece of paper, or a hand, verb; or a pre-moistened cleaning cloth, noun |
| 44 | 1 | W | Seek the favor or support of someone; or try to convince someone to marry you |
| 45 | 1 | W | Exclamanation expressing astonishment or admiration; or greatly impress someone, verb |
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