- Letters: I/AMNOTZ
- Words: 47
- Points: 279
- 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 | Protein building block acid, or a NH₂ group, noun |
| 2 | 1 | A | Smelly cleaning fluid, NH₃ |
| 3 | 1 | A | Slang abbr. for a prenatal test that takes fluid from a uterus with a needle, noun |
| 4 | 1 | A | Jungian term for inner ♀ part of ♂ |
| 5 | 1 | A | Bring to life (cartoons), verb; or living, adj. |
| 6 | 1 | A | Ceremonially smear someone with oil, or designate as a successor |
| 7 | 1 | A | Opposed to (prefix), NOT uncle’s wife's nickname |
| 8 | 1 | A | Basic unit of matter, “… Ant” superhero, noun/adjective (… bomb), adj. form that means just one of these is a pangram, and so is the noun form that means breaking down into basic units |
| 9 | 1 | A | Succeed in getting, or reach; verb (… nirvana) |
| 15 | 1 | A | Atom or molecule with a net electric charge |
| 31 | 1 | A | Write something, for example music, in a specialized system; or write comments in the margins of a book |
| 10 | 1 | I | Prayer leader at mosque |
| 11 | 1 | I | Copy someone’s speech or mannerisms |
| 12 | 1 | I | Cause to begin, or admit into a secret society; verb; or novice, noun |
| 13 | 1 | I | Extremely close & personal (… apparel), noun form is a pangram |
| 14 | 1 | I | Enter (go … the room), preposition |
| 15 | 1 | I | Atom or molecule with a net electric charge |
| 16 | 1 | I | 9th Greek letter, I; or extremely small amount |
| 41 | 1 | I | Character of sound, a sound (dial or ring-); noun; give greater strength or firmness to a body or a muscle; verb |
| 17 | 1 | M | Permanently injure |
| 18 | 1 | M | Primary (Street), adj. |
| 19 | 1 | M | Keep up (appearances), or support; verb |
| 20 | 2 | M | Craze, noun (Beatle-…) |
| 21 | 1 | M | Western evergreen that grows tiny apples (Arctostaphylos) |
| 22 | 1 | M | Smaller version (as in Cooper car), slang abbr. |
| 23 | 1 | M | 1/60 dram, UK music ½ note, or calligraphy short vertical stroke |
| 24 | 2 | M | Smallest amount (the … bet at this table is $100), suffixed form that means the process of finding this or reducing to this is a pangram |
| 25 | 1 | M | Underling, as seen in “Despicable Me” |
| 26 | 1 | M | Breath candy or its flavor or plant source, noun; or create coins, verb |
| 27 | 1 | M | Catcher’s glove, or former Sen. Romney |
| 28 | 1 | M | Action by which things change position, or parliamentary proposal; noun |
| 29 | 1 | N | Country, or temperance activist Carrie |
| 30 | 1 | N | Propose a candidate for election or an honor |
| 31 | 1 | N | Write something, for example music, in a specialized system; or write comments in the margins of a book |
| 32 | 1 | N | Vague idea, or small sewing accessory |
| 33 | 1 | O | Leave out, verb |
| 34 | 1 | O | Veg that makes you cry when cut (for some, this is the "dreaded root veg") |
| 35 | 1 | T | Smear of corruption or pollution, noun/verb |
| 36 | 1 | T | Brown chemical in tea & wine used to preserve leather, noun |
| 37 | 1 | T | Japanese & dojo floor mats (畳) |
| 38 | 1 | T | Shade of color, noun; or darken car windows, verb |
| 39 | 1 | T | Pre-Olympic god, largest Saturn moon, or industry bigwig |
| 40 | 1 | T | New Zealand small bird (Magnum, P.I star 1st name + breast, slang) |
| 42 | 1 | Z | Sunflower within the daisy family (what other flower starts with Z?) |
| 43 | 1 | Z | Tubular pasta |
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