- Letters: E/AGIMNZ
- Words: 51
- Points: 211
- 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.
The TL;DR about the site comes after the table.
The Halloween, 2021 redesign improved the usability, I hope.
Past clues are available here |
Today's puzzle
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Table content
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| root # | answers covered | answer's first two letters | answer's length | clue for root (answer may need prefix, suffix, tense change, alt spelling, ...) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | 1 | AG | 5 | Stare intently, verb + gerund |
| 1 | 1 | AG | 6 | How old you are, noun; or grow older, verb; or period of history, noun |
| 3 | 1 | AM | 4 | Prayer-ending word |
| 2 | 1 | AM | 5 | Blow away with awe |
| 5 | 1 | AN | 5 | Japanese cartoon |
| 4 | 1 | AN | 6 | Fatigue due to red blood cell shortage |
| 6 | 1 | EG | 6 | What baby birds hatch from |
| 7 | 1 | EN | 5 | Rectal wash (Fleet, e.g.) |
| 8 | 1 | EN | 6 | Commit to marry (with an …-ment ring) |
| 9 | 1 | EN | 6 | Car motor |
| 10 | 1 | EN | 6 | Something mysterious, puzzling, or difficult to understand |
| 8 | 1 | EN | 8 | Commit to marry (with an …-ment ring) |
| 11 | 1 | GA | 4 | Competitive form of play (poker, soccer, Scrabble, etc.) |
| 13 | 1 | GA | 4 | Measuring dial (fuel …) |
| 14 | 1 | GA | 4 | Stare intently, verb + gerund |
| 12 | 1 | GA | 6 | Young woman with a mischievous, boyish charm |
| 15 | 1 | GE | 4 | Milder form of “Jesus!” exclamation omitting last 2 letters |
| 16 | 1 | GE | 4 | DNA sequence that determines traits, or singing cowboy Autry |
| 17 | 2 | GE | 5 | Lives in a lamp, grants wishes |
| 18 | 1 | GI | 5 | Slang for an easy answer, or a rude way of saying “hand it over!” |
| 19 | 1 | IM | 5 | Picture or other representation of a person or thing (mirror … is that thing reversed), or public perception of a celebrity or company (polish their…), noun |
| 20 | 1 | IM | 7 | Form a mental picture or concept; or John Lennon's 1971 album and title song |
| 21 | 1 | IN | 5 | Stupid, silly, ridiculous (… questions or comments); adj. |
| 22 | 1 | IN | 5 | Concave belly button, slang |
| 24 | 1 | MA | 4 | Literary term for a wizard |
| 27 | 1 | MA | 4 | Hair on a horse or ♂ lion’s neck |
| 29 | 1 | MA | 4 | Puzzle or garden where you try to get to the center |
| 25 | 1 | MA | 5 | Native American corn |
| 28 | 1 | MA | 5 | Skin disease caused by mites, especially in dogs |
| 26 | 1 | MA | 6 | Administer (she got promoted to …ment) |
| 23 | 1 | MA | 8 | Periodical (“Time,” “Sports Illustrated,”), pangram |
| 30 | 1 | ME | 4 | The average in math, noun; unkind, adj. (“… Girls”); or intend (I didn’t … to do it) |
| 31 | 1 | ME | 4 | Greek prefix for large, often used to mean 1 million |
| 32 | 1 | ME | 4 | Viral internet funny image, noun/verb |
| 34 | 1 | ME | 4 | Mediterranean appetizer platter |
| 34 | 1 | ME | 5 | Mediterranean appetizer platter |
| 30 | 1 | ME | 6 | The average in math, noun; unkind, adj. (“… Girls”); or intend (I didn’t … to do it) |
| 32 | 1 | ME | 6 | Viral internet funny image, noun/verb |
| 33 | 1 | ME | 6 | Members of a household (French: … à trois) |
| 30 | 1 | ME | 7 | The average in math, noun; unkind, adj. (“… Girls”); or intend (I didn’t … to do it) |
| 35 | 1 | ME | 9 | Intermediate floor between ground level & 1st, or lowest theater balcony |
| 36 | 1 | MI | 4 | A person’s look or expression, NOT an average |
| 37 | 1 | MI | 4 | Silent performer |
| 38 | 1 | MI | 4 | Where you dig for ore, or anti-ship bomb |
| 40 | 1 | MI | 6 | Rearmost sail & mast on a ship |
| 39 | 1 | MI | 8 | Smallest amount (the … bet at this table is $100) |
| 41 | 1 | NA | 4 | What you’re called (Kevin or Susan, e.g.) |
| 42 | 1 | NE | 4 | Hawaiian goose & state bird |
| 43 | 1 | NI | 4 | Number of justices on Supreme Court |
| 44 | 1 | ZI | 4 | Periodical, abbr. (last syllable), esp. fan pub |
This site provides clues for a day's New York Times Spelling Bee puzzle. It exists to make it easier for Kevin Davis to take a day off. Most of the clues come from him. There may be some startup problems, but long term I think I can put the clues together with no more than half an hour's work.
The "Bee Roots" approach is to provide explicit clues for root words, not every word. This is similar to what Kevin Davis does, but without information about parts of speech 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 Twitter.
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
Many thanks to Kevin Davis, whose 4,500-word clue list made this possible.