- Letters: K/ACDELO
- Words: 47
- Points: 222
- Pangrams: 3
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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, ...) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | AL | 5 | Archaic exclamation of regret or dismay; from list word for “absence of” |
| 3 | 1 | CA | 4 | Baked dessert, often with layers and icing; traditional birthday party fare |
| 3 | 1 | CA | 5 | Baked dessert, often with layers and icing; traditional birthday party fare |
| 2 | 1 | CA | 6 | Make a harsh, raucous sound when laughing, verb/noun; (the witch …-d with delight as she stirred the potion) |
| 2 | 1 | CA | 7 | Make a harsh, raucous sound when laughing, verb/noun; (the witch …-d with delight as she stirred the potion) |
| 4 | 1 | CL | 5 | Heel sounds on tile, verb; or NPR “car” show guy 2 |
| 5 | 1 | CL | 5 | Sleeveless jacket, or espionage “…& dagger” term |
| 6 | 1 | CL | 5 | It tells time |
| 4 | 1 | CL | 7 | Heel sounds on tile, verb; or NPR “car” show guy 2 |
| 5 | 1 | CL | 7 | Sleeveless jacket, or espionage “…& dagger” term |
| 6 | 1 | CL | 7 | It tells time |
| 7 | 1 | CO | 4 | Rooster, or slang for penis |
| 10 | 1 | CO | 4 | Pepsi rival, or slang abbr. for drug people snort |
| 12 | 1 | CO | 4 | Prep or heat food |
| 10 | 1 | CO | 5 | Pepsi rival, or slang abbr. for drug people snort |
| 7 | 1 | CO | 6 | Rooster, or slang for penis |
| 9 | 1 | CO | 6 | Edible bivalve marine mollusk with a pretty shell, or slang for your core (it warms the…s of my heart) |
| 12 | 1 | CO | 6 | Prep or heat food |
| 8 | 1 | CO | 7 | Knot of ribbons worn in a hat |
| 11 | 1 | CO | 8 | Knock unconscious; compound made from opposite of hot + rooster |
| 11 | 1 | CO | 10 | Knock unconscious; compound made from opposite of hot + rooster |
| 14 | 1 | DE | 4 | Set of playing cards (he's not playing with a full…) or ship floor (meet me for a swim on the Lido…), noun; or punch, slang verb; present + past (2 words) |
| 16 | 1 | DE | 4 | Deceptive movement that induces an opponent to move out of position (ice hockey) |
| 16 | 1 | DE | 5 | Deceptive movement that induces an opponent to move out of position (ice hockey) |
| 14 | 1 | DE | 6 | Set of playing cards (he's not playing with a full…) or ship floor (meet me for a swim on the Lido…), noun; or punch, slang verb; present + past (2 words) |
| 15 | 1 | DE | 6 | Removable wooden frame used in manual papermaking |
| 13 | 1 | DE | 8 | Impasse; compound made from opposite of alive + door fastener with a key |
| 13 | 1 | DE | 10 | Impasse; compound made from opposite of alive + door fastener with a key |
| 17 | 1 | DO | 4 | Structure where you can moor your boat, noun/verb; or device you can plug your laptop into to get a big screen, keyboard and mouse |
| 17 | 1 | DO | 6 | Structure where you can moor your boat, noun/verb; or device you can plug your laptop into to get a big screen, keyboard and mouse |
| 18 | 1 | EK | 4 | Scrape out (a living or a win, e.g.) |
| 19 | 1 | KA | 4 | Trendy lettuce (but really leaf cabbage) |
| 20 | 1 | KE | 4 | Bottom stabilizing ridge of a boat or ship |
| 20 | 1 | KE | 6 | Bottom stabilizing ridge of a boat or ship |
| 22 | 1 | KO | 4 | Small African tree with nuts that flavor Pepsi |
| 23 | 1 | KO | 4 | Crazy or eccentric person, NOT a chef |
| 21 | 1 | KO | 5 | Tree climbing marsupial “bear” |
| 24 | 1 | LA | 4 | Absence of (talent or imagination, e.g.), verb/noun |
| 25 | 1 | LA | 4 | Large body of freshwater (Great ones are Erie, Superior, etc.) |
| 24 | 1 | LA | 6 | Absence of (talent or imagination, e.g.), verb/noun |
| 26 | 1 | LE | 4 | Place where water escapes a pipe or hose, or info spilled to a reporter |
| 27 | 1 | LE | 4 | Veg similar to onion; homophone of place where water escapes a pipe |
| 26 | 1 | LE | 6 | Place where water escapes a pipe or hose, or info spilled to a reporter |
| 28 | 1 | LO | 4 | A door fastener with a key, noun/verb |
| 29 | 1 | LO | 4 | Direct one’s gaze toward someone or something, verb/noun |
| 28 | 1 | LO | 6 | A door fastener with a key, noun/verb |
| 29 | 1 | LO | 6 | Direct one’s gaze toward someone or something, verb/noun |
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.