Bee Roots for 2022-03-18

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. The TL;DR about the site comes after the table.

Past clues are available here

 
Today's puzzle
  • Letters: O/AMNTUY
  • Words: 42
  • Points: 178
  • Pangrams: 1
Source: Pinterest

Table content

  • with first two letters of answer and length
root #answers coveredanswer's first two lettersanswer's lengthclue for root (answer may need prefix, suffix, tense change, alt spelling, ...)
11AM4A supply of bullets, slang abbreviation
21AM6How much, noun/verb
51AN4Soon, poetically
41AN5Irritate, vex, irk
31AN7Study of the names, shapes, sizes, and connections of your body parts (Gray's …)
61AN7Word opposite in meaning to another ("bad" is an … of "good")
61AN8Word opposite in meaning to another ("bad" is an … of "good")
71AT4Smallest unit of matter, “… Ant” superhero, noun/adjective (… bomb)
81AU4Car, abbr., or “self” prefix
91AU7Fast food restaurant where simple foods and drinks are served by vending machines
101AU8Moving mechanical device made in imitation of a human being; for techies, also has a meaning in computer science, for example cellular …
111AU8Right or condition of self-government
101AU9Moving mechanical device made in imitation of a human being; for techies, also has a meaning in computer science, for example cellular …
141MA4Hellman’s sandwich spread, slang abbr.
131MA6Wealth that’s an evil influence, per the New Testament & Milton
151MO4Sound of pain or sexual pleasure (Harry Potter’s ghost “…-ing Myrtle”)
161MO4Water ditch surrounding a castle
181MO41–channel sound abbreviation, or glandular fever “kissing disease” abbreviation
211MO4NASA Apollo missions landed on or circled it
221MO4Irrelevant, in law (it’s a … point)
121MO5♀ parent, slang
171MO5Mother, familiar
211MO5NASA Apollo missions landed on or circled it
231MO5Short phrase encapsulating beliefs of an institution (Marines’ “Semper Fi”)
241MO5Get on a horse, or geographical name start (St. Helens, Shasta, Everest)
191MO7Singular tag for famous people (Cher, Moses, Socrates, Beyoncé)
201MO8Sound that is unchanging in pitch (“She spoke in a … that put me to sleep”)
251MU6Sheep meat (chops)
261NO412:00, midday, 🕛
271NO4In grammar, a person, place or thing
281OA4Grain that is Quaker's specialty
291ON4Preposition when mounting an animal or boarding a large vehicle
301OT7Turkish Empire; or low, upholstered seat or footstool without a back or arms
311OU6Overpower with skill and/or physical strength and/or numbers; compound made from opposite of in + ♂
331TA6Skin “ink”
321TA10Equivalent in seriousness to; virtually the same as
351TO4Broadway award, or Maj. Nelson on "Jeannie"
361TO4Animated film or character, slang abbr. (car-…)
371TO4Short horn sound; noun/verb
381TO4Promote, or offer horse racing tips
341TO6Ketchup & ragù fruit
391UN4Archaic preposition (Handel’s Messiah “For … us a child is born”)

About this site

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.