Bee Roots

Bee Roots for 2022-03-20

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: F/AHILTW

Words: 23

Points: 75

Pangrams: 1

Source: illinoiswildflowers.info

Table content

with first two letters of answer and length

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 7 Grass for hay, or Little Rascal

2 1 FA 4 Don’t pass a test

4 1 FA 4 Autumn, noun; or plummet, verb

3 1 FA 5 Trust or belief (in God, e.g.)

5 1 FA 5 Deadly, adj. (“… Attraction” film)

6 1 FA 5 A ruling on a point of Islamic law

7 1 FI 4 Italian car brand (part of Chrysler), formal decree, or arbitrary order

10 1 FI 4 Add material until the container or hole is at capacity

8 1 FI 5 20%, or Beethoven "da da da dum" symphony

11 1 FI 5 Disgusting dirt

9 1 FI 6 Of or due from a son or daughter, adj.

13 1 FL 4 Having no depth or height (… as a pancake), or ♭ in music (opposite of ♯)

14 1 FL 4 Imperfection

15 1 FL 4 Move swiftly & lightly, as a bird, e.g. (… about)

12 1 FL 5 Swing (arms) wildly

16 1 HA 4 Part of spear, axe, or knife you grip (1970s NYC crime film series with catchy theme song, but missing initial S)

17 1 HA 4 ½ , 50%

18 1 HA 7 Dunce who only has ½ their smarts about them, pangram

19 1 LI 4 Raise up (fork…), not Uber competitor

20 1 TI 4 Petty quarrel, or computer image format

21 1 WA 4 Pass easily or gently through the air

22 1 WA 4 Homeless, neglected, or abandoned person, esp. a child; Dickens novels often feature them (street …)

23 1 WH 5 Faint smell, or miss hitting the ball

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	7	Grass for hay, or Little Rascal
2	1	FA	4	Don’t pass a test
4	1	FA	4	Autumn, noun; or plummet, verb
3	1	FA	5	Trust or belief (in God, e.g.)
5	1	FA	5	Deadly, adj. (“… Attraction” film)
6	1	FA	5	A ruling on a point of Islamic law
7	1	FI	4	Italian car brand (part of Chrysler), formal decree, or arbitrary order
10	1	FI	4	Add material until the container or hole is at capacity
8	1	FI	5	20%, or Beethoven "da da da dum" symphony
11	1	FI	5	Disgusting dirt
9	1	FI	6	Of or due from a son or daughter, adj.
13	1	FL	4	Having no depth or height (… as a pancake), or ♭ in music (opposite of ♯)
14	1	FL	4	Imperfection
15	1	FL	4	Move swiftly & lightly, as a bird, e.g. (… about)
12	1	FL	5	Swing (arms) wildly
16	1	HA	4	Part of spear, axe, or knife you grip (1970s NYC crime film series with catchy theme song, but missing initial S)
17	1	HA	4	½ , 50%
18	1	HA	7	Dunce who only has ½ their smarts about them, pangram
19	1	LI	4	Raise up (fork…), not Uber competitor
20	1	TI	4	Petty quarrel, or computer image format
21	1	WA	4	Pass easily or gently through the air
22	1	WA	4	Homeless, neglected, or abandoned person, esp. a child; Dickens novels often feature them (street …)
23	1	WH	5	Faint smell, or miss hitting the ball

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.