Bee Roots for 2022-04-01

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/DHIKNW
  • Words: 28
  • Points: 110
  • Pangrams: 1
Source: pngwing.com

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, ...)
11DI4Flintstones pet, or T. Rex family abbr.
21DO4Extinct bird; or idiot, slang
31DO4↓ elevator button you push to go to the lobby from a higher floor
41DO8Scents & smoke travel in this direction; compound
51HO4Car horn or goose sound
61HO4“Little Red Riding …” noggin covering
91HO4“Peter Pan” Captain…, or what snags a fish
71HO6Column of weathered rocks, or black magic; rhyming word
81HO8Deceive or trick someone; compound
101KI5A friendly or slightly condescending form of address, slang
111KN4Be aware of; have a relationship with someone
111KN5Be aware of; have a relationship with someone
121KN7Usually hyphenated compound term for practical skill or expertise (she has the technical …)
131KO4Crazy or eccentric person, NOT a chef
151NO4Barnes & Noble e-reader, or secluded corner
161NO412:00, midday, 🕛
141NO5Used, especially in jocular or dialectal speech, to emphasize a negative
171OI4Pig sound, noun or verb + gerund (2 words)
181ON5Veg that makes you cry when cut (for some, this is the "dreaded root veg")
231WI4Someone who overuses fermented grape juice, slang
191WI5♀ whose spouse has died (black … spider)
211WI6Glass-paned wall opening you look through
221WI6Separate chaff from grain, or narrow down to the best (… out)
201WI9The state of being a ♀ whose spouse has died; compound
241WO4Enthusiast for specialized details (policy …)
251WO4Forest (Pooh’s “100 acre …”) or tree flesh, noun
271WO6Rhyming exclamation of excitement or joy (Homer Simpson)
261WO8Non-brass musical instruments you blow (oboe, bassoon, flute, etc.); compound

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.