- Letters: O/DEIMNX
- Words: 48
- Points: 199
- Pangrams: 1
|
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
| |
|
Table content
|
| root # | answers covered | answer's first two letters | answer's length | clue for root (answer may need prefix, suffix, tense change, alt spelling, ...) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 1 | DE | 4 | Show off, slang abbr. (a … model impressed investors); or demolish, slang abbrev. |
| 3 | 1 | DE | 5 | Evil spirit or devil |
| 2 | 1 | DE | 6 | Show off, slang abbr. (a … model impressed investors); or demolish, slang abbrev. |
| 1 | 1 | DE | 9 | People considered to be on the fringes of respectable society (from French) |
| 4 | 1 | DI | 4 | Flintstones pet, or T. Rex family abbr. |
| 5 | 1 | DI | 5 | 1–way semiconductor with 2 terminals |
| 39 | 1 | DI | 7 | Binary compound of element O with another element or group (rust is iron…) |
| 6 | 1 | DO | 4 | Extinct bird; or idiot, slang |
| 7 | 1 | DO | 4 | Rounded vault on a roof |
| 12 | 1 | DO | 4 | Finished (with a task) |
| 13 | 1 | DO | 4 | Terrible fate (they fell to their …), or pioneering 1st person shooter game |
| 14 | 1 | DO | 4 | Publish identifying information about someone on the internet, typically with malicious intent |
| 7 | 1 | DO | 5 | Rounded vault on a roof |
| 11 | 1 | DO | 5 | Give to a good cause |
| 14 | 1 | DO | 5 | Publish identifying information about someone on the internet, typically with malicious intent |
| 9 | 1 | DO | 6 | Spotted playing tile (“bones”) |
| 10 | 1 | DO | 6 | Put on (… we now our gay apparel) |
| 13 | 1 | DO | 6 | Terrible fate (they fell to their …), or pioneering 1st person shooter game |
| 14 | 1 | DO | 6 | Publish identifying information about someone on the internet, typically with malicious intent |
| 8 | 1 | DO | 8 | Sovereign authority over a country or people (Canada was a … from 1867 to 1951) |
| 15 | 1 | ID | 5 | Slang phrase particular to a language (“raining cats & dogs”), noun |
| 16 | 1 | IO | 6 | Element 53, stored in thyroid, added to table salt, used to treat cuts |
| 17 | 1 | ME | 4 | Office note abbr. |
| 18 | 1 | MI | 5 | Old stencil duplicator, abbr. (missing –graph suffix) |
| 19 | 1 | MI | 6 | Underling, as seen in “Despicable Me” |
| 20 | 1 | MO | 4 | Manner in which something happens (… of operation), or fashion (pie à la …) |
| 24 | 1 | MO | 4 | 1–channel sound abbreviation, or glandular fever “kissing disease” abbreviation |
| 26 | 1 | MO | 4 | Emotional state (happy, angry, sad, etc.) |
| 27 | 1 | MO | 4 | NASA Apollo missions landed on or circled it |
| 21 | 1 | MO | 5 | Device to get a computer online (cable or DSL …) |
| 22 | 1 | MO | 5 | Slang for something huge or remarkable, or Italian for “world” |
| 25 | 1 | MO | 5 | Sound a cow makes |
| 28 | 1 | MO | 5 | Force of character, determination, or nerve (informal) |
| 23 | 1 | MO | 6 | $, cash |
| 27 | 1 | MO | 6 | NASA Apollo missions landed on or circled it |
| 39 | 1 | MO | 8 | Binary compound of element O with another element or group (rust is iron…) |
| 29 | 1 | NE | 4 | Atomic number 10, gas in lighted signs |
| 31 | 1 | NO | 4 | Connecting point |
| 33 | 1 | NO | 4 | Quantity of zero; “all” antonym |
| 34 | 1 | NO | 4 | 12:00, midday, 🕛 |
| 30 | 1 | NO | 6 | Move your head up and down a little, usually to signal agreement, verb/noun |
| 32 | 1 | NO | 7 | Propose a candidate for election or an honor |
| 35 | 1 | OD | 5 | Greek or Roman building used for musical performances (smaller than theaters) |
| 36 | 1 | OM | 4 | Portent, or Damien’s horror films (“The …”) |
| 37 | 1 | ON | 5 | Veg that makes you cry when cut (for some, this is the "dreaded root veg") |
| 38 | 1 | OX | 4 | Castrated bulls yoked for plowing |
| 39 | 1 | OX | 5 | Binary compound of element O with another element or group (rust is iron…) |
| 40 | 1 | XE | 5 | Atomic number 54, gas used in headlights |
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.