- Letters: I/ACDMRT
- Words: 50
- Points: 228
- Pangrams: 1
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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. 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
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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, ...) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 1 | AC | 4 | Trendy smoothie berry |
| 3 | 1 | AC | 4 | Below 7 on the pH scale (amino …, sulfuric …, hydrochloric …) |
| 4 | 1 | AC | 5 | Strong & unpleasant taste or smell, adj. |
| 1 | 1 | AC | 6 | African or Australian wattle tree |
| 3 | 1 | AC | 6 | Below 7 on the pH scale (amino …, sulfuric …, hydrochloric …) |
| 6 | 1 | AD | 5 | Fess up, or let in |
| 5 | 1 | AD | 6 | Someone who’s hooked on drugs |
| 7 | 1 | AM | 4 | Surrounded by, preposition |
| 10 | 1 | AR | 4 | Opera solo |
| 11 | 1 | AR | 4 | Dry (climate or land), adj. |
| 9 | 1 | AR | 6 | North Pole adj. (… Circle or Ocean) |
| 8 | 1 | AR | 7 | Region or scene of simple pleasure or quiet, city near LA, or mountainous southern region of Greece |
| 12 | 1 | AT | 5 | Large open-air or skylight covered space surrounded by a building, common in ancient Roman houses; an upper cavity of the heart |
| 13 | 1 | AT | 5 | Unfinished room below roof; garret |
| 15 | 1 | CA | 4 | ♀ sleeveless undergarment top, slang abbr. |
| 14 | 1 | CA | 5 | Succulent plant with a thick stem that usually has spines, lacks leaves, and occasionally has brilliantly colored flowers |
| 16 | 1 | CA | 7 | Heart, medical adj. (… arrest) |
| 18 | 1 | CI | 5 | “Around” when used before a year, Latin |
| 19 | 1 | CI | 5 | Cloud forming wispy streaks (“mare's tails”) at high altitude |
| 17 | 1 | CI | 6 | Noisy 17–year insect |
| 20 | 1 | CI | 6 | Tree genus that includes lemon, lime, orange, and grapefruit, or the fruit of those trees |
| 21 | 1 | CR | 6 | Fault-finder (“everyone’s a …”), or arts & dining reviewer |
| 22 | 1 | DA | 6 | Slang exclamation of frustration (“… Janet” song in “Rocky Horror”); should have an N instead of a doubled central consonant; compound; condemn something to hell |
| 26 | 1 | DI | 4 | Soil |
| 24 | 1 | DI | 5 | (Usually singular) formal pronouncements, or adages, Latin plural |
| 25 | 1 | DI | 6 | Person over-inclined to instruct others |
| 25 | 1 | DI | 8 | Person over-inclined to instruct others |
| 23 | 1 | DI | 9 | Accent or other pronunciation mark on a letter, NOT a fault-finder |
| 27 | 1 | DR | 8 | Serious or exciting play, show, film, or events (Don’t be such a … queen!) |
| 28 | 1 | IM | 4 | Prayer leader at mosque |
| 30 | 1 | MA | 4 | 8 of them were milking in a Xmas carol |
| 31 | 1 | MA | 4 | Permanently injure |
| 29 | 1 | MA | 9 | Nut used in candy from Hawaii |
| 32 | 1 | MI | 4 | Flaky rock that breaks off in sheets |
| 34 | 1 | MI | 4 | Computer music protocol, calf-length skirt, or noon in French |
| 36 | 1 | MI | 4 | Catcher’s glove, or Sen. Romney |
| 35 | 1 | MI | 5 | Parrot someone’s speaking & mannerisms, verb; or the person doing it, noun |
| 33 | 1 | MI | 6 | Location descriptor of plane “collision” that occurs in the sky |
| 38 | 1 | RA | 4 | Sudden attack, as in “air” or police;” or insect spray |
| 37 | 1 | RA | 5 | Distance from a point on a circle to the center |
| 39 | 1 | RA | 5 | Indian yogurt veg dip |
| 40 | 1 | TA | 5 | Understood without being stated (… agreement), adj. |
| 41 | 1 | TA | 6 | Action planned to achieve a specific end (negotiating …) |
| 42 | 1 | TA | 6 | Japanese rich, naturally fermented soy sauce |
| 43 | 1 | TA | 6 | Japanese & dojo floor mats (畳) |
| 44 | 1 | TI | 5 | Jeweled, ornamental ½ crown |
| 45 | 1 | TI | 5 | Lacking courage or confidence, adj. (… as a mouse) |
| 48 | 1 | TR | 4 | Neaten (hair) by snipping off ends |
| 46 | 1 | TR | 5 | Characteristic, often genetically determined (left-handedness, e.g.) |
| 47 | 1 | TR | 5 | Group of 3 |
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.