- Letters: F/AEILNT
- Words: 71
- Points: 327
- Pangrams: 3
|
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, ...) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | AF | 7 | Legal term for someone who swears to a statement of fact |
| 2 | 1 | AF | 9 | Officially attach or connect to an organization, verb/noun |
| 3 | 1 | AL | 7 | Grass for hay, or Little Rascal |
| 4 | 1 | AN | 6 | Left-wing protest group used as a scapegoat by the right |
| 5 | 1 | EF | 6 | Pretentious, flowery, or weak, adj. |
| 6 | 1 | EL | 5 | Small, delicate, impish; as a Keebler worker, adj. |
| 7 | 1 | FA | 4 | Don’t pass a test |
| 10 | 1 | FA | 4 | Autumn, noun; or plummet, verb |
| 14 | 1 | FA | 4 | Destiny, kismet, 1 of 3 Greek goddesses who determine yours |
| 8 | 1 | FA | 5 | Lose consciousness, verb; or barely perceptible, adj. |
| 13 | 1 | FA | 5 | Deadly, adj. (“… Attraction” film) |
| 10 | 1 | FA | 6 | Autumn, noun; or plummet, verb |
| 12 | 1 | FA | 6 | Natural oily or greasy substance occurring in animal bodies |
| 9 | 1 | FA | 7 | Fried chickpea balls often served in pita |
| 11 | 1 | FA | 7 | With a backend in the shape of a device for moving air, compound (… pigeon) |
| 15 | 1 | FE | 4 | Achievement requiring great courage, skill, or strength (no easy …), noun |
| 16 | 1 | FE | 4 | Perceive by touch; or experience (emotion) |
| 19 | 1 | FE | 4 | Cut or knock down (a tree or opponent, e.g.) |
| 22 | 1 | FE | 4 | Cloth made by rolling and pressing wool with moisture and/or heat |
| 24 | 1 | FE | 4 | Soft Greek goat cheese, cubed when served |
| 25 | 1 | FE | 4 | Honor lavishly, verb; from French for “party” |
| 51 | 1 | FE | 4 | What you cover with a sock |
| 17 | 1 | FE | 5 | Deceptive movement in sports (esp. swordplay), not "keel over" |
| 20 | 1 | FE | 5 | ♂, slang (young or little …) |
| 27 | 1 | FE | 5 | Unborn offspring of a mammal, more advanced than an embryo |
| 18 | 1 | FE | 6 | Cat adj. |
| 23 | 1 | FE | 6 | Veg & seed used in cooking, esp. Italian |
| 26 | 1 | FE | 6 | Condition, noun (in fine …); rhymes with whistling teapot |
| 21 | 1 | FE | 7 | Perform oral sex on a ♂, verb |
| 28 | 1 | FI | 4 | Italian car brand (part of Chrysler), formal decree, or arbitrary order |
| 29 | 1 | FI | 4 | Medieval for feudal land or area of control; often has –DOM suffix |
| 30 | 1 | FI | 4 | Small flute used with a drum in military bands, noun/verb |
| 32 | 1 | FI | 4 | Folder of related papers, or tool for smoothing edges (fingernails, e.g.), noun/verb |
| 35 | 1 | FI | 4 | Add material until the container or hole is at capacity |
| 37 | 1 | FI | 4 | Impose a $ penalty (the judge …d him $100 for speeding) |
| 33 | 1 | FI | 5 | Remove the bones from (fish), verb; or cut of meat, noun |
| 36 | 1 | FI | 5 | Last one (… exam, “… Countdown”) |
| 33 | 1 | FI | 6 | Remove the bones from (fish), verb; or cut of meat, noun |
| 34 | 1 | FI | 6 | Of or due from a son or daughter, adj. |
| 36 | 1 | FI | 6 | Last one (… exam, “… Countdown”) |
| 38 | 1 | FI | 6 | Ornament at end or top of an object |
| 39 | 1 | FI | 6 | Having limits (amount), not ∞, adj. |
| 31 | 1 | FI | 7 | Quinceañera age |
| 41 | 1 | FL | 4 | Caramel-topped custard |
| 43 | 1 | FL | 4 | Having no depth or height (… as a pancake), or ♭ in music (opposite of ♯) |
| 46 | 1 | FL | 4 | Hopping insect whose bites cause itching in dogs & cats |
| 47 | 1 | FL | 4 | Run away from danger, NOT a bug that causes itching |
| 50 | 1 | FL | 4 | Move swiftly & lightly, as a bird, e.g. (… about) |
| 40 | 1 | FL | 5 | Swing (arms) wildly |
| 48 | 1 | FL | 5 | Group of ships sailing together, noun; or enema brand; or able to run fast (… of foot) |
| 49 | 1 | FL | 5 | Michigan city with tainted water, or stone that makes sparks |
| 42 | 1 | FL | 7 | Soft-woven fabric, typically made of wool or cotton and slightly milled and raised; stereotypical Canadian shirt is made of this |
| 43 | 1 | FL | 7 | Having no depth or height (… as a pancake), or ♭ in music (opposite of ♯) |
| 44 | 1 | FL | 8 | Collapsed arch on your sole; cop nickname; reason to get out of the military draft, compound |
| 45 | 1 | FL | 8 | Die (informal), compound made from opposite of bumpy + straight path between two points |
| 35 | 1 | IN | 6 | Add material until the container or hole is at capacity |
| 52 | 1 | IN | 6 | Baby, noun |
| 53 | 1 | IN | 7 | Fill with air; make something appear larger than it is |
| 39 | 1 | IN | 8 | Having limits (amount), not ∞, adj. |
| 52 | 1 | IN | 9 | Baby, noun |
| 54 | 1 | LE | 4 | Nissan electric car; 4 of these on a clover is lucky |
| 56 | 1 | LE | 4 | ←; remaining (only 1 cookie …); or departed |
| 56 | 1 | LE | 6 | ←; remaining (only 1 cookie …); or departed |
| 55 | 1 | LE | 7 | Flier passed out on the street, or to pass them out |
| 57 | 1 | LI | 4 | Cereal Mikey prefers, board game, or “death” antonym |
| 59 | 1 | LI | 4 | Raise up (fork…), not Uber competitor |
| 58 | 1 | LI | 8 | What a palm reader checks to see when you’ll die, or “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” friend assistance (compound) |
| 60 | 1 | NA | 4 | Inexperienced person (from French) |
| 61 | 1 | TA | 7 | Fine lustrous silk with crisp texture used for formal gowns |
| 62 | 1 | TA | 7 | Flat appendage at the end of the body of an aquatic animal (compound) |
| 63 | 1 | TI | 4 | Petty quarrel, or computer image format |
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.