- Letters: C/AEILNP
- Words: 66
- Points: 363
- Pangrams: 4
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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 | Teen facial zits |
| 1 | 1 | AC | 6 | African or Australian wattle tree |
| 5 | 1 | AL | 6 | S Am mammal similar to but smaller than a llama |
| 4 | 1 | AL | 8 | Association formed for mutual benefit, especially involving nations |
| 45 | 1 | AP | 5 | Walk back & forth anxiously |
| 6 | 1 | AP | 6 | Each, or cost per item, adv. |
| 7 | 1 | AP | 9 | An piece of home equipment, such as a dishwasher, washing machine, or refrigerator |
| 8 | 1 | CA | 4 | Phone, name, summon, or shout (out) |
| 14 | 1 | CA | 4 | Walking stick, or striped peppermint Xmas crook |
| 18 | 1 | CA | 4 | Superhero back covering, or land that juts into water (… Cod) |
| 9 | 1 | CA | 5 | Arum plant referred to as a lily |
| 10 | 1 | CA | 5 | Artificial waterway (Erie, Suez, Panama …) |
| 16 | 1 | CA | 5 | Tropical “lily” |
| 11 | 1 | CA | 6 | Small piece of bread or pastry with a savory topping, often served with drinks at a reception or formal party |
| 12 | 1 | CA | 6 | Leggy French dance |
| 13 | 1 | CA | 6 | Nix, scrub (a concert, game, date, or show; e.g.) |
| 15 | 1 | CA | 6 | Dog family, or pointy tooth |
| 19 | 1 | CA | 9 | Pasta in the form of long, thin strands, only slightly thicker than angel hair |
| 17 | 1 | CA | 10 | Large white kidney bean |
| 21 | 1 | CE | 4 | Prison “room,” or smallest unit of an organism |
| 22 | 1 | CE | 5 | Yo-Yo Ma’s instrument |
| 20 | 1 | CE | 6 | Gluten intolerance disease |
| 23 | 1 | CI | 5 | Short microscopic hairlike vibrating structure found in large numbers on the surface of certain cells; (anatomy) eyelash |
| 24 | 1 | CL | 4 | Group of related (Scottish) families |
| 25 | 1 | CL | 4 | Applaud |
| 28 | 1 | CL | 4 | Device to hold things together (paper or hair …) |
| 26 | 1 | CL | 5 | Make tidy, verb (…your room, young man!); or dirt-free, adj. |
| 27 | 1 | CL | 6 | Medical facility (health …) |
| 27 | 1 | CL | 8 | Medical facility (health …) |
| 27 | 1 | CL | 9 | Medical facility (health …) |
| 36 | 1 | EN | 6 | Frilly fabric, or shoestring |
| 29 | 1 | EP | 4 | Long poem celebrating heroic feats, noun; or historically important, adj. (… struggle, … quest) |
| 30 | 1 | EP | 7 | Having characteristics of both sexes or no characteristics of either sex |
| 31 | 1 | IC | 6 | Frozen water spear from drips |
| 32 | 1 | IL | 5 | Hip bone |
| 34 | 1 | IN | 7 | Tend toward or feel favorably disposed toward, verb; or slope, noun |
| 33 | 1 | IN | 10 | Beginning to come into being or to become apparent, adj. |
| 35 | 1 | IP | 6 | Medicinal syrup that induces vomiting, used to be used for poisonings |
| 36 | 1 | LA | 4 | Frilly fabric, or shoestring |
| 37 | 1 | LA | 4 | Non-clerical |
| 38 | 1 | LA | 5 | Cavalry pole weapon |
| 37 | 1 | LA | 6 | Non-clerical |
| 39 | 1 | LE | 8 | Merciful, not strict (as a judge or parent, e.g.) |
| 40 | 1 | LI | 4 | Itchy hair parasites |
| 41 | 1 | LI | 5 | Purple flower or shade |
| 43 | 1 | NI | 4 | Pleasant in manner, or city in SE France |
| 44 | 1 | NI | 5 | Your sibling’s daughter |
| 42 | 1 | NI | 6 | Vitamin B3 |
| 45 | 1 | PA | 4 | Walk back & forth anxiously |
| 48 | 1 | PA | 5 | Lose your cool in a crisis (at the disco?) |
| 46 | 1 | PA | 6 | Official residence of a sovereign, archbishop, or other exalted person |
| 47 | 1 | PA | 7 | Remedy for all difficulties or diseases |
| 49 | 1 | PE | 5 | Tranquility |
| 50 | 1 | PE | 5 | smooth pinkish-brown nut with an edible kernel similar to a walnut; pies made with this are a specialty of the American South |
| 54 | 1 | PE | 5 | 1/100 of a £, or former VP & Indiana Gov |
| 55 | 1 | PE | 6 | Wooden writing tool with a graphite core |
| 51 | 1 | PE | 7 | Large gregarious waterbird with a long bill and an extensible throat pouch for scooping up fish; or member of the New Orleans NBA team |
| 53 | 1 | PE | 7 | What you do to atone for a sin |
| 52 | 1 | PE | 8 | Similar to Spanish for "film," a protein film (on teeth & smoked meat, e.g.) |
| 56 | 1 | PE | 10 | Med from moldy blue cheese |
| 57 | 1 | PI | 4 | A printed type size, or medical condition that makes you want to eat non-foods |
| 59 | 1 | PI | 5 | Section of something larger (homophone of “tranquility” term), noun; or assemble (…together), verb |
| 58 | 1 | PI | 6 | Outdoor dining on a blanket (from a basket?) |
| 60 | 1 | PI | 8 | The very top |
| 61 | 1 | PL | 5 | A particular position or point in space, noun/verb |
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.