- Letters: W/DEOLNT
- Words: 54
- Points: 250
- 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 | DO | 4 | ↓ elevator button you push to go to the lobby from a higher floor |
| 1 | 1 | DO | 5 | Connecting or supporting peg or rod |
| 2 | 1 | DO | 6 | ↓ elevator button you push to go to the lobby from a higher floor |
| 3 | 1 | DO | 8 | The main business or commercial area of a city (also, Petula Clark hit song), compound |
| 4 | 2 | DW | 5 | Reside at, or linger over a worry |
| 4 | 1 | DW | 7 | Reside at, or linger over a worry |
| 5 | 1 | EN | 5 | Bequeath $, or given by "Creator with unalienable Rights" |
| 5 | 1 | EN | 7 | Bequeath $, or given by "Creator with unalienable Rights" |
| 8 | 1 | LE | 4 | Obscene (behavior, usually) |
| 7 | 1 | LE | 7 | Disappointment, or a nursing mother's release of milk |
| 9 | 1 | LO | 5 | Opposite of high; sound made by cattle |
| 10 | 1 | LO | 7 | Slang compound adj. for mean & unfair (… dog), or noun for “inside info” (get the … on), compound |
| 12 | 1 | NE | 4 | Aquatic salamander, or former House Speaker Gingrich |
| 11 | 1 | NE | 5 | Supporting post on a staircase or railing |
| 13 | 1 | NE | 6 | Unit of force named after Sir Isaac …, or fig cookie |
| 14 | 1 | OW | 4 | Have an obligation to pay or repay |
| 15 | 1 | OW | 5 | Nocturnal bird that hoots |
| 16 | 1 | OW | 5 | Possess, verb; or something that belongs to you, pronoun (I got QB on my …) |
| 19 | 1 | TO | 4 | Place smaller than a city & larger than a village |
| 17 | 1 | TO | 5 | Pull a vehicle with a rope, chain, or bar, verb/noun |
| 18 | 1 | TO | 5 | Cloth used to dry off after a shower |
| 18 | 1 | TO | 7 | Cloth used to dry off after a shower |
| 18 | 1 | TO | 9 | Cloth used to dry off after a shower |
| 20 | 1 | TW | 4 | Britishspeak for excessively or affectedly quaint, pretty, or sentimental; lop off final consonant of below |
| 21 | 1 | TW | 5 | Rough-surfaced woolen cloth, typically of mixed flecked colors, originally produced in Scotland |
| 23 | 1 | TW | 5 | Slang abbr. for a preadolescent; change last letter in above |
| 24 | 1 | TW | 5 | Bird vocalization, or post on a social media platform that Elon Musk no longer wants |
| 22 | 1 | TW | 7 | Produce high-pitched, modulated sounds; or one of the twins …dee and …dum |
| 24 | 1 | TW | 7 | Bird vocalization, or post on a social media platform that Elon Musk no longer wants |
| 22 | 1 | TW | 8 | Produce high-pitched, modulated sounds; or one of the twins …dee and …dum |
| 6 | 1 | WE | 4 | leave; move from one place to another |
| 26 | 1 | WE | 4 | Unwanted plant, or remove them from garden |
| 27 | 1 | WE | 4 | Join metal with a blowtorch |
| 28 | 1 | WE | 4 | Hole in ground you draw water from |
| 29 | 1 | WE | 4 | Red, swollen mark on skin from a blow or allergic reaction |
| 30 | 1 | WE | 4 | Go, in a non-linear route; meander; (of person, river, path) |
| 25 | 1 | WE | 6 | Marry |
| 26 | 1 | WE | 6 | Unwanted plant, or remove them from garden |
| 27 | 1 | WE | 6 | Join metal with a blowtorch |
| 28 | 1 | WE | 6 | Hole in ground you draw water from |
| 29 | 1 | WE | 6 | Red, swollen mark on skin from a blow or allergic reaction |
| 30 | 1 | WE | 6 | Go, in a non-linear route; meander; (of person, river, path) |
| 31 | 1 | WE | 6 | Opposite of dry, adj./verb |
| 32 | 1 | WO | 4 | Literary noun & adj. for “custom” (as was her …, he was … to), or contraction of “will not” |
| 35 | 1 | WO | 4 | Forest (Pooh’s “100 acre …”) or tree flesh, noun |
| 36 | 1 | WO | 4 | Warm, itchy knitted fabric made from sheep hair, noun/adj. |
| 37 | 1 | WO | 4 | Slang exclamation of elation, or Amazon daily deals site |
| 34 | 1 | WO | 5 | Seek the favor or support of someone; or try to convince someone to marry you |
| 38 | 1 | WO | 5 | Exclamanation expressing astonishment or admiration; or greatly impress someone, verb |
| 33 | 1 | WO | 6 | Chinese dumpling (… soup) |
| 35 | 2 | WO | 6 | Forest (Pooh’s “100 acre …”) or tree flesh, noun |
| 36 | 1 | WO | 6 | Warm, itchy knitted fabric made from sheep hair, noun/adj. |
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.