- Letters: V/CDEINO
- Words: 59
- Points: 381
- Pangrams: 5
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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, ...) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | CI | 5 | Popular Honda model; or municipal (adj.) |
| 7 | 1 | CO | 4 | Small sheltered bay (“Pirate’s …”) |
| 8 | 1 | CO | 5 | A gathering of witches; add a letter to end of above |
| 3 | 1 | CO | 7 | Sneakily plan something bad with others, or overlook what they’re doing (usually an –ING adj.) |
| 4 | 1 | CO | 7 | Bring together for a meeting |
| 2 | 1 | CO | 8 | Become pregnant, or think up an idea |
| 3 | 1 | CO | 8 | Sneakily plan something bad with others, or overlook what they’re doing (usually an –ING adj.) |
| 4 | 1 | CO | 8 | Bring together for a meeting |
| 6 | 1 | CO | 8 | Successfully persuade someone to believe or do something, verb |
| 2 | 1 | CO | 9 | Become pregnant, or think up an idea |
| 6 | 1 | CO | 9 | Successfully persuade someone to believe or do something, verb |
| 5 | 1 | CO | 11 | State of being able to do easily (… fee, at your earliest …) |
| 10 | 1 | DE | 6 | Something made for a purpose, especially a piece of mechanical or electronic equipment |
| 28 | 1 | DE | 6 | Tube that returns blood to the heart |
| 36 | 1 | DE | 6 | Not valid or legally binding; or, completely empty |
| 9 | 1 | DE | 7 | Cause someone to believe something that is not true; give a false impression |
| 9 | 1 | DE | 8 | Cause someone to believe something that is not true; give a false impression |
| 28 | 1 | DE | 8 | Tube that returns blood to the heart |
| 11 | 1 | DI | 4 | Jump headfirst into water |
| 11 | 1 | DI | 5 | Jump headfirst into water |
| 12 | 1 | DI | 6 | Separate into parts, or ÷ arithmetic operation |
| 14 | 1 | DI | 6 | Of, from, or like God or a god (to forgive is…), adj.; or figure out from a hunch or prophesy |
| 12 | 1 | DI | 7 | Separate into parts, or ÷ arithmetic operation |
| 14 | 1 | DI | 7 | Of, from, or like God or a god (to forgive is…), adj.; or figure out from a hunch or prophesy |
| 15 | 1 | DI | 7 | Break into parts for sharing (… up the proceeds) |
| 13 | 1 | DI | 8 | $ paid quarterly by a stock |
| 16 | 1 | DO | 4 | Pigeon family, chocolate brand, or jumped headfirst into water |
| 17 | 1 | EN | 6 | Leafy veg (Belgian …) AKA chicory |
| 18 | 1 | EN | 6 | Jealousy, noun/verb |
| 19 | 1 | EV | 4 | Number that can be divided by 2 without a remainder, or flat & smooth; adj.; or to make or become that (… out the edges) |
| 19 | 1 | EV | 6 | Number that can be divided by 2 without a remainder, or flat & smooth; adj.; or to make or become that (… out the edges) |
| 21 | 1 | EV | 6 | Formal verb: reveal the presence of (a quality or feeling) (his words … his excitement) |
| 21 | 1 | EV | 7 | Formal verb: reveal the presence of (a quality or feeling) (his words … his excitement) |
| 20 | 1 | EV | 8 | Body of facts or information indicating whether a belief or proposition is true, noun/verb |
| 20 | 1 | EV | 9 | Body of facts or information indicating whether a belief or proposition is true, noun/verb |
| 22 | 1 | IN | 7 | Written request from a business for payment, noun/verb |
| 22 | 1 | IN | 8 | Written request from a business for payment, noun/verb |
| 5 | 1 | IN | 13 | State of being able to do easily (… fee, at your earliest …) |
| 5 | 1 | IN | 14 | State of being able to do easily (… fee, at your earliest …) |
| 23 | 1 | IV | 5 | Climbing plant with shiny, dark green five-pointed leaves (… League) |
| 24 | 1 | NO | 6 | Beginner, or religious order candidate |
| 25 | 1 | OV | 4 | Appliance for baking |
| 26 | 1 | OV | 5 | Sheep adj. |
| 27 | 1 | OV | 5 | Egg shaped |
| 28 | 1 | VE | 4 | Tube that returns blood to the heart |
| 29 | 1 | VE | 4 | Sell (…-ing machine, e.g.) |
| 28 | 1 | VE | 6 | Tube that returns blood to the heart |
| 29 | 1 | VE | 6 | Sell (…-ing machine, e.g.) |
| 30 | 1 | VI | 4 | Bad habit, or “Miami …” police show |
| 32 | 1 | VI | 4 | Compete eagerly |
| 33 | 1 | VI | 4 | Climbing plant (Marvin Gaye “I Heard It Through The Grape…”) |
| 31 | 1 | VI | 5 | Good friend of audio; the V in A/V |
| 34 | 1 | VI | 5 | Producing powerful feelings or strong, clear images in the mind (a … memory); or, of a color, intensely deep or bright |
| 31 | 1 | VI | 7 | Good friend of audio; the V in A/V |
| 36 | 1 | VO | 4 | Not valid or legally binding; or, completely empty |
| 35 | 1 | VO | 5 | Sound of a person speaking, or NBC singing competition show |
| 35 | 1 | VO | 6 | Sound of a person speaking, or NBC singing competition show |
| 36 | 1 | VO | 6 | Not valid or legally binding; or, completely empty |
| 37 | 1 | VO | 6 | Haitian religion with pincushion dolls |
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.