- Letters: F/DGILNO
- Words: 35
- Points: 190
- Pangrams: 3
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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 | DO | 4 | Remove a hat or clothing |
| 1 | 1 | DO | 7 | Remove a hat or clothing |
| 5 | 1 | FI | 4 | Add material until the container or hole is at capacity |
| 6 | 1 | FI | 4 | Locate something that was lost, verb/noun |
| 3 | 1 | FI | 6 | Small flute used with a drum in military bands, noun/verb |
| 4 | 1 | FI | 6 | Folder of related papers, or tool for smoothing edges (fingernails, e.g.), noun/verb |
| 7 | 1 | FI | 6 | Impose a $ penalty (the judge …d him $100 for speeding) |
| 5 | 1 | FI | 7 | Add material until the container or hole is at capacity |
| 6 | 1 | FI | 7 | Locate something that was lost, verb/noun |
| 2 | 1 | FI | 8 | Violin, especially when used to play folk music, noun/verb |
| 9 | 1 | FL | 4 | Whip (a dead horse?), verb |
| 8 | 1 | FL | 5 | Throw forcefully (monkeys often … poop at spectators) |
| 10 | 1 | FL | 5 | Weather event involving rivers and streams overflowing, noun/verb (it was a 100-year …) |
| 8 | 1 | FL | 8 | Throw forcefully (monkeys often … poop at spectators) |
| 9 | 1 | FL | 8 | Whip (a dead horse?), verb |
| 10 | 1 | FL | 8 | Weather event involving rivers and streams overflowing, noun/verb (it was a 100-year …) |
| 12 | 1 | FO | 4 | Thin aluminum sheet for wrapping leftovers, noun; or thwart, verb (Curses! …ed again) |
| 13 | 1 | FO | 4 | What you do to sheets after laundry, or quit a hand in poker |
| 15 | 1 | FO | 4 | Having an affection or liking for (I’m … of my dog) |
| 17 | 1 | FO | 4 | What you eat; victuals |
| 18 | 1 | FO | 4 | Unwise person, court jester tarot card, noun; or to trick or deceive, verb |
| 14 | 1 | FO | 5 | A book (A Shakespeare first … is quite valuable), a page in a book, or a book size; from Latin for “leaf” |
| 11 | 1 | FO | 7 | What you get when a cloud is at ground level (there was a multi-car pileup because of thick …) |
| 12 | 1 | FO | 7 | Thin aluminum sheet for wrapping leftovers, noun; or thwart, verb (Curses! …ed again) |
| 13 | 1 | FO | 7 | What you do to sheets after laundry, or quit a hand in poker |
| 18 | 1 | FO | 7 | Unwise person, court jester tarot card, noun; or to trick or deceive, verb |
| 16 | 1 | FO | 8 | Stroke or caress lovingly or erotically |
| 19 | 1 | GO | 4 | Twain said this sport is a “waste of a good walk” |
| 20 | 1 | GO | 4 | Mistake, noun; or fool around (… off), verb |
| 19 | 1 | GO | 7 | Twain said this sport is a “waste of a good walk” |
| 20 | 1 | GO | 7 | Mistake, noun; or fool around (… off), verb |
| 22 | 1 | IN | 4 | Collection of facts and tips, abbr. |
| 5 | 1 | IN | 6 | Add material until the container or hole is at capacity |
| 21 | 1 | IN | 9 | Material that plugs a hole, noun; or build on vacant land in a dense city |
| 23 | 1 | OF | 6 | Murder (slang); gerund form also means the near future |
This site provides clues for a day's New York Times Spelling Bee puzzle. It follows in Kevin Davis' footsteps. The original set of clues came from him, and they make up about three quarters of the current set.
The "Bee Roots" approach is to provide explicit clues for root words, not every word. 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.