- Letters: P/AILMNT
- Words: 47
- Points: 208
- Pangrams: 1
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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 | AP | 5 | Bee-related adj. |
| 2 | 1 | AP | 6 | Horrify (his tasteless jokes … me) |
| 3 | 1 | IM | 6 | African antelope or Chevy sedan |
| 4 | 1 | IM | 7 | Pacemaker or IUD, e.g., pangram |
| 5 | 1 | IN | 5 | Not suitable or appropriate in the circumstances, adj. |
| 6 | 1 | LA | 4 | Illuminating device |
| 7 | 1 | LI | 4 | Walk with a bad leg, verb; or soggy noodle adj. |
| 8 | 1 | NA | 6 | “I love the smell of [this incendiary gel] in the morning” |
| 9 | 1 | PA | 4 | Bucket, NOT white-faced |
| 10 | 1 | PA | 4 | Sensation from an injury, noun/verb |
| 15 | 1 | PA | 4 | Figurative dark cloud, or funeral "bearer" |
| 16 | 1 | PA | 4 | Underside of hand, or coconut tree |
| 17 | 1 | PA | 4 | Arthropod antenna for touch & taste, or start of medical exam by touch term |
| 21 | 1 | PA | 4 | What a dog does when it’s hot, verb; or singular of trousers, noun |
| 22 | 1 | PA | 4 | Father, slang |
| 11 | 1 | PA | 5 | Latex or oil-based wall coating |
| 18 | 1 | PA | 5 | S Am treeless grassland |
| 23 | 1 | PA | 5 | Pontiff adj. |
| 12 | 1 | PA | 6 | Traditional Mexican shelter roofed with palm leaves or branches, esp. on a beach, noun |
| 19 | 1 | PA | 6 | Cent. Am. country with a canal & hat |
| 20 | 1 | PA | 6 | Toasted Italian sandwich |
| 25 | 1 | PA | 6 | Green film from aging on copper, or sheen on wood from polishing |
| 13 | 1 | PA | 7 | Roof of the mouth |
| 24 | 1 | PA | 7 | Small rounded bump on body part such as tongue (from Latin) |
| 14 | 1 | PA | 8 | Resembling a royal residence (Buckingham?); spacious & splendid, adj. |
| 26 | 1 | PI | 4 | Tablet of medicine |
| 27 | 1 | PI | 4 | ♂ who controls prostitutes, noun/verb |
| 29 | 1 | PI | 4 | 16 fluid oz., or typical UK beer serving |
| 33 | 1 | PI | 4 | Flat bread with a pocket, often dipped in hummus or filled with falafel |
| 31 | 1 | PI | 5 | Ground-dwelling bird that wags its tail & is named for its song |
| 28 | 1 | PI | 6 | Stuffed añimal with toys & cañdy that you hit with a stick |
| 32 | 1 | PI | 6 | Fosse musical about Charlemagne’s son, or apple variety |
| 30 | 1 | PI | 7 | Large duck named for its hind feathers; compound; ends in list word; think “…the...on the donkey” kid’s party game |
| 34 | 1 | PI | 7 | Rhyming, usually hyphenated, adv. for rapid beating (my heart went …) |
| 38 | 1 | PL | 4 | Detailed proposal (teacher’s lesson …), noun; or prepare in advance, verb |
| 41 | 1 | PL | 4 | Construction map; omit end vowel in dish synonym |
| 35 | 1 | PL | 5 | Ordinary, unadorned, NOT a 747; adj. |
| 37 | 1 | PL | 5 | Hair braid, noun/verb |
| 39 | 1 | PL | 5 | It has leaves, roots, & flowers (potted …), noun; or place a seed in the ground, verb |
| 36 | 1 | PL | 6 | Legal term for an accusation, or literary noun for a grievance; usually starts with COM– |
| 42 | 1 | PL | 6 | Flexible, often has COM– prefix; anagram of legal term for an accusation |
| 40 | 1 | PL | 8 | Banana variety |
| 44 | 1 | TA | 4 | Pack down (start of Florida city on a bay) |
| 45 | 1 | TA | 4 | Spanish bar snack (usually plural) |
| 43 | 1 | TA | 8 | Red light at back of car, compound |
| 46 | 1 | TI | 7 | Common bland-tasting fish |
| 47 | 1 | TI | 7 | Kettledrums, Latin plural |
This site provides clues for a day's New York Times Spelling Bee puzzle. It follows in Kevin Davis' footsteps. The original set of 4,500 clues came from him, and they still make up about three quarters of the current clue 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