Bee Roots for 2022-11-23

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
  • Letters: M/ACEHKN
  • Words: 22
  • Points: 76
  • Pangrams: 1
Source: pngwing.com

Table content

  • with first two letters of answer and length
root #answers coveredanswer's first two lettersanswer's lengthclue for root (answer may need prefix, suffix, tense change, alt spelling, ...)
11AC4Peak, or where Wile E. Coyote orders his supplies
21AH4Throat-clearing, attention-getting sound
31AM4Prayer-ending word
41CA4Arrived, or slang for “had an orgasm,” verb
51EM5Master of Ceremonies (sounded-out initials), slang
61EN5Rectal wash (Fleet, e.g.)
71HE4Iron-containing biological compound (in blood, e.g.)
82HE8“Evil…,” ♂ criminal helper, compound
91MA4Self-defense pepper spray, staff, or spice from a nutmeg
101MA4Assemble (Please … dinner tonight; I’m too tired) or force (Oh yeah? … me!), verb
111MA4♀ parent, slang
121MA4Hair on a horse or ♂ lion’s neck
111MA5♀ parent, slang
131MA5Exodus food from the sky
141ME4The average in math, noun; unkind, adj. (“… Girls”); or intend (I didn’t … to do it)
161ME4Submissive (“Blessed are the …, for they shall inherit the earth”), adj.
171ME4Viral internet funny image, noun/verb
151ME5Holiest city in Islam, or place of attraction (shopping …)
181ME6Threaten, verb; or person who causes harm (Dennis the …)
191NA4What you’re called (Kevin or Susan, e.g.)
201NA9Public mention of someone or something by what they're called, noun/verb pangram, compound made from what you're called + paper you write on to pay for something

About this site

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