- Letters: I/ACEHLT
- Words: 72
- Points: 348
- Pangrams: 2
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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, ...) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 1 | AC | 4 | Trendy smoothie berry |
| 1 | 1 | AC | 6 | African or Australian wattle tree |
| 3 | 1 | AC | 6 | Vinegar adj., or acid it contains |
| 46 | 1 | AL | 4 | Illumination (Let there be …); noun/verb |
| 5 | 1 | AT | 5 | Unfinished room below roof; garret |
| 62 | 1 | AT | 5 | Move into a sloping position, or fight windmills (… at) |
| 4 | 1 | AT | 8 | Person proficient in sports |
| 6 | 1 | CA | 5 | Succulent plant with a thick stem that usually has spines, lacks leaves, and occasionally has brilliantly colored flowers |
| 7 | 1 | CA | 7 | Mineral that’s the principal component of marble; similar to milk nutrient mineral |
| 8 | 1 | CA | 7 | Domestic feline hind appendage, or reed (compound) |
| 10 | 1 | CE | 5 | Yo-Yo Ma’s instrument (also Pablo Casals') |
| 9 | 1 | CE | 6 | Gluten intolerance disease |
| 11 | 1 | CH | 4 | Spiced Indian tea (… latte) |
| 13 | 1 | CH | 4 | Faddish “pet” mint plant |
| 14 | 1 | CH | 4 | Fashionable |
| 20 | 1 | CH | 4 | IOU note, Navy memo |
| 15 | 1 | CH | 5 | Girl, Spanish |
| 18 | 1 | CH | 5 | Hot pepper, or spicy meat stew (… con carne) |
| 19 | 1 | CH | 5 | Cool (in the fridge), or relax (… out) |
| 16 | 1 | CH | 6 | Pretentious style (or almost 2x fashionable) |
| 17 | 1 | CH | 6 | Milky latex of the sapodilla tree, used to make chewing gum & start of a square gum brand name |
| 12 | 1 | CH | 7 | Large cup or goblet, typically used for drinking wine |
| 21 | 1 | CH | 8 | Idle small talk; slang compound noun or verb that starts with a list word |
| 23 | 1 | CI | 4 | Quote as evidence |
| 22 | 1 | CI | 5 | Short microscopic hairlike vibrating structure found in large numbers on the surface of certain cells; (anatomy) eyelash |
| 24 | 1 | CL | 6 | Phrasé that’s overused |
| 25 | 1 | EC | 8 | Wide-ranging tastes, styles, or ideas; adj. |
| 27 | 1 | EL | 5 | Select group that’s superior |
| 26 | 1 | EL | 6 | Draw out a response, verb |
| 28 | 1 | ET | 5 | A set of moral principles, especially ones relating to or affirming a specified group, field, or form of conduct |
| 28 | 1 | ET | 7 | A set of moral principles, especially ones relating to or affirming a specified group, field, or form of conduct |
| 29 | 1 | HA | 4 | Frozen rain “stone,” noun; or summon a taxi, verb |
| 30 | 1 | HA | 6 | Rock salt |
| 31 | 1 | HE | 6 | Full of incessant or frantic activity |
| 33 | 1 | HE | 7 | Spiral or corkscrew shape (DNA is a double …) |
| 32 | 1 | HE | 8 | Relating to or near the sun |
| 34 | 1 | HI | 4 | What Jack & Jill went up |
| 35 | 1 | HI | 4 | Sword or dagger handle |
| 36 | 1 | HI | 5 | “Psycho” director Alfred nickname, or slang for thumb a ride, verb; or device on a vehicle that allows it to attach a trailer, noun |
| 37 | 1 | IC | 6 | Frozen water spear formed from drips |
| 38 | 1 | IL | 5 | Hip bone |
| 45 | 1 | IL | 7 | Not forbidden by law or custom |
| 40 | 1 | IT | 4 | What you scratch (an …) |
| 39 | 1 | IT | 6 | 𝑆𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑒𝑥𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑅𝑜𝑚𝑒’𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑦 |
| 42 | 1 | LA | 4 | Non-clerical |
| 41 | 1 | LA | 6 | Milk adj. (think acid in yogurt or sore muscles) |
| 42 | 1 | LA | 6 | Non-clerical |
| 43 | 1 | LA | 7 | Structure such as a pie top crust with strips of dough, e.g. |
| 44 | 1 | LI | 4 | Itchy hair parasites |
| 48 | 1 | LI | 4 | Singsong accent |
| 49 | 1 | LI | 4 | Low-calorie or low-fat in ad-speak (Miller … beer) |
| 45 | 1 | LI | 5 | Not forbidden by law or custom |
| 47 | 1 | LI | 5 | Purple flower or shade |
| 50 | 1 | LI | 5 | Skinny, supple, & graceful (her…figure) |
| 51 | 1 | LI | 6 | Small (Stuart or Chicken …), adj. |
| 52 | 1 | LI | 6 | Small rounded Chinese fruit with sweet white scented flesh, a large central stone, and a thin rough skin (has at least one alternate spelling) |
| 56 | 1 | TA | 4 | Dogs wag this hind appendage |
| 58 | 1 | TA | 4 | Ankle bone |
| 53 | 1 | TA | 5 | Understood without being stated (… agreement), adj. |
| 54 | 1 | TA | 6 | Action planned to achieve a specific end (negotiating …) |
| 57 | 1 | TA | 6 | Fringed prayer shawl |
| 55 | 1 | TA | 7 | Perceptible by touch, adj. |
| 54 | 1 | TA | 8 | Action planned to achieve a specific end (negotiating …) |
| 59 | 1 | TE | 6 | Last word in name of Cambridge school M.I.T., abbr. |
| 60 | 1 | TI | 4 | Thin ceramic wall, counter, flooring, or roofing square |
| 61 | 1 | TI | 4 | Cash register or drawer, noun; “up to,” preposition; or prep soil for planting, verb |
| 62 | 1 | TI | 4 | Move into a sloping position, or fight windmills (… at) |
| 63 | 1 | TI | 5 | Cultivation of land, or prepped soil surface, noun; rhymes with “extreme dirt” synonym |
| 64 | 1 | TI | 5 | Give 10% of your income to the Church |
| 66 | 1 | TI | 5 | Name of a book, movie, or job, noun/verb |
| 67 | 1 | TI | 6 | Dot above an i or j, or really small amount |
| 65 | 1 | TI | 9 | Stimulate or excite, especially in a sexual way |
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