- Letters: P/AIORTY
- Words: 59
- Points: 263
- 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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| answers covered | answer's first two letters | answer's length | clue for root (answer may need prefix, suffix, tense change, alt spelling, ...) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AI | 7 | Where you catch flights; compound; ends in list word |
| 1 | AP | 5 | Separately (… from that), or in pieces (taken …) |
| 1 | AP | 6 | Honey-producing beehive collection |
| 1 | AP | 7 | Soviet admin system (…-chik) |
| 1 | AT | 4 | Opposite of bottom |
| 1 | PA | 4 | Twosome (socks, aces, e.g.) |
| 1 | PA | 4 | Father, slang |
| 1 | PA | 6 | Tropical fruit with black seeds |
| 1 | PA | 5 | Slang term for father or grandfather |
| 1 | PA | 6 | Egyptian writing sheet made from plant fiber |
| 1 | PA | 9 | Squad of soldiers who drop from planes; (…-er) |
| 1 | PA | 6 | State or condition of being equal, esp. status or pay (achieve …), noun |
| 1 | PA | 6 | Talking tropical bird, noun; or to mimic someone, verb (pic of me) |
| 1 | PA | 5 | Ward off a weapon with a countermove, esp. in fencing |
| 1 | PA | 4 | Some but not all, or line combed into hair |
| 1 | PA | 7 | Musical suite of variations, usually for a solo instrument |
| 1 | PA | 5 | Celebration (birthday …, retirement, toga, e.g.) |
| 1 | PA | 5 | Outdoor terrace adjoining a house, from Spanish (… furniture) |
| 1 | PA | 7 | Person who vigorously supports their country & is prepared to defend it against enemies or detractors (… Act or missile) |
| 1 | PA | 5 | Peppermint candy (& friend of Marcie in “Peanuts”) or burger form |
| 1 | PI | 5 | Ground-dwelling bird that wags its tail & is named for its song |
| 1 | PI | 4 | Flat bread with a pocket, often dipped in hummus or filled with falafel |
| 1 | PI | 7 | Rhyming, usually hyphenated, adv. for rapid beating (my heart went …) |
| 1 | PI | 4 | Feeling of sorrow for someone who’s had misfortunes, noun or verb (Mr. T: “I … the fool ...”) |
| 1 | PO | 4 | Tire out (I’m …-ed); or defecate, slang verb/noun |
| 1 | PO | 4 | Lacking $, or worse than ideal |
| 1 | PO | 5 | Daddy |
| 1 | PO | 5 | Flower used to make opium or honor veterans |
| 1 | PO | 4 | Nautical “left,” harbor, or wine from Lisbon |
| 1 | PO | 8 | Depiction of someone on canvas (… artist, self …) |
| 1 | PO | 7 | Depict someone (as an actor or on canvas) |
| 1 | PO | 6 | Spud |
| 1 | PO | 5 | Kid’s toilet |
| 1 | PR | 4 | Brit slang for a fool or butt (“…fall”); similar to “Jurassic Park” actor Chris |
| 1 | PR | 4 | Appeal to God; what you do in a house of worship |
| 2 | PR | 5,6 | Existing before in time, adj. (Sorry, I have a … engagement) |
| 1 | PR | 8 | Fact or condition of being regarded as more important (The pilot’s top … is landing safely) |
| 1 | PR | 4 | Support (… up), verb; on-stage object or ballot initiative abbr., noun |
| 1 | PY | 4 | “…-maniac” who likes to start fires, slang abbr. |
| 1 | RA | 7 | Close relationship with good communications |
| 1 | RA | 4 | Fascinated, mesmerized; adj. |
| 1 | RA | 6 | Carnivorous bird (eagle. hawk, owl, vulture) or dinosaur (veloci-…) |
| 1 | RA | 7 | Device to catch large rodents, or a run-down place, compound |
| 1 | RO | 4 | Strong cord made by twisting together strands of fibers, noun/verb |
| 1 | TA | 4 | Spanish bar snack (usually plural) |
| 1 | TA | 5 | Animal similar in appearance to a pig, lives in Central & S America & SE Asia (my pic) |
| 1 | TA | 7 | Central plant anchor that grows straight down (others branch off it) & sucks up water; compound; a carrot is one |
| 1 | TA | 4 | Waterproof sheet used as outdoor roof, abbr. |
| 1 | TI | 5 | The end of a pointed thing, noun; money given for good service, noun/verb |
| 1 | TI | 6 | Rhyming compound adj. that means “of the very best quality” (in … condition) (compound) |
| 1 | TO | 7 | Art of clipping shrubs & trees into ornamental shapes, perfect pangram |
| 1 | TO | 6 | Lethargy, not quite hibernation |
| 1 | TR | 4 | Device for catching things |
| 2 | TR | 4,6 | Journey, noun (you’ve won a … to Paris!), or stumble (… over your own 2 feet), verb |
| 1 | TR | 5 | Soldiers (usually plural), or unit of Boy or Girl Scouts |
| 1 | TY | 4 | Keybord eror, slang |
| 1 | YA | 5 | Sharp, shrill bark; slang term for a person's mouth; Pacific island with giant coins |
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