Bee Roots for 2023-03-02

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: P/CENOTY
  • Words: 37
  • Points: 135
  • Pangrams: 1
Source: Farmer's Almanac

Table content

  • with first two letters of answer and length
answers coveredanswer's first two lettersanswer's lengthclue for root (answer may need prefix, suffix, tense change, alt spelling, ...)
1CO7Abstract or general idea, noun
1CO4Chicken pen, noun; or confine in a small space, verb (…ed up)
1CO5Usually hyphenated verb: take for your own use or for another purpose
1CO4Deal effectively with something difficult
1CO4Reproduce, or reproduction (Xerox)
1EC7Bio term for distinct form or race of a plant or animal species occupying a particular habitat
1EP4Fencing sword
1NO4Slang negation
1OP4Pull on a door handle to gain admittance, verb/adj.
1OP8Adversary, rival, game competitor; noun
1PE4Backside of a hammer
1PE4Baby bird sound, Easter marshmallow, or a furtive look
1PE51/100 of a £, or former VP & Indiana Gov
1PE5Tube pasta, vodka optional
1PE51¢ coin
1PE4Archaic for “repressed,” now used as …-up frustration, adj.
1PE4Low-ranking worker, drudge
1PE5Flower with name similar to 1¢ coin
1PE5Energy, liveliness, noun/verb
1PE5Trivial (… crime) (think late “Heartbreakers” singer Tom)
1PE6Hallucinogenic cactus
1PO4Author of verse
1PO4Unleavened cornbread, often Southern or Native American
1PO7Temp floating bridge; or cylinder full of air, two of which keep a type of slow boat afloat
1PO4Yankee Doodle went riding into town on this small horse breed
1PO4Tire out (I’m …-ed); or defecate, slang verb/noun
1PO4Francis, Pius, etc. (head of Roman Catholic Church)
1PO6(Historical or British) sweet or pretty child, or voodoo doll
1PO5Flower used to make opium or honor veterans
2PO6,7Strong (…[drinks]—common Jeopardy category); or able to achieve an erection (think IM– prefix)
1PO5Kid’s toilet
2TE5,6Native Am conical hut; 2 spellings
1TO4Small grayish slender-bodied shark, or mango tree grove; homophone of grayish-brown color
1TY4What you do on a keyboard
1TY4Keybord eror, slang

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.

A few words can have one meaning as a suffixed form and another as a stand-alone word. EVENING, for example. In those cases I will use the meaning that I think is more common.

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