- Letters: I/ALMORT
- Words: 74
- Points: 315
- 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 | 5 | Garlic mayonnaise, from French for garlic |
| 1 | AI | 7 | Letters transported by plane (compound) |
| 1 | AL | 4 | Illumination, noun/verb (Let there be …) |
| 1 | AR | 4 | Opera solo |
| 1 | AR | 4 | Seed covering |
| 1 | AR | 8 | Relating to heraldry or heraldic devices |
| 2 | AT | 5,6 | Large open-air or skylight covered space surrounded by a building, common in ancient Roman houses; an upper cavity of the heart |
| 1 | AT | 5 | Move into a sloping position, or fight windmills (… at) |
| 1 | IM | 4 | Prayer leader at mosque |
| 1 | IM | 8 | Copy someone’s speech or mannerisms |
| 1 | IM | 7 | Principled, ethical, adjective; or the lesson of a story, noun |
| 1 | IM | 8 | Human subject to death (mere…), noun; or fatal (…wound), adj. |
| 1 | IO | 4 | 9th Greek letter, I; or extremely small amount |
| 1 | LA | 4 | Animal or criminal den |
| 1 | LA | 6 | Cowboy rope |
| 1 | LI | 4 | Someone who doesn’t tell the truth |
| 1 | LI | 4 | Singsong accent |
| 1 | LI | 4 | Peru capital, or bean |
| 1 | LI | 5 | Size, speed, or amount restriction |
| 1 | LI | 4 | Chauffeured, stretched car, slang abbr. |
| 1 | LI | 4 | ₺ or ₤, Turkish or old Italian $ |
| 1 | LI | 8 | Part of a lake or ocean near the coast |
| 1 | MA | 4 | Letters you get or send |
| 1 | MA | 7 | Dancing or gymnastics tights, ♀ 1–piece bathing suit, or bike racing jersey; a French word for shirt |
| 1 | MA | 8 | Apt. bldg. & office chamber where you pick up letters & packages, compound |
| 1 | MA | 4 | Permanently injure |
| 2 | MA | 7,8 | Ague, or swamp fever from mosquitoes |
| 1 | MA | 7 | Relating to the relationship of wedded couples (… bliss) |
| 1 | MA | 7 | Relating to the armed forces (the dictator imposed … law) |
| 1 | MI | 7 | Armed vigilante group; 2nd Amendment's “Well-regulated …” |
| 1 | MI | 4 | Wheat or pepper grinder |
| 1 | MI | 6 | Looking glass (“Who’s the fairest of them all?”) |
| 1 | MI | 6 | Relating to the bicuspid heart valve between the left atrium & left ventricle, adj. |
| 1 | MI | 4 | Catcher’s glove, or Sen. Romney |
| 1 | MO | 4 | To work hard (archaic); homophone of bris snipper |
| 1 | MO | 9 | Temporary prohibition of an activity (… on evictions because of COVID) |
| 1 | OL | 4 | Mixture, or spicy Spanish stew, NOT margarine |
| 1 | OM | 4 | Leave out, verb |
| 1 | OR | 8 | Religious music for orchestra & voice (Handel’s Messiah, e.g.) |
| 1 | RA | 4 | What a train travels on, or what you hold on stairs |
| 1 | RA | 5 | Indian yogurt veg dip |
| 1 | RA | 5 | Proportion in math (Golden …, e.g.) |
| 1 | RA | 7 | Rodent hind appendage, fish, or hair style; compound |
| 1 | RI | 4 | $ in Iran, Oman, & Yemen |
| 1 | RI | 4 | Small stream |
| 1 | RI | 4 | Civil unrest, noun; or to rampage, verb |
| 1 | RO | 4 | Stir up mud or trouble (…ed the waters) |
| 1 | RO | 4 | Indian flatbread that isn’t naan |
| 1 | RO | 8 | Break up soil using a …–ER cultivator device with spinning blades |
| 1 | TA | 4 | Dogs wag this hind appendage |
| 1 | TA | 6 | Someone who fits clothes |
| 1 | TA | 6 | Fringed prayer shawl |
| 1 | TA | 4 | Ankle bone |
| 1 | TA | 6 | Japanese rich, naturally fermented soy sauce |
| 1 | TA | 6 | Japanese & dojo floor mats (畳) |
| 1 | TI | 5 | Jeweled, ornamental ½ crown |
| 1 | TI | 4 | Cash register or drawer, noun; “up to,” preposition; or prep soil for planting, verb |
| 1 | TI | 4 | Move into a sloping position, or fight windmills (… at) |
| 1 | TO | 4 | Work hard (… away, trying to find the last few Spelling Bee words) |
| 1 | TO | 9 | Mexican husk tomato |
| 1 | TO | 6 | New Zealand small bird (Magnum, P.I star 1st name + breast, slang) |
| 1 | TO | 5 | Shinto shrine gate, NOT double plural of donut shapes |
| 1 | TO | 8 | Thin, circular unleavened flatbread, used in Mexican cooking |
| 1 | TO | 4 | Donut shape |
| 1 | TR | 5 | Forest path, noun; follow or fall behind, verb |
| 1 | TR | 5 | Characteristic, often genetically determined (left-handedness, e.g.) |
| 1 | TR | 7 | Benedict Arnold, e.g. |
| 1 | TR | 9 | Italian restaurant with simple food |
| 1 | TR | 5 | Courtroom proceeding |
| 1 | TR | 5 | Vibratory sound, Star Trek symbiotic species (Dax, e.g.), or how Spanish say “R” |
| 1 | TR | 4 | Neaten (hair) by snipping off ends |
| 1 | TR | 4 | Musical group of 3 (Kingston …) |
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