- Letters: A/CMNORY
- Words: 73
- Points: 313
- 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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| answers covered | answer's first two letters | answer's length | clue for root (answer may need prefix, suffix, tense change, alt spelling, ...) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AC | 5 | Nut from an oak tree |
| 1 | AC | 7 | Abbreviation formed from the initial letters of other words and pronounced as a word |
| 1 | AM | 4 | A supply of bullets, slang abbreviation |
| 1 | AN | 5 | Irritate, vex, irk |
| 1 | AN | 4 | Soon, poetically |
| 1 | AR | 6 | 1 of 2 classes in a tarot pack (major & minor), a mystery or deep secret, or specialized knowledge, noun |
| 1 | AR | 4 | Musically, “with the bow,” or gas brand |
| 2 | AR | 5,6 | Protective covering against weapons (suit of …) |
| 1 | AR | 4 | Military land force, Navy football rival |
| 1 | AR | 5 | Pleasant smell (baking bread, e.g.) |
| 1 | AR | 5 | Ordered series, esp. math |
| 1 | AR | 6 | Steep-sided gully in SW US; Spanish for creek |
| 1 | CA | 5 | Bean source of Hershey Bars |
| 1 | CA | 6 | Alligator with name similar to British Caribbean islands (George Town) (alt spelling is the same) |
| 1 | CA | 4 | Clothing that helps you hide, slang abbr. |
| 1 | CA | 6 | Small bird, popular as a pet, once used as a monitor for poison gas (… in a coal mine) |
| 1 | CA | 6 | Leggy French dance |
| 1 | CA | 5 | Tropical “lily” |
| 1 | CA | 6 | Wheeled artillery |
| 1 | CA | 5 | Shrewd; or soup tin adj. |
| 1 | CA | 5 | Nikon rival, or accepted (Church) lore, noun |
| 1 | CA | 6 | Deep gorge, from Spanish (Grand …) |
| 1 | CA | 5 | Person who works in a traveling amusement (slang) |
| 1 | CA | 5 | Bounce off or glance off an object or cushion |
| 1 | CA | 5 | Lug around (fireman’s …), verb |
| 1 | CO | 4 | 1st part of popular soda brand name |
| 1 | CO | 5 | Hot winter drink with marshmallows, or the powder it’s made from |
| 1 | CO | 4 | Prolonged unconscious state |
| 1 | CO | 5 | Curly punctuation mark that separates phrases |
| 1 | CO | 6 | Upper part of the sun's atmosphere |
| 1 | CO | 8 | Artery that supplies the heart muscle, adj; or heart attack (informal) |
| 1 | CR | 4 | Study intensely just before a test (stuff facts into your brain), or stuff into a box; verb |
| 1 | CR | 6 | Small, narrow space or opening |
| 1 | CR | 6 | What kids use on coloring books |
| 1 | CY | 4 | Greenish-blue (ink cartridge) |
| 1 | MA | 7 | French sandwich cookie |
| 1 | MA | 8 | Small cake or biscuit, typically made from ground almonds, coconut or other nuts |
| 1 | MA | 5 | Opposite of micro |
| 1 | MA | 6 | Printed mark that indicates a long vowel; or president of France |
| 2 | MA | 4,5 | ♀ parent, slang |
| 1 | MA | 7 | Milk-producing gland |
| 1 | MA | 6 | Wealth that’s an evil influence, per the New Testament & Milton |
| 1 | MA | 5 | Exodus food from the sky |
| 1 | MA | 5 | Large country house with lands (Batman’s “Stately Wayne…”) |
| 1 | MA | 4 | More than a few (… people are saying) |
| 1 | MA | 6 | Rattle shaken in music |
| 1 | MA | 4 | Old-timey schoolteacher honorific |
| 1 | MA | 6 | Dark red (Adam Levine’s “… 5” band), noun; or strand on an island, verb |
| 1 | MA | 5 | Wed, verb |
| 1 | MA | 4 | Hellman’s sandwich spread, slang abbr. |
| 1 | MA | 5 | Top city elected official |
| 1 | MO | 5 | ♀ parent, slang |
| 1 | MO | 4 | Sound of pain or sexual pleasure (Harry Potter’s ghost “…-ing Myrtle”) |
| 1 | MO | 9 | Opposite of democracy; government by one person |
| 1 | MO | 5 | Eel-like predatory fish that hides in crevices |
| 1 | MY | 4 | Talking starling that’s often a pet |
| 1 | NA | 4 | Indiaan flaat breaad |
| 1 | NA | 4 | Grandma, slang; or Peter Pan dog |
| 1 | NA | 5 | ♀ goat, or nursemaid |
| 1 | NA | 4 | Drug cop, slang |
| 1 | NA | 5 | Drug dealer, old-fashioned slang |
| 1 | NA | 4 | Dialectic negation (I survived with … a scratch) |
| 1 | OR | 4 | Killer “whale” |
| 1 | RA | 7 | Mammal with a mask |
| 1 | RA | 4 | Lively, entertaining, & mildly sexual; adj. (think car or horse speed contest) |
| 1 | RA | 6 | Bitterness or resentfulness, especially when long-standing |
| 1 | RA | 5 | Synthetic fabric from cellulose |
| 1 | RO | 4 | Wander, or use your phone on another network |
| 1 | RO | 4 | Horse with 2–colored coat |
| 1 | RO | 4 | Lion “shout” |
| 1 | YA | 4 | Knitting thread, or wild story |
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