Bee Roots for 2024-05-28

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: E/ACHKMN
  • Words: 38
  • Points: 121
  • Pangrams: 1
Source: Vogue Arabia

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, ...)
1AC4Muscle, heart, tooth, or tummy dull pain
1AC4Peak; or where Wile E. Coyote orders his supplies
1AC4Teen facial zits
1AH4Throat-clearing, attention-getting sound
1AM4Prayer-ending word
1CA5Hidden stockpile, or computer temp memory storage to speed access
1CA4Baked dessert, often with layers and icing; traditional birthday party fare
1CA4Walking stick, or striped peppermint Xmas crook
1CA4Travel toward a particular place, tell your dog to move toward you, or slang for “to orgasm”
1CH6Possibility (there’s a small …) or serendipity (they met by …); or take a risk, verb
1CH5Bank draft, noun; or verify, verb
1CH5Side of your face, noun; or sass (British)
1EA4Every one, pronoun; or apiece, adv.
1EM5Master of Ceremonies (sounded-out initials), slang noun/verb
1EN5Rectal wash (Fleet, e.g.)
1EN7Intensify, increase, or improve (do this to your driver’s license so it meets new TSA rules), noun form is a pangram
1HA4Large-headed elongated fish with long jaws and strong teeth
1HE4Mild cuss (“… of a job, Brownie!”), euphemism for Satan’s domain
1HE4Iron-containing biological compound (in blood, e.g.)
1HE5Consequently, or in the future (…forth)
2HE8,8“Evil …,” ♂ criminal helper, compound
1HE5Hair or temp. tattoo dye
1KE4Eager (peachy-…), adj.; or wail in grief, verb
1KN4Mid-leg joint, noun; or hit someone with one, verb
1MA4Self-defense pepper spray, staff, or spice from a nutmeg
1MA4Assemble (Please … dinner tonight; I’m too tired) or force (Oh yeah? … me!), verb
1MA4Hair on a horse or ♂ lion’s neck
1ME4The average in math, noun; unkind, adj. (“… Girls”); or intend (I didn’t … to do it)
1ME5Holiest city in Islam, or place of attraction (shopping …)
1ME4Submissive (“Blessed are the …, for they shall inherit the earth”), adj.
1ME4Viral internet funny image, noun/verb
1ME6Threaten, verb; or person who causes harm (Dennis the …)
1NA4What you’re called (Kevin or Susan, e.g.)
1NA9Public mention of someone or something by what they're called, noun/verb pangram, compound made from what you're called + paper you write on to pay for something
1NA7Yellowish cotton cloth or pants made from it, named for city in China
1NE4Body part between head & torso, noun; or kiss & caress amorously, slang verb
1NE4Hawaiian goose & state bird

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