- Letters: R/ACILPT
- Words: 58
- 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 | AL | 5 | Table or flat-topped block used as the focus for a religious ritual, especially for making sacrifices |
| 1 | AP | 5 | Separately (… from that), or in pieces (taken …) |
| 1 | AP | 7 | Soviet admin system (…-chik) |
| 1 | AR | 6 | North Pole adj. (… Circle or Ocean) |
| 1 | AR | 4 | Opera solo |
| 1 | AR | 4 | Seed covering |
| 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 | Flower oil for perfume |
| 1 | AT | 7 | Entice, lure, or evoke (… attention; opposites …), verb |
| 1 | CA | 5 | Unit of weight for gems, NOT bunny food |
| 1 | CA | 4 | Gefilte fish source, noun; or to complain (… about), verb |
| 2 | CA | 5,6 | Group of eight bones that form the wrist and part of the hand |
| 1 | CA | 4 | Shopping trolley you push |
| 1 | CA | 8 | Eye cloudiness, or waterfall |
| 1 | CI | 5 | “Around” when used before a year, Latin |
| 1 | CI | 5 | Cloud forming wispy streaks (“mare's tails”) at high altitude |
| 1 | CI | 6 | Tree genus that includes lemon, lime, orange, and grapefruit, or the fruit of those trees |
| 1 | CL | 8 | absurdity; or nonsense, compound |
| 1 | CR | 4 | Excrement, or something of extremely poor quality, noun/verb |
| 2 | CR | 6,8 | Fault-finder (“everyone’s a …”), or arts & dining reviewer |
| 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 | ₺ or ₤, Turkish or old Italian $ |
| 1 | PA | 4 | Twosome (socks, aces, e.g.) |
| 1 | PA | 4 | Some but not all, or line combed into hair |
| 1 | PA | 7 | Incomplete |
| 1 | PA | 7 | Musical suite of variations, usually for a solo instrument |
| 1 | PI | 6 | Tall vertical structure that supports or decorates a building; or, figuratively, someone who reliably supports a group (… of the community) |
| 1 | PI | 7 | Someone from a ship that flies the Jolly Roger; sea thief, often depicted with an eye patch |
| 1 | PR | 9 | Likely to succeed; or concerned with doing things rather than theory, adj., pangram |
| 1 | PR | 4 | Brit slang for a fool or butt (“…fall”); similar to “Jurassic Park” actor Chris |
| 1 | PR | 7 | Penis adj.: resembling one, relating to ♂ sexuality, or having a persistently erect one; from Greek mythology |
| 1 | RA | 6 | Grouping of people based on shared physical characteristics (regardless of …, creed, or color) |
| 1 | RA | 4 | What a train travels on, or what you hold on stairs |
| 1 | RA | 7 | Car or wagon that is part of a train, compound |
| 1 | RA | 5 | Indian yogurt veg dip |
| 1 | RA | 4 | Fascinated, mesmerized; adj. |
| 1 | RA | 7 | Machine gun sound |
| 1 | RA | 7 | Rodent hind appendage, fish, or hair style; or round file, compound |
| 1 | RA | 7 | Device to catch large rodents, or a run-down place, compound |
| 1 | RI | 4 | $ in Iran, Oman, & Yemen |
| 1 | RI | 4 | Small stream |
| 1 | TA | 5 | Animal similar in appearance to a pig, lives in Central & S America & SE Asia |
| 1 | TA | 4 | Waterproof sheet used as outdoor roof, abbr. |
| 1 | TA | 4 | Open filled pastry, noun; or sharp taste, adj. |
| 1 | TA | 6 | Fish sauce, or tooth buildup |
| 1 | TI | 5 | Jeweled, ornamental ½ crown |
| 1 | TR | 5 | Large land area, or body passage (“digestive …”) |
| 1 | TR | 5 | Forest path, noun; follow or fall behind, verb |
| 1 | TR | 5 | Characteristic, often genetically determined (left-handedness, e.g.) |
| 1 | TR | 4 | Device for catching things |
| 1 | TR | 5 | Courtroom proceeding |
| 1 | TR | 5 | Vibratory sound, Star Trek symbiotic species (Dax, e.g.), or how Spanish people say “R” |
| 1 | TR | 4 | Journey, noun (you’ve won a … to Paris!), or stumble (… over your own 2 feet), verb |
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