- Letters: O/DEGILY
- Words: 69
- Points: 320
- Pangrams: 1
|
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
| |
|
Table content
|
| answers covered | answer's first two letters | answer's length | clue for root (answer may need prefix, suffix, tense change, alt spelling, ...) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DI | 5 | Phallus-shaped sex toy |
| 1 | DI | 5 | 1–way semiconductor with 2 terminals |
| 3 | DO | 5,5,6 | Avoid by a sudden quick movement (… the military draft; play …ball) |
| 1 | DO | 4 | Extinct bird; or stupid person, slang |
| 2 | DO | 5,6 | Domestic canine, noun; follow closely and persistently, verb |
| 1 | DO | 4 | Chief magistrate of Venice or Rome, historically; now his palace is a museum; or Elon Musk's government-destruction organization |
| 2 | DO | 6,8 | Persistent, adj.; or stalked, verb |
| 1 | DO | 5 | Remaining silent & motionless to hide (lie …) (think domestic canine) |
| 1 | DO | 5 | Motherless or neglected calf |
| 2 | DO | 6,9 | Follow a sharply bending route (shaped like a canine limb), compound |
| 1 | DO | 5 | Ornamental lace mat |
| 2 | DO | 4,5 | Pineapple brand, noun; or distribute (… out portions of food) |
| 2 | DO | 4,6 | Small human figure toy such as Barbie, noun; or get all dressed up for a party, verb |
| 2 | DO | 5,7 | Move on a mobile platform, for example a movie camera |
| 2 | DO | 6,7 | Scribble or draw absentmindedly |
| 1 | GE | 5 | Rock with crystals inside |
| 1 | GE | 5 | Hypothetical shape of the earth, coinciding with mean sea level |
| 1 | GE | 7 | Study of rocks |
| 1 | GI | 6 | Male escort; Richard Gere “American …” film |
| 1 | GO | 5 | Pious (deity adj.) |
| 3 | GO | 6,6,7 | Eye protector for swimming or skiing; or stare with wide & bulging eyes |
| 1 | GO | 4 | Element Au, atomic no. 79 |
| 1 | GO | 5 | Informal exclamation of surprise (part of Little Richard song title “Good …, Miss M...”) |
| 1 | GO | 5 | Sticky or slimy substance |
| 2 | GO | 4,6 | Virtuous (“… Humor” ice cream brand); or sizable (a … amount of hot fudge); or approving exclamation (Oh …! We’re having ice cream!) |
| 1 | GO | 6 | Generous, considerable, or ample (… portion) |
| 1 | GO | 5 | Something attractive or desirable, especially something tasty or pleasant to eat |
| 2 | GO | 6,7 | Popular web search site |
| 1 | GO | 6 | Unfocused or rolling eyes, adj.; or cricket bowling variation |
| 1 | GO | 6 | Large number (10¹⁰⁰), NOT a web search site |
| 1 | ID | 8 | A system of concepts and beliefs, especially one which forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy, pangram |
| 1 | ID | 4 | Punk rocker Billy; “American …” TV singing contest; or public figure you worship (…-ize) |
| 1 | IG | 5 | Ice house |
| 1 | IO | 6 | Compound made with element 53 |
| 1 | LO | 4 | Vein of metal ore (mother…) |
| 2 | LO | 5,6 | Provide someone with a place to sleep (at a ski resort?) |
| 1 | LO | 6 | Tree trunk that has been cut or fallen down; official record of events, noun/verb |
| 1 | LO | 4 | Theater section behind orchestra |
| 1 | LO | 4 | Company graphic symbol; Target’s is a red bullseye ◎ |
| 1 | LO | 4 | Sluggish, adj., or “study of” suffix |
| 2 | LO | 4,6 | Hang out or droop, as a dog’s tongue |
| 1 | OD | 5 | Opposite of even (math); unusual |
| 1 | OG | 4 | S–shaped line or molding, noun; or having a double continuous S–shaped curve, adj. |
| 2 | OG | 4,5 | Eye amorously |
| 2 | OI | 4,5 | Viscous liquid used for lubrication, noun/verb; (food) a fat that's liquid at room temperature |
| 1 | OL | 5 | Having lived for a long time |
| 1 | OL | 4 | Margarine |
| 1 | OL | 4 | Mixture, or spicy Spanish stew, NOT margarine |
| 1 | OL | 5 | Skateboard jump, or Stan’s slapstick partner |
| 2 | YO | 5,7 | Drake snack cake, or call or sing (in the Swiss Alps?) by alternating between normal voice & falsetto |
| 1 | YO | 4 | Bendy, meditative exercise on mats |
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