- Letters: M/ACEIPT
- Words: 49
- Points: 169
- 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 | AC | 4 | Peak; or where Wile E. Coyote orders his supplies |
| 1 | AT | 7 | Make an effort to achieve or complete something, verb/noun |
| 1 | CA | 4 | ♀ sleeveless undergarment top, slang abbr. |
| 1 | CA | 4 | Live temporarily in a tent, verb/noun |
| 1 | CA | 4 | Travel toward a particular place, tell your dog to move toward you, or slang for “to orgasm” |
| 1 | EM | 8 | Cause to lose flesh so as to become very thin, past tense is a pangram |
| 1 | EM | 5 | Master of Ceremonies (sounded-out initials), slang noun/verb |
| 1 | EM | 6 | Med that induces vomiting |
| 1 | EM | 4 | Give off (radiation, signals) |
| 1 | IM | 4 | Prayer leader at mosque |
| 1 | IM | 7 | Copy someone’s speech or mannerisms |
| 1 | IM | 6 | Come into forcible contact with an object, verb/noun; or have a strong effect on someone, verb |
| 1 | IT | 4 | One thing as part of a set, 10 or fewer of these at an express register |
| 1 | MA | 4 | Self-defense pepper spray, staff, or spice from a nutmeg |
| 1 | MA | 4 | Permanently injure |
| 2 | MA | 4,5 | ♀ parent, slang |
| 1 | MA | 4 | Fellow member (cast-…) or joint occupant (room-…) |
| 1 | MA | 5 | Dull finish on paint or photos |
| 1 | ME | 4 | Animal flesh for consumption (beef, ham, etc.) |
| 1 | ME | 5 | Holiest city in Islam, or place of attraction (shopping …) |
| 1 | ME | 4 | Encounter (I’m supposed to … him in the park) |
| 1 | ME | 4 | Viral internet funny image, noun/verb |
| 1 | ME | 7 | Relating to an element of a culture that is passed from one individual to another by imitation or other non-genetic means |
| 1 | ME | 4 | Beyond prefix, greek |
| 1 | ME | 4 | Dispense justice (“… out punishment”), homophone of “animal flesh for consumption” |
| 1 | MI | 4 | Flaky rock that breaks off in sheets |
| 1 | MI | 4 | 3 blind rodents in rhyme |
| 1 | MI | 4 | Silent performer |
| 1 | MI | 7 | Imitative behavior, adj. |
| 1 | MI | 5 | Parrot someone’s speaking & mannerisms, verb; or the person doing it, noun |
| 1 | MI | 4 | Tiny tick, or very small amount (I'm a … testy today) |
| 1 | MI | 4 | Catcher’s glove, or Sen. Romney |
| 1 | PA | 5 | S Am treeless grassland |
| 1 | PE | 9 | Period without war, compound pangram |
| 1 | PI | 4 | ♂ who controls prostitutes, noun/verb |
| 1 | TA | 4 | Not wild, adj./verb |
| 1 | TA | 4 | Pack down (start of Florida city on a bay) |
| 1 | TA | 6 | Japanese & dojo floor mats (畳) |
| 1 | TE | 4 | Group of sports players (Yankees, e.g.), noun; … up, verb |
| 1 | TE | 8 | A fellow player in the same group, compound |
| 1 | TE | 7 | Britspeak for the early afternoon hour when you serve a steeped beverage, compound (NOT a golf reservation) |
| 1 | TE | 4 | Be full or swarming with; homophone of Yankees group |
| 1 | TE | 4 | Office worker fill-in, slang abbr. |
| 1 | TE | 5 | Speed at which a passage of music is played; more generally, pace of an activity |
| 1 | TE | 5 | Entice (as a donut to a dieter, e.g.), verb |
| 1 | TI | 4 | What clocks measure & display |
| 1 | TI | 9 | Clock, watch, or any other device for measuring the passage of minutes and hours |
| 1 | TI | 7 | Small songbirds; plural; starts with “breast” slang & ends in “3 blind” rodent |
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