Bee Roots for 2025-07-03

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: L/EIMTUV
  • Words: 41
  • Points: 146
  • Pangrams: 1
Source: New Line Cinema

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, ...)
1EL5Select group that’s superior
1EV4Wicked (ELO’s “… Woman”, Santana's "… Ways")
1IL5Third portion of the human small intestine, between the jejunum and the cecum, NOT a bone
1IL5Hip bone
1LE5River embankment to prevent flooding
1LE5Flat, adj.; or straightening tool with bubble, noun
1LI4In place of (in … of flowers)
1LI4Singsong accent
1LI4Small green citrus fruit
1LI5Size, speed, or amount restriction
1LI4Low-calorie or low-fat in ad-speak (Miller … beer)
1LI6Small (Stuart or Chicken …), adj.
1LI4Exist, verb; or not on tape (TV show), adj.
1LU4Soothe (… into a false sense of security), verb; or a pause in activity, noun
1LU4Doozy, or “To Sir With Love” singer
1LU4Older guitar relative
1ME5Confusing scuffle
1ME4What ice cream does when you leave it out of the freezer, verb
1ME6Person’s ability to cope with adversity (test your …), NOT iron or tin; noun
1MI45,280 feet, or 1.6 km
1MI6Your social environment
1MI4Wheat or pepper grinder
1MI6Grain used as food; pearl is most common
1MU4Pack animal that’s an offspring of a ♂ donkey & ♀ horse; or a backless shoe
1MU4Think over, heat cider or wine, verb; or actor Martin
1MU6Hairstyle that’s short in front & long in back
1MU10Relating to or involving many horizontal planes, pangram (… marketing)
1TE4Inform, verb; or Swiss archer William with an overture
1TI4Thin ceramic wall, counter, flooring, or roofing square
1TI4Cash register or drawer, noun; “up to,” preposition; or prep soil for planting, verb
1TI4Move into a sloping position, or fight windmills (… at)
1TI5Name of a book, movie, or job, noun/verb; or a document showing you own a car or house
1TI6Dot above an i or j, or really small amount
1TU5Lightweight, stiff veil or gown fabric
1TU6Loud, confused crowd noise; or disorder; noun
1UT5Useful, formal adj. (think of what Batman wears on his waist)
1VE4Bride’s face covering
1VE6Fine-grained unsplit lambskin, kidskin, or calfskin prepared especially for writing on or for binding books
1VE5Membrane resembling a veil or curtain
1VE6Soft fabric, developing antler cover, or Lou Reed’s “… Underground” rock band
1VI4Despicable, NOT a small glass container; adj.

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