- Letters: M/ELONTU
- Words: 54
- Points: 225
- 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 | EL | 7 | The periodic table is full of these (singular) |
| 1 | EM | 9 | Constitution prohibits US fed officials from receiving this fee from foreign governments or officials, pangram |
| 1 | EM | 5 | Express feelings (especially when acting) |
| 1 | LE | 5 | Yellow citrus fruit, or CNN anchor Don |
| 1 | LO | 4 | Cloth weaving device |
| 1 | LU | 5 | Measure of light output, noun |
| 1 | ME | 4 | Encounter (I’m supposed to … him in the park) |
| 1 | ME | 5 | Confusing scuffle |
| 1 | ME | 5 | Cantaloupe or honeydew, e.g. |
| 1 | ME | 4 | What ice cream does when you leave it out of the freezer, verb |
| 1 | ME | 4 | Viral internet funny image, noun/verb |
| 1 | ME | 7 | Souvenir in English; or 2000 thriller about an amnesiac (Guy Pearce) |
| 1 | ME | 4 | Office note abbr. |
| 1 | ME | 6 | Experienced and trusted adviser, usually an older person |
| 1 | ME | 4 | List of things you can order in a restaurant |
| 1 | ME | 4 | Dispense justice (“… out punishment”), homophone of “animal flesh for consumption” |
| 1 | ME | 6 | Person’s ability to cope with adversity (test your …), NOT iron or tin; noun |
| 1 | MO | 4 | Burrowing blind rodent, or embedded spy |
| 1 | MO | 4 | Mobster’s ♀ |
| 1 | MO | 4 | Shed feathers, hair, or skin; verb |
| 1 | MO | 6 | Liquefied by extreme heat (…lava), adj.; starts with above |
| 1 | MO | 6 | Very brief period of time (“I’ll be with you in just a …”) |
| 1 | MO | 8 | Mass times velocity in physics, noun; or power acquired through a series of events (three successful movies gave her career …) |
| 1 | MO | 4 | 1–channel sound abbreviation, or glandular fever “kissing disease” abbreviation |
| 1 | MO | 8 | Sound that is unchanging in pitch (“She spoke in a … that put me to sleep”) |
| 1 | MO | 5 | 3–card … con game |
| 1 | MO | 8 | Memorial structure (Washington …) |
| 1 | MO | 4 | NASA Apollo missions landed on or circled it |
| 1 | MO | 4 | Irrelevant, in law (it’s a … point), adj.; or obscure verb meaning to raise a topic for discussion |
| 1 | MO | 4 | Speck of dust |
| 1 | MO | 5 | Place to sleep when you’re travelling (… 6, e.g.) |
| 1 | MO | 5 | Short piece of sacred choral music, typically polyphonic & unaccompanied |
| 1 | MO | 6 | Pattern of irregular spots; usually an adj. |
| 1 | MO | 5 | Short phrase encapsulating beliefs of an institution (Marines’ “Semper Fi”) |
| 1 | MO | 4 | A little grimace, noun; or a pout, noun |
| 1 | MO | 5 | Get on a horse, or geographical name start (St. Helens, Shasta, Everest), past tense is a pangram |
| 1 | MU | 4 | Pack animal that’s an offspring of a ♂ donkey & ♀ horse; or a backless shoe |
| 1 | MU | 4 | Think over, heat cider or wine, verb; or actor Martin |
| 1 | MU | 6 | Hairstyle that’s short in front & long in back |
| 1 | MU | 4 | Not able to make sound, noun/verb |
| 1 | MU | 4 | Mixed-breed dog, slang |
| 1 | MU | 6 | Sheep meat (chops) |
| 1 | MU | 6 | Loose, brightly-colored Hawaiian dress with a double name |
| 2 | OM | 6,8 | Fried eggs folded around fillings such as cheese |
| 1 | OM | 4 | Portent, or Damien’s horror films (“The …”) |
| 1 | TE | 4 | Be full or swarming with; homophone of Yankees group |
| 1 | TE | 8 | Set of rooms within a house, or cheap multi-family bldg. |
| 1 | TO | 4 | Large, heavy book |
| 1 | TO | 5 | Symbolic object (… pole) |
| 1 | TU | 6 | Loud, confused crowd noise; or disorder; noun |
| 1 | UN | 5 | Encounter (I’m supposed to … him in the park) |
| 1 | UN | 7 | Get on a horse, or geographical name start (St. Helens, Shasta, Everest), past tense is a pangram |
| 1 | UN | 6 | Not able to make sound, noun/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