- Letters: A/BCEKLO
- Words: 60
- Points: 266
- Pangrams: 3
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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 | AB | 5 | Surprised (taken …), adv. |
| 1 | AB | 4 | Having the power, skill, means, or opportunity to do something, adj. (She was … to walk at 14 months), negated noun form is a pangram |
| 1 | AL | 5 | Archaic exclamation of regret or dismay; from list word for “absence of” |
| 1 | AL | 6 | (Bio term) 1 of 2 or more versions of a gene |
| 1 | AL | 9 | Distribute (resources) for a particular purpose |
| 1 | AL | 4 | Sunburn gel from “… vera” plant |
| 1 | BA | 4 | Rum sponge cake, or Ali & his 40 thieves |
| 1 | BA | 6 | Talk rapidly in a foolish or excited way (like an infant); homophone of Genesis “Tower of …,” verb |
| 1 | BA | 4 | Infant, slugger Ruth, or pig film |
| 1 | BA | 5 | Genesis “Tower of …,” noun |
| 1 | BA | 5 | Sweet braided Jewish bread, often with chocolate filling |
| 1 | BA | 4 | Part of body containing your spine |
| 1 | BA | 4 | Cook (bread or cookies, e.g.) in an oven, verb |
| 1 | BA | 4 | Parcel of hay, noun/verb, or actor Christian |
| 1 | BA | 4 | Hesitate or be unwilling to accept an idea or undertaking; or illegal move by a pitcher in baseball |
| 1 | BA | 4 | Where Cinderella lost her slipper, noun; or squeeze or form into a spherical shape, verb/noun |
| 1 | BA | 8 | Valve that automatically fills a tank after liquid has been drawn from it, compound |
| 1 | BA | 6 | African tree |
| 1 | BE | 4 | Bird bill |
| 1 | BL | 4 | Reveal a secret by indiscreet talk |
| 1 | BL | 5 | Color that reflects no light; color of the 8-ball |
| 1 | BL | 9 | Exclude from membership, usually by secret ballot, compound |
| 1 | BL | 5 | Dreary, grim, or depressing; adj. (Dickens' “… House”) |
| 1 | BL | 9 | large solid piece of hard material, especially rock, stone, or wood, typically with flat surfaces on each side, noun; or prevent from moving in a particular direction, verb, past tense is a pangram, and so is the adj. form that means this can be done |
| 1 | BO | 4 | Taiwan sweet tea with gelatin pearls |
| 1 | BO | 4 | Thrown weighted string weapon |
| 1 | BO | 8 | Printed novel, noun; or reserve something, verb |
| 1 | CA | 5 | Secret political faction |
| 1 | CA | 6 | Jewish mysticism; usually starts with K |
| 1 | CA | 5 | Thick wire rope (… bridge), San Francisco trolley (… car), or insulated wire (power or USB …) |
| 1 | CA | 5 | Bean source of Hershey Bars |
| 1 | CA | 6 | Make a harsh, raucous sound when laughing, verb/noun; (the witch …d with delight as she stirred the potion) |
| 1 | CA | 4 | Baked dessert, often with layers and icing; traditional birthday party fare |
| 2 | CA | 4,8 | Phone, name, summon, or shout (out) |
| 1 | CA | 5 | Arum plant referred to as a lily |
| 1 | CA | 8 | Caribbean veg dish |
| 1 | CA | 8 | Invitation to return for a second audition, compound |
| 1 | CL | 5 | Heel sounds on tile, verb; or NPR “car” show guy 2 |
| 1 | CL | 6 | Combo sex & waste cavity in non-mammals |
| 1 | CL | 5 | Sleeveless jacket, or espionage “… & dagger” term, noun/verb, past tense is a pangram, negated form is a pangram |
| 1 | CO | 4 | “Dirty fuel” dug from mines; what Santa puts in your stocking if you’re bad |
| 1 | CO | 4 | 1st part of popular soda brand name |
| 1 | CO | 5 | Hot winter drink with marshmallows, or the powder it’s made from |
| 1 | CO | 4 | Pepsi & RC dark brown soda flavor |
| 1 | CO | 6 | The act of working with someone to produce or create something, abbrev |
| 1 | CO | 8 | Prep or heat food, verb/noun, negated past tense is a pangram, and so is the adj. form that means this can be done |
| 1 | KA | 4 | Trendy lettuce (but really leaf cabbage) |
| 1 | KA | 5 | Meat on a skewer (shish …) |
| 1 | KE | 5 | Meat on a skewer (shish …) |
| 1 | KO | 5 | Tree climbing marsupial “bear” |
| 1 | KO | 4 | Small African tree with nuts that flavor Pepsi |
| 1 | LA | 5 | Tag or sticky paper with info (Avery mailing …) |
| 1 | LA | 4 | Frilly fabric, or shoestring |
| 1 | LA | 4 | Absence of (talent or imagination, e.g.), verb/noun |
| 1 | LA | 4 | Large body of freshwater (Great ones are Erie, Superior, etc.) |
| 1 | LE | 4 | Place where water escapes a pipe or hose, or info spilled to a reporter |
| 1 | LO | 5 | From a nearby area, or a train making all stops |
| 1 | LO | 6 | Place where something happens (exotic …) |
| 1 | LO | 8 | A door fastener with a key, noun/verb, the adj. form that means this can be done is a pangram |
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