- Letters: L/ABDORY
- Words: 60
- Points: 276
- Pangrams: 2
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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. And if AI tries to be too helpful, try prefixing your search with "word for" or "word meaning".
The TL;DR about the site comes after the table.
Past clues are available here |
Today's puzzle
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Table content |
| root # | answers covered | clue for root (answer may need prefix, suffix, tense change, alt spelling, ...) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Having the power, skill, means, or opportunity to do something, adj. (She was β¦ to walk at 14 months), negated noun form is a pangram |
| 2 | 1 | Love and respect deeply, adv. form is a pangram |
| 3 | 1 | Put (fears) at rest |
| 4 | 1 | Two or more metals combined to make a new one, (brass, steel, etc.); noun/verb |
| 5 | 1 | Friend (person, country) who joins you for a common purpose in a conflict, noun/verb |
| 6 | 1 | Opposite of good |
| 7 | 2 | Head with no hair, or tire with no tread |
| 8 | 1 | Where Cinderella lost her slipper, noun; or squeeze or form into a spherical shape, verb/noun |
| 9 | 2 | Narrative song; or a slow sentimental or romantic song |
| 10 | 1 | Young β who retrieves orbs in games (tennis, e.g.), compound |
| 11 | 1 | Old term for stadium where Yankees or Mets might play (compound made from orb + lawn) |
| 12 | 2 | Reveal a secret by indiscreet talk |
| 13 | 2 | Gelatinous mass, or 1950s alien horror film |
| 14 | 2 | What hearts pump, noun/adj. |
| 15 | 1 | Thrown weighted string weapon |
| 16 | 2 | ππ§πππ«ππ’π, π¨π« πππ«π€ πππ±π π₯π’π€π ππ‘π’π¬, πππ£. |
| 17 | 1 | Cotton seed target for weevil |
| 18 | 1 | Short, thick post for mooring or protection |
| 19 | 1 | Western string tie |
| 20 | 1 | Wide, or slang term for β, adj., adv. form is a pangram |
| 21 | 1 | Move slowly, or have casual sex with, gerund form is a pangram |
| 22 | 1 | Small human figure toy such as Barbie, noun; or get all dressed up for a party, verb |
| 23 | 1 | US currency |
| 24 | 1 | Move on a mobile platform, for example a movie camera, noun/verb |
| 25 | 1 | Literary term for a a state of great sorrow or distress (Spanish for pain), noun |
| 26 | 1 | Dull, lacking brightness or interest, adj. |
| 27 | 2 | Curious or unusual in a way that provokes amusement, adj. |
| 28 | 2 | Spit leaking out of your mouth, noun/verb |
| 29 | 1 | Not wet |
| 30 | 1 | Hard work (manualβ¦), or UK political party of Tony Blair (they add a U) |
| 31 | 1 | β counterpart of gentleman ("β¦ & the Tramp") |
| 32 | 1 | Pig fat for cooking |
| 33 | 1 | A unit of laundry, noun; or to fill up a truck, verb |
| 34 | 1 | Bldg. entrance area or waiting room |
| 35 | 1 | Southern US yellow pine tree, or SE US tea evergreen |
| 36 | 1 | Wolf, Spanish |
| 37 | 1 | Hang out or droop, as a dogβs tongue |
| 38 | 3 | β version of βLadyβ in nobility, or term for God; or, exclamation expressing surprise or worry |
| 39 | 1 | βTruckβ in Britspeak |
| 40 | 2 | Faithful, devoted |
| 41 | 1 | Opposite of even (math); unusual |
| 42 | 1 | Weirdo (or pool table orb with a non-even number); compound |
| 43 | 2 | Spoken (β¦ exam), or by mouth (β¦ surgery), adjective |
| 44 | 1 | Mass meeting of people for a common cause (pep, political), noun/verb, gerund form is a pangram |
| 45 | 1 | What you do to dice, verb; or Tootsie candy & small bread format, noun |
| 46 | 1 | Vehicle roof rod to protect against overturning, compound |
| 47 | 2 | Prince, princess, king, or queen, adj./noun (ββ¦ flushβ in poker) |
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 social media.
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