- Letters: P/ACDEKN
- Words: 62
- Points: 305
- 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 | Large primate without a tail, including gorilla, chimpanzees, and orangutans, noun/verb |
| 2 | 1 | Sleep breathing disorder |
| 3 | 2 | Tack on supplemental material; ends in list word |
| 4 | 1 | Small piece of bread or pastry with a savory topping, often served with drinks at a reception or formal party |
| 5 | 1 | Put a lid or cover on something; or provide a fitting climax or conclusion |
| 6 | 2 | Superhero back covering, or land that juts into water (… Cod) |
| 7 | 1 | Fish by letting the fly bob lightly on the water |
| 8 | 2 | Say something funny with a straight face |
| 9 | 3 | Not shallow |
| 10 | 3 | Rely on, or singular of adult diaper brand, adverb made from the adjective form is a pangram |
| 11 | 1 | Fencing sword |
| 12 | 1 | 10th Greek letter, popular in frat & sorority names |
| 13 | 1 | Retain (an item) |
| 14 | 2 | Patella, noun/verb, past tense is a pangram |
| 15 | 1 | Protection for the joint in the middle of your leg, worn by floor installers, gardeners, plumbers, dancers, and some athletes |
| 16 | 1 | Brief period of sleep during the day |
| 17 | 1 | Scruff of the neck |
| 18 | 1 | Tide with least difference between low & high water |
| 19 | 3 | Walk back & forth anxiously, verb; or speed of an activity, noun |
| 20 | 2 | Throw clothes into a suitcase, verb |
| 21 | 1 | Thick piece of soft material used to cushion something, noun/verb |
| 22 | 1 | Song of praise or triumph |
| 23 | 1 | Something you cook food in, noun; try to find gold in a stream, verb; something a critic loves to do, verb |
| 24 | 1 | Remedy for all difficulties or diseases |
| 25 | 2 | IHOP's specialty, also called "flapjack" in North America, compound noun; or flatten, slang verb, past tense is a pangram |
| 26 | 1 | Chinese bamboo-eating bear |
| 27 | 1 | Tropical plant known as the vanilla of Southeast Asia |
| 28 | 2 | Single sheet of window glass |
| 29 | 1 | Father, slang |
| 30 | 1 | Tranquility |
| 31 | 2 | Mountaintop, noun; or reach a highest point (the song …-ed at number 3), gerund form is a pangram |
| 32 | 1 | smooth pinkish-brown nut with an edible kernel similar to a walnut; pies made with this are a specialty of the American South |
| 33 | 2 | What a bird may do with its beak, verb/noun |
| 34 | 1 | Urinate, slang |
| 35 | 2 | Quick furtive look (…-a-boo baby game), not mountaintop |
| 36 | 1 | Backside of a hammer |
| 37 | 2 | Baby bird sound, Easter marshmallow, or a furtive look |
| 38 | 1 | Chinese toy dog, slang abbr., not mountaintop |
| 39 | 1 | Tool for writing with ink, noun/verb; or small enclosure for keeping animals, noun/verb |
| 40 | 1 | What you do to atone for a sin |
| 41 | 1 | 1/100 of a £, or former VP & Indiana Gov |
| 42 | 2 | Literally, to hang; to await (a decision); usually has –ING suffix |
| 43 | 1 | Tube pasta, vodka optional |
| 44 | 1 | Energy, liveliness, 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 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