Bee Roots

Bee Roots for 2026-07-23

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

Letters: F/CDENOU

Words: 40

Points: 239

Pangrams: 2

Source: Seiffert Building Supplies

Table content

with first letter of answer

with first letter of answer and length

with first two letters of answer

with first two letters of answer and length

roots only

root # answers covered clue for root (answer may need prefix, suffix, tense change, alt spelling, ...)

1 1 Hot drink from roasted & ground beans; you might get some at Starbucks

2 2 Cause surprise or confusion, especially by acting against expectations, verb, past tense is a pangram

3 4 End of shirt sleeve or pant leg; or restraining device attached at the wrists, noun/verb

4 3 Resist an attack or protect from harm

5 2 Remove a hat or clothing

6 1 Beer brand in “The Simpsons,” or actress Hilary of “A Cinderella Story”)

7 1 Fertile or fruitful; capable of producing an abundance of offspring, adj.

8 1 Give a meal to

9 3 Wall (white picket, chain-link), engage in swordplay, or deal in stolen goods; noun/verb

10 2 Look after & provide for oneself, without any help from others

11 2 Prolonged bitter quarrel, or “Family …” game show, noun/verb

12 1 Having an affection or liking for (I’m … of my dog)

13 1 Communal melted cheese dish

14 1 What you eat; victuals

15 5 Establish or originate, verb (…ing Fathers), past tense of a prefixed form that means doing this with someone else is a pangram

16 5 A pool of $ (mutual, reserve…), noun; or provide $ for a particular purpose

17 1 Murder (slang); gerund form also means the near future

18 3 Cause to feel upset, annoyed, or insulted (I didn’t mean to … you with my remark)

19 1 Malnourished expressed as a negative; ends in past tense of list word; adj.

root #	answers covered	clue for root (answer may need prefix, suffix, tense change, alt spelling, ...)
1	1	Hot drink from roasted & ground beans; you might get some at Starbucks
2	2	Cause surprise or confusion, especially by acting against expectations, verb, past tense is a pangram
3	4	End of shirt sleeve or pant leg; or restraining device attached at the wrists, noun/verb
4	3	Resist an attack or protect from harm
5	2	Remove a hat or clothing
6	1	Beer brand in “The Simpsons,” or actress Hilary of “A Cinderella Story”)
7	1	Fertile or fruitful; capable of producing an abundance of offspring, adj.
8	1	Give a meal to
9	3	Wall (white picket, chain-link), engage in swordplay, or deal in stolen goods; noun/verb
10	2	Look after & provide for oneself, without any help from others
11	2	Prolonged bitter quarrel, or “Family …” game show, noun/verb
12	1	Having an affection or liking for (I’m … of my dog)
13	1	Communal melted cheese dish
14	1	What you eat; victuals
15	5	Establish or originate, verb (…ing Fathers), past tense of a prefixed form that means doing this with someone else is a pangram
16	5	A pool of $ (mutual, reserve…), noun; or provide $ for a particular purpose
17	1	Murder (slang); gerund form also means the near future
18	3	Cause to feel upset, annoyed, or insulted (I didn’t mean to … you with my remark)
19	1	Malnourished expressed as a negative; ends in past tense of list word; 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 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