- Letters: M/ADILNT
- Words: 56
- Points: 256
- 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. 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 | Stage name of “Goody Two Shoes” singer; or refusing to change your mind, adj. (adverb form is a pangram) |
| 2 | 1 | ♂ who writes sales pitches, compound |
| 3 | 1 | Back office staff, slang abbr. |
| 4 | 1 | Fess up, or let in, gerund form is a pangram |
| 5 | 1 | Surrounded by, preposition |
| 6 | 1 | Jungian term for inner ♀ part of ♂ |
| 7 | 1 | Not a mineral or a veg |
| 8 | 1 | Black and white spotted dog, popular at firehouses, pangram |
| 9 | 1 | Slang exclamation of frustration (“… Janet” song in “Rocky Horror”); should have an N instead of a doubled central consonant; compound; condemn something to hell |
| 10 | 1 | Condemn to Hell, verb; or exclamation of frustration (the state of being condemned to Hell is a pangram) |
| 11 | 1 | Prayer leader at mosque |
| 12 | 1 | Tibetan Buddhist monk (Dalai …) |
| 13 | 1 | Thin layer of rock, tissue, or other material (think of coating an ID in plastic, without the –TE) |
| 14 | 1 | Phonetic term for consonant formed with tip of tongue just behind teeth (add a consonant to above) |
| 15 | 1 | Peru capital, or bean |
| 16 | 1 | Occupying a position at, or on both sides of, a boundary or threshold |
| 17 | 1 | Size, speed, or amount restriction |
| 18 | 1 | (Literary verb) represent by image or words, or outline or highlight |
| 19 | 1 | S Am camel |
| 20 | 1 | Term of respect for a ♀, or one who runs a brothel; palindrome |
| 21 | 1 | Crazy ♂, compound (if plural, Don Draper’s retro TV show) |
| 22 | 1 | 8 of them were milking in a Xmas carol |
| 23 | 1 | Letters you get or send |
| 24 | 1 | ♂ letter carrier, compound |
| 25 | 1 | Permanently injure |
| 26 | 1 | Primary (Street), adj. |
| 27 | 1 | Largest part of a country or continent, not including the islands around it, compound |
| 28 | 1 | Keep up (appearances), or support; verb |
| 29 | 1 | Shopping center with many stores under one roof |
| 30 | 1 | Convert grain for brewing (…–ed milk), noun/verb |
| 31 | 2 | ♀ parent, slang |
| 32 | 2 | Vertebrate class that has hair, milk, & live birth |
| 33 | 1 | Geometric figure representing the universe in Hindu and Buddhist symbolism |
| 34 | 1 | Craze, noun (Beatle-…) |
| 35 | 1 | Capital of the Philippines, or brown paper |
| 36 | 1 | Exodus food from the sky |
| 37 | 1 | Ray (fish) |
| 38 | 1 | Light scarf worn over the head and shoulders, especially by Spanish and Latin American women |
| 39 | 1 | Computer music protocol, calf-length skirt, or noon in French |
| 40 | 1 | Central part of a country |
| 41 | 1 | Not severe (a … case of the flu), or gentle (Clark Kent, the …-mannered reporter) |
| 42 | 1 | Combative & aggressive in support of a political or social cause, adj. |
| 43 | 1 | Armed vigilante group; 2nd Amendment's “Well-regulated …” |
| 44 | 1 | ♂ armed vigilante group member, compound |
| 45 | 1 | Wheat or pepper grinder |
| 46 | 1 | Intention (I changed my …), noun; or dislike (I don’t … a little rain) or heed (… your manners), verb |
| 47 | 1 | Smaller version (as in Cooper car), slang abbr. |
| 48 | 1 | 1/60 dram, UK music ½ note, or calligraphy short vertical stroke |
| 49 | 2 | Smallest amount (the … bet at this table is $100) |
| 50 | 1 | Breath candy or its flavor or plant source, noun; or create coins, verb |
| 51 | 1 | Catcher’s glove, or former Sen. Romney |
| 52 | 1 | Japanese & dojo floor mats (畳) |
| 53 | 1 | Lacking courage or confidence, adj. (… as a mouse) |
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