- Letters: F/AGILNU
- Words: 48
- Points: 273
- 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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| root # | answers covered | answer's first letter | clue for root (answer may need prefix, suffix, tense change, alt spelling, ...) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | A | Grass for hay, or Little Rascal |
| 2 | 2 | F | Don’t pass a test, negated gerund form is a pangram |
| 3 | 2 | F | Autumn, noun; or plummet, verb |
| 4 | 1 | F | Device, manual or electrical, that moves air for cooling or drying, noun/verb; enthusiastic supporter of a sports team |
| 5 | 1 | F | Large sharp tooth, esp. of a dog, wolf, or vampire |
| 6 | 1 | F | Roman ½ human ½ goat, not a young deer |
| 7 | 2 | F | Animals of a particular region, adj. (flora & …) |
| 8 | 1 | F | Small flute used with a drum in military bands, noun/verb |
| 9 | 1 | F | Folder of related papers, or tool for smoothing edges (fingernails, e.g.), noun/verb |
| 10 | 1 | F | Of or due from a son or daughter, adj. |
| 11 | 2 | F | Add material until the container or hole is at capacity |
| 12 | 1 | F | Get something by devious or dishonest means, pangram (gerund form is NOT a pangram) |
| 13 | 1 | F | Last one (… exam, “… Countdown”) |
| 14 | 1 | F | Impose a $ penalty (the judge …d him $100 for speeding) |
| 15 | 1 | F | Ornament at end or top of an object |
| 16 | 2 | F | Old Glory, noun; or mark for special attention, verb; or lose energy or enthusiasm, verb, negated gerund form is a pangram |
| 17 | 2 | F | Swing (arms) wildly |
| 18 | 1 | F | Caramel-topped custard |
| 19 | 1 | F | A projecting flat rim, collar, or rib, noun/verb |
| 20 | 3 | F | Throw forcefully (monkeys often … poop at spectators) |
| 21 | 2 | F | Dryer lint, noun, or what you do to a flat pillow (… up) |
| 22 | 1 | F | Japanese toxic pufferfish that’s carefully prepared before eating |
| 23 | 2 | F | Bring to reality (… your dreams), or carry out a duty (… your obligations) |
| 24 | 1 | F | At capacity (I can’t finish the meal, I’m …), adj. |
| 25 | 2 | F | Spore-producing organism that grows on organic matter, including mold, yeast, mushrooms, and toadstools |
| 26 | 1 | G | Stick with hook or barbed spear for fishing, or sailboat spar, NOT a social or speaking faux pas |
| 27 | 1 | G | Increase the amount or rate of (you always … a few pounds on a cruise), noun, adj. form is a pangram |
| 28 | 1 | G | Foolish talk (think start of a loud, boisterous laugh) (She doesn’t take … from anyone) |
| 29 | 1 | G | Deep sea inlet with narrow mouth (… of Mexico, Persian …) |
| 11 | 1 | I | Add material until the container or hole is at capacity |
| 30 | 1 | I | Material that plugs a hole, noun; or build on vacant land in a dense city |
| 31 | 1 | L | The forward edge of a fore-and-aft sail, noun; or turn the head of a ship toward the wind, verb |
| 32 | 1 | L | Breathing organ |
| 33 | 1 | N | Inexperienced person (from French) |
| 2 | 1 | U | Don’t pass a test, negated gerund form is a pangram |
| 16 | 1 | U | Old Glory, noun; or mark for special attention, verb; or lose energy or enthusiasm, verb, negated gerund form is a pangram |
| 23 | 1 | U | Bring to reality (… your dreams), or carry out a duty (… your obligations) |
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