Bee Roots for 2025-07-02

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
  • Letters: C/GILNOU
  • Words: 44
  • Points: 254
  • Pangrams: 2
Source: Wikipedia

Table content

root #answers coveredanswer's first letterclue for root (answer may need prefix, suffix, tense change, alt spelling, ...)
13CStick to tightly (static …), as Saran Wrap or a needy toddler
21CMedical facility (health …)
32CReason to use Drāno, or wooden shoe, or a type of dancing
41CIdentical (genetic) copy, or make one, noun/verb
51CHint, or what a detective seeks (Get a …!), noun/verb
61CSpherical or nearly spherical bacterium
72CNest for butterfly larva, noun; or wrap up like one, verb
82CWind up spirally, verb/noun (Hamlet’s “mortal …”)
92CMetal $, noun; or come up with a new phrase, verb
101CBaby or horse upset tummy
112C: (punctuation mark), or intestine
121CSwindle, verb; someone serving a prison sentence (noun, slang)
131CIce cream holder shape
141CSoft murmur made by a dove or pigeon, noun/verb
152C“Warm” antonym, or “neat!”
161CElected or appointed group (UN Security, student, or city…), noun + pangram person on that body (2 words)
171CSomething that signals an actor or other performer, noun/verb
182CRemove unwanted from the herd
191CSkill in achieving one’s ends by deceit (…thieves evaded the alarm) , adj.
201IFrozen water
212ISymbol (you tap on phone screen, e.g.), adverb form is a pangram
221ITend toward or feel favorably disposed toward, verb; or slope, noun
231IAtom or molecule with a net electric charge
261IThinking that is rational
241LCrazy, Spanish
251LA particular point or place
261LThinking that is rational
271NPapal ambassador
281OIn architecture, an eye-like opening, for example a circular window, singular ends in S, but plural can appear in the Bee
32UReason to use Drāno, or wooden shoe, or a type of dancing
82UWind up spirally, verb/noun (Hamlet’s “mortal …”)
151U“Warm” antonym, or “neat!”

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 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