Bee Roots for 2024-11-20

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: R/ACIKMO
  • Words: 41
  • Points: 154
  • Pangrams: 1
Source: Robert Pittman - NOAA

Table content

root #answers coveredanswer's first letterclue for root (answer may need prefix, suffix, tense change, alt spelling, ...)
11AMusically, “with the bow,” or gas brand
21AOpera solo
31AProtective covering against weapons (suit of …)
41APleasant smell (baking bread, e.g.)
51CRio de Janeiro native
61CBounce off or glance off an object or cushion
71C“Around” when used before a year, Latin
81CCloud forming wispy streaks (“mare's tails”) at high altitude
91CFiber from the outer husk of the coconut, used for making ropes & matting
101CWine bottle stopper, originally made from the bark of certain trees, noun; or insert such a stopper, verb, gerund form is a pangram
111CSlang for cocaine you smoke, or fracture line, noun + adj.
121CStudy intensely just before a test (stuff facts into your brain), or stuff into a box; verb
131CDNA discoverer with Watson et al., or neck stiffness, noun/verb
141CFrog sound, or slang for “die”
151CHoley shoe, or alligator relative abbr.
161CSlow-cooking “pot”, usually earthenware, noun; or preserve in such a pot, verb, gerund form is a pangram
171CSmall plant that blooms early in spring
181CLawbreaker, slang (Nixon: “I’m not a …”), or shepherd’s staff, noun; or bend something, especially a finger, verb, gerund form is a pangram
192KNn Hinduism and Buddhism, the sum of a person's actions in this and previous states of existence
201KMildly spiced Indian curry dish of meat or fish marinated in yogurt or curds
211MOpposite of micro
221MRattle shaken in music
231MMake a visible impression or stain, verb/noun; or pre-EU German currency
241MOld-timey schoolteacher honorific
251MPrefix meaning small (-scope, -phone)
261MMinute fracture in a material such as bone, concrete, or glass, compound pangram
271MLooking glass (“Who’s the fairest of them all?”)
281MOthello (“The …”), noun; or tract of open uncultivated upland (British noun); or tie up a boat, verb
291MCasablanca’s country
301OGreen veg in gumbo
311OKiller “whale”
321RFrame used to lock up bikes, set up billiards balls, organize spices, or dry dishes, e.g.
331R“Casablanca” café owner”, or haystack
341RWander, or use your phone on another network
351RLion “shout”
361RStone (Dwayne Johnson, with "The"); or what you do with a baby's cradle but shouldn't do with a boat, verb, gerund form is a pangram
371ROrnamental decorative style from the late Baroque
381RAmorous & funny film genre, slang abbr.
391RChess piece AKA castle
401RChamber of a house (kitchen, bed…, bath…), noun/verb

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