- Letters: M/ADGINT
- Words: 62
- Points: 363
- 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. 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
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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 | Stage name of “Goody Two Shoes” singer; or refusing to change your mind, adj. (adverb form is a pangram) |
| 2 | 1 | A | ♂ who writes sales pitches, compound |
| 3 | 1 | A | Back office staff, slang abbr. |
| 4 | 2 | A | Fess up, or let in, gerund form is a pangram |
| 5 | 1 | A | Point at a target |
| 6 | 1 | A | Surrounded by, preposition |
| 7 | 1 | A | Jungian term for inner ♀ part of ♂ |
| 8 | 1 | A | Bring to life (cartoons), verb; or living, adj. |
| 9 | 1 | D | Structure that holds back a river, noun/verb (beavers construct small ones) |
| 10 | 1 | D | Physical harm that impairs something's value or function, noun/verb; or an amount of money awarded as compensation for such harm (the jury awarded the plaintiff a million dollars in …s) |
| 11 | 1 | D | Slang exclamation of frustration (“… Janet” song in “Rocky Horror”); should have an N instead of a doubled central consonant; compound; condemn something to hell |
| 12 | 2 | D | Condemn to Hell, verb; or exclamation of frustration (the state of being condemned to Hell is a pangram) |
| 13 | 1 | D | Faintly lit, adjective/verb |
| 14 | 1 | G | Competitive form of play (poker, soccer, Scrabble, etc.) |
| 15 | 1 | G | Archaic word for a ♂ street urchin, from French |
| 16 | 1 | G | Γ, γ (3rd Greek letter), & shortest-length EM radiation (… rays) |
| 17 | 1 | I | Picture or other representation of a person or thing (mirror … is that thing reversed), or public perception of a celebrity or company (polish their…), noun/verb |
| 18 | 1 | I | Form a mental picture or concept; or John Lennon's 1971 album and title song |
| 19 | 1 | I | Prayer leader at mosque |
| 20 | 1 | I | Copy someone’s speech or mannerisms |
| 21 | 1 | I | Extremely close & personal (… apparel), noun form is a pangram |
| 22 | 1 | I | Frighten someone, especially to make them do what you want, gerund form is a pangram |
| 23 | 1 | M | Term of respect for a ♀, or one who runs a brothel; palindrome |
| 24 | 1 | M | Crazy ♂, compound (if plural, Don Draper’s retro TV show) |
| 25 | 1 | M | The 3 biblical wise ♂, Latin plural |
| 26 | 1 | M | Hot fluid below Earth’s crust; lava before it’s erupted |
| 27 | 1 | M | 8 of them were milking in a Xmas carol |
| 28 | 2 | M | Permanently injure |
| 29 | 1 | M | Primary (Street), adj. |
| 30 | 2 | M | Keep up (appearances), or support; verb |
| 31 | 2 | M | ♀ parent, slang |
| 32 | 1 | M | Adult ♂ |
| 33 | 1 | M | Administer (she got promoted to …ment) |
| 34 | 1 | M | Official order or commission to do something, noun/verb, gerund form is a pangram |
| 35 | 1 | M | Japanese graphic novels |
| 36 | 1 | M | Craze, noun (Beatle-…) |
| 37 | 1 | M | Exodus food from the sky |
| 38 | 1 | M | Ray (fish) |
| 39 | 1 | M | Tangle something, especially hair, in a thick mass, verb (the present tense is too short to be a Bee word) |
| 40 | 1 | M | Fellow member (cast-…) or joint occupant (room-…) |
| 41 | 1 | M | Computer music protocol, calf-length skirt, or noon in French |
| 42 | 1 | M | Silent performer |
| 43 | 2 | M | Intention (I changed my …), noun; or dislike (I don’t … a little rain) or heed (… your manners), verb |
| 44 | 1 | M | Where you dig for ore, or anti-ship bomb |
| 45 | 1 | M | Smaller version (as in Cooper car), slang abbr. |
| 46 | 1 | M | 1/60 dram, UK music ½ note, or calligraphy short vertical stroke |
| 47 | 1 | M | Smallest amount (the … bet at this table is $100), suffixed form that means the process of finding this or reducing to this is a pangram |
| 48 | 2 | M | Breath candy or its flavor or plant source, noun; or create coins, verb |
| 49 | 1 | M | Lessen the gravity of an offense (…-ing circumstances), verb |
| 50 | 1 | M | Catcher’s glove, or former Sen. Romney |
| 51 | 1 | N | What you’re called (Kevin or Susan, e.g.) |
| 52 | 1 | T | Not wild, adj./verb |
| 53 | 1 | T | Japanese & dojo floor mats (畳) |
| 54 | 1 | T | What clocks measure & display |
| 55 | 1 | T | 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