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. The TL;DR about the site comes after the table. The Halloween, 2021 redesign improved the usability, I hope.
Past clues are available here
Table content
| root # | answers covered | answer's first two letters | answer's length | clue for root (answer may need prefix, suffix, tense change, alt spelling, ...) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 1 | AC | 4 | Trendy smoothie berry |
| 4 | 1 | AC | 4 | Teen facial zits |
| 3 | 1 | AC | 5 | Get a top grade on a test |
| 1 | 1 | AC | 6 | African or Australian wattle tree |
| 6 | 1 | AL | 8 | Association formed for mutual benefit, especially involving nations |
| 5 | 1 | AL | 10 | Loyalty or commitment (Pledge of …) |
| 7 | 1 | AN | 7 | Harp-playing winged heaven resident, or Xmas tree topper |
| 8 | 1 | AN | 8 | Tall aromatic plant of the parsley family, with large leaves and yellowish-green flowers |
| 9 | 1 | CA | 4 | Barred enclosure, or actor Nicolas |
| 10 | 1 | CA | 4 | Phone, name, summon, or shout (out) |
| 16 | 1 | CA | 4 | Walking stick, or striped peppermint Xmas crook |
| 11 | 1 | CA | 5 | Arum plant referred to as a lily |
| 13 | 1 | CA | 5 | Artificial waterway (Erie, Suez, Panama …) |
| 18 | 1 | CA | 5 | Tropical “lily” |
| 9 | 1 | CA | 6 | Barred enclosure, or actor Nicolas |
| 14 | 1 | CA | 6 | Leggy French dance |
| 15 | 1 | CA | 6 | Nix, scrub (a concert, game, date, or show; e.g.) |
| 16 | 1 | CA | 6 | Walking stick, or striped peppermint Xmas crook |
| 17 | 1 | CA | 6 | Dog family, or pointy tooth |
| 10 | 1 | CA | 7 | Phone, name, summon, or shout (out) |
| 12 | 1 | CA | 7 | Cylindrical metal container, noun; be capable, verb, fire from a job (slang verb) |
| 15 | 1 | CA | 9 | Nix, scrub (a concert, game, date, or show; e.g.) |
| 15 | 1 | CA | 10 | Nix, scrub (a concert, game, date, or show; e.g.) |
| 19 | 1 | CA | 10 | Large white kidney bean |
| 22 | 1 | CE | 4 | Prison “room,” or smallest unit of an organism |
| 23 | 1 | CE | 5 | Yo-Yo Ma’s instrument |
| 21 | 1 | CE | 6 | Gluten intolerance disease |
| 20 | 1 | CE | 7 | The top of a room |
| 24 | 1 | CI | 5 | Short microscopic hairlike vibrating structure found in large numbers on the surface of certain cells; (anatomy) eyelash |
| 25 | 1 | CL | 4 | Group of related (Scottish) families |
| 26 | 1 | CL | 5 | Make a ringing sound (Judy Garland “…, …, … went the trolley”) |
| 27 | 1 | CL | 5 | Make tidy, verb (…your room, young man!); or dirt-free, adj. |
| 28 | 1 | CL | 5 | Stick to tightly (static …), as Saran Wrap or a needy toddler |
| 29 | 1 | CL | 6 | Medical facility (health …) |
| 26 | 1 | CL | 8 | Make a ringing sound (Judy Garland “…, …, … went the trolley”) |
| 27 | 1 | CL | 8 | Make tidy, verb (…your room, young man!); or dirt-free, adj. |
| 28 | 1 | CL | 8 | Stick to tightly (static …), as Saran Wrap or a needy toddler |
| 29 | 1 | CL | 8 | Medical facility (health …) |
| 29 | 1 | CL | 9 | Medical facility (health …) |
| 31 | 1 | EL | 7 | Poem that’s a lament for the dead |
| 30 | 1 | EL | 8 | Graceful and stylish in appearance or manner |
| 9 | 1 | EN | 6 | Barred enclosure, or actor Nicolas |
| 39 | 1 | EN | 6 | Frilly fabric, or shoestring |
| 9 | 1 | EN | 8 | Barred enclosure, or actor Nicolas |
| 39 | 1 | EN | 8 | Frilly fabric, or shoestring |
| 32 | 1 | GL | 5 | French for “ice,” or coat fruit with sugar syrup to look “icéd” |
| 34 | 1 | GL | 6 | Take a brief or hurried look (parting…) |
| 33 | 1 | GL | 7 | Slow “pace,” as in a moving mass of ice, adj. |
| 34 | 1 | GL | 8 | Take a brief or hurried look (parting…) |
| 35 | 1 | IC | 5 | Frozen water |
| 36 | 1 | IC | 6 | Frozen water spear from drips |
| 37 | 1 | IL | 5 | Hip bone |
| 38 | 1 | IN | 7 | Tend toward or feel favorably disposed toward, verb; or slope, noun |
| 38 | 1 | IN | 9 | Tend toward or feel favorably disposed toward, verb; or slope, noun |
| 30 | 1 | IN | 10 | Graceful and stylish in appearance or manner |
| 39 | 1 | LA | 4 | Frilly fabric, or shoestring |
| 40 | 1 | LA | 4 | Non-cleric + non-clerical |
| 41 | 1 | LA | 5 | Cavalry pole weapon |
| 39 | 1 | LA | 6 | Frilly fabric, or shoestring |
| 40 | 1 | LA | 6 | Non-cleric + non-clerical |
| 39 | 1 | LA | 7 | Frilly fabric, or shoestring |
| 42 | 1 | LE | 8 | Merciful, not strict (as a judge or parent, e.g.) |
| 43 | 1 | LI | 4 | Itchy hair parasites |
| 44 | 1 | LI | 5 | Purple flower or shade |
| 45 | 1 | NE | 10 | Failing to take proper care in doing something |
| 47 | 1 | NI | 4 | Pleasant in manner, or city in SE France |
| 48 | 1 | NI | 5 | Your sibling’s daughter |
| 46 | 1 | NI | 6 | Vitamin B3 |
This site provides clues for a day's New York Times Spelling Bee puzzle. It exists to make it easier for Kevin Davis to take a day off. Most of the clues come from him. There may be some startup problems, but long term I think I can put the clues together with no more than half an hour's work.
The "Bee Roots" approach is to provide explicit clues for root words, not every word. This is similar to what Kevin Davis does, but without information about parts of speech 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.
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
Many thanks to Kevin Davis, whose 4,500-word clue list made this possible.