- Letters: L/ABCIKT
- Words: 59
- Points: 279
- 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 two letters | answer's length | clue for root (answer may need prefix, suffix, tense change, alt spelling, ...) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40 | 1 | AL | 4 | Illumination (Let there be …); noun/verb |
| 1 | 1 | AL | 5 | Archaic exclamation of regret or dismay; from list word for “absence of” |
| 2 | 1 | AL | 5 | Criminal’s excuse |
| 3 | 1 | AL | 6 | Acid opposite in chem. (soluble base) |
| 54 | 1 | AT | 5 | Move into a sloping position, or fight windmills (… at) |
| 7 | 1 | BA | 4 | Fee to avoid prison, noun; scoop water out of a ship, or abandon, verb |
| 9 | 1 | BA | 4 | Hesitate or be unwilling to accept an idea or undertaking; or illegal move by a pitcher in baseball |
| 10 | 1 | BA | 4 | Where Cinderella lost her slipper |
| 4 | 1 | BA | 7 | Rod-shaped microorganism |
| 5 | 1 | BA | 7 | Illuminated from behind (compound) |
| 6 | 1 | BA | 8 | Rude or cheeky remarks made in reply to someone in authority (compound made from opposite of front + speak) |
| 8 | 1 | BA | 9 | Russian ▷-shaped guitar |
| 12 | 1 | BI | 4 | Cheat someone out of $ |
| 13 | 1 | BI | 4 | Invoice, or actor Murray |
| 11 | 1 | BI | 8 | Holy book (starts with Genesis) |
| 34 | 1 | BI | 8 | Latin for lips, or lips of vagina |
| 14 | 1 | BL | 4 | Reveal a secret by indiscreet talk |
| 17 | 1 | BL | 4 | Make a sound like a sheep, goat, or calf; slang |
| 15 | 1 | BL | 5 | Color that reflects no light; color of the 8-ball |
| 16 | 1 | BL | 9 | Exclude from membership, usually by secret ballot (compound) |
| 20 | 1 | CA | 4 | Phone, name, summon, or shout (out) |
| 18 | 1 | CA | 5 | Secret political faction |
| 21 | 1 | CA | 5 | Arum plant referred to as a lily |
| 19 | 1 | CA | 6 | Jewish mysticism; usually starts with K |
| 23 | 1 | CA | 7 | Feline ♂ whistle or jeer at passing ♀ (compound) |
| 24 | 1 | CA | 7 | Domestic feline hind appendage, or reed (compound) |
| 22 | 1 | CA | 8 | Invitation to return for a second audition (compound) |
| 25 | 1 | CI | 5 | Short microscopic hairlike vibrating structure found in large numbers on the surface of certain cells; (anatomy) eyelash |
| 26 | 1 | CL | 5 | Heel sounds on tile, verb; or NPR “car” show guy 2 |
| 27 | 1 | CL | 5 | What you do to a web button or link, verb; or NPR “Car Talk” guy 1 |
| 28 | 1 | CL | 9 | Internet content whose main purpose is to attract attention (compound) |
| 29 | 1 | IL | 5 | Hip bone |
| 38 | 1 | IL | 7 | Not forbidden by law or custom |
| 30 | 1 | IT | 6 | 𝑆𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑒𝑥𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑅𝑜𝑚𝑒’𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑦 |
| 32 | 1 | KI | 4 | Murder |
| 33 | 1 | KI | 4 | ♂ plaid skirt in Scotland |
| 31 | 1 | KI | 8 | Game that’s a cross between soccer & the one the Yankees play (compound) |
| 35 | 1 | LA | 4 | Absence of (talent or imagination, e.g.), verb/noun |
| 37 | 1 | LA | 4 | Non-cleric + non-clerical |
| 34 | 1 | LA | 5 | Latin for lips, or lips of vagina |
| 34 | 1 | LA | 6 | Latin for lips, or lips of vagina |
| 36 | 1 | LA | 6 | Milk adj. (think acid in yogurt or sore muscles) |
| 37 | 1 | LA | 6 | Non-cleric + non-clerical |
| 39 | 1 | LI | 4 | Tongue off (as an ice cream cone, e.g.), verb/noun |
| 42 | 1 | LI | 4 | Singsong accent |
| 38 | 1 | LI | 5 | Not forbidden by law or custom |
| 41 | 1 | LI | 5 | Purple flower or shade |
| 45 | 1 | TA | 4 | Dogs wag this hind appendage |
| 47 | 1 | TA | 4 | Mineral in baby powder |
| 48 | 1 | TA | 4 | Speak (… to the hand!) |
| 49 | 1 | TA | 4 | Of greater than average height, adj. |
| 51 | 1 | TA | 4 | Ankle bone |
| 43 | 1 | TA | 5 | Indian small drum pair; NOT dining room furniture |
| 50 | 1 | TA | 6 | Fringed prayer shawl |
| 44 | 1 | TA | 8 | Action planned to achieve a specific end (negotiating …) |
| 46 | 1 | TA | 8 | American football player whose main job is to carry the ball (compound made from the hindmost part of many animals + the opposite of front) |
| 53 | 1 | TI | 4 | Cash register or drawer, noun; “up to,” preposition; or prep soil for planting, verb |
| 54 | 1 | TI | 4 | Move into a sloping position, or fight windmills (… at) |
| 52 | 1 | TI | 6 | Shin bone |
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.