- Letters: E/FLNTUV
- Words: 52
- Points: 239
- Pangrams: 2
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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, ...) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | EF | 6 | Pretentious, flowery, or weak, adj. |
| 2 | 1 | EF | 8 | Liquid waste or sewage discharged into a river or the sea |
| 3 | 1 | EL | 6 | Hour before noon |
| 4 | 1 | EN | 7 | Friendly understanding between countries, French |
| 5 | 1 | EV | 4 | Number that can be divided by 2 without a remainder, or flat & smooth; adj.; or to make or become that (… out the edges) |
| 6 | 1 | EV | 5 | Thing that happens (“When in the course of human …s”) |
| 6 | 1 | EV | 8 | Thing that happens (“When in the course of human …s”) |
| 7 | 1 | FE | 4 | Perceive by touch; or experience (emotion) |
| 8 | 1 | FE | 4 | Cut or knock down (a tree or opponent, e.g.) |
| 9 | 1 | FE | 4 | Cloth made by rolling and pressing wool with moisture and/or heat |
| 11 | 1 | FE | 4 | Honor lavishly, verb; from French for “party” |
| 18 | 1 | FE | 4 | What you cover with a sock |
| 10 | 1 | FE | 6 | Veg & seed used in cooking, esp. Italian |
| 12 | 1 | FE | 6 | Condition, noun (in fine …); rhymes with whistling teapot |
| 13 | 1 | FL | 4 | Run away from danger, NOT a bug that causes itching |
| 15 | 1 | FL | 4 | Chimney duct, NOT a seasonal illness |
| 14 | 1 | FL | 5 | Group of ships sailing together, noun; or enema brand; or able to run fast (… of foot) |
| 17 | 1 | FL | 5 | High-pitched wind instrument (Mozart's opera The Magic …); or tall thin glass for champagne |
| 16 | 1 | FL | 6 | Able to express oneself easily, especially in a language that is not your first (she is … in three languages) |
| 19 | 1 | FU | 4 | Gasoline or oil, e.g., noun; or add it to a tank (… up) |
| 20 | 1 | FU | 6 | Pouring aid that’s wide at top & narrow at bottom, noun; or guide something through something else |
| 21 | 1 | LE | 4 | ←; remaining (only 1 cookie …); or departed |
| 22 | 1 | LE | 4 | Pre–Easter holiday when you give up meat, noun; or “borrowed” counterpart, verb |
| 24 | 1 | LE | 5 | River embankment to prevent flooding |
| 25 | 1 | LE | 5 | Flat, adj.; or straightening tool with bubble, noun |
| 26 | 1 | LU | 4 | Moon, French (Debussy’s “Clair de…”) |
| 28 | 1 | LU | 4 | Older guitar relative |
| 27 | 1 | LU | 7 | ½–moon shaped architectural space, starts with above; from French “little moon” |
| 29 | 1 | NE | 4 | Hawaiian goose & state bird |
| 30 | 1 | NE | 6 | “Stinging” plant, noun; or to annoy, verb |
| 31 | 1 | TE | 4 | Adolescent (…ager), or numbers 13–19 |
| 32 | 1 | TE | 4 | Inform, verb; or Swiss archer William with an overture |
| 34 | 1 | TE | 4 | Shelter you sleep in while camping |
| 33 | 1 | TE | 5 | Recent Christopher Nolan time-travel film, or a principle or belief |
| 37 | 1 | TU | 4 | Sync the pitch of instruments before concerts |
| 36 | 1 | TU | 5 | Lightweight, stiff veil or gown fabric |
| 39 | 1 | TU | 5 | Private instructor |
| 35 | 1 | TU | 6 | Footstool or low seat (where Little Miss Muffet sat) |
| 38 | 1 | TU | 6 | Artificial underground passage (Lincoln or Holland…from NJ to Manhattan, e.g.) |
| 37 | 1 | TU | 7 | Sync the pitch of instruments before concerts |
| 23 | 1 | UN | 5 | Allow; rent |
| 5 | 1 | UN | 6 | Number that can be divided by 2 without a remainder, or flat & smooth; adj.; or to make or become that (… out the edges) |
| 9 | 1 | UN | 6 | Cloth made by rolling and pressing wool with moisture and/or heat |
| 37 | 1 | UN | 6 | Sync the pitch of instruments before concerts |
| 25 | 1 | UN | 7 | Flat, adj.; or straightening tool with bubble, noun |
| 37 | 1 | UN | 9 | Sync the pitch of instruments before concerts |
| 6 | 1 | UN | 10 | Thing that happens (“When in the course of human …s”) |
| 42 | 1 | VE | 4 | Exhaust outlet (clothes dryer, e.g.), noun; or let out your frustrations, verb |
| 43 | 1 | VE | 5 | Event location (booking a wedding…); seek to move a trial by requesting a change of...; noun |
| 40 | 1 | VE | 6 | Soft fabric, developing antler cover, or Lou Reed’s “… Underground” rock band |
| 44 | 1 | VE | 6 | Very small body tube that returns blood to the heart from capillaries |
| 41 | 1 | VE | 9 | Soft cotton fabric, or a kid’s stuffed rabbit who wants to become real |
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.