- Letters: C/AGINPR
- Words: 40
- Points: 234
- 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, ...) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 1 | AC | 4 | Trendy smoothie berry |
| 3 | 1 | AC | 5 | Get a top grade on a test |
| 1 | 1 | AC | 6 | African or Australian wattle tree |
| 4 | 1 | AR | 6 | Part of the circumference of a circle or other curve, noun; or electric discharge between electrodes, noun; move with a curving trajectory, verb |
| 5 | 1 | AR | 6 | 1 of 2 classes in a tarot pack (major & minor), a mystery or deep secret, or specialized knowledge, noun |
| 6 | 1 | AR | 6 | Yellow daisy used to treat bruises |
| 15 | 1 | CA | 4 | Gefilte fish source, noun; or to complain (… about), verb |
| 8 | 1 | CA | 5 | Pile of commemorative stones, or terrier (dog) breed |
| 12 | 1 | CA | 5 | Tropical “lily” |
| 16 | 1 | CA | 5 | Group of eight bones that form the wrist and part of the hand |
| 7 | 1 | CA | 6 | Barred enclosure, or actor Nicolas |
| 10 | 1 | CA | 6 | Leggy French danceOpposite of occupied |
| 11 | 1 | CA | 6 | Walking stick, or striped peppermint Xmas crook |
| 14 | 1 | CA | 6 | Feel concern or interest, verb/noun |
| 9 | 1 | CA | 7 | Cylindrical metal container, noun; be capable, verb, fire from a job (slang verb) |
| 13 | 1 | CA | 7 | Put a lid or cover on something; or provide a fitting climax or conclusion |
| 15 | 1 | CA | 7 | Gefilte fish source, noun; or to complain (… about), verb |
| 17 | 1 | CI | 5 | Stogie |
| 18 | 1 | CI | 5 | “Around” when used before a year, Latin |
| 19 | 1 | CI | 5 | Cloud forming wispy streaks (“mare's tails”) at high altitude |
| 20 | 1 | CR | 4 | Steep or rugged cliff or rock face, Celtic |
| 23 | 1 | CR | 4 | Excrement, or something of extremely poor quality, noun/verb |
| 22 | 1 | CR | 6 | Scientific name for skull |
| 21 | 1 | CR | 7 | Large, tall machine used for moving heavy objects, noun; stretch out one's body or neck in order to see something, verb |
| 23 | 1 | CR | 8 | Excrement, or something of extremely poor quality, noun/verb |
| 24 | 1 | CR | 8 | Bend the head and/or body in fear or in a servile manner |
| 25 | 1 | GR | 7 | Simple elegance or refinement of movement, noun; Honor someone with your presence, verb |
| 26 | 1 | IC | 5 | Frozen water |
| 27 | 1 | NA | 4 | Drug cop, slang |
| 28 | 1 | NI | 6 | Vitamin B3 |
| 30 | 1 | PA | 5 | Lose your cool in a crisis (at the disco?) |
| 29 | 1 | PA | 6 | Walk back & forth anxiously |
| 31 | 1 | PI | 4 | A printed type size, or medical condition that makes you want to eat non-foods |
| 32 | 1 | PI | 6 | Outdoor dining on a blanket (from a basket?) |
| 34 | 1 | PR | 7 | Penis adj.: resembling one, relating to ♂ sexuality, or having a persistently erect one; from Greek mythology |
| 35 | 1 | PR | 7 | How much something costs, noun/verb |
| 33 | 1 | PR | 8 | Move with high springy steps (said of a horse) |
| 36 | 1 | RA | 6 | Grouping of people based on shared physical characteristics (regardless of …, creed, or color) |
| 38 | 1 | RI | 5 | Poison from castor beans, NOT a pilaf grain |
| 37 | 1 | RI | 6 | Swamp grass which is widely cultivated as a source of food, especially in Asia, noun; or force cooked potatoes or other vegetables through a sieve, verb |
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.