- Letters: C/EIMNOT
- Words: 74
- Points: 496
- 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 | CE | 4 | 1/100th of a dollar |
| 1 | 1 | CE | 6 | Powder mixed for concrete & mortar |
| 3 | 1 | CI | 4 | Quote as evidence |
| 6 | 1 | CO | 4 | Metal $, noun; or come up with a new phrase, verb |
| 7 | 1 | CO | 4 | Travel toward a particular place, tell your dog to move toward you, or slang for “to orgasm” |
| 18 | 1 | CO | 4 | Ice cream holder shape |
| 24 | 1 | CO | 4 | Foolish old ♂, or water bird |
| 26 | 1 | CO | 4 | Dove shelter, NOT a jacket |
| 4 | 1 | CO | 5 | Spherical or nearly spherical bacterium |
| 8 | 1 | CO | 5 | Icy solar system body with a tail |
| 9 | 1 | CO | 5 | Paid jokester, or “… book” with superheroes |
| 18 | 1 | CO | 5 | Ice cream holder shape |
| 5 | 1 | CO | 6 | Nest for butterfly larva, noun; or wrap up like one, verb |
| 12 | 1 | CO | 6 | Perpetrate, pledge, or put into a mental ward |
| 15 | 1 | CO | 6 | Ordinary, or shared (in …), adj. |
| 25 | 1 | CO | 6 | Kid’s imaginary germ, or a body louse |
| 27 | 1 | CO | 6 | Soft fabric or its plant source |
| 11 | 1 | CO | 7 | Express an opinion or reaction, verb/noun |
| 16 | 1 | CO | 7 | Excessive pride in oneself |
| 17 | 1 | CO | 7 | Create a mixed drink, potion, or wild story |
| 19 | 1 | CO | 7 | Join (4, perhaps?) things together, verb + noun |
| 20 | 1 | CO | 7 | (of a word or fact) imply, verb |
| 21 | 1 | CO | 7 | Peacefully happy or satisfied, adj.; or what’s included, noun (a book’s “Table of …s”) |
| 10 | 1 | CO | 8 | Start |
| 13 | 1 | CO | 9 | Group of people appointed for a specific function, usually members of a larger group |
| 23 | 1 | CO | 9 | One of the world's seven main bodies of land |
| 48 | 1 | CO | 9 | Action by which things change position, or parliamentary proposal; noun |
| 12 | 1 | CO | 10 | Perpetrate, pledge, or put into a mental ward |
| 17 | 1 | CO | 10 | Create a mixed drink, potion, or wild story |
| 19 | 1 | CO | 10 | Join (4, perhaps?) things together, verb + noun |
| 21 | 1 | CO | 10 | Peacefully happy or satisfied, adj.; or what’s included, noun (a book’s “Table of …s”) |
| 22 | 1 | CO | 10 | Ability to control bowel movements or bladder functions |
| 21 | 1 | CO | 11 | Peacefully happy or satisfied, adj.; or what’s included, noun (a book’s “Table of …s”) |
| 10 | 1 | CO | 12 | Start |
| 14 | 1 | CO | 12 | ♂ plural who belong to a group of people appointed for a specific function, compound |
| 29 | 1 | EC | 7 | Region of transition between 2 biological communities, starts with “green” prefix |
| 28 | 1 | EC | 8 | The wealth and resources of a country or region |
| 30 | 1 | EM | 5 | Master of Ceremonies (sounded-out initials), slang |
| 31 | 1 | EM | 6 | Med that induces vomiting |
| 32 | 1 | EM | 8 | Renowned (scholar); used with “domain” to mean gov property grab |
| 33 | 1 | EM | 8 | Representation of a facial expression formed by keyboard characters; for example :-) |
| 34 | 1 | EN | 6 | Tempt or lure by offering pleasure or advantage |
| 34 | 1 | EN | 10 | Tempt or lure by offering pleasure or advantage |
| 36 | 1 | IC | 4 | Symbol (you tap on phone screen, e.g.) |
| 35 | 1 | IC | 6 | ♂ plural who deliver frozen water, one “Cometh” in O’Neill play, plural of "Top Gun" pilot |
| 36 | 1 | IC | 6 | Symbol (you tap on phone screen, e.g.) |
| 37 | 1 | IM | 9 | About to happen (… demise, e.g.), adj. |
| 38 | 1 | IN | 6 | Provoke unlawful behavior (… a riot) |
| 39 | 1 | IN | 6 | Money you receive from any source, such as salary, interest, or dividends |
| 40 | 1 | IN | 8 | Guiltless |
| 40 | 1 | IN | 9 | Guiltless |
| 38 | 1 | IN | 10 | Provoke unlawful behavior (… a riot) |
| 23 | 1 | IN | 11 | One of the world's seven main bodies of land |
| 22 | 1 | IN | 12 | Ability to control bowel movements or bladder functions |
| 41 | 1 | IO | 5 | Atom or molecule with a net electric charge |
| 42 | 1 | MI | 4 | 3 blind rodents in rhyme |
| 44 | 1 | MI | 5 | Parrot someone’s speaking & mannerisms, verb; or the person doing it, noun |
| 45 | 1 | MI | 5 | Chop finely |
| 43 | 1 | MI | 7 | Imitative behavior, adj. (related to above & below words) |
| 46 | 1 | MN | 8 | Something that helps you remember |
| 47 | 1 | MO | 9 | Boring speech adj.; with no variation in pitch |
| 49 | 1 | NE | 6 | Person with non-traditional right-wing political views, slang abbr. |
| 50 | 1 | NI | 4 | Pleasant in manner, or city in SE France |
| 52 | 1 | NI | 5 | Your sibling’s daughter |
| 51 | 1 | NI | 8 | Addictive substance in tobacco |
| 53 | 1 | NO | 5 | Literary word meaning “for the [time being]” |
| 54 | 1 | NO | 6 | Military slang abbr. for a senior enlisted person (sgt., e.g.) expressed as a negation |
| 55 | 1 | NO | 6 | Become aware of, verb; or written announcement (board) |
| 56 | 1 | OC | 5 | Group of 8 (musicians) |
| 57 | 1 | ON | 4 | A single time (they deliver … a week) |
| 58 | 1 | TE | 8 | Earth plates that shift & cause quakes, adj. |
| 59 | 1 | TI | 5 | Archaic for shade of color, seen now only in “–URE of iodine” |
| 60 | 1 | TI | 7 | Small songbirds; plural; starts with “breast” slang & ends in “3 blind” rodent |
| 61 | 1 | TO | 5 | Carbonated water often mixed with gin |
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.