Bee Roots for 2022-09-22

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
  • Letters: A/DHONUT
  • Words: 24
  • Points: 73
  • Pangrams: 1
Source: pngwing.com

Table content

  • with first two letters of answer and length
root #answers coveredanswer's first two lettersanswer's lengthclue for root (answer may need prefix, suffix, tense change, alt spelling, ...)
11AN4Soon, poetically
21AU4Parent’s sister
31AU4Car, abbr., or “self” prefix
41DA4Facts & stats, computer info, or Star Trek Next Gen android
51DA5Make someone feel intimidated or apprehensive (a task, opponent, or situation)
61DO6Thingamajig, slang; ends in “father” nickname
71HA4What sticks out of your sleeve
91HA4Archaic 3rd person singular present form of "possess" (Hell … no fury)
101HA5Yoga type that pairs poses with breathing
111HA5(Of a ghost) visit regularly
81HA7Gift from a charity; printed material that goes along with a lecture (compound pangram)
121NA4Indiaan flaat breaad
131NA4Nothing, Spanish
141NA4Grandma, slang; or Peter Pan dog
151NA6Swimming or floating adj. from Latin
161OA4Vow or pledge (you’re under one in court testimony)
191TA4Not slack, as a rope, adj.
181TA5Provoke with words
171TA6Skin “ink”
201TH4Comparison word (bigger … a breadbox)
211TH4Pronoun for the other thing (this & …)
221TO4Frog cousin
231TU4Chicken of the sea (Ahi …)
71UN6What sticks out of your sleeve

About this site

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.