- Letters: L/ACEJKP
- Words: 37
- Points: 132
- Pangrams: 1
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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 | AL | 5 | Archaic exclamation of regret or dismay; from list word for “absence of” |
| 2 | 1 | AL | 6 | (Bio term) 1 of 2 or more versions of a gene |
| 3 | 1 | AL | 6 | S Am mammal similar to but smaller than a llama |
| 6 | 1 | AP | 5 | 1 of these fruits a day keeps the doctor away |
| 4 | 1 | AP | 6 | Horrify (his tasteless jokes … me) |
| 5 | 1 | AP | 6 | Ask for a court ruling to be reversed, verb/noun |
| 5 | 1 | AP | 8 | Ask for a court ruling to be reversed, verb/noun |
| 7 | 1 | AP | 9 | Alcoholic drink distilled from fermented cider |
| 9 | 1 | CA | 4 | Phone, name, summon, or shout (out) |
| 10 | 1 | CA | 5 | Arum plant referred to as a lily |
| 8 | 1 | CA | 6 | Make a harsh, raucous sound when laughing, verb/noun; (the witch …d with delight as she stirred the potion) |
| 11 | 1 | CE | 4 | Prison “room,” or smallest unit of an organism |
| 13 | 1 | CL | 4 | Applaud |
| 12 | 1 | CL | 5 | Heel sounds on tile, verb; or NPR “car” show guy 2 |
| 14 | 1 | JA | 6 | Slender long-legged wild dog |
| 15 | 1 | JE | 4 | Solidify, as a liquid or idea, verb |
| 16 | 1 | KA | 4 | Trendy lettuce (but really leaf cabbage) |
| 17 | 1 | KE | 4 | Bottom stabilizing ridge of a boat or ship, noun; or capsize, verb |
| 18 | 1 | KE | 4 | Large brown algae seaweed |
| 19 | 1 | LA | 4 | Frilly fabric, or shoestring |
| 20 | 1 | LA | 4 | Absence of (talent or imagination, e.g.), verb/noun |
| 21 | 1 | LA | 4 | Large body of freshwater (Great ones are Erie, Superior, etc.) |
| 22 | 1 | LA | 5 | Jacket edge that’s folded back |
| 23 | 1 | LE | 4 | Place where water escapes a pipe or hose, or info spilled to a reporter |
| 24 | 1 | LE | 4 | Forceful jump (of faith?), noun/verb |
| 25 | 1 | LE | 4 | Veg similar to onion; homophone of place where water escapes a pipe |
| 29 | 1 | PA | 4 | White-faced, NOT a bucket |
| 30 | 1 | PA | 4 | Figurative dark cloud, or funeral "bearer" |
| 31 | 1 | PA | 4 | Arthropod antenna for touch & taste, or start of medical exam by touch term |
| 32 | 1 | PA | 5 | Pontiff adj. |
| 26 | 1 | PA | 6 | Spanish rice, saffron, chicken, and seafood dish |
| 27 | 1 | PA | 6 | Official residence of a sovereign, archbishop, or other exalted person |
| 28 | 1 | PA | 6 | Traditional Mexican shelter roofed with palm leaves or branches, esp. on a beach, noun |
| 33 | 1 | PE | 4 | Repeated bell ringing or laughter |
| 34 | 1 | PE | 4 | Skin of a fruit, noun; or to remove it, verb |
| 36 | 1 | PL | 4 | Urgent request (Mercy!), or court statement of guilt or innocence |
| 35 | 1 | PL | 5 | A particular position or point in space, noun/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.