- Letters: F/BDEINT
- Words: 45
- Points: 249
- 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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| answers covered | answer's first two letters | answer's length | clue for root (answer may need prefix, suffix, tense change, alt spelling, ...) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | BE | 4,6 | Cow meat, noun; or strengthen, slang verb; or complaint, slang noun |
| 3 | BE | 7,9,10 | Payment or gift made by an employer, the state, or an insurance company, noun/verb (does this job offer …s?) |
| 2 | BE | 5,8 | Of suitable quality (all the news that's … to print), adj.; be of the right shape and size, verb/noun |
| 2 | BI | 4,6 | Strike someone roughly with a fist, slang; eldest son in "Death of a Salesman, or antagonist in “Back to the Future” |
| 2 | DE | 6,8 | Resist an attack or protect from harm |
| 2 | DE | 6,7 | Give the meaning of a word, as a dictionary |
| 1 | DE | 8 | Not vague or doubtful (plans, opinion, proof), adj. |
| 1 | DE | 4 | Neatly skillful, quick & clever (… footwork) |
| 1 | DE | 6 | Openly resist or refuse to obey |
| 1 | DE | 7 | Treat someone or something as a god |
| 1 | DI | 9 | Modest or shy because of a lack of self-confidence |
| 1 | ED | 7 | Instruct or improve someone, morally or intellectually |
| 1 | EF | 6 | Pretentious, flowery, or weak, adj. |
| 1 | FE | 4 | Give a meal to |
| 2 | FE | 5,7 | Deceptive movement in sports (esp. swordplay), not "keel over" |
| 2 | FE | 4,6 | Look after & provide for oneself, without any help from others |
| 2 | FE | 4,5 | Honor lavishly, verb; from French for “party” |
| 1 | FE | 5 | Extremely foul-smelling, adj. |
| 1 | FE | 4 | What you cover with a sock |
| 1 | FI | 6 | Tell an unimportant lie, verb/noun |
| 1 | FI | 4 | Medieval for feudal land or area of control; often has –DOM suffix |
| 1 | FI | 5 | Devilish person, or slang for addict or fanatic |
| 2 | FI | 4,5 | Small flute used with a drum in military bands, noun/verb |
| 1 | FI | 7 | Quinceañera age |
| 1 | FI | 6 | Flat appendage on the body of an aquatic animal (dorsal …) |
| 1 | FI | 4 | Locate something that was lost, verb/noun |
| 2 | FI | 4,5 | Impose a $ penalty (the judge …d him $100 for speeding) |
| 1 | FI | 6 | Having limits (amount), not ∞, adj. |
| 1 | FI | 6 | Of suitable quality (all the news that's … to print), adj.; be of the right shape and size, verb/noun |
| 1 | ID | 10 | Find out who or what someone or something is |
| 1 | IN | 10 | Not vague or doubtful (plans, opinion, proof), adj. |
| 1 | IN | 8 | Having limits (amount), not ∞, adj. |
| 1 | TI | 4 | Petty quarrel, or computer image format |
This site provides clues for a day's New York Times Spelling Bee puzzle. It follows in Kevin Davis' footsteps. The original set of 4,500 clues came from him, and they still make up about three quarters of the current clue set.
The "Bee Roots" approach is to provide explicit clues for root words, not every word. 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.
A few words can have one meaning as a suffixed form and another as a stand-alone word. EVENING, for example. In those cases I will use the meaning that I think is more common.
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