- Letters: C/AELNPT
- Words: 61
- Points: 331
- 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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| answers covered | answer's first two letters | answer's length | clue for root (answer may need prefix, suffix, tense change, alt spelling, ...) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AC | 6 | Foreign pronunciation (Ricky speaks with a Cuban…), or stress marks on letters (à é ì ó ù) |
| 2 | AC | 6,10 | Consent to receive, or come to believe; verb |
| 2 | AC | 6,7 | Vinegar adj., or acid it contains |
| 1 | AC | 4 | Teen facial zits |
| 1 | AL | 6 | S Am mammal similar to but smaller than a llama |
| 1 | AP | 5 | Walk back & forth anxiously, verb; or speed of an activity, noun |
| 1 | CA | 4 | Phone, name, summon, or shout (out) |
| 1 | CA | 5 | Arum plant referred to as a lily |
| 1 | CA | 5 | Artificial waterway (Erie, Suez, Panama …) |
| 1 | CA | 6 | Small piece of bread or pastry with a savory topping, often served with drinks at a reception or formal party |
| 1 | CA | 6 | Leggy French dance |
| 1 | CA | 6 | Nix, scrub (a concert, game, date, or show; e.g.) |
| 1 | CA | 4 | Walking stick, or striped peppermint Xmas crook |
| 1 | CA | 5 | Tropical “lily” |
| 1 | CA | 4 | Tilt, or “I am unable to do so” contraction; hypocritical and sanctimonious talk |
| 1 | CA | 7 | Medium-length narrative music for voice & instruments, from Italian for “sung” |
| 1 | CA | 7 | Army or scout water flask |
| 1 | CA | 4 | Superhero back covering, or land that juts into water (… Cod) |
| 1 | CA | 6 | Frankenword for a coated pill |
| 1 | CA | 7 | “Cigar tree” |
| 1 | CA | 7 | Feline ♂ whistle or jeer at passing ♀ (compound) |
| 1 | CA | 6 | Short feline snooze, compound |
| 1 | CA | 6 | Cows & bulls (…prod) |
| 1 | CE | 4 | Prison “room,” or smallest unit of an organism |
| 1 | CE | 4 | 1/100th of a dollar |
| 1 | CE | 8 | Whale & dolphin noun or adj. from Latin order name |
| 1 | CL | 4 | Group of related (Scottish) families |
| 1 | CL | 4 | Applaud |
| 1 | CL | 5 | Make tidy, verb (… your room, young man!); or dirt-free, adj. |
| 1 | CL | 5 | Spike on sports shoes |
| 1 | EC | 5 | Stylé, brilliancé, conspicuous succéss; Frénch for “splintér” or “sparklé” |
| 2 | EL | 5,7 | Vote into office |
| 1 | EN | 5 | Make a bill into law |
| 1 | EN | 6 | Frilly fabric, or shoestring |
| 1 | LA | 4 | Frilly fabric, or shoestring |
| 1 | LA | 7 | Produce milk, verb (breastfeed a baby) |
| 1 | LA | 7 | Capillary that absorbs fat in the small intestine |
| 1 | LA | 5 | Cavalry pole weapon, noun/verb |
| 1 | LA | 6 | Small two-edged surgical knife with a sharp point; or the eponymous British medical journal |
| 1 | NA | 7 | Streamlined enclosure on an aircraft |
| 1 | PA | 4 | Walk back & forth anxiously, verb; or speed of an activity, noun |
| 1 | PA | 4 | Formal agreement, treaty (don’t make one with the Devil) |
| 1 | PA | 6 | Official residence of a sovereign, archbishop, or other exalted person |
| 1 | PA | 7 | Remedy for all difficulties or diseases |
| 1 | PA | 8 | Italian bacon |
| 1 | PE | 5 | Tranquility |
| 1 | PE | 5 | smooth pinkish-brown nut with an edible kernel similar to a walnut; pies made with this are a specialty of the American South |
| 1 | PE | 7 | What you do to atone for a sin |
| 1 | PE | 5 | 1/100 of a £, or former VP & Indiana Gov |
| 1 | PE | 8 | Disc-shaped talisman inscribed with a five-pointed star, pangram |
| 1 | PL | 7 | Make someone less angry or hostile |
| 1 | PL | 5 | A particular position or point in space, noun/verb |
| 2 | PL | 8,9 | Afterbirth, pangram |
| 1 | TA | 5 | Musical direction meaning “silent” |
| 1 | TA | 4 | Diplomacy, sensitivity |
| 1 | TA | 4 | Mineral in baby powder |
| 1 | TE | 8 | A squid's or octopus' arm |
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