Bee Roots for 2023-07-10

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: Y/AHOPRT
  • Words: 42
  • Points: 196
  • Pangrams: 1
Source: quora.com

Table content

  • with first two letters of answer and length
answers coveredanswer's first two lettersanswer's lengthclue for root (answer may need prefix, suffix, tense change, alt spelling, ...)
1AH4Nautical greeting (“… there, matey!”)
1AP6Indifference
1AR5Ordered series, esp. math
1AR6Steep-sided gully in SW US; Spanish for creek
1AR4Creative activity: painting, music, literature, dance, etc
1AT7Waste away from disuse (muscles, e.g.), pangram
1HA5Pleased (“Don’t worry, be …”)
1HA5Mythical ½ woman, ½ bird
1HA5UK ginger prince wed to Meghan
1HO5Crystallized frost
1HO6Cheer word (hip hip …)
1HO5Having the flavor or aroma of Humulus lupulus
1HO9Person or thing that strongly encourages an action (usually starts with EX–); obscure adj.
1HY4Slang abbr. for medical needle (-dermic)
1OA4Grain that is Quaker's specialty
1OR7Make a speech
1PA6Tropical fruit with black seeds
1PA5Slang term for father or grandfather
1PA5Ward off a weapon with a countermove, esp. in fencing
1PA5Celebration (birthday …, retirement …, toga …, e.g.)
1PA5Peppermint candy (& friend of Marcie in “Peanuts”) or burger form
1PO5Flower used to make opium or honor veterans
1PO7Depict someone (as an actor or on canvas)
1PO5Kid’s toilet
1PR4Appeal to God; what you do in a house of worship
1PY4“…-maniac” who likes to start fires, slang abbr.
1RA5Sewer-dwelling rodent
1RO4Strong cord made by twisting together strands of fibers, noun/verb
1RO6Phone with dial, adj., or int’l service org (… Club)
1RO8Move in a circle around an axis or center
1TA5Dark, thick, flammable liquid distilled from wood or coal
1TA5Worn & shabby, or of poor quality; Scottish
1TH7Front of neck, “Deep …” Watergate source
1TO6What you chew with
1TR4Use it to carry drinks
1TR6Award statue or cup in sports & entertainment
1TR4Helen of “The Iliad” home, or oz. for gold & gems
1TY4Keybord eror, slang
1TY4Newbie, from Latin “recruit”
1YA5Exclamation ("I’m rich!"), or Web portal & search engine before Google!
1YA5Sharp, shrill bark; slang term for a person's mouth; Pacific island with giant coins
1YO6“Hey, over here!” exclamation, or chocolate drink brand

About this site

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