Bee Roots

Bee Roots for 2023-08-26

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: L/DEMNPU

Words: 55

Points: 248

Pangrams: 1

Source: Amusing Planet

Table content

with first two letters of answer and length

answers covered answer's first two letters answer's length clue for root (answer may need prefix, suffix, tense change, alt spelling, ...)

1 DE 4 Michael’s computer company, or farmer locale in kid’s song

2 DE 6,7 Believe true even when you know better

2 DU 4,6 Pistol fight at dawn

2 DU 4,6 Not shiny, adjective/verb

1 DU 5 In music, rhythm based on two main beats to the measure

2 EL 5,6 Dodge, or fail to be grasped

1 LE 4 Summary opening sentence or paragraph of a news article (bury the …); NOT "follow" antonym

1 LE 4 Allow someone to borrow from you (“Friends, Romans, Countrymen, … me your ears”)

2 LU 4,6 Soothe (… into a false sense of security), verb; or a pause in activity, noun

1 LU 4 Doozy, or “To Sir With Love” singer

1 LU 5 Measure of light output, noun

2 LU 4,6 What you get on your head after being struck, noun + adj. (unstirred cake batter, e.g.) (2 words)

1 LU 4 Moon, French (Debussy’s “Clair de …”)

2 ME 6,7 Interfere without the right to do so (don’t … in my affairs!)

2 ME 4,6 Combine (Vulcan mind …)

1 ME 5 Confusing scuffle

2 MU 6,7 Bring into a disordered or confused state, or cope (… through) despite lack of experience, planning, or equipment; starts with wet dirt

1 MU 4 Pack animal that’s an offspring of a ♂ donkey & ♀ horse; or a backless shoe

2 MU 4,6 Think over, heat cider or wine, verb; or actor Martin

2 NE 6,7 Tool to sew, noun; or goad, verb

1 NU 4 Having no legal or binding force; invalid

2 PE 6,7 Travel from town to town, especially with a carnival or circus, to sell things; Santa looked like someone who does this, just opening his pack

2 PE 4,6 Skin of a fruit, noun; or to remove it, verb

1 PE 8 The thing that swings inside a grandfather clock; or any free-swinging weight attached to a fixed point (Foucault …), pangram

1 PE 6 Short section attached to the waistline of a blouse, jacket, or dress

1 PL 4 Make an emotional appeal

1 PL 4 Juicy fruit; when dry it’s a prune

2 PL 5,6 Long soft feather

2 PL 5,7 Polite way of saying “fat”

2 PU 6,7 Small pool of rainwater on the ground, noun/verb

2 PU 4,5 Literary for “whimper” (usually ends in –ING)

2 PU 4,6 Tug on, verb

2 PU 4,6 Soft, wet, shapeless mass (“… Fiction” film), or floating bits of fruit in orange juice, noun/verb

2 PU 6,8 Hit repeatedly

1 UN 8 Skin of a fruit, noun; or to remove it, verb

answers covered	answer's first two letters	answer's length	clue for root (answer may need prefix, suffix, tense change, alt spelling, ...)
1	DE	4	Michael’s computer company, or farmer locale in kid’s song
2	DE	6,7	Believe true even when you know better
2	DU	4,6	Pistol fight at dawn
2	DU	4,6	Not shiny, adjective/verb
1	DU	5	In music, rhythm based on two main beats to the measure
2	EL	5,6	Dodge, or fail to be grasped
1	LE	4	Summary opening sentence or paragraph of a news article (bury the …); NOT "follow" antonym
1	LE	4	Allow someone to borrow from you (“Friends, Romans, Countrymen, … me your ears”)
2	LU	4,6	Soothe (… into a false sense of security), verb; or a pause in activity, noun
1	LU	4	Doozy, or “To Sir With Love” singer
1	LU	5	Measure of light output, noun
2	LU	4,6	What you get on your head after being struck, noun + adj. (unstirred cake batter, e.g.) (2 words)
1	LU	4	Moon, French (Debussy’s “Clair de …”)
2	ME	6,7	Interfere without the right to do so (don’t … in my affairs!)
2	ME	4,6	Combine (Vulcan mind …)
1	ME	5	Confusing scuffle
2	MU	6,7	Bring into a disordered or confused state, or cope (… through) despite lack of experience, planning, or equipment; starts with wet dirt
1	MU	4	Pack animal that’s an offspring of a ♂ donkey & ♀ horse; or a backless shoe
2	MU	4,6	Think over, heat cider or wine, verb; or actor Martin
2	NE	6,7	Tool to sew, noun; or goad, verb
1	NU	4	Having no legal or binding force; invalid
2	PE	6,7	Travel from town to town, especially with a carnival or circus, to sell things; Santa looked like someone who does this, just opening his pack
2	PE	4,6	Skin of a fruit, noun; or to remove it, verb
1	PE	8	The thing that swings inside a grandfather clock; or any free-swinging weight attached to a fixed point (Foucault …), pangram
1	PE	6	Short section attached to the waistline of a blouse, jacket, or dress
1	PL	4	Make an emotional appeal
1	PL	4	Juicy fruit; when dry it’s a prune
2	PL	5,6	Long soft feather
2	PL	5,7	Polite way of saying “fat”
2	PU	6,7	Small pool of rainwater on the ground, noun/verb
2	PU	4,5	Literary for “whimper” (usually ends in –ING)
2	PU	4,6	Tug on, verb
2	PU	4,6	Soft, wet, shapeless mass (“… Fiction” film), or floating bits of fruit in orange juice, noun/verb
2	PU	6,8	Hit repeatedly
1	UN	8	Skin of a fruit, noun; or to remove it, verb

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