- Letters: L/ACNORT
- Words: 59
- Points: 271
- 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, ...) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AL | 9 | Distribute (resources) for a particular purpose |
| 1 | AL | 5 | Apportion $ or other resource (time, e.g.) |
| 1 | AL | 5 | Table or flat-topped block used as the focus for a religious ritual, especially for making sacrifices |
| 1 | AL | 4 | Sax smaller than a tenor, or voice higher than one |
| 1 | AN | 5 | Yearly record book |
| 1 | AN | 4 | Opening at the end of the alimentary canal through which solid waste matter leaves the body, adj. form also means uptight |
| 1 | AO | 6 | Main blood pipe from heart |
| 1 | AT | 5 | Coral island (Bikini, e.g.) |
| 1 | AT | 6 | Character of sound, a sound (dial or ring-); noun; give greater strength or firmness to a body or a muscle; verb |
| 1 | CA | 4 | Phone, name, summon, or shout (out) |
| 1 | CA | 5 | Arum plant referred to as a lily |
| 1 | CA | 8 | Caribbean veg dish |
| 1 | CA | 5 | Artificial waterway (Erie, Suez, Panama …) |
| 1 | CA | 6 | Rapeseed oil |
| 1 | CA | 6 | Relating to physical, especially sexual, needs and activities (… knowledge) |
| 1 | CA | 5 | Actress Burnett with a variety show, or a Xmas song |
| 1 | CA | 7 | Feline ♂ whistle or jeer at passing ♀ (compound) |
| 1 | CL | 4 | Group of related (Scottish) families |
| 1 | CL | 6 | Combo sex & waste cavity in non-mammals |
| 1 | CL | 4 | Lump of blood that stops bleeding or circulation |
| 1 | CO | 4 | “Dirty fuel” dug from mines; what Santa puts in your stocking if you’re bad |
| 1 | CO | 4 | Pepsi & RC dark brown soda flavor |
| 1 | CO | 9 | Irish mashed potatoes & cabbage (think large weapon that shoots balls) |
| 1 | CO | 6 | Cloth or leather strip a dog or cat wears around its neck |
| 1 | CO | 5 | : (punctuation mark), or intestine |
| 2 | CO | 5,8 | Red, green, blue, purple, etc. |
| 1 | CO | 4 | Young ♂ horse |
| 1 | CO | 9 | Lowest female vocal range |
| 1 | CO | 7 | Limit; or regulate; or direct, verb/noun (out of …) |
| 2 | CO | 4,7 | “Warm” antonym, or “neat!” |
| 1 | CO | 5 | Reef building marine invertebrates, a deep pink hue, or a sea off Australia |
| 1 | CO | 7 | Small Toyota sedan, or the inner ring of flower petals |
| 1 | CO | 7 | Upper part of the sun's atmosphere |
| 1 | CO | 6 | Animal pen, or “O.K. …” gunfight site |
| 1 | LA | 7 | Tropical perennial flowering plant in the verbena family |
| 1 | LL | 5 | South American grassy plain |
| 1 | LO | 4 | Borrowed $, noun/verb |
| 1 | LO | 5 | From a nearby area, or a train making all stops |
| 1 | LO | 7 | Find, pinpoint; GPS helps you do this |
| 1 | LO | 4 | Crazy, Spanish |
| 1 | LO | 4 | Hang out or droop, as a dog’s tongue |
| 1 | LO | 4 | “Crazy” water bird on Canada $1 coin |
| 1 | LO | 4 | Pirate treasure, noun; or to steal during a riot, verb |
| 1 | LO | 5 | State-sponsored numbers betting ticket (Powerball, e.g.) |
| 1 | NA | 5 | Latin adj. relating to place or time of birth |
| 1 | NO | 8 | From a nearby area, or a train making all stops |
| 1 | OC | 5 | Base–8 number system |
| 1 | OR | 4 | Spoken (… exam), or by mouth (… surgery), adjective |
| 1 | RO | 4 | What you do to dice, verb; or Tootsie candy & small bread format, noun |
| 1 | TA | 4 | Mineral in baby powder |
| 1 | TA | 4 | Of greater than average height, adj. |
| 1 | TA | 5 | A bird of prey's claw |
| 1 | TO | 4 | Road use fee (paid at a booth) |
| 1 | TO | 5 | Character of sound, a sound (dial or ring-); noun; give greater strength or firmness to a body or a muscle; verb |
| 1 | TO | 4 | An implement (hammer & screwdriver, e.g.); often stored in a …box |
| 1 | TO | 5 | The whole amount (sum of numbers, e.g.) |
| 1 | TR | 5 | Monster who lives under a bridge, or online forum troublemaker |
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