- Letters: P/ADHORT
- Words: 45
- Points: 196
- 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 | AD | 5,7 | Get used to a new situation, or modify for new use |
| 1 | AD | 5 | Legally take responsibility for someone else's child; choose to take up, follow, or use |
| 1 | AP | 5 | Separately (… from that), or in pieces (taken …) |
| 1 | AP | 7 | Soviet admin system (…-chik) |
| 1 | AR | 9 | Invertebrate animal, such as an insect, spider, or crustacean, pangram |
| 1 | AT | 4 | Opposite of bottom |
| 1 | DR | 5 | Sag, or hang limply |
| 1 | DR | 4 | Let fall, verb; or a tiny amount of liquid, noun |
| 1 | HA | 7 | Motor vehicle with a rigid roof, compound pangram |
| 1 | HA | 4 | Angelic stringed instrument, noun; or talk persistently and annoyingly about something, verb |
| 1 | HO | 4 | O you jump through or spin around your waist (hula …) |
| 1 | HO | 6 | Asian dish similar to fondue; AKA steamboat (compound) |
| 1 | OP | 4 | Sunfish, kingfish, Jerusalem haddock, or redfin ocean pan; close to TV queen with her OWN network & magazine |
| 1 | PA | 4 | Father, slang |
| 1 | PA | 7 | Government-owned hotel in Spain |
| 1 | PA | 8 | Release people or supplies from a plane by ‘chute |
| 1 | PA | 7 | Flaky North Indian flatbread |
| 1 | PA | 9 | Squad of soldiers who drop from planes; (…-er) |
| 1 | PA | 6 | Talking tropical bird, noun; or to mimic someone, verb |
| 1 | PA | 4 | Some but not all, or line combed into hair |
| 1 | PA | 4 | Walking or bike trail |
| 1 | PH | 7 | Ancient Egyptian ruler (watch the vowel order!) |
| 1 | PH | 4 | “Excellent” in hip-hop slang, NOT obese |
| 1 | PH | 5 | Picture made using a camera: short form is more common in the Bee, long form is a pangram |
| 1 | PO | 4 | Christopher Robbins’ Winnie The … Bear |
| 1 | PO | 4 | Tire out (I’m …-ed); or defecate, slang verb/noun |
| 1 | PO | 4 | Lacking $, or worse than ideal |
| 1 | PO | 5 | Daddy |
| 1 | PO | 4 | Nautical “left,” harbor, or wine from Lisbon |
| 1 | PO | 6 | Spud |
| 1 | PR | 4 | Brit slang for a fool or butt (“…fall”); similar to “Jurassic Park” actor Chris |
| 1 | PR | 4 | Poke, nudge, or spur (reluctant person or cattle) |
| 1 | PR | 4 | Support (… up), verb; on-stage object or ballot initiative abbr., noun |
| 1 | RA | 7 | Close relationship with good communications |
| 1 | RA | 4 | Fascinated, mesmerized; adj. |
| 1 | RA | 6 | Carnivorous bird (eagle, hawk, owl, vulture) or dinosaur (veloci-…) |
| 1 | RA | 7 | Device to catch large rodents, or a run-down place, compound |
| 1 | TA | 4 | Spanish bar snack (usually plural) |
| 1 | TA | 7 | Central plant anchor that grows straight down (others branch off it) & sucks up water; compound; a carrot is one |
| 1 | TA | 4 | Waterproof sheet used as outdoor roof, abbr. |
| 1 | TO | 6 | Lethargy, not quite hibernation |
| 1 | TR | 4 | Device for catching things |
| 1 | TR | 8 | Hinged panel in a floor, ceiling, or roof (compound) |
| 1 | TR | 5 | Soldiers (usually plural), or unit of Boy or Girl Scouts |
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