- Letters: O/AEFLMT
- Words: 60
- Points: 222
- Pangrams: 1
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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 | AF | 5 | In progress (Sherlock Holmes “The game’s …”) |
| 1 | AF | 6 | Rest on the surface of water, or root beer with ice cream |
| 1 | AL | 5 | Apportion $ or other resource (time, e.g.) |
| 1 | AL | 4 | Sunburn gel from “… vera” plant |
| 1 | AL | 5 | Cool & distant in behavior, adj.; anagram of bath sponge |
| 1 | AL | 4 | Sax smaller than a tenor, or voice higher than one |
| 1 | AL | 5 | Attic, or apartment in former factory, noun; or thickness of insulating material, noun; or throw high in the air, verb |
| 1 | AM | 4 | A supply of bullets, slang abbreviation |
| 1 | AT | 5 | Coral island (Bikini, e.g.) |
| 1 | AT | 4 | Basic unit of matter, “… Ant” superhero, noun/adjective (… bomb) |
| 1 | EM | 5 | Express feelings (especially when acting) |
| 1 | FA | 7 | Statistical decrease, or result of slipping while on a ladder; compound |
| 1 | FL | 8 | Collapsed arch on your sole; cop nickname; reason to get out of the military draft, compound |
| 1 | FL | 5 | Rest on the surface of water, or root beer with ice cream |
| 1 | FL | 4 | Sheet of ice atop the ocean, homophone of moving liquid |
| 1 | FO | 4 | Baby horse or other equine, noun/verb |
| 1 | FO | 4 | Mattress material, or beer froth |
| 1 | FO | 6 | Vitamin B9 |
| 1 | FO | 4 | Unwise person, court jester tarot card, noun; or to trick or deceive, verb |
| 1 | FO | 4 | What you cover with a sock |
| 1 | FO | 8 | Sound of a person stepping (literally, their shoe appendage dropping), compound |
| 1 | LO | 4 | Unit of bread, noun; or idle (… around), verb |
| 1 | LO | 4 | Fertile, sandy soil |
| 1 | LO | 4 | Attic, or apartment in former factory, noun; or thickness of insulating material, noun; or throw high in the air, verb |
| 1 | LO | 4 | Hang out or droop, as a dog’s tongue |
| 1 | LO | 5 | Bath sponge |
| 1 | LO | 4 | Cloth weaving device |
| 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 | ME | 8 | 1970s singer (“I’d Do Anything for Love”, "Bat Out of Hell"), or molded & baked ground beef, compound pangram |
| 1 | ME | 4 | Office note abbr. |
| 1 | MO | 5 | ♀ parent, slang |
| 1 | MO | 4 | Water ditch surrounding a castle |
| 1 | MO | 4 | Burrowing blind rodent, or embedded spy |
| 1 | MO | 4 | Mobster’s ♀ |
| 1 | MO | 4 | Shed feathers, hair, or skin; verb |
| 1 | MO | 5 | $, slang (from Fiji) |
| 1 | MO | 4 | Irrelevant, in law (it’s a … point), adj.; or obscure verb meaning to raise a topic for discussion |
| 1 | MO | 4 | Speck of dust |
| 1 | MO | 5 | Place to sleep when you’re travelling (… 6, e.g.) |
| 1 | MO | 5 | Short piece of sacred choral music, typically polyphonic & unaccompanied |
| 1 | MO | 6 | Pattern of irregular spots; usually an adj. |
| 1 | MO | 5 | Short phrase encapsulating beliefs of an institution (Marines’ “Semper Fi”) |
| 1 | OA | 7 | Breakfast cereal strongly associated with a quaker guy |
| 1 | OF | 5 | Entrails & organs used as food |
| 1 | OL | 4 | Margarine |
| 2 | OM | 6,8 | Fried eggs folded around fillings such as cheese |
| 1 | TA | 6 | Skin “ink” |
| 1 | TE | 8 | Abstain from drinking alcohol (compound) |
| 1 | TO | 6 | Hard, buttery candy found in a Heath Bar |
| 1 | TO | 4 | Road use fee (paid at a booth) |
| 1 | TO | 6 | Ketchup & ragù fruit |
| 1 | TO | 4 | Large, heavy book |
| 1 | TO | 4 | An implement (hammer & screwdriver, e.g.); often stored in a …box |
| 1 | TO | 4 | Short horn sound; noun/verb |
| 1 | TO | 6 | Drive or move in a leisurely manner, or play gently or repeatedly on a flute |
| 1 | TO | 5 | The whole amount (sum of numbers, e.g.) |
| 1 | TO | 4 | Reusable bag, noun; or schlep, verb |
| 1 | TO | 5 | Symbolic object (… pole) |
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