Bee Roots for 2024-03-07

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: N/CDEKTU
  • Words: 48
  • Points: 225
  • Pangrams: 1
Source: Scientific American

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, ...)
1CE41/100th of a dollar
1DE8A person who has died, in legalese; noun
1DE6Proper (Are you …? Can I come in?), adj.
2DE4,6Make an impression on a car bumper after a collision, verb/noun
1DE7Easing of hostility between countries (French)
2DE6,7Unclothed (in the …), adj.
1DU6Make persistent demands, verb; Dull grayish-brown color, noun/adjective
1DU5Stupid person (he has to sit in the corner & wear a … cap)
1DU4A mound of sand (… buggy), or Herbert desert planet book series & films
2DU4,6What you do to a donut in coffee or milk, or to a basketball (slam…), present + past (2 words)
1EN5Final part of something, especially a period of time, an activity, or a story, noun/verb
2EN5,6Provide with a quality or ability
1EN7Friendly understanding between countries (French)
2KE4,6Eager (peachy-…), adj.; or wail in grief, verb
1KE5Brightly colored, banded material made in Ghana
2KN4,5Mid-leg joint, noun; or hit someone with one, verb
2NE4,6Body part between head & torso, noun; or kiss & caress amorously, slang verb
2NE4,6Require; verb/noun
1NE4Hawaiian goose & state bird
1NE6Open-meshed fabric twisted, knotted, or woven together at regular intervals, noun/verb
1NU4Unclothed (in the …), adj.
2NU4,5Zap in the microwave, slang; or drop an atomic bomb
1TE4Adolescent (…ager), or numbers 13–19
2TE4,6Frequently behave in a certain way, or look after (serve drinks at a bar, e.g.)
1TE5A principle or belief; or a Christopher Nolan time-travel film
2TE4,6Shelter you sleep in while camping
2TU4,5Sync the pitch of instruments before concerts
1UN7Give up (power or territory)
1UN5Divide into pieces with a knife or other sharp implement, verb/noun
1UN10Notice (Do I … a hint of lemon in this cake?)
1UN5Expected at or planned for at a certain time; what is owed
1UN8Require; verb/noun
2UN6,8Push the ends of your shirt into your pants (… it in), or put a child into bed (… her in)
2UN6,7Sync the pitch of instruments before concerts

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