Bee Roots for 2024-06-15

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: I/ADLONV
  • Words: 45
  • Points: 199
  • Pangrams: 2
Source: Seema

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, ...)
1AI5Garlic mayonnaise, from French for garlic
1AN5Heavy block for metalworking (… Chorus from Verdi's Il Trovatore)
1AN5Atom or molecule with a net electric charge
1AV5Make use of (… yourself of), or use (to no …)
1AV5Bird-related adj. (… Flu, e.g.)
1AV4Eager for or enthusisatic about (… reader)
1AV5Stay away from
1DI4What you turn on a rotary phone or radio knob (don't touch that …!)
1DI5Phallus-shaped sex toy
1DI4Pickle spice
1DI4Flintstones pet, or T. Rex family abbr.
1DI4Famous female opera singer; self-important person who is temperamental and difficult to please
1DI5Long low sofa without a back or arms
1ID4Punk rocker Billy; “American …” TV singing contest; or public figure you worship (…-ize)
1IN6Not on the coast
1IN6Decorate something by embedding pieces of a different material in it, flush with its surface, compound
1IN7Having a sound basis in logic or fact; legally binding, one of its negated forms is a pangram
1LA5Hawaiian porch or island
1LA7Sheep (wool) oil, used as skin moisturizer
2LA4,4Put something down
1LI4Roaring animal that travels in a pride (… King)
1LI5Furiously angry
1LO4Sex organ region of body (fruit of my …s); anagram of “… King” animal
1NA5Greek water nymph, or dragonfly larva
1NA4Spike that’s hammered, noun/verb
1NO91 followed 30 zeroes; Latin 9 prefix
1NO8Having a sound basis in logic or fact; legally binding, one of its negated forms is a pangram
1OL4Mixture, or spicy Spanish stew, NOT margarine
1ON5Veg that makes you cry when cut (for some, this is the "dreaded root veg")
1OV5Egg shaped
1VA4Conceited (Carly Simon “You’re So …”)
1VA5Having a sound basis in logic or fact; legally binding, one of its negated forms is a pangram
2VA7,8Flavor from beans of white (plain …) ice cream + chemical compound of that flavor, C₈H₈O₃
1VI4Small glass container (… of poison), NOT despicable
1VI5Large & luxurious country house (Roman …)
1VI7Bad guy in a story
1VI8Highly spiced Indian curry made with wine and garlic, pangram
1VI46–stringed upright Renaissance fiddle
1VI5Modern fiddle smaller than cello, cross-dressing twin lead of “Twelfth Night,” or actress Davis
1VI6Itzhak Perlman’s fiddle
1VI5Producing powerful feelings or strong, clear images in the mind (a … memory); or, of a color, intensely deep or bright
1VO4Not valid or legally binding; or, completely empty
1VO5French exclamation (et …) “here it is!”

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