Bee Roots for 2024-07-10

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: M/AFNORT
  • Words: 41
  • Points: 148
  • Pangrams: 1
Source: pngwing.com

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, ...)
1AM4A supply of bullets, slang abbreviation
1AR5Protective covering against weapons (suit of …)
1AR5Pleasant smell (baking bread, e.g.)
1AT4Basic unit of matter, “… Ant” superhero, noun/adjective (… bomb)
1FA4Place for growing crops
1FO4Mattress material, or beer froth
1FO4Something you fill out (name. address, etc.), noun; or shape, verb (… the dough into balls)
1FO6The shape, size, and general makeup of something, noun/verb
1FR4Preposition indicating starting point (“to” counterpart)
1FR8The lead singer of a pop or rock group, compound pangram
2MA4,5♀ parent, slang
1MA6Wealth that’s an evil influence, per the New Testament & Milton
1MA5Exodus food from the sky
1MA5Large country house with lands (Batman’s “Stately Wayne …”)
1MA5Ray (fish)
1MA6Repeated yoga word, or slogan
1MA4Old-timey schoolteacher honorific
1MA6Rodent with short legs and a thick body, often called groundhog or woodchuck
1MA6Dark red (Adam Levine’s “… 5” band), noun; or strand on an island, verb
1MA4Store (K–, Wal–)
1MA6A married woman usually marked by dignified maturity or social distinction; or a woman in charge of domestic and medical arrangements at a boarding school
1MO5♀ parent, slang
1MO4Sound of pain or sexual pleasure (Harry Potter’s ghost “…-ing Myrtle”)
1MO4Water ditch surrounding a castle
1MO41–channel sound abbreviation, or glandular fever “kissing disease” abbreviation
1MO4NASA Apollo missions landed on or circled it
1MO8Lunar glass panel on car ceiling, compound
1MO4Othello (“The …”), noun; or tract of open uncultivated upland (British noun); or tie up a boat, verb
1MO4Irrelevant, in law (it’s a … point), adj.; or obscure verb meaning to raise a topic for discussion
1MO4Poetic start of day, NOT lament the dead; + period before midday
1MO5Idiot
1MO6Paste for bricks, cup for grinding (…& pestle), or gun for lobbing shells
1MO5Device (electric or gasoline) that produces movement (in a car, e.g.)
1MO5Short phrase encapsulating beliefs of an institution (Marines’ “Semper Fi”)
1NO4Standard (noun), or former SNL Weekend Update comic Macdonald
1OT7Turkish Empire; or low, upholstered seat or footstool without a back or arms
1RO4Wander, or use your phone on another network
1RO4Chamber of a house (kitchen, bed-…, bath-…), noun/verb
1TO6Ketchup & ragù fruit
1TR4People mover in Disney parks, parking lots, & cities

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