Bee Roots for 2024-08-08

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: A/BEFILX
  • Words: 46
  • Points: 214
  • 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, ...)
1AB4Having the power, skill, means, or opportunity to do something, adj. (She was … to walk at 14 months)
1AF7Friendly, good-natured, easy to talk to
1AF5Stick something onto something else (ends in “repair” synonym), verb
1AL6Disorder where affected patients can spell and write words and sentences but cannot read or comprehend written language: word blindness
1AL7Grass for hay, or Little Rascal
1AL5Criminal’s excuse
1AL6(Bio term) 1 of 2 or more versions of a gene
1AX4Figure skating jump
2AX6,7Medical term for armpit
1AX5Line about which a body rotates (the Earth revolves around its … once every 24 hours)
1AX4What your car's wheels are attached to
1BA4Rum sponge cake, or Ali & his 40 thieves
1BA6Talk rapidly in a foolish or excited way (like an infant); homophone of Genesis “Tower of …,” verb
1BA4Infant, slugger Ruth, or pig film
1BA5Genesis “Tower of …,” noun
1BA6Bewilder or perplex
2BA4,6Fee to avoid prison, noun; scoop water out of a ship, or abandon, verb
1BA7Court guard
1BA4Parcel of hay, or actor Christian
1BA4Where Cinderella lost her slipper, noun; or squeeze or form into a spherical shape, verb
1BE6Happen to someone (said about something bad)
1BI7Line about which a body rotates (the Earth revolves around its … once every 24 hours)
1BI8Invoice, or actor Murray, noun/verb
1BI8Latin for lips, or lips of vagina
1BL4Reveal a secret by indiscreet talk
1FA5Short story, typically with animals as characters, conveying a moral
1FA4Don’t pass a test
1FA7Fried chickpea balls often served in pita
1FA4Autumn, noun; or plummet, verb
1FA8Capable of making mistakes
1FE5♂, slang (young or little …)
1FI6Of or due from a son or daughter, adj.
1FI8Add material until the container or hole is at capacity
1FI7Repair, verb/noun; fasten securely in a particular position
1FL4Soft, loose flesh on a person’s body; fat
1FL5Swing (arms) wildly
1FL4Blue-flowered plant, source of linseed oil
1FL4Hopping insect whose bites cause itching in dogs & cats
1LA5Tag or sticky paper with info (Avery mailing …)
2LA5,6Latin for lips, or lips of vagina
1LA6Easily and frequently altered; unstable
1LE4Nissan electric car; 4 of these on a clover is lucky
1LI6Responsible by law/legally answerable; likely to do something (he's ... to get upset)

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