- Letters: B/AELOPT
- Words: 69
- Points: 279
- Pangrams: 2
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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 | AB | 5 | Become less intense (the storm suddenly …d) |
| 1 | AB | 5 | Head monk, perhaps at Downton |
| 1 | AB | 4 | Help commit a crime |
| 1 | AB | 6 | Remove (body tissue) surgically, verb |
| 1 | AB | 4 | Having the power, skill, means, or opportunity to do something, adj. (She was … to walk at 14 months) |
| 1 | AP | 10 | Ask for a court ruling to be reversed, verb/noun |
| 1 | BA | 4 | Rum sponge cake, or Ali & his 40 thieves |
| 1 | BA | 6 | Talk rapidly in a foolish or excited way (like an infant); homophone of Genesis “Tower of …,” verb |
| 1 | BA | 4 | Infant, slugger Ruth, or pig film |
| 1 | BA | 5 | Genesis “Tower of …,” noun |
| 1 | BA | 4 | Parcel of hay, noun/verb, or actor Christian |
| 1 | BA | 4 | Where Cinderella lost her slipper, noun; or squeeze or form into a spherical shape, verb |
| 1 | BA | 6 | Artistic dance form (“Swan Lake,” e.g.) |
| 1 | BA | 6 | What you mark to vote |
| 1 | BA | 6 | African tree |
| 1 | BA | 4 | (Of a hawk) flap wings to escape, homophone of worm on a fish hook |
| 1 | BA | 6 | Sustained fight between armed forces (… of the Bulge), noun/verb |
| 2 | BE | 4,8 | Stir or strike vigorously, or trounce in a contest |
| 1 | BE | 5 | Fast jazz style (“Cowboy …” anime series) |
| 1 | BE | 4 | Car horn sound, noun/verb |
| 1 | BE | 4 | Borscht veg |
| 1 | BE | 6 | VW compact car, or winged insect (scarab, e.g.) |
| 1 | BE | 4 | It rings |
| 1 | BE | 5 | Southern pretty ♀ (Scarlett O'Hara, e.g.) |
| 1 | BE | 4 | It holds your pants up |
| 1 | BE | 4 | 2nd Greek letter, ß |
| 1 | BE | 5 | Nut that Bloody Mary chews in “South Pacific”; AKA areca nut |
| 1 | BE | 6 | Running behind (I’m … for class), or deceased (The … Charles Grodin) |
| 1 | BL | 4 | Reveal a secret by indiscreet talk |
| 1 | BL | 4 | Make a sound like a sheep, goat, or calf; slang |
| 1 | BL | 5 | More common term for wavering cry |
| 1 | BL | 5 | Cover a profanity with a sound (… out) |
| 1 | BL | 5 | Make or become swollen with fluid or gas, esp. stomach |
| 1 | BL | 4 | Gelatinous mass, or 1950s alien horror film |
| 1 | BL | 5 | Electronic tone similar to profanity cover sound; or mistake (usually with –ER); or a weakly hit fly ball in baseball that is too high for the infielders and too short for the outfielders |
| 1 | BL | 4 | Stain (on your record), noun; or dry using absorbent material (forehead dampness), verb |
| 1 | BL | 6 | Slang for drunk |
| 1 | BO | 4 | Small ship, as in “tug-” |
| 1 | BO | 6 | Waterside hotel with docks where you can moor your vessel |
| 1 | BO | 4 | Taiwan sweet tea with gelatin pearls |
| 1 | BO | 6 | Type of “head” doll that nods when moved |
| 1 | BO | 4 | Thrown weighted string weapon |
| 1 | BO | 4 | Cotton seed target for weevil |
| 1 | BO | 4 | Western string tie |
| 1 | BO | 4 | Runner Usain, or what you screw into a nut |
| 1 | BO | 4 | Breast, slang |
| 1 | BO | 6 | “Owie” you kiss & make better, mistake, or what 2 ghosts say |
| 1 | BO | 4 | Low-pitched horn sound, noun/verb; or a gentle, playful strike, especially on the nose, noun/verb |
| 1 | BO | 4 | Cowboy or winter shoe |
| 1 | BO | 6 | Baby foot covering |
| 1 | BO | 6 | Baby milk feeder |
| 1 | LA | 5 | Tag or sticky paper with info (Avery mailing …) |
| 1 | LO | 4 | Brain section, or part of ear most commonly pierced |
| 1 | LO | 4 | Wolf, Spanish |
| 1 | OB | 6 | Flattened at the poles, adj. (the Earth is an … sphere) |
| 1 | OB | 4 | Double reed orchestra-tuning instrument |
| 1 | PA | 9 | Agreeable or pleasant, especially to the sense of taste |
| 1 | PA | 8 | So intense (a feeling or atmosphere) as to seem almost physical (a … sense of loss), or can be felt by touch (negative form is a pangram) |
| 1 | PE | 6 | Small rock (… Beach golf course near Monterey, CA) |
| 1 | PE | 8 | Skin of a fruit, noun; or to remove it, verb |
| 1 | PL | 4 | Commoner, slang insult, from Latin |
| 1 | PL | 5 | Military academy cadet, slang |
| 1 | PO | 7 | Safe to drink, pangram… |
| 1 | TA | 5 | Indian small drum pair; NOT dining room furniture |
| 1 | TA | 5 | A piece of furniture with a flat top & legs (kitchen, dining room, coffee…) |
| 1 | TA | 6 | Flat slab with writing (the 10 commandments?), medicine pill, or portable touchscreen computer (iPad, Kindle Fire) |
| 1 | TA | 8 | Suitable for use or display on a piece of furniture with a flat surface and legs (… Christmas tree) |
| 1 | TA | 5 | Forbidden, cultural no-nos |
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