Bee Roots for 2024-09-14

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/EIJLNV
  • Words: 47
  • Points: 191
  • Pangrams: 2
Source: Bruce D. Taubert, via Arizona Highways

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, ...)
1AL5Extraterrestrial (“In space no one can hear you scream”)
1AL6(Bio term) 1 of 2 or more versions of a gene
1AL5Exist, verb; or not on tape (TV show), adj.
1AN5Yearly record book
1AN6Heat then cool metal or glass slowly to toughen it
1AN4Opening at the end of the alimentary canal through which solid waste matter leaves the body, adj. form also means uptight
1AN5Heavy block for metalworking (… Chorus from Verdi's Il Trovatore)
1AV5Make use of (… yourself of), or use (to no …)
1AV5Bird-related adj. (… Flu, e.g.)
1EA4Roof overhang, NOT Adam’s mate
1EL4Énérgy, stylé, énthusiasm; from Frénch
1IN5Stupid, silly, ridiculous (… questions or comments); adj.
1JA4Prison
1JA4Coffee
1JA7Spear thrown at Olympics, pangram
1JA8Synonym for peccary
1JE4Dungaree, or tennis legend Billie … King
1LA5Hawaiian porch or island
1LA4Small road (Beatles’ Penny … or Superman’s Lois …)
1LA4Molten rock from a volcano
1LA4Wash
1LA4Put something down
1LE4Not fatty (… meat), adj.; or incline (… back in your chair)
1LE5Depart, verb
1LE6Cause to rise, as bread with yeast
1LI6A queue, what you wait in for your turn
1NA4Indiaan flaat breaad
1NA4Spike that’s hammered, noun/verb
1NA5Showing a lack of experience, wisdom, or judgment
1NA4Grandma, slang; or Peter Pan dog
1NA5Seafaring military force, adj., not belly button
1NA4Central part of a church building
1NA5Belly button
1NI5Stealthy Japanese warrior in black
1VA4Conceited (Carly Simon “You’re So …”)
1VA4Low area of land between mountains (… of Tears)
1VA5Device that controls passage of fluid or air (shut-off …, heart …)
1VA4Device that shows wind direction
2VA7,8Flavor from beans of white (plain …) ice cream + chemical compound of that flavor, C₈H₈O₃
1VE4Calf meat (… Parmesan)
1VE5Corrupt (susceptible to bribery), adj.
1VE6Catholic minor forgivable sin, adj.
1VI4Small glass container (… of poison), NOT despicable
1VI5Large & luxurious country house (Roman …)
1VI7Bad guy in a story
1VI1019–stanza poem made up of five tercets (3 stanzas) followed by a quatrain (4 stanzas), with two repeating rhymes and two refrains, from French

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