Bee Roots for 2024-10-04

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: P/AEHNOY
  • Words: 42
  • Points: 145
  • 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, ...)
1AP5Sleep breathing disorder
1EP4Fencing sword
1HA6Occur
1HA5Pleased (“Don’t worry, be …”)
1HE4Stack in a disorderly pile, verb/noun
1HO4O you jump through or spin around your waist (hula …)
1HO4Fervently wish (I … it doesn’t rain today)
1HO5Having the flavor or aroma of Humulus lupulus
1HY4Intense promotion, noun or verb (“Don’t believe the …”)
1HY6Punctuation between compound words (dog-friendly, e.g.)
1HY4Slang abbr. for medical needle (-dermic)
1NA4Scruff of the neck
1NE4Tide with least difference between low & high water
1NO4Slang negation
1OP4Pull on a door handle to gain admittance, verb/adj.
1PA5Song of praise or triumph
1PA4Single sheet of window glass
1PA4Father, slang
1PA6Tropical fruit with black seeds
1PA5Slang term for father or grandfather
1PA5Give $ in exchange for goods or services, verb/noun
1PA8Booth where you drop coins to make calls, or where Superman changes clothes; compound pangram
1PE6♀ of a bird with showy plumage)
1PE4Backside of a hammer
1PE4Baby bird sound, Easter marshmallow, or a furtive look
1PE5Tube pasta, vodka optional
1PE51¢ coin
1PE4Low-ranking worker, drudge
1PE5Flower with name similar to 1¢ coin
1PE5Energy, liveliness, noun/verb
1PH5Device to make calls (tele…)
1PH5Record player, slang abbr.
1PH5Fake, or imposter
1PH6Slang exclamation of disgust; rhymes with slang for nonsense, has a doubled central vowel
1PO4Unleavened cornbread, often Southern or Native American
1PO4Yankee Doodle went riding into town on this small horse breed
1PO4Christopher Robbins’ Winnie The … Bear
1PO4Tire out (I’m …-ed); or defecate, slang verb/noun
1PO4Francis, Pius, etc. (head of Roman Catholic Church)
1PO5Daddy
1PO5Flower used to make opium or honor veterans
1YA5Sharp, shrill bark; slang term for a person's mouth; Pacific island with giant coins

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