- Letters: O/AEHLNT
- Words: 60
- Points: 230
- 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 | AE | 4 | Geologic time period, spelled with an æsc; “… Flux” anime |
| 1 | AL | 5 | Apportion $ or other resource (time, e.g.) |
| 1 | AL | 4 | Sunburn gel from “… vera” plant |
| 1 | AL | 5 | Hawaiian greeting |
| 1 | AL | 4 | Sax smaller than a tenor, or voice higher than one |
| 1 | AL | 5 | Solitary (… wolf, e.g.), adj. |
| 1 | AN | 4 | Soon, poetically |
| 1 | AN | 8 | Write something, for example music, in a specialized system; or write comments in the margins of a book |
| 1 | AT | 5 | Coral island (Bikini, e.g.) |
| 1 | AT | 5 | Make up for something you did wrong |
| 1 | AT | 6 | Character of sound, a sound (dial or ring-); noun; give greater strength or firmness to a body or a muscle; verb |
| 1 | ET | 7 | Two-carbon chain, alcohol form is a pangram |
| 1 | HA | 4 | Nimbus (ring of light or glowing cloud) atop a saint, or Xbox shooter game |
| 1 | HE | 8 | Satan’s pit; an oppressive or unbearable place; compound noun |
| 1 | HE | 5 | Phone greeting |
| 1 | HO | 4 | Golf ball target (get a …-in-one), noun/verb |
| 1 | HO | 4 | Otter den |
| 1 | HO | 4 | Sharpen (a blade or skill) |
| 1 | HO | 4 | Owl sound, noun/verb |
| 1 | HO | 5 | Place to stay when traveling (Eagles “… California”) |
| 1 | LE | 5 | Slowly, in music & Italian |
| 1 | LL | 5 | South American grassy plain |
| 1 | LO | 4 | Borrowed $, noun/verb |
| 2 | LO | 5,6 | Reluctant (to), adj.; often confused with verb ending in E meaning “hate” |
| 1 | LO | 4 | Hang out or droop, as a dog’s tongue |
| 1 | LO | 4 | Solitary (… wolf, e.g.), adj. |
| 1 | LO | 4 | “Crazy” water bird on Canada $1 coin |
| 1 | LO | 4 | Pirate treasure, noun; or to steal during a riot, verb |
| 1 | LO | 5 | State-sponsored numbers betting ticket (Powerball, e.g.) |
| 1 | NE | 4 | Atomic number 10, gas in lighted signs |
| 2 | NE | 7,8 | Newborn |
| 1 | NO | 9 | Fatal (“… Weapon” films), negative form is a pangram |
| 1 | NO | 4 | Xmas time, or playwright Coward |
| 1 | NO | 4 | Quantity of zero; “all” antonym |
| 1 | NO | 5 | Group of 9 (musicians) |
| 1 | NO | 4 | 12:00, midday, 🕛 |
| 1 | NO | 6 | Write something, for example music, in a specialized system; or write comments in the margins of a book |
| 1 | NO | 4 | What you pass to someone in class, or ♪ in music |
| 1 | OA | 5 | Grain that is Quaker's specialty |
| 1 | OA | 4 | Vow or pledge (you’re under one in court testimony) |
| 1 | OL | 4 | Margarine |
| 1 | ON | 4 | Preposition when mounting an animal or boarding a large vehicle |
| 1 | TA | 5 | A bird of prey's claw |
| 1 | TA | 6 | Skin “ink” |
| 1 | TE | 8 | Abstain from drinking alcohol (compound) |
| 1 | TE | 8 | Very long TV program, usually to raise money for a charity |
| 1 | TE | 5 | Projecting piece of wood attached to a mortise |
| 1 | TO | 4 | Road use fee (paid at a booth) |
| 2 | TO | 4,5 | Character of sound, a sound (dial or ring-); noun; give greater strength or firmness to a body or a muscle; verb |
| 1 | TO | 5 | 1,000 kilograms, UK spelling |
| 1 | TO | 4 | An implement (hammer & screwdriver, e.g.); often stored in a …box |
| 1 | TO | 4 | Animated film or character, slang abbr. (car…) |
| 1 | TO | 4 | Short horn sound; noun/verb |
| 1 | TO | 5 | What you chew with |
| 1 | TO | 6 | Drive or move in a leisurely manner, or play gently or repeatedly on a flute |
| 1 | TO | 5 | The whole amount (sum of numbers, e.g.) |
| 1 | TO | 4 | Reusable bag, noun; or schlep, verb |
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