Bee Roots for 2024-10-20

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: V/CDEINT
  • Words: 50
  • Points: 299
  • Pangrams: 1
Source: Longmont Leader

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, ...)
1CI5Asian & African “cat” used for perfume
1CI5Popular Honda model; or municipal (adj.)
2DE7,8Cause someone to believe something that is not true; give a false impression, gerund form is a pangram
1DE9Someone who solves crimes: fictional ones include Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, and Columbo
1DE6Something made for a purpose, especially a piece of mechanical or electronic equipment
2DE6,8Tube that returns blood to the heart
2DI4,5Jump headfirst into water
2DI6,7Separate into parts, or ÷ arithmetic operation
1DI8$ paid quarterly by a stock
2DI6,7Of, from, or like God or a god (to forgive is…), adj.; or figure out from a hunch or prophesy
1DI7Break into parts for sharing (… up the proceeds)
1EN6Leafy veg (Belgian …) AKA chicory
1EN6Jealousy, noun/verb
2EV4,6Number that can be divided by 2 without a remainder, or flat & smooth; adj.; or to make or become that (… out the edges)
1EV5Thing that happens (“When in the course of human …s”)
3EV5,7,7Kick out of an apartment
2EV8,9Body of facts or information indicating whether a belief or proposition is true, noun/verb, gerund form is a pangram
1EV7Obvious (“We hold these truths to be self-…“)
2EV6,7Formal verb: reveal the presence of (a quality or feeling) (his words … his excitement)
1IN9Something that motivates you (in areas that depend on the Colorado River there's an … to conserve water)
1IN9Abusive language used to express blame or to hurt (a stream of …)
3IN6,8,9Create something new (device, e.g.)
3IN6,7,7Ask someone to a party
1IV5Climbing plant with shiny, dark green five-pointed leaves (… League)
2VE4,6Tube that returns blood to the heart
2VE4,6Sell (…-ing machine, e.g.)
2VE4,6Exhaust outlet (clothes dryer, e.g.), noun; or let out your frustrations, verb
1VE6Person with combat experience, noun; check credentials, verb
1VI4Bad habit, or “Miami …” police show
1VI4Compete eagerly
1VI10Vengeful, pangram
1VI4Climbing plant (Marvin Gaye “I Heard It Through The Grape…”)
1VI5Producing powerful feelings or strong, clear images in the mind (a … memory); or, of a color, intensely deep or bright

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