- Letters: O/BEFLTU
- Words: 42
- Points: 134
- Pangrams: 1
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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 | BE | 6 | Pollute, verb; or make an out of bounds or illegal sports play, verb/noun/adj. (he …ed it off/the referree called a …/he hit a … ball) |
| 1 | BL | 4 | Gelatinous mass, or 1950s alien horror film |
| 1 | BL | 4 | Stain (on your record), noun; or dry using absorbent material (forehead dampness), verb |
| 1 | BL | 6 | Slang for drunk |
| 1 | BL | 10 | Blowfly with an iridescent (sky color) abdomen or whole body, compound made from sky color + glass wine container |
| 1 | BO | 6 | Type of “head” doll that nods when moved |
| 1 | BO | 5 | Critic’s slang adj. for a wildly successful show or film |
| 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 | Cowboy or winter shoe |
| 1 | BO | 6 | Baby foot covering |
| 2 | BO | 6,9 | Baby milk feeder |
| 1 | BO | 5 | Round loaf of crusty bread (French) |
| 1 | BO | 4 | Short period (… of insomnia or depression, e.g.), or wrestling or boxing match |
| 1 | ET | 8 | Spicy cajun or creole stew with shellfish over rice |
| 1 | FL | 4 | Sheet of ice atop the ocean, homophone of moving liquid |
| 1 | FL | 5 | Openly disregard (… the rules), verb |
| 1 | FO | 4 | Unwise person, court jester tarot card, noun; or to trick or deceive, verb |
| 1 | FO | 4 | What you cover with a sock |
| 1 | FO | 4 | Pollute, verb; or make an out of bounds or illegal sports play, verb/noun/adj. (he …ed it off/the referree called a …/he hit a … ball) |
| 1 | LO | 4 | Brain section, or part of ear most commonly pierced |
| 1 | LO | 4 | Wolf, Spanish |
| 1 | LO | 4 | Attic, or apartment in former factory, noun; or thickness of insulating material, noun; or throw high in the air, verb |
| 1 | LO | 4 | Hang out or droop, as a dog’s tongue |
| 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 | LO | 4 | Uncouth & aggressive ♂, noun |
| 1 | OB | 4 | Double reed orchestra-tuning instrument |
| 1 | OL | 4 | Margarine |
| 1 | OU | 6 | Electric power receptacle where you insert a plug |
| 1 | TO | 6 | Hard, buttery candy found in a Heath Bar |
| 1 | TO | 4 | Bean curd |
| 1 | TO | 4 | Road use fee (paid at a booth) |
| 1 | TO | 4 | An implement (hammer & screwdriver, e.g.); often stored in a …box |
| 1 | TO | 4 | Short horn sound; noun/verb |
| 1 | TO | 6 | Drive or move in a leisurely manner, or play gently or repeatedly on a flute |
| 1 | TO | 4 | Reusable bag, noun; or schlep, verb |
| 1 | TO | 4 | Promote, or offer horse racing tips |
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