- Letters: I/AJNORT
- Words: 59
- Points: 310
- 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 | AN | 6 | Ceremonially smear someone with oil, or designate as a successor |
| 1 | AN | 4 | Opposed to (prefix), NOT uncle’s wife's nickname |
| 1 | AN | 5 | Atom or molecule with a net electric charge |
| 1 | AN | 10 | Write something, for example music, in a specialized system; or write comments in the margins of a book |
| 1 | AR | 4 | Opera solo |
| 1 | AT | 5 | Large open-air or skylight covered space surrounded by a building, common in ancient Roman houses; an upper cavity of the heart |
| 1 | AT | 6 | Succeed in getting, or reach; verb (… nirvana), noun form is a pangram |
| 1 | AT | 9 | The process of gradually reducing the size or strength of something through sustained attack or pressure (staff reduction will be accomplished through …) |
| 2 | IN | 9,10 | Cause to begin, or admit into a secret society; verb; or novice, noun |
| 1 | IN | 4 | Enter (go … the room), preposition |
| 1 | IN | 5 | Announce upcoming thing (next guest), or prelude (beginner’s course, book preface), slang abbr. |
| 1 | IN | 10 | Character of sound, a sound (dial or ring-); noun; give greater strength or firmness to a body or a muscle; verb |
| 1 | IO | 4 | 9th Greek letter, I; or extremely small amount |
| 1 | IR | 4 | Element Fe (atomic number 26), or hot clothes presser, noun/verb |
| 2 | IR | 8,10 | Make someone annoyed, impatient, or angry; or cause inflammation |
| 1 | JA | 7 | Custodian, pangram |
| 2 | JI | 4,5 | Arabian air or flame spirit, portrayed as living in lamps & granting 3 wishes |
| 1 | JO | 4 | Link, connect (… in holy matrimony) |
| 1 | JO | 5 | Place where 2 bones connect & allow motion (knee, knuckle, e.g.) |
| 1 | NA | 9 | Provide a spoken commentary |
| 1 | NA | 6 | Country, or temperance activist Carrie |
| 1 | NI | 5 | Stealthy Japanese warrior in black |
| 1 | NI | 5 | Slang abbr. for chem. used as explosive & heart med. |
| 1 | NO | 4 | “Black” in French; or dark mystery genre (film …) |
| 1 | NO | 4 | Edible seaweed, eaten either fresh or dried in sheets |
| 1 | NO | 8 | Write something, for example music, in a specialized system; or write comments in the margins of a book |
| 1 | NO | 6 | Vague idea, or small sewing accessory |
| 1 | ON | 5 | Veg that makes you cry when cut (for some, this is the "dreaded root veg") |
| 1 | OR | 7 | Make a speech |
| 1 | OR | 8 | Religious music for orchestra & voice (Handel’s Messiah, e.g.) |
| 1 | RA | 4 | Liquid precipitation |
| 1 | RA | 5 | Indian yogurt veg dip |
| 1 | RA | 4 | Hindu queen, anagram of liquid precipitation |
| 1 | RA | 5 | Proportion in math (Golden …, e.g.) |
| 1 | RA | 6 | Allow each person to have only a fixed amount of something because of a shortage, verb/noun |
| 1 | RI | 5 | Dry red wine from Spain made from Tempranillo grapes |
| 1 | RI | 4 | Civil unrest, noun; or to rampage, verb |
| 1 | RO | 8 | Move in a circle around an axis or center |
| 1 | RO | 4 | Indian flatbread that isn’t naan |
| 1 | RO | 6 | Spiral pasta, fusilli |
| 1 | TA | 5 | Smear of corruption or pollution, noun/verb |
| 1 | TA | 6 | Brown chemical in tea & wine used to preserve leather, noun |
| 1 | TA | 9 | Exclamation used to express exasperation, frustration, or incredulity (What in … is going on?) |
| 1 | TI | 5 | Jeweled, ornamental ½ crown |
| 1 | TI | 4 | Shade of color, noun; or darken car windows, verb |
| 1 | TI | 5 | Pre-Olympic god, largest Saturn moon, or industry bigwig |
| 1 | TI | 9 | Ascertain the amount of a constituent in a solution, using a reagent (chemistry) |
| 1 | TO | 5 | Shinto shrine gate, NOT double plural of donut shapes |
| 1 | TO | 7 | Italian ice cream with rum, almonds, & cherries |
| 1 | TO | 4 | Donut shape |
| 1 | TR | 5 | Choo-choo, or prep for athletic event |
| 1 | TR | 5 | Characteristic, often genetically determined (left-handedness, e.g.) |
| 1 | TR | 7 | Benedict Arnold, e.g. |
| 1 | TR | 9 | Italian restaurant with simple food |
| 1 | TR | 4 | Musical group of 3 (Kingston …) |
| 1 | TR | 6 | Son of Poseidon, largest Neptune moon; mollusk with a tall spiral shell |
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