- Letters: O/ADLMRU
- Words: 53
- Points: 191
- 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 | AL | 5 | Sound at high volume |
| 1 | AM | 4 | A supply of bullets, slang abbreviation |
| 1 | AM | 5 | Love in French, noun |
| 1 | AM | 6 | Principled, ethical, adjective; or the lesson of a story, noun |
| 1 | AR | 5 | Passion (Latin “to burn”) |
| 1 | AR | 7 | As much as a person can hold in both upper limbs (compound) (Can you get the door? I’ve got an … of clothes) |
| 1 | AR | 5 | Protective covering against weapons (suit of …) |
| 1 | AR | 5 | Pleasant smell (baking bread, e.g.) |
| 2 | AU | 6,7 | Polar lights (… Borealis) |
| 1 | DO | 4 | Extinct bird; or stupid person, slang |
| 1 | DO | 4 | Small human figure toy such as Barbie, noun; or get all dressed up for a party, verb |
| 1 | DO | 6 | US currency |
| 1 | DO | 5 | Balkan meat & rice wrapped in leaves |
| 1 | DO | 5 | Literary term for a a state of great sorrow or distress (Spanish for pain), noun |
| 1 | DO | 6 | Thingamajig, slang; ends in “father” nickname |
| 1 | DO | 4 | Terrible fate (they fell to their …), or pioneering 1st person shooter game |
| 1 | DO | 4 | Room or bldg. entrance |
| 1 | DO | 6 | Mahimahi; or South American freshwater fish with a golden body and red fins |
| 1 | DO | 4 | Student housing abbr. |
| 1 | DO | 5 | Woman who helps a mom through labor |
| 1 | DO | 4 | Gloomy appearance or manner |
| 1 | DR | 5 | Curious or unusual in a way that provokes amusement, adj. |
| 1 | DR | 5 | Spit leaking out of your mouth, noun/verb |
| 1 | DR | 8 | Prolonged sound on a rhythm instrument you play with sticks, often preceding an announcement, compound |
| 1 | LO | 4 | A unit of laundry, noun; or to fill up a truck, verb |
| 1 | LO | 4 | Fertile, sandy soil |
| 1 | LO | 4 | Hang out or droop, as a dog’s tongue |
| 1 | LO | 4 | Cloth weaving device |
| 1 | LO | 4 | ♂ version of “Lady” in nobility, or term for God; or, exclamation expressing surprise or worry |
| 1 | LO | 4 | Sound at high volume |
| 1 | MA | 7 | Bad smell (body …) |
| 1 | MO | 5 | ♀ parent, slang |
| 1 | MO | 5 | Grammar, music, logic, stats, & textile adj., relating to structure as opposed to substance, e.g. |
| 1 | MO | 7 | Standardized part or independent unit, in building construction, sofware, or spacecraft |
| 1 | MO | 5 | Grinding back tooth |
| 1 | MO | 4 | Fungal growth, or Jell–O shaper |
| 1 | MO | 4 | Mobster’s ♀ |
| 1 | MO | 4 | Emotional state (happy, angry, sad, etc.) |
| 1 | MO | 5 | $, slang (from Fiji) |
| 1 | MO | 4 | Othello (“The …”), noun; or tract of open uncultivated upland (British noun); or tie up a boat, verb |
| 1 | MO | 5 | Principled, ethical, adjective; or the lesson of a story, noun |
| 1 | MU | 7 | Where you take off your shoes after playing outside (compound) |
| 1 | OD | 4 | Bad smell (body …) |
| 1 | OR | 4 | Spoken (… exam), or by mouth (… surgery), adjective |
| 1 | RA | 6 | Stick for loading a gun, or adj. for rigid posture (compound) |
| 1 | RO | 4 | Street ("Abbey …"), or “rocky …” ice cream flavor |
| 1 | RO | 4 | Wander, or use your phone on another network |
| 1 | RO | 4 | Lion “shout” |
| 1 | RO | 4 | What you do to dice, verb; or Tootsie candy & small bread format, noun |
| 1 | RO | 4 | Large crucifix above altar, anagram of bldg. entrance |
| 1 | RO | 4 | Chamber of a house (kitchen, bed…, bath…), noun/verb |
| 1 | RU | 5 | Scuttlebutt, gossip (… has it) |
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