- Letters: F/AEHLTU
- Words: 46
- Points: 169
- 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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| root # | answers covered | answer's first two letters | clue for root (answer may need prefix, suffix, tense change, alt spelling, ...) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | AL | Code word for A in the NATO phonetic alphabet; or an alternate spelling for the first letter of the Greek alphabet |
| 2 | 1 | AL | Grass for hay, or Little Rascal |
| 3 | 1 | EF | Pretentious, flowery, or weak, adj. |
| 4 | 1 | FA | Fried chickpea balls often served in pita |
| 5 | 1 | FA | Autumn, noun; or plummet, verb |
| 6 | 1 | FA | Deadly, adj. (“… Attraction” film) |
| 7 | 2 | FA | Destiny, kismet, 1 of 3 Greek goddesses who determine yours |
| 8 | 1 | FA | Earth fracture where quakes happen (San Andreas …), or weakness; noun/verb; past tense is a pangram |
| 9 | 1 | FE | Achievement requiring great courage, skill, or strength (no easy …), noun |
| 10 | 1 | FE | Perceive by touch; or experience (emotion) |
| 11 | 1 | FE | Cut or knock down (a tree or opponent, e.g.) |
| 12 | 1 | FE | ♂, slang (young or little …) |
| 13 | 1 | FE | Perform oral sex on a ♂, verb |
| 14 | 1 | FE | Cloth made by rolling and pressing wool with moisture and/or heat |
| 15 | 1 | FE | Soft Greek goat cheese, cubed when served |
| 16 | 1 | FE | Honor lavishly, verb; from French for “party” |
| 17 | 1 | FE | Condition, noun (in fine …); rhymes with whistling teapot |
| 18 | 1 | FE | Unborn offspring of a mammal, more advanced than an embryo |
| 28 | 1 | FE | What you cover with a sock |
| 19 | 1 | FL | Having no depth or height (… as a pancake), or ♭ in music (opposite of ♯) |
| 20 | 1 | FL | Collapsed arch on your sole; cop nickname; reason to get out of the military draft, compound |
| 21 | 1 | FL | Rolled tortilla resembling a shrill wind instrument, or the instrument in Spanish |
| 22 | 1 | FL | Hopping insect whose bites cause itching in dogs & cats |
| 23 | 1 | FL | Run away from danger, NOT a bug that causes itching |
| 24 | 1 | FL | Group of ships sailing together, noun; or enema brand; or able to run fast (… of foot) |
| 25 | 1 | FL | Chimney duct, NOT a seasonal illness |
| 26 | 1 | FL | Dryer lint, noun, or what you do to a flat pillow (… up) |
| 27 | 1 | FL | High-pitched wind instrument (Mozart's opera The Magic …); or tall thin glass for champagne |
| 29 | 1 | FU | Gasoline or oil, e.g., noun; or add it to a tank (… up) |
| 30 | 1 | FU | At capacity (I can’t finish the meal, I’m …), adj. |
| 31 | 1 | HA | Part of spear, axe, or knife you grip (1970s NYC crime film series with catchy theme song, but missing initial S) |
| 32 | 1 | HA | ½ , 50% |
| 33 | 1 | HA | Dislike intensely, verb/noun |
| 34 | 1 | HE | Physical well-being (in sickness & in …) |
| 35 | 1 | HE | Weight, especially if heavy, noun (adjective form ending in y is more common) |
| 36 | 1 | HU | Fit of petty annoyance |
| 37 | 1 | LE | Nissan electric car; 4 of these on a clover is lucky, gerund form is a pangram |
| 38 | 1 | LE | Flier passed out on the street, or to pass them out |
| 39 | 1 | LE | ←; remaining (only 1 cookie …); or departed |
| 40 | 1 | LU | The forward edge of a fore-and-aft sail, noun; or turn the head of a ship toward the wind, verb |
| 41 | 1 | TA | Fine lustrous silk with crisp texture used for formal gowns |
| 42 | 1 | TE | Cereal grain from Ethiopia |
| 43 | 1 | TH | The action or crime of stealing |
| 44 | 1 | TU | Footstool or low seat (where Little Miss Muffet sat) |
| 45 | 1 | TU | Clump of hair that sticks up |
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