Master today's NYT crossword with our expert hint system. We provide synonyms, antonyms, and strategic clues to help you solve without spoiling the fun. Perfect for crossword lover who want that satisfying "aha!" moment.
Today is Puzzle Difficulty: Challenging
Pro Tip: Start with the fill-in-the-blank clues - they're usually the easiest entry points!
Across Clues - Strategic Hints (35 clues)
1A: "1. Biting comment"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the site of an archeological exploration
- Similar words include: turn over, fag, shot
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DIG
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2A: "4. "No thanks""
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IPASS
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3A: "9. Bottom of the food chain, say"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a person who is the aim of an attack (especially a victim of ridicule or exploitation) by some hostile person or influence
- Similar words include: predate, target, feed
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PREY
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4A: "13. That, in Spanish"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ESO
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5A: "14. Easier to get along with"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that pleasant or pleasing or agreeable in nature or appearance; - george meredith
- Similar words include: skillful, gracious, decent
- Opposite of: nasty
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NICER
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6A: "15. Job perk that might accumulate"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the period of time during which you are absent from work or duty
- Similar words include: farewell, give, allow
- Opposite of: enter, disinherit
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LEAVE
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7A: "16. Catchalls of the insurance industry"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _______________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BLANKETPOLICIES
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8A: "19. Edgar Allan Poe writing"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a message that tells the particulars of an act or occurrence or course of events; presented in writing or drama or cinema or as a radio or television program
- Similar words include: story, tarradiddle, taradiddle
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TALE
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9A: "20. Reine's counterpart"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that (corporate finance) the amount, expressed as a percentage, that is earned on a company's total capital calculated by dividing the total capital into earnings before interest, taxes, or dividends are paid
- Similar words include: return on investment, return on invested capital
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ROI
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10A: "21. Country that produces surprisingly little Muscat wine"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a strategically located monarchy on the southern and eastern coasts of the arabian peninsula; the economy is dominated by oil
- Similar words include: Muscat and Oman, Sultanate of Oman
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OMAN
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11A: "22. Uses scissors on"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that (plural) hand shears for cutting sheet metal
- Similar words include: snipping, clip, nip off
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SNIPS
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12A: "24. Really giving an earful"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RAILINGAT
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13A: "28. Dissuade"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that try to prevent; show opposition to
- Similar words include: dissuade, discourage
- Opposite of: persuade
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DETER
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14A: "30. Bit of body art, informally"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that tastelessness by virtue of being cheap and vulgar
- Similar words include: Thematic Apperception Test, cheapness, sleaze
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TAT
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15A: "31. Modern ___"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a period marked by distinctive character or reckoned from a fixed point or event
- Similar words include: epoch, geological era, earned run average
- Pattern: ___
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Answer: ERA
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16A: "32. Paradise on earth"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a book written by sir thomas more (1516) describing the perfect society on an imaginary island
- Similar words include: Zion, Sion
- Opposite of: dystopia
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: UTOPIA
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17A: "35. Where you might have to exchange tickets for food"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a traveling show; having sideshows and rides and games of skill etc.
- Similar words include: fairish, bazaar, sightly
- Opposite of: unfairly, foul
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FAIR
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18A: "36. Reptile that can reach up to 10 feet in length"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MONITORLIZARD
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19A: "40. Got carried along by"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that sit and travel on the back of animal, usually while controlling its motions
- Similar words include: bait, rally, drive
- Opposite of: walk
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RODE
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20A: "41. Nonexpert"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that someone who is not a clergyman or a professional person
- Similar words include: secular, layperson
- Opposite of: clergyman
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LAYMAN
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21A: "42. Story extender"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AND
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22A: "43. Pose a question"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that inquire about
- Similar words include: enquire, require, involve
- Opposite of: obviate
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ASK
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23A: "45. Deluges with emails"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a canned meat made largely from pork
- Similar words include: spam, junk e-mail, Spam
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SPAMS
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24A: "48. Play Store purchase"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MOBILEAPP
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25A: "52. Series of steps"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that support consisting of a place to rest the foot while ascending or descending a stairway
- Similar words include: step
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: STAIR
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26A: "54. Part of a pot"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that (poker) the initial contribution that each player makes to the pot
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ANTE
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27A: "55. "Now I see!""
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AHA
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28A: "57. Sitting on the bench, say"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the state of an engine or other mechanism that is idling
- Similar words include: stagnate, tick over, jobless
- Opposite of: busy, work
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IDLE
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29A: "58. Catchphrase of a classic MTV show … or a hint for the starts of 16-, 24-, 36- and 48-Across"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _______________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WELCOMETOMYCRIB
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30A: "62. Book of legends"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that (greek mythology) a titan who was forced by zeus to bear the sky on his shoulders
- Similar words include: map collection, telamon, book of maps
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ATLAS
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31A: "63. Unit of engine capacity"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a metric unit of capacity, formerly defined as the volume of one kilogram of pure water under standard conditions; now equal to 1,000 cubic centimeters (or approximately 1.75 pints)
- Similar words include: l, cubic decimeter, litre
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LITER
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32A: "64. Hosp. area"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a hospital unit staffed and equipped to provide intensive care
- Similar words include: intensive care unit
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ICU
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33A: "65. Largest loch in Scotland by volume"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a strip of land projecting into a body of water
- Similar words include: cape
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NESS
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34A: "66. Many ___ (a long time)"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the natural satellite of the earth
- Similar words include: synodic month, moon, moon around
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MOONS
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35A: "67. "___ Auto" (Volkswagen slogan)"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that any of several small ungulate mammals of africa and asia with rodent-like incisors and feet with hooflike toes
- Similar words include: hyrax, coney, cony
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DAS
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Down Clues - Strategic Hints (41 clues)
1D: "1. Net worth negatives"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the state of owing something (especially money)
- Similar words include: debt
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DEBTS
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2D: "2. Setting for the game Myst"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a land mass (smaller than a continent) that is surrounded by water
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ISLAND
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3D: "3. Netminder"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the soccer or hockey player assigned to protect the goal
- Similar words include: goalkeeper, netminder, netkeeper
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GOALIE
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4D: "4. ___ saver (printing option for a crossword)"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a liquid used for printing or writing or drawing
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: INK
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5D: "5. Crabbing spot"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a platform built out from the shore into the water and supported by piles; provides access to ships and boats
- Similar words include: wharf, dock, wharfage
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PIER
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6D: "6. Person who may have to deal with long lines"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a theatrical performer
- Similar words include: role player, histrion, player
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ACTOR
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7D: "7. Color whose name comes from the Greek word for "cuttlefish""
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a shade of brown with a tinge of red
- Similar words include: mahogany, burnt sienna, reddish brown
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SEPIA
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8D: "8. Sign of a packed house"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SRO
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9D: "9. Praline nugget"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that wood of a pecan tree
- Similar words include: pecan tree, Carya illinoensis, Carya illinoinsis
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PECAN
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10D: "10. Galoshes and umbrellas"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RAINGEAR
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11D: "11. Noted wearer of a fig leaf"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that (old testament) adam's wife in judeo-christian mythology: the first woman and mother of the human race; god created eve from adam's rib and placed adam and eve in the garden of eden
- Similar words include: eventide, even, evening
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EVE
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12D: "12. What a bobbing fist indicates in American Sign Language"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that an affirmative
- Opposite of: no
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: YES
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13D: "15. Hard cap"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the greatest possible degree of something
- Similar words include: limitation, trammel, confine
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LIMIT
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14D: "17. Only planet in the solar system not visible to the naked eye"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that (roman mythology) god of the sea; counterpart of greek poseidon
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NEPTUNE
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15D: "18. 1970 classic by the Kinks"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LOLA
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16D: "23. Org. concerned with life beyond Earth"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SETI
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17D: "25. Winner of four World Cups"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a republic in southern europe on the italian peninsula; was the core of the roman republic and the roman empire between the 4th century bc and the 5th century ad
- Similar words include: Italian Republic, Italia
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ITALY
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18D: "26. Like much of Utah"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that lacking sufficient water or rainfall
- Similar words include: desiccate, desiccated, waterless
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ARID
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19D: "27. Road crew goo"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that any of various dark heavy viscid substances obtained as a residue
- Similar words include: gob, seafarer, sea dog
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TAR
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20D: "29. Start to attract fruit flies, perhaps"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a state of decay usually accompanied by an offensive odor
- Similar words include: moulder, bunkum, putrefaction
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ROT
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21D: "33. Dance performed in Smetana's "The Bartered Bride""
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that music performed for dancing the polka
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: POLKA
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22D: "34. Apt name for a financial adviser?"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a militant organization of irish nationalists who used terrorism and guerilla warfare in an effort to drive british forces from northern ireland and achieve a united independent ireland
- Similar words include: individual retirement account, Provos, ire
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IRA
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23D: "35. Huge supporter"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a person motivated by irrational enthusiasm (as for a cause); --winston churchill
- Similar words include: rabid, overzealous, fiend
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FANATIC
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24D: "36. "The kissing disease," for short"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that an acute disease characterized by fever and swollen lymph nodes and an abnormal increase of mononuclear leucocytes or monocytes in the bloodstream; not highly contagious; some believe it can be transmitted by kissing
- Similar words include: monophonic, kissing disease, infectious mononucleosis
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MONO
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25D: "37. Quirky types"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a person with an unusual or odd personality
- Similar words include: oddball, geek, eccentric person
- Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ODDBALLS
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26D: "38. Some Gmail convos"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IMS
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27D: "39. Throws in the microwave"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a sudden event that imparts energy or excitement, usually with a dramatic impact
- Similar words include: atomise, microwave, nuke
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ZAPS
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28D: "40. Smash (into)"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the most common computer memory which can be used by programs to perform necessary tasks while the computer is on; an integrated circuit memory chip allows information to be stored or accessed in any order and all storage locations are equally accessible
- Similar words include: tup, jam, random memory
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RAM
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29D: "43. Singers with a range from F3 to F5"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a singer whose voice lies in the alto clef
- Similar words include: contralto, countertenor, alto
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ALTOS
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30D: "44. Appear to be"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that give a certain impression or have a certain outward aspect
- Similar words include: look, appear
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SEEM
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31D: "46. City that's home to el Museo del Prado"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the capital and largest city situated centrally in spain; home of an outstanding art museum
- Similar words include: Spanish capital, capital of Spain
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MADRID
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32D: "47. ___ gel (moisture-absorbing stuff marked "Do not eat")"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a white or colorless vitreous insoluble solid (sio2); various forms occur widely in the earth's crust as quartz or cristobalite or tridymite or lechatelierite
- Similar words include: silicon oxide, silicon dioxide
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SILICA
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33D: "49. Residents of the Realm of the Four Parts"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a ruler of the incas (or a member of his family)
- Similar words include: Incan, Inka, Inca
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: INCAS
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34D: "50. Barbecue setting, often"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that usually paved outdoor area adjoining a residence
- Similar words include: terrace
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PATIO
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35D: "51. Insta post"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a representation of a person or scene in the form of a print or transparent slide; recorded by a camera on light-sensitive material
- Similar words include: exposure, picture, photograph
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PHOTO
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36D: "53. An eye for an I?"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a puzzle where you decode a message consisting of pictures representing syllables and words
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: REBUS
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37D: "56. "Preach it!""
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a primeval egyptian personification of air and breath; worshipped especially at thebes
- Similar words include: Amun, Amon
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AMEN
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38D: "58. Lacking color"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a computer network that spans a wider area than does a local area network
- Similar words include: sick, pale, wide area network
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WAN
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39D: "59. Shorts season in Strasbourg"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ETE
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40D: "60. Tree with serrated leaves"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that any of various trees of the genus ulmus: important timber or shade trees
- Similar words include: elmwood, elm tree
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ELM
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41D: "61. Mos. on end"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a period of time containing 365 (or 366) days
- Similar words include: twelvemonth, yr, year
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: YRS
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Expert Solving Strategies
Start Smart
Begin with fill-in-the-blank clues and short 3-4 letter words. These are your foundation.
Decode the Clues
Question marks indicate wordplay or puns. "Maybe" suggests multiple interpretations.
Use Cross-References
Let intersecting letters guide you. One correct answer unlocks several others.
Build Vocabulary
Common crossword words repeat. Learning them speeds up future solving.
Today's Puzzle Stats
35 Across Clues
41 Down Clues
76 Total Clues
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