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Sunday, August 24, 2025

January 13, 1990 NYT Clues Solutions | XWordHint

Master the NYT crossword from January 13, 1990 with our expert hint system. We provide synonyms, antonyms, and strategic clues to help you solve without spoiling the fun.

Puzzle Difficulty: Challenging

Pro Tip: Start with the fill-in-the-blank clues - they're usually the easiest entry points!

Across Clues - Strategic Hints (36 clues)

1A: "1. Syncopated drumbeats"

10 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the sound of a drum (especially a snare drum) beaten rapidly and continuously
  • Similar words include: roll, drum roll
  • Pattern: __________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: PARADIDDLE

2A: "11. Pass catcher Collinsworth"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: CRIS

3A: "15. One-sided"

10 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that involving only one part or side
  • Similar words include: one-sided
  • Opposite of: multilateral
Click to reveal answer
Answer: UNILATERAL

4A: "16. A Rodgers partner"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that united states playwright who collaborated with george s. kaufman (1904-1961)
  • Similar words include: Lorenz Hart, Moss Hart, stag
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: HART

5A: "17. Deliverers"

10 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that someone who releases people from captivity or bondage
  • Similar words include: liberator
  • Opposite of: captor
Click to reveal answer
Answer: LIBERATORS

6A: "18. Hungary's Nagy"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: IMRE

7A: "19. As written: Mus."

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: STA

8A: "20. Alt."

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ELEV

9A: "21. Axilla"

6 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the hollow under the arm where it is joined to the shoulder
  • Similar words include: axillary cavity, axilla, axillary fossa
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ARMPIT

10A: "23. Young Guthrie"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ARLO

11A: "25. Musical tones"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a widely distributed system consisting of all the cells able to ingest bacteria or colloidal particles etc, except for certain white blood cells
  • Similar words include: rhenium, ray, reticuloendothelial system
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: RES

12A: "27. "Deirdre" dramatist"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that irish poet and dramatist (1865-1939)
  • Similar words include: William Butler Yeats, W. B. Yeats
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: YEATS

13A: "28. Communicates à la sparks"

6 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that medium for communication
  • Similar words include: radiocommunication, radio set, radio receiver
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: RADIOS

14A: "31. Plexus"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a network of intersecting blood vessels or intersecting nerves or intersecting lymph vessels
  • Similar words include: plexus
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: RETE

15A: "33. Noted Indian novelist"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: RAO

16A: "34. ___-faire"

7 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: LAISSEZ

17A: "36. Abbr. on an envelope"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ATTN

18A: "37. Egypt's ___ stone"

7 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ROSETTA

19A: "40. Author Gay and family"

7 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: TALESES

20A: "42. Footless"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: APOD

21A: "43. Theater cries"

7 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an extra or repeated performance; usually given in response to audience demand
  • Similar words include: encore
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ENCORES

22A: "45. Alouette's bill"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: BEC

23A: "46. It is, in Ibiza"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ESTA

24A: "47. Two jiggers"

6 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a disrespectful laugh
  • Similar words include: hiss, razz, raspberry
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SNORTS

25A: "51. Dropped a fly"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that to make a mistake or be incorrect
  • Similar words include: mistake, stray, err
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ERRED

26A: "53. Goal"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that either extremity of something that has length
  • Similar words include: last, close, remainder
  • Opposite of: beginning, begin
Click to reveal answer
Answer: END

27A: "55. Ding or dong"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a deep prolonged sound (as of thunder or large bells)
  • Similar words include: roll, ring, pealing
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: PEAL

28A: "56. Crude shelter"

6 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: LEANTO

29A: "58. Former Venezuelan mining town"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: AROA

30A: "61. He, to Louis"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: LUI

31A: "62. Aleutian island"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ATTU

32A: "63. Return a P.O.W. to his native land"

10 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a person who has returned to the country of origin or whose citizenship has been restored
  • Opposite of: expatriate
  • Pattern: __________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: REPATRIATE

33A: "66. Via's kin"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ITER

34A: "67. Crackles"

10 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that make a crackling sound
  • Similar words include: crackle, crepitate
  • Pattern: __________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: CREPITATES

35A: "68. Ltr. enclosure"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SASE

36A: "69. Rating"

10 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the classification of someone or something with respect to its worth
  • Similar words include: appraisal, judgement, judgment
  • Pattern: __________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ASSESSMENT

Down Clues - Strategic Hints (38 clues)

1D: "1. Neutron star"

6 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a degenerate neutron star; small and extremely dense; rotates very fast and emits regular pulses of polarized radiation
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: PULSAR

2D: "2. "Peer Gynt" temptress"

6 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ANITRA

3D: "3. Gross"

6 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a ribald person; someone who uses vulgar and offensive language
  • Similar words include: bawdy, off-color
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: RIBALD

4D: "4. Porter relative"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a general name for beer made with a top fermenting yeast; in some of the united states an ale is (by law) a brew of more than 4% alcohol by volume
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ALE

5D: "5. Venture"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a challenge to do something dangerous or foolhardy
  • Similar words include: make bold, presume, defy
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: DARE

6D: "6. Romance lang."

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ITAL

7D: "7. Hold back"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that try to prevent; show opposition to
  • Similar words include: discourage, dissuade
  • Opposite of: persuade
Click to reveal answer
Answer: DETER

8D: "8. Herdsmen"

7 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that someone who drives a herd
  • Similar words include: herdsman, drover, herder
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: DROVERS

9D: "9. Gibbon"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: LAR

10D: "10. Lionized lion"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ELSA

11D: "11. Voice of Grandfather Time?"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a percussion instrument consisting of a set of tuned bells that are struck with a hammer; used as an orchestral instrument
  • Similar words include: gong, bell
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: CHIME

12D: "12. What we watched o'er"

8 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an embankment built around a space for defensive purposes
  • Similar words include: bulwark, wall, rampart
  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: RAMPARTS

13D: "13. Irk"

8 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations
  • Similar words include: get at, nettle, rag
  • Opposite of: soothe
Click to reveal answer
Answer: IRRITATE

14D: "14. Texans' toppers"

8 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a hat made of felt with a creased crown
  • Similar words include: felt hat, trilby, fedora
  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: STETSONS

15D: "22. Bodies' meeting place in Scotland?"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the seed of the cereal grass
  • Similar words include: rye whisky, Secale cereale, rye whiskey
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: RYE

16D: "24. Lubed the limo"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that cover with oil, as if by rubbing
  • Similar words include: anele, inunct, oil
  • Opposite of: unoiled
Click to reveal answer
Answer: OILED

17D: "26. Mind"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SEETO

18D: "29. Cereal grass"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that annual grass of europe and north africa; grains used as food and fodder (referred to primarily in the plural: `oats')
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: OAT

19D: "30. Where to build houses"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the piece of land on which something is located (or is to be located)
  • Similar words include: sit down, situation, place
  • Opposite of: stand, arise
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SITES

20D: "32. Autocratic rulers: Var."

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a male monarch or emperor (especially of russia prior to 1917)
  • Similar words include: tzar, czar, tsar
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: TZARS

21D: "35. Last word in French toast"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SANTE

22D: "36. Fabulist"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that greek author of fables (circa 620-560 bc)
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: AESOP

23D: "37. Alcofribas Nasier's real name"

8 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that author of satirical attacks on medieval scholasticism (1494-1553)
  • Similar words include: Francois Rabelais
  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: RABELAIS

24D: "38. "The Mikado," for one"

8 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a short amusing opera
  • Similar words include: light opera
  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: OPERETTA

25D: "39. Plato was his pupil"

8 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that ancient athenian philosopher; teacher of plato and xenophon (470-399 bc)
  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SOCRATES

26D: "41. Author Deighton"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: LEN

27D: "44. Hors d'oeuvres"

7 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an appetizer consisting usually of a thin slice of bread or toast spread with caviar or cheese or other savory food
  • Similar words include: canape
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: CANAPES

28D: "46. N.Y. time in June"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: EDT

29D: "48. Tell"

6 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that make a logical or causal connection
  • Similar words include: associate, touch on, interrelate
  • Opposite of: dissociate
Click to reveal answer
Answer: RELATE

30D: "49. Become uptight"

6 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that become taut or tauter
  • Similar words include: firm
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: TAUTEN

31D: "50. Most foxy"

6 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that marked by skill in deception
  • Similar words include: dodgy, foxy, knavish
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SLIEST

32D: "52. Harden"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ENURE

33D: "54. Hang"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that hanging cloth used as a blind (especially for a window)
  • Similar words include: curtain, clothe, cloak
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: DRAPE

34D: "57. Grampus"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that predatory black-and-white toothed whale with large dorsal fin; common in cold seas
  • Similar words include: killer whale, sea wolf, killer
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ORCA

35D: "59. Regretful Miss, in a song"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that united states inventor who manufactured the first elevator with a safety device (1811-1861)
  • Similar words include: genus Otis, Elisha Graves Otis
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: OTIS

36D: "60. Crafts' companion"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that studies intended to provide general knowledge and intellectual skills (rather than occupational or professional skills)
  • Similar words include: prowess, fine art, humanities
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ARTS

37D: "64. Hesitation sounds"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a trivalent metallic element of the rare earth group; occurs with yttrium
  • Similar words include: emergency room, atomic number 68, Er
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ERS

38D: "65. Wee, small hr."

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: IAM

Puzzle Stats

36 Across
38 Down
74 Total

Disclaimer: Crossword clues © The New York Times. Educational content for puzzle enthusiasts.

Processed: August 23, 2025 at 08:40 PM

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