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Sunday, August 24, 2025

January 17, 1990 NYT Clues Solutions | XWordHint

Master the NYT crossword from January 17, 1990 with our expert hint system. We provide synonyms, antonyms, and strategic clues to help you solve without spoiling the fun.

Puzzle Difficulty: Moderate

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

Across Clues - Strategic Hints (39 clues)

1A: "1. Baltimore chops"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (baseball) a successful stroke in an athletic contest (especially in baseball)
  • Similar words include: hitting, bump off, tally
  • Opposite of: miss
Click to reveal answer
Answer: HITS

2A: "5. Addis ___, Ethiopian capital"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ABABA

3A: "10. "Get lost, Morris!""

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that singing jazz; the singer substitutes nonsense syllables for the words of the song and tries to sound like a musical instrument
  • Similar words include: break away, fly the coop, scarper
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SCAT

4A: "14. Jacob's twin"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (old testament) the eldest son of isaac who would have inherited the covenant that god made with abraham and that abraham passed on to isaac; he traded his birthright to his twin brother jacob for a mess of pottage
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ESAU

5A: "15. Seat in a bay window"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that joyful religious song celebrating the birth of christ
  • Similar words include: Christmas carol
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: CAROL

6A: "16. Corn bread"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that cornbread often made without milk or eggs and baked or fried (southern)
  • Similar words include: cornpone
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: PONE

7A: "17. Goodyear orchestra?"

10 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: __________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: RUBBERBAND

8A: "19. Wreck"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an irrecoverable state of devastation and destruction
  • Similar words include: ruination, break, wrecking
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: RUIN

9A: "20. Tough trip"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a journey by ox wagon (especially an organized migration by a group of settlers)
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: TREK

10A: "21. Throw one's ___ the ring (run)"

7 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: HATINTO

11A: "23. A dry Burgundy"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a city in central georgia to the southeast of atlanta
  • Similar words include: maconnais
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: MACON

12A: "26. Gone by"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that gone by; or in the past
  • Similar words include: agone
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: AGO

13A: "28. Do over, as a roof"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: RETAR

14A: "29. Gives someone a lift"

6 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that fill with high spirits; fill with optimism
  • Similar words include: lift up, uplift, pick up
  • Opposite of: depress
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ELATES

15A: "31. Unchaste"

6 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that combined with extraneous elements
  • Similar words include: unclean
  • Opposite of: clean, pure
Click to reveal answer
Answer: IMPURE

16A: "33. Finally"

6 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ATLAST

17A: "34. Type of crocodile"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the world's longest river (4150 miles); flows northward through eastern africa into the mediterranean; the nile river valley in egypt was the site of the world's first great civilization
  • Similar words include: Nile River
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: NILE

18A: "35. "Treasure Island" auth."

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: RLS

19A: "38. Entertainer Carter"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: NELL

20A: "39. Evangelist McPherson"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: AIMEE

21A: "41. Scrap"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a quarrel about petty points
  • Similar words include: tiff, ptyalize, applaud
  • Opposite of: boo
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SPAT

22A: "42. Cycle starter"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: TRI

23A: "43. Fashion item"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a very short skirt
  • Similar words include: miniskirt
  • Opposite of: midi
Click to reveal answer
Answer: MINI

24A: "44. Brightest star in Aquila"

6 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that double star 15.7 light years from earth; the brightest star in the aquila constellation
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ALTAIR

25A: "46. Of a nerve"

6 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that of or relating to the nervous system
  • Similar words include: neuronic, nervous, neuronal
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: NEURAL

26A: "48. ___ del Fuego"

6 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: TIERRA

27A: "49. Set off"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that take the first step or steps in carrying out an action
  • Similar words include: get down, get, start
  • Opposite of: end
Click to reveal answer
Answer: BEGAN

28A: "51. Actor Gulager"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: CLU

29A: "53. Blair of "Marty""

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: BETSY

30A: "54. Coat, in a way"

7 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that cover or coat with a crust
  • Similar words include: incrust, beset
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ENCRUST

31A: "56. Blind, in falconry"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that sew up the eyelids of hawks and falcons
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SEEL

32A: "58. "Woe is me!""

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a flat wing-shaped process or winglike part of an organism
  • Similar words include: ala, unfortunately, unluckily
  • Opposite of: fortunately, luckily
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ALAS

33A: "59. Lofty Wright Brothers?"

10 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a person of great ability and ambition
  • Similar words include: highflier, highflyer
  • Pattern: __________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: HIGHFLIERS

34A: "64. Labor leader Conboy: 1870-1928"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SARA

35A: "65. Place for a VCR"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: TVSET

36A: "66. First name in daredeviltry"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: EVEL

37A: "67. Antimacassar"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that receptacle that holds odds and ends (as sewing materials)
  • Similar words include: neaten, goodish, clean up
  • Opposite of: untidy
Click to reveal answer
Answer: TIDY

38A: "68. Machine parts"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a toothed wheel that engages another toothed mechanism in order to change the speed or direction of transmitted motion
  • Similar words include: power train, cogwheel, gear mechanism
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: GEARS

39A: "69. Risqué"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that marked by or tending to arouse sexual desire or interest
  • Similar words include: aphrodisiac, aphrodisiacal
  • Opposite of: unsexy, anaphrodisiac
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SEXY

Down Clues - Strategic Hints (37 clues)

1D: "1. "Rings on ___ fingers ... ""

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: HER

2D: "2. Inst. at Ames"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ISU

3D: "3. Check"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the bill in a restaurant
  • Similar words include: pill, yellow journalism, tabloid
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: TAB

4D: "4. Accountant's partial sum"

8 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the sum of part of a group of numbers
  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SUBTOTAL

5D: "5. Seaport in Israel"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a unit of area (4840 square yards) used in english-speaking countries
  • Similar words include: Akko, Akka, Accho
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ACRE

6D: "6. Rum cake"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a coffee cake flavored with orange rind and raisins and almonds
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: BABKA

7D: "7. Heavenly Altar"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a constellation in the southern hemisphere near telescopium and norma
  • Similar words include: genus Ara
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ARA

8D: "8. Geniality"

8 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a disposition to be friendly and approachable (easy to talk to)
  • Similar words include: amiability, geniality, affability
  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: BONHOMIE

9D: "9. Star in "The Four Seasons""

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ALDA

10D: "10. More agile"

6 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that moving quickly and lightly
  • Similar words include: spry, agile, nimble
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SPRIER

11D: "11. Role for Geiger?"

11 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a person or thing having the same function or characteristics as another
  • Similar words include: vis-a-vis, opposite number, similitude
  • Pattern: ___________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: COUNTERPART

12D: "12. Writer Loos"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ANITA

13D: "13. Drift"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the adult male singing voice above baritone
  • Similar words include: tenor voice, strain
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: TENOR

14D: "18. Birds of merit?"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that bulky greyish-brown eagle with a short wedge-shaped white tail; of europe and greenland
  • Similar words include: Haliatus albicilla, white-tailed sea eagle, gray sea eagle
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ERNES

15D: "22. "___ Love," Porter song"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that proper alignment; the property possessed by something that is in correct or proper alignment
  • Similar words include: dependable, reliable, truthful
  • Opposite of: untruthful, false
Click to reveal answer
Answer: TRUE

16D: "23. Intended"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that mean or intend to express or convey
  • Similar words include: have in mind, think, signify
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: MEANT

17D: "24. Modify"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that cause to change; make different; cause a transformation
  • Similar words include: neuter, interpolate, castrate
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ALTER

18D: "25. Hilarious Mister Bell?"

11 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ___________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: CALLINGCARD

19D: "27. Whitney's factory?"

7 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a room or establishment where alcoholic drinks are served over a counter
  • Similar words include: bar, taproom, saloon
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: GINMILL

20D: "30. Flight member"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

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
Answer: STAIR

21D: "32. Kilt feature"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that any of various types of fold formed by doubling fabric back upon itself and then pressing or stitching into shape
  • Similar words include: plicate, ruffle, plait
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: PLEAT

22D: "36. Retreats"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the habitation of wild animals
  • Similar words include: lair, den
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: LAIRS

23D: "37. Ramble"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an animal that has strayed (especially a domestic animal)
  • Similar words include: rove, ramble, roll
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: STRAY

24D: "40. Still"

8 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (chemistry) not participating in a chemical reaction; chemically inert
  • Similar words include: dormant, passive, static
  • Opposite of: operational, active
Click to reveal answer
Answer: INACTIVE

25D: "41. Rainbow trouts, informally"

8 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: STEELIES

26D: "43. Lambda followers"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: MUNU

27D: "45. Cause for a suit"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a false and malicious publication printed for the purpose of defaming a living person
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: LIBEL

28D: "47. Soho scuttlebutt"

6 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: EARSAY

29D: "49. Ron Perlman title role"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a living organism characterized by voluntary movement
  • Similar words include: savage, creature, animate being
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: BEAST

30D: "50. Zhou ___ of China"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ENLAI

31D: "52. Courtroom doorkeeper"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that irish prelate who deduced from the bible that creation occurred in the year 4004 bc (1581-1656)
  • Similar words include: James Usher, James Ussher, Ussher
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: USHER

32D: "55. Lack, in brief"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SHTG

33D: "57. Frog's cousins"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a newt in its terrestrial stage of development
  • Similar words include: eft
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: EFTS

34D: "60. Org. started by J. Low"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a central management agency that sets federal policy for federal procurement and real property management and information resources management
  • Similar words include: General Services Administration
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: GSA

35D: "61. December 24, e.g."

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

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
Answer: EVE

36D: "62. "Oedipus ___," Sophocles play"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a male sovereign; ruler of a kingdom
  • Similar words include: male monarch, king
  • Opposite of: female monarch, queen
Click to reveal answer
Answer: REX

37D: "63. Nickname for Stallone"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that marked by skill in deception
  • Similar words include: slick, tricksy, dodgy
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SLY

Puzzle Stats

39 Across
37 Down
76 Total

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

Processed: August 23, 2025 at 10:18 PM

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