Sunday, August 24, 2025

January 25, 1990 NYT Clues Solutions | XWordHint

Master the NYT crossword from January 25, 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 (35 clues)

1A: "1. Ma Bell's boy"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ALEX

2A: "5. Intimate"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a close friend who accompanies his buddies in their activities
  • Similar words include: chum salmon, pal, brother
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: CHUM

3A: "9. Cob or pen"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that stately heavy-bodied aquatic bird with very long neck and usually white plumage as adult
  • Similar words include: swear, wander, tramp
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SWAN

4A: "13. Hop stem"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that european twining plant whose flowers are used chiefly to flavor malt liquors; cultivated in america
  • Similar words include: European hop, common hop, common hops
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: BINE

5A: "14. Forfeits"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that fail to keep or to maintain; cease to have, either physically or in an abstract sense
  • Similar words include: suffer, misplace, fall behind
  • Opposite of: keep, gain
Click to reveal answer
Answer: LOSES

6A: "16. "For ___ jolly ... ""

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: HESA

7A: "17. Start of a quip"

15 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _______________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: BEINGOVERWEIGHT

8A: "20. Sanctioned"

8 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that be behind; approve of
  • Similar words include: support, back, endorse
  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ENDORSED

9A: "21. Wadi's kin"

6 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a stream or brook
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ARROYO

10A: "22. Fellow citizen"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a person who is of equal standing with another in a group
  • Similar words include: equal, match, compeer
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: PEER

11A: "23. Noisy disagreement"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

12A: "24. Seamlike joining, in anatomy"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a ridge that forms a seam between two parts
  • Similar words include: rhaphe
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: RAPHE

13A: "27. Domino spots"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a disease of poultry
  • Similar words include: spot, rack up, worst
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: PIPS

14A: "28. Dax or Ems"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a health resort near a spring or at the seaside
  • Similar words include: watering place, resort hotel, health spa
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SPA

15A: "31. Part of N.A.M."

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ASSOC

16A: "32. November tally"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a choice that is made by counting the number of people in favor of each alternative
  • Similar words include: voter turnout, balloting, voting
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: VOTE

17A: "33. Strikebreaker"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike
  • Similar words include: blackleg, strikebreaker, rat
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SCAB

18A: "34. Middle of quip"

15 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _______________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: MAYBEHEREDITARY

19A: "37. Formerly"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that on one occasion
  • Similar words include: in one case, at one time, one time
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ONCE

20A: "38. Approaching 100"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that people who are old collectively
  • Similar words include: senior, of age, older
  • Opposite of: rejuvenate, young
Click to reveal answer
Answer: AGED

21A: "39. Rx items"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a substance that is used as a medicine or narcotic
  • Similar words include: do drugs, drug, dose
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: DRUGS

22A: "40. Breezy turndown"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: NAH

23A: "41. Pleased"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that any of numerous plants of the genus gladiolus native chiefly to tropical and south africa having sword-shaped leaves and one-sided spikes of brightly colored funnel-shaped flowers; widely cultivated
  • Similar words include: sword lily, beaming, happy
  • Opposite of: sad
Click to reveal answer
Answer: GLAD

24A: "42. Sounds of alarm"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that bark in a high-pitched tone
  • Similar words include: yelp, yap, yip
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: YIPES

25A: "43. Blokes"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an informal term for a youth or man
  • Similar words include: ridicule, poke fun, guy wire
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: GUYS

26A: "44. Converse"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an exchange of ideas via conversation
  • Similar words include: blab out, tattle, peach
  • Opposite of: keep quiet
Click to reveal answer
Answer: TALK

27A: "46. ___ Madre"

6 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a range of mountains (usually with jagged peaks and irregular outline)
  • Similar words include: Scomberomorus sierra
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SIERRA

28A: "49. Is devious"

8 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that lead someone in the wrong direction or give someone wrong directions
  • Similar words include: lead astray, misdirect, misguide
  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: MISLEADS

29A: "53. End of quip"

15 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _______________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ASYOURJEANSSHOW

30A: "55. F.F.V. folks"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the sediment from fermentation of an alcoholic beverage
  • Similar words include: Richard Henry Lee, Robert Edward Lee, Robert E. Lee
  • Opposite of: windward
Click to reveal answer
Answer: LEES

31A: "56. Raison ___"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: DETRE

32A: "57. Annapolis inst."

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: USNA

33A: "58. Koppel and Knight"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a tough youth of 1950's and 1960's wearing edwardian style clothes
  • Similar words include: Ted, Teddy boy
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: TEDS

34A: "59. Make strips"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a drop of the clear salty saline solution secreted by the lacrimal glands
  • Similar words include: snap, displume, rip
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: TEAR

35A: "60. After: Prefix"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the position where someone (as a guard or sentry) stands or is assigned to stand
  • Similar words include: position, office, situation
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: POST

Down Clues - Strategic Hints (39 clues)

1D: "1. Chanteuse Lane"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a french abbot
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ABBE

2D: "2. Title encumbrance"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the right to take another's property if an obligation is not discharged
  • Similar words include: spleen
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: LIEN

3D: "3. Writer Bagnold"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a town in north central oklahoma
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ENID

4D: "4. He fears strangers"

9 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: XENOPHOBE

5D: "5. By a whisker"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the temporal end; the concluding time
  • Similar words include: closely, secretive, confining
  • Opposite of: distant, far
Click to reveal answer
Answer: CLOSE

6D: "6. Hummingbird verb"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that be undecided about something; waver between conflicting positions or courses of action
  • Similar words include: brood, bulk large, vacillate
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: HOVER

7D: "7. Exploited"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that put into service; make work or employ for a particular purpose or for its inherent or natural purpose
  • Similar words include: utilise, put-upon, secondhand
  • Opposite of: misused
Click to reveal answer
Answer: USED

8D: "8. Mal de ___"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that denoting a quantity consisting of 1,000 items or units
  • Similar words include: one thousand, 1000, m
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: MER

9D: "9. Blouse"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a garment worn on the upper half of the body
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SHIRT

10D: "10. "And away ___!""

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: WEGO

11D: "11. Pallid"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that of a light grey
  • Similar words include: ash-gray, ash-grey
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ASHY

12D: "12. Western pact"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an international organization created in 1949 by the north atlantic treaty for purposes of collective security
  • Similar words include: North Atlantic Treaty Organization
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: NATO

13D: "15. Exchanged"

7 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that exchange or give (something) in exchange for
  • Similar words include: switch, swop, trade
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SWAPPED

14D: "18. Land of feta"

6 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a republic in southeastern europe on the southern part of the balkan peninsula; known for grapes and olives and olive oil
  • Similar words include: Hellenic Republic, Ellas
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: GREECE

15D: "19. Points in time"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a period marked by distinctive character or reckoned from a fixed point or event
  • Similar words include: geological era, earned run average, era
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ERAS

16D: "23. Located"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that assign a location to
  • Similar words include: sit down, posture, ride
  • Opposite of: arise, stand
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SITED

17D: "24. Actor Novarro"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: RAMON

18D: "25. Yoga posture"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (hinduism) a posture or manner of sitting (as in the practice of yoga)
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ASANA

19D: "26. Prepare oneself mentally"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: PSYCH

20D: "27. Studied in depth"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that direct one's attention on something
  • Similar words include: center, pore, rivet
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: PORED

21D: "28. Wild duck"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that diving ducks of north america having a bluish-grey bill
  • Similar words include: scaup duck, broadbill, bluebill
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SCAUP

22D: "29. Coat with plaster"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: PARGE

23D: "30. Ocean deep"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a bottomless gulf or pit; any unfathomable (or apparently unfathomable) cavity or chasm or void extending below (often used figuratively)
  • Similar words include: abysm
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ABYSS

24D: "32. "Las ___ Lady," 1976 film"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that prolific spanish playwright (1562-1635)
  • Similar words include: Lope de Vega, Lope Felix de Vega Carpio, Vega
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: VEGAS

25D: "33. Begins to play a song"

9 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: STRIKESUP

26D: "35. Flagpole rope"

7 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a rope for raising or lowering a sail or flag
  • Similar words include: halliard
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: HALYARD

27D: "36. "The ___ of the King": Tennyson"

6 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an episode of such pastoral or romantic charm as to qualify as the subject of a poetic idyll
  • Similar words include: bucolic, eclogue, idyl
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: IDYLLS

28D: "41. Revered leader"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a hindu or buddhist religious leader and spiritual teacher
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: GURU

29D: "43. Offensive"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that twelve dozen
  • Similar words include: crude, revenue, sodding
  • Opposite of: net
Click to reveal answer
Answer: GROSS

30D: "44. Headgear for a princess"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a jeweled headdress worn by women on formal occasions
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: TIARA

31D: "45. "Lou Grant" star"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ASNER

32D: "46. Mariner"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a compound formed by replacing hydrogen in an acid by a metal (or a radical that acts like a metal)
  • Similar words include: common salt, salinity, Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SALT

33D: "47. Conversation filler"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ISEE

34D: "48. Took a look"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that having an eye or eyes or eyelike feature especially as specified; often used in combination
  • Similar words include: eye, eyeball
  • Opposite of: eyeless
Click to reveal answer
Answer: EYED

35D: "49. Dish out"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a line that indicates a boundary
  • Similar words include: borderline, delimitation, border
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: METE

36D: "50. Phrase for Mr. Moto"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: AHSO

37D: "51. Puts on"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a spanish gentleman or nobleman
  • Similar words include: assume, father, get into
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: DONS

38D: "52. Thwack"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a sharp blow
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SWAT

39D: "54. Concorde, for one"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an airplane powered by one or more jet engines
  • Similar words include: jet-propelled plane, reverse lightning, sooty
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: JET

Puzzle Stats

35 Across
39 Down
74 Total

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

Processed: August 24, 2025 at 04:46 AM

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