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Monday, December 15, 2025

XWordHint Crossword Answers December 15, 2025 | Expert Breakdown & Tips

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 lovers who want that satisfying "aha!" moment.

Quick Navigation - Table of Contents

Today's Puzzle Difficulty: Tricky

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

Across Clues - Complete List

No. Clue Letters
1A 1. ___ Nicholas 5
2A 6. Judge's seat, from the French 4
3A 10. N.Y.C. airport 3
4A 13. "Star Wars" droid, familiarly 5
5A 14. Side's length squared, for a square 4
6A 15. Thrilla in Manila boxer 3
7A 16. Recharge one's batteries 6
8A 18. Prepared to bathe 8
9A 20. Cool ___ cucumber 3
10A 21. "Balderdash!" 4
11A 23. Filled in (for), for short 6
12A 24. Schmoozed (with) 9
13A 27. Good, long bath 4
14A 28. Slight injury from tripping 10
15A 30. Bridge support 5
16A 32. Karl Marx's "___ Kapital" 3
17A 33. Do one better than 3
18A 36. President Hoover 7
19A 39. "You take credit cards?" response 7
20A 42. Unconventional 3
21A 43. Alternative to the pill, in brief 3
22A 45. Dog-___ (like the pages in some books) 5
23A 46. Foreign-language movie that you don't have to read subtitles for 10
24A 50. Location for a goatee or soul patch 4
25A 52. Enchanted 9
26A 55. Big-beaked tropical bird 6
27A 57. One-named Brazilian soccer star 4
28A 58. "If you ask me ...," to texters 3
29A 59. Camp sleeping spots ... or a hint to this puzzle's circled letters 8
30A 61. Sci-fi writer Isaac 6
31A 63. Suitable, as a unit in a bldg.? 3
32A 64. Tales of yore 4
33A 65. Join in marriage 5
34A 66. Lo-___ graphics 3
35A 67. One-named Grammy winner from Ireland 4
36A 68. ___ Cottontail 5

Across Clues - Strategic Hints

1A: "1. ___ Nicholas"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a person who has died and has been declared a saint by canonization
  • Similar words include: nonesuch, holy man, nonsuch
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SAINT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2A: "6. Judge's seat, from the French"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BANC

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3A: "10. N.Y.C. airport"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that 35th president of the united states; established the peace corps; assassinated in dallas (1917-1963)
  • Similar words include: John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Kennedy, President John F. Kennedy
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: JFK

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4A: "13. "Star Wars" droid, familiarly"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ARTOO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5A: "14. Side's length squared, for a square"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a particular geographical region of indefinite boundary (usually serving some special purpose or distinguished by its people or culture or geography)
  • Similar words include: sphere, expanse, orbit
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AREA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6A: "15. Thrilla in Manila boxer"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that united states prizefighter who won the world heavyweight championship three times (born in 1942)
  • Similar words include: Cassius Marcellus Clay, Muhammad Ali, Cassius Clay
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ALI

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7A: "16. Recharge one's batteries"

6 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RESTUP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8A: "18. Prepared to bathe"

8 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that get undressed
  • Similar words include: uncase, discase, strip down
  • Opposite of: dress
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DISROBED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9A: "20. Cool ___ cucumber"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ASA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10A: "21. "Balderdash!""

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a statement that deviates from or perverts the truth
  • Similar words include: rest, Lie, Trygve Lie
  • Opposite of: stand, arise
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LIES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11A: "23. Filled in (for), for short"

6 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that be a substitute
  • Similar words include: substitute, stand in, sub
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SUBBED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12A: "24. Schmoozed (with)"

9 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that rub elbows with
  • Similar words include: hobnob
  • Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HOBNOBBED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13A: "27. Good, long bath"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the process of becoming softened and saturated as a consequence of being immersed in water (or other liquid)
  • Similar words include: sop, drench, inebriate
  • Opposite of: undercharge
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SOAK

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14A: "28. Slight injury from tripping"

10 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: __________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: STUBBEDTOE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15A: "30. Bridge support"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (medicine) a bandage consisting of a pad and belt; worn to hold a hernia in place by pressure
  • Similar words include: bind, tie up, tie down
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TRUSS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16A: "32. Karl Marx's "___ Kapital""

3 letters Category: Wordplay

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, dassie, district attorney
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DAS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17A: "33. Do one better than"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the upper part of anything
  • Similar words include: cover, spinning top, tiptop
  • Opposite of: bottom
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TOP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18A: "36. President Hoover"

7 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that united states musician and composer and conductor noted for his comic operas (1859-1924)
  • Similar words include: Victor Herbert
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HERBERT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19A: "39. "You take credit cards?" response"

7 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: YESWEDO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20A: "42. Unconventional"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that not divisible by two
  • Similar words include: leftover, peculiar, unmated
  • Opposite of: even
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ODD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21A: "43. Alternative to the pill, in brief"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that contraceptive device consisting of a piece of bent plastic or metal that is inserted through the vagina into the uterus
  • Similar words include: intrauterine device
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IUD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22A: "45. Dog-___ (like the pages in some books)"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that worn or shabby from overuse or (of pages) from having corners turned down; -clifton fadiman
  • Similar words include: dog-eared
  • Opposite of: earless
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EARED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23A: "46. Foreign-language movie that you don't have to read subtitles for"

10 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: __________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DUBBEDFILM

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24A: "50. Location for a goatee or soul patch"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the protruding part of the lower jaw
  • Similar words include: mentum, Kuki, chin up
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CHIN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25A: "52. Enchanted"

9 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that to cause someone to lose clear vision, especially from intense light
  • Similar words include: bedazzle, dazzle, daze
  • Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BEDAZZLED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26A: "55. Big-beaked tropical bird"

6 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that brilliantly colored arboreal fruit-eating bird of tropical america having a very large thin-walled beak
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TOUCAN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27A: "57. One-named Brazilian soccer star"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PELE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28A: "58. "If you ask me ...," to texters"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the united nations agency concerned with international maritime activities
  • Similar words include: International Maritime Organization
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IMO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29A: "59. Camp sleeping spots ... or a hint to this puzzle's circled letters"

8 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BUNKBEDS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30A: "61. Sci-fi writer Isaac"

6 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that united states writer (born in russia) noted for his science fiction (1920-1992)
  • Similar words include: Isaac Asimov
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ASIMOV

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31A: "63. Suitable, as a unit in a bldg.?"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (usually followed by `to') naturally disposed toward
  • Similar words include: given, minded, liable
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: APT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32A: "64. Tales of yore"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that knowledge gained through tradition or anecdote
  • Similar words include: traditional knowledge
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LORE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33A: "65. Join in marriage"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that act in concert or unite in a common purpose or belief
  • Similar words include: join, combine, unify
  • Opposite of: divide, disunify
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: UNITE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34A: "66. Lo-___ graphics"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

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, atomic number 75, reticuloendothelial system
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35A: "67. One-named Grammy winner from Ireland"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ENYA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36A: "68. ___ Cottontail"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that disciple of jesus and leader of the apostles; regarded by catholics as the vicar of christ on earth and first pope
  • Similar words include: shaft, dick, prick
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PETER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

Down Clues - Complete List

No. Clue Letters
1D 1. Wife of Abraham, in the Bible 5
2D 2. "You ___ right!" 5
3D 3. "Ridiculous!" 9
4D 4. "I'm kidding!!," in "Wayne's World" 3
5D 5. Artist Henri de ___-Lautrec 8
6D 6. One who's rotten from the start 7
7D 7. Singer Grande, to fans 3
8D 8. Loch ___ monster 4
9D 9. Opera great Enrico 6
10D 10. Sluglike "Star Wars" crime boss 5
11D 11. On ___ (looking great, in slang) 5
12D 12. Colonial-era pirate captain 4
13D 17. Mr. ___ (Dr Pepper competitor) 4
14D 19. Orchestral woodwind 4
15D 22. Be on the wane 3
16D 25. Crash-investigating org. 4
17D 26. Turning point in W.W. II 4
18D 29. When doubled, an African fly 3
19D 30. But, briefly 3
20D 31. Like a ripe strawberry 3
21D 33. Re-election restriction 9
22D 34. Many a Wordsworth poem 3
23D 35. Pea holder 3
24D 37. Part of a barbecue rack 3
25D 38. Ernest in the Country Music Hall of Fame 4
26D 40. Suddenly stops working, as an engine 8
27D 41. Gov. Tim ___, 2024 running mate 4
28D 44. Beyond the continental shelf, say 7
29D 46. Comic actor Van Dyke 4
30D 47. Lacking the capacity 6
31D 48. Prez before 10-Across 3
32D 49. "Deck the Halls" syllables 4
33D 50. Two-door auto 5
34D 51. Outings for foxhounds 5
35D 53. Show feelings onstage 5
36D 54. Capital of Delaware 5
37D 55. Lift on the slopes 4
38D 56. Like bright signs on the Las Vegas Strip 4
39D 60. Funny in a subtle way 3
40D 62. Suffix with Benedict or elephant 3

Down Clues - Strategic Hints

1D: "1. Wife of Abraham, in the Bible"

5 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (old testament) the wife of abraham and mother of isaac
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SARAH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2D: "2. "You ___ right!""

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ARESO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3D: "3. "Ridiculous!""

9 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ITSABSURD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4D: "4. "I'm kidding!!," in "Wayne's World""

3 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that negation of a word or group of words
  • Similar words include: non
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NOT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5D: "5. Artist Henri de ___-Lautrec"

8 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a city on the garonne river in southern france to the southeast of bordeaux; a cultural center of medieval europe
  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TOULOUSE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6D: "6. One who's rotten from the start"

7 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BADSEED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7D: "7. Singer Grande, to fans"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ARI

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8D: "8. Loch ___ monster"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9D: "9. Opera great Enrico"

6 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that outstanding italian operatic tenor (1873-1921)
  • Similar words include: Enrico Caruso
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CARUSO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10D: "10. Sluglike "Star Wars" crime boss"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: JABBA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11D: "11. On ___ (looking great, in slang)"

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FLEEK

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12D: "12. Colonial-era pirate captain"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that scottish sea captain who was hired to protect british shipping in the indian ocean and then was accused of piracy and hanged (1645-1701)
  • Similar words include: Captain Kidd, William Kidd
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: KIDD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13D: "17. Mr. ___ (Dr Pepper competitor)"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PIBB

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14D: "19. Orchestral woodwind"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a slender double-reed instrument; a woodwind with a conical bore and a double-reed mouthpiece
  • Similar words include: hautbois, hautboy
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OBOE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15D: "22. Be on the wane"

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a gradual decline (in size or strength or power or number)
  • Similar words include: ebbing, reflux, ebb down
  • Opposite of: tide
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EBB

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16D: "25. Crash-investigating org."

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NTSB

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17D: "26. Turning point in W.W. II"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DDAY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18D: "29. When doubled, an African fly"

3 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TSE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19D: "30. But, briefly"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a branch of the tai languages
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: THO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20D: "31. Like a ripe strawberry"

3 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that red color or pigment; the chromatic color resembling the hue of blood
  • Similar words include: red ink, cherry, reddish
  • Opposite of: gain
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21D: "33. Re-election restriction"

9 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TERMLIMIT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22D: "34. Many a Wordsworth poem"

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a lyric poem with complex stanza forms
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ODE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23D: "35. Pea holder"

3 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the vessel that contains the seeds of a plant (not the seeds themselves)
  • Similar words include: seedpod, fuel pod, seedcase
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: POD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24D: "37. Part of a barbecue rack"

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that support resembling the rib of an animal
  • Similar words include: poke fun, laugh at, roast
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RIB

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25D: "38. Ernest in the Country Music Hall of Fame"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TUBB

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26D: "40. Suddenly stops working, as an engine"

8 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SEIZESUP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27D: "41. Gov. Tim ___, 2024 running mate"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WALZ

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28D: "44. Beyond the continental shelf, say"

7 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DEEPSEA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29D: "46. Comic actor Van Dyke"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that someone who is a detective
  • Similar words include: shaft, prick, tool
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DICK

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30D: "47. Lacking the capacity"

6 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (usually followed by `to') not having the necessary means or skill or know-how
  • Similar words include: ineffectual, ineffective
  • Opposite of: able
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: UNABLE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31D: "48. Prez before 10-Across"

3 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DDE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32D: "49. "Deck the Halls" syllables"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FALA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33D: "50. Two-door auto"

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a car with two doors and front seats and a luggage compartment
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: COUPE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34D: "51. Outings for foxhounds"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that englishman and pre-raphaelite painter (1827-1910)
  • Similar words include: trace, hound, hunt down
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HUNTS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35D: "53. Show feelings onstage"

5 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that give expression or emotion to, in a stage or movie role
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EMOTE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36D: "54. Capital of Delaware"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the capital of the state of delaware
  • Similar words include: capital of Delaware
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DOVER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

37D: "55. Lift on the slopes"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TBAR

Remember this word for future puzzles!

38D: "56. Like bright signs on the Las Vegas Strip"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a colorless odorless gaseous element that give a red glow in a vacuum tube; one of the six inert gasses; occurs in the air in small amounts
  • Similar words include: atomic number 10, Ne
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NEON

Remember this word for future puzzles!

39D: "60. Funny in a subtle way"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a reformer who opposes the use of intoxicating beverages
  • Similar words include: ironic, dry out, juiceless
  • Opposite of: wet, phlegmy
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DRY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

40D: "62. Suffix with Benedict or elephant"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: INE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

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

36 Across Clues
40 Down Clues
76 Total Clues

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Last updated: December 15, 2025 at 04:27 AM

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